Etrex 20x... Etrex Touch... worth the upgrade from Etrex 20?

[GrumpyGregry]

I think I may have heard someone, possibly @mcshroom, talking about a 20x in the wee small hours of Saturday morning.

Anyway. I have a perfectly good Etrex 20, would I benefit from the features of the 20x, or an Etrex Touch, being an inveterate "just follow the line" kind of a guy? No desire to be told about emails or texts whilst on the road, not to remotely control a camera.

I do quite fancy an Edge Touring, or some other device that does OS maps, but reviews and comments seem highly polarised. Comments?

 

[mcshroom]

The screen is nicer on the x series as it's higher resolution, but if you already have a 20 I wouldn't bother upgrading. The only reason I did was because my 20 flew off the bike and disappeared into the undergrowth, never to reurn (I now use a lanyard as a secondary mounting aid which stops that happening again). I still think it's one of the best GPS units around. It is worth keeping some up to date OSM/OpenCycleMap based mapping on them but for ruggedness, battery life, and the ability to replace the AA batteries easily I prefer it to the idea of an edge based device.

Of course I've weighed it up on my priorities, and I'm sure YMMV

 

[Blue Hills]

some have said that the higher resolution on the x model makes it harder to see, because of technical reasons I don't understand.

Can you mc or anyone else comment on this?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

some have said that the higher resolution on the x model makes it harder to see, because of technical reasons I don't understand.

Can you mc or anyone else comment on this?

Hydrotac lenses have just rocked my world!

 

[Blue Hills]

just googled them.

sound pretty amazing.

They don't drop off/leave sticky gunk on your lenses?

Do they wear/need to be periodically replaced?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

just googled them.

sound pretty amazing.

They don't drop off/leave sticky gunk on your lenses?

Do they wear/need to be periodically replaced?

They don't fall off, so far, even when it rains, and there is no adhesive layer to leave sticky on your lenses.

I can't speak to wear yet but some of the others in here including @Bonefish Blues and @Ian H and @Filippo and @vertigo can speak to longevity.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I've been using the same ones for a number of years. Still on, still fine, and they have been exposed to some torrential rain. No gunk involved, some sort of voodoo I think!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

molecules innit?

 

[Bonefish Blues]

That's like chemistry and stuff!

 

[andrew_s]

I do quite fancy an Edge Touring, or some other device that does OS maps, but reviews and comments seem highly polarised. Comments?

You can show OS maps on an Etrex 20, though the screen size and resolution mean you can't see too much at once. I'd expect the 20x to be a bit better, on account of the higher resolution screen.
Unfortunately, OS maps are relatively expensive - the 1:50k landranger is £200 for whole GB, or £120 each for S.England & Wales, N.England & Midlands, or Scotland (with considerable overlap for the 2 English cards)

some have said that the higher resolution on the x model makes it harder to see, because of technical reasons I don't understand.

It's got a higher resolution screen, with more, smaller pixels.
Because the pixels are smaller, the thin lines on the 20x are thinner than they are on the 20.