ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Mine is the oldest and cheapest of the Etrex range - the yellow one. The design was improved and renamed the Etrex 'H' about a year after I bought mine (it's pretty much the same except that it but uses a far more sensitive chipset which tracks the satellites better). The old models have a black globe printed on the front, at the top, the 'H' model does not.Which one do you use now? - i'm thinking of getting one.ColinJ! said:my cheap Garmin Etrex was a big hit with me from the first ride.
This range is now being replaced by new models but you can still buy them if you shop around. The Etrex H is available for about £60. You'd also need the proprietary serial lead and a USB-to-RS232 converter if your computer doesn't have an RS232 (serial) port. Handlebar mounts cost about £12. I'd advise you to get a decent pair of NiMH AA batteries too, which last about 24 hours per charge. You can do your route plotting online or download other people's routes. Total cost, about £90.
You might prefer to go for the new Etrex '10' which does have mapping capability. Shop around and get one for about £90. You'd need to buy a bar mount and AA batteries for this one too, but a USB lead is supplied as standard. I think the standard map is pretty poor so if you want to use the onboard mapping, you might have to budget extra for a better map on a memory card. You'd probably be looking at £120 - £140 total.
Pretty much everybody I know who has a GPS on their bike gets on really well with it. I didn't see the need to spend hundreds of pounds when my cheap model does the trick, but the upmarket models like the Garmin Edge 800 are very good - lots of people on my forum rides have them.