| Garmin Etrex Legend GPS Receiver |
Technical Details
- WAAS-Enabled
- Smallest GPS On Market With North & South America Basemap
- Perfect For Outdoor Person & Adaptable To Be Fully-Functional For Vehicle Use
- Download From Metroguide Usa Cd-Rom (Not Included), Detailed Street Map Info, Addresses & Points Of Interest With Phone Info
- 8 Mb Of Available Flash Memory
Product Description
With the eTrex Legend, Garmin has loaded a full base map of North and South America into one small unit. The Legend is also designed to provide precise GPS positioning using correction data obtained from the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). This product will provide position accuracy to less than three meters when receiving WAAS corrections.The base map contains lakes, rivers, cities, interstates, national and state highways, railroads and coastlines. The eTrex Legend is also equipped with additional memory totaling eight megabytes. The added memory allows the eTrex Legend to accept downloaded map data from Garmin's entire line of MapSource CD-ROMs, including Fishing Hot Spots. The eTrex Legend comes in a brightly colored translucent blue case that really makes the unit stand out. New to the product design, Garmin will include marine aids to navigation in addition to the base map. These navigational aids will be pre-loaded into each unit from the factory.It is compatible with most Garmin MapSource products including MapSource BlueChart marine cartography, MetroGuide, and Fishing Hot Spots. Accepts up to 8 megabytes of downloaded map detail.Amazon.com Review
Amazon.com Review There are now enough handheld global positioning system (GPS) receivers on the market that you can be choosy when it comes to price, features, and design. Garmin--a leading manufacturer of car, boat, and personal GPS receivers--has a complete line of eTrex handheld receivers, with our Legend falling about midrange.With Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) support, the eTrex Legend offers extremely accurate readings (rated to within 2 to 3 meters). (For more on WAAS, see the Frequently Asked Questions section.) A good-size screen--288 x 160 pixels--makes it easy to see location details, and the Legend redraws maps quickly when zooming in or out of a position.
 The eTrex Legend provides precise GPS positioning using correction data obtained from the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). |
 The Satellite page shows satellites being tracked, and their corresponding signal strength. View larger. |
 The internal trip computer provides a range of data about hikes and drives. View larger. |
But one of the most striking attributes of the Legend is its comfortable and efficient design. While it rests easily in the palm of either hand, it's most suited for the left hand, where its handy click-stick can be manipulated with the thumb. The click-stick works like the pencil-eraser nubbin on laptop PCs and is handy for moving through screen icons and menus. It also works as a button when pressed down.
The Legend is coated with a waterproof, rubberized plastic shell that grips nicely. Weighing in at only 5.3 ounces, it fits into a pocket or clips onto a belt loop, going almost unnoticed.
The internal trip computer of the Legend provided a range of data about our hikes and drives, including current speed, average speed, trip distance, and time traveled (both moving and stopped). For those interested in checking out their foot pace and distance traveled, it's a handy GPS to have in hand.
Our only major beef with the Legend is that the receiver sometimes seemed to grow weak. Even when it wasn't in WAAS mode (which can be tough to maintain a signal in), it dropped the signal from time to time. We even lost the signal once while walking along the streets of San Francisco--it seems that the medium-size buildings were enough to interfere with the reception.
But this only happened on a few occasions. Most of the time the well-designed Legend was able to keep us in touch with up to 12 GPS satellites for a strong-enough read to maintain a tight handle on our location. --J. Curtis
Pros
- Comfortable, compact design
- Click-stick for interface navigation
- Bright backlight
- Handy distance-traveled feature
- Sporadic reception within urban areas
- Can take several minutes for a cold fix
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Customer Reviews
2010-03-21
By RJL (Texas)
This simple Garmin GPS is just right as a starter GPS for campouts, hiking, or geocaching. Very simple on the surface, but it has plenty of features, include road maps, that make it useful every day.
2010-02-05
By J. Anderson (Greeley, CO)
I purchase this 3 to 4 years ago. For the money at that time, it is the best. I even do a little surveying with it and an engineering firm used my numbers without hesitation. I love it!!!!
2009-09-15
By Conrad Kite (Milwaukee, WI USA)
I've had this GPS for a few years now. It's still a bit more expensive that it is really worth now, as there is an updated model. The Legend has pretty much every feature that you would expect from a hand held unit. The time to acquire enough satellite to navigate is pretty quick, usually less than a minute.
I've found that it is pretty good on battery life. The screen is slow in cold weather, but not unreadable. It works great for finding a deer blind before sunrise. I also like the ability to mount it to my bike to log my rides, then being able to download them using MapSource. The only thing that I'm not real happy about is the poor base map. I ended up loading the NA Topo map and it gave me much better street level data for my rides, and I expect that I'll have better views of the land when hunting.
Overall, I love the Legend. If / when this one dies, I'll definitely replace it with another from the eTrex line.
2009-08-21
By oldtymer (East Tennessee)
I use my Etrex Legend in my kayaks. The display is sharp enough that with my sunglasses on I can read it even in bright sunlight. The buttons are large enough that I can operate the Legend wearing my paddling gloves. Once it locates its satellites on startup, it doesn't seem to lose them, even when stored in one of my kayak hatches. (By way of contrast, my Merax/Gisteq Phototrakr sometimes resets on a kayak trip.) The only real weakness is a somewhat cumbersome menu system that can be difficult to see in the sunshine. You also need two hands (usually) to operate it. I get about 17 hours from one set of AA alkaline batteries. I've been using it for two years, on the water, with no problems. I don't know how it compares to newer devices, but as long as you don't need maps and only want breadcrumb trails, navigation functions, and speed/time recording, this device does the job. It comes with only a serial cable, so you will probably need a serial to usb cable/adapter if you want to transfer its data to your PC. I like the accessory case for it, and advise buying it.
2009-06-26
By F. Schaefer (Sacramento, CA)
For nearly 4 years and over 50 countries I had a Magellan Explorist 210. Except for maps, it was very good. I literally always knew my direction, speed and location. I lost it the mountains of Argentina. The Garmin ETrex Legend looks a little fancier, and it has a better (not great) map, but literally everything else is harder to use or inferior.
The obvious first fault is that it doesn't find salelites quickly. When it does find them, it seems to need 5 or (usually) more to find your location. Then nearby buildings, trees, mountains, tent ceilings, and more just shut it down, with a large prompt saying that it was out of satelite range. This prompt blocks much of the screen, making your map nearly worthless. Trying to regain satelites can often take forever. Even on a regular bike trail with few trees, I can not get a good use of the odometer, as the breadcrumbs would look like dashes. Additionally, when I have not moved the GPS for minutes, I keep getting changes in location and especially altitude.
Other concerns are labeling the POIs. Very often when one pushes the save, it does not accept it...a real pain at an intersection while driving. It also only allows about 9 letters/numbers for a description of your POI...not enough. Then it gives such a variety of markers (i.e. park, church, etc, etc), that one can spend minutes finding the most suitable one. The screen is also smaller and harder to read than the Explorist. There are many other complaints. Keeping it short, I strongly recommend that you not buy a Garmin Legend!
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