eTrex 10 Outdoor Handheld GPS Unit

I purchased this last minute, I intended to borrow a friend's older version to use on a 20 mile hike across Dartmoor but decided to go ahead and purchase one for myself as I knew I would use it. I'm certainly not disappointed. The trip across Dartmoor was for charity and the weather seemed to know it. Thick, late summer fog shrouded us all day and although the map said there were paths we quickly discovered there weren't any! This thing literally saved us from getting lost in the fog (visibility was down to 20 metres). I wasn't looking for fancy map screens or anything like that, I just needed something that was going to give me a UK OS grid reference and this does. The batteries lasted ages (the walk was around 9 hours and it was fine, on constantly - 2 AA batteries). It seemed very accurate or at least using it in combination with a map and compass I had no problem getting somewhere with some pacing and micro-navigation so I assume it was pretty accurate! Acquiring signal was also no challenge. I get very warm and sweaty at some points and I had it parked on an inside pocket some of the way and it worked perfectly fine despite being in a sauna! Additionally it rained lightly for some parts of the trip and again, was absolutely fine. It has some other interesting features like using it with mapping software which I use frequently (not tried that yet) and it has a 'nipple scroll' which is extremely handy for navigating menus quickly. It did take some time getting my head around where everything was and the manual which came with it I felt missed a lot of information out so I had to go hunting on forums. I think this is a great gadget and for the price, brilliant. Highly recommended for the typical hiker.

Its Simple to use and is very accurate. I use it for Woodland walks and for the Waypoint Navigation and Trip data. 2 AA Batteries last Ages and will be enough power to cover a whole days walking easily. very rugged and compact and light. A good basic waypoint navigation tool that can be used all over the UK mainly for me. Used for nearly a year on and off and has not let me down yet. If you want something like Google maps... this is not for you. But for a cheaper simple Waypoint Nav device. This is it.

Beware! There are no instructions and it is NOT intuitive. That said, once you have gone onto YouTube and watched how others have got to grips with it, it does become easier to understand and to use. Good battery life, it uses standard AA batteries, so easy to replace if you are on a long distance route and able to get to shops on occasions (or carry spares with you). I found this works best combined with OS Maps online. A £20 subscription gives access to all of the site's features, including creating routes and exporting the route as a GPX file to your eTrex10. The "Whereto" function then allows you to access the uploaded route and it is easy to follow once you get to your route start point. It's also good at finding exactly where you are (to within a metre if there are plenty of satellites). It will give you a grid reference that you can then see on your map. It doesn't give you a nice coloured map and show you your route on it, so be careful of your expectations. The (much more) expensive models do that. There IS a way of getting maps onto it, but it's not easy and involves JAVA on your computer and changing the device's internal programming. You can enter map coordinates manually as waypoints, rather than upload as a route, so if you want to navigate to, say, a campsite and you are in the general area, you can call up your named waypoint and it will enable you to navigate to the destination. Be warned though - you have to set the default to "British OS Grid Ref", otherwise it will still be in some USA grid reference mode. This is the basic model, black and white screen, quite slow to "toggle" and not easy to get to know how to use it at first, but I like the price and the functionality and would nevertheless recommend it. Definitely a bit of kit that I will always take with me. I still take a map and compass as well.

My first GPS was the original eTrex and has been very good over the years. I upgraded to the eTrex 10 because I needed a second GPS and thought the extra sensitivity and memory would prove usueful. The first thing I liked was the easy to use toggle switch on the front of the eTrex 10 which makes the inputting of coordinates so much easier; the use of very stiff "enter" button with the old eTrex would often result in a tender thumb after a long session of inputting data. To judge the claims of improved sensitivity I went for a walk in a heavily wooded area with both my GPS units. Before entering the woods both GPS units were claiming to know my location within 3mt. As I entered the woods my eTrex's accuracy changed to 5 and then 8mt, the eTrex 10 stayed at 3mt. By the time I was well under cover the eTrex 10 was reading 5mt and 8mt when standing next to large tree trunks. By comparison the eTrex was reading 10 to 20mt. Generally the eTrex 10 appears to be 2 to 3 times more accurate than my old eTrex. Having the extra memory with the eTrex 10 means that no longer do I have to delete routes to make room for new ones. Finally another bonus is when inputting a linear route only one direction needs to be stored as the eTrex 10 can reverse routes with a simple press of a button. Overall an excellent and simple to use GPS and if as reliable as my old unit well worth the money.

I went straight for the eTrex 10 to replace my very old garmin gps. I recently got into Geocaching and assumed this device would be great for as it is also sold as part of a Geocaching bundle. For the price it is a good unit, and it's easy to set up and use. However it is very basic and lacks alot of things that would make using it for navigating or geocaching alot easier. The main downside of this device is the Basemap. The basemap is basic and has the basic outline of the country but no more detail meaning that for 99% of the time you will be looking at a blank screen with an arrow to represent you, a path behind you of what you've walked and a waypoint/ geocache you are heading for. There is no detail to reference to on the device so you can't match where you are easily to a paper map, nor see footpaths/ landscape on the device. As this device doesn't have that much storage I can't see how to load another map on. Paired with the slowness of the device in adjusting to the GPS means it is useful for finding the rough area where the Geocache is, but not the exact location. Or would be good for say finding the path you just walked and backtracking if on a foggy mountain, but not knowing/ finding a future path. I upgraded to the eTrex20 and have never been happier.

Once you have mastered the functions it's very good.

I use this product for sea kayak navigation. Obviously the battery life depends on the batteries used but with a good brand of batteries this will cover many trips (2/4 hours per trip). It has so far with stood healthy amounts of rain and sea spray. The menus of these things are pretty similar across models and are generally easy to use the only comment I can make is the joystick which is great for moving cursor (all directions) on a map can be slightly annoying when navigating a menu (up, down, left, right). That is probably being over critical as this is a great product on the whole.

Been using this for a while now. Specifically for geocaching and almost found a hundred using it now. its accuracy is great. Under tree cover it can go a bit off but if you keep walking it soon picks the signal back up again and is very accurate. There are no maps on it just a grey screen woth your waypoints marked on it and a line to show where u are and where you are going. But that is all I need as it keeps me to footpaths and where I need to go. if you are just starting out geocaching. I wohld highly reccomend as it is a lot better than a phone and at a great price. Amazon were great too ordered on free super save delivery on a sunday and it arrived with me by the monday afternoon. Great service :D