Hey All, well I'm not sure if I should put this in Off-Topic or in here, but I thought i'd ask anyway.

I recently got a GPS unit (Garmin eTrex Legend) and I am loving it. It's an awesome little thing. And I would definitely suggest it to anyone who's wanting to get a GPS, but if you have the cash to spend buy the eTrex Vista (about $350). The only thing i've been having a little trouble with is acquiring satelite signals with it. It's probably because I don't have it mounted in my truck anywhere, I plan on mounting it soon. I have a couple of questions though for those of you who have experience with GPS.

1.) I'm wanting to mount it to my dash like Corey has his mounted. I'm just curious, do you get good reception with it mounted there? Or should I mount it somewhere else?

2.) Are there any type of external antennas available for the eTrex's? I was thinking that would definitely help with my reception problems.

Thanks for any help you can give

-Braden

 

i dont think you can get an external ariel for yours but hvae a look at the garmin site for more info
http://shop.garmin.com/accessories_f...u=010-00190-00

To get the best reception it needs a clear shot up to the sky for best recption and a mount on the dash is probably the best way to go.

 

Thanks for the info Mark. I checked the Garmin site, and only saw antennas for the "not very portable" GPS's. I had a feeling that there weren't any external antennas for the eTrex's but, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask

I'm probably going to mount it like Corey has his, actually I was just looking at REI's site and they have a pretty cool looking mount for the eTrex, here's a link and a picture of it...
Garmin Adjustable Auto Mount Bracket


It seems like a pretty cool thing, the only problem would be figuring out where to mount that But atleast with this, I Could move it around a bit.

Thanks for your help!

-Braden

 

i want to get a GPS too. I was lookin at the Legend too! is it good? i realli want to get it. i was planning to get it real soon, BUT, now that my rear diff broke (thread: help would be appreciated) i have to dump money into the diff. I guess the GPS will have to wait.

 

I just recently got an ETrex and I like it too. The thing that I have noticed is that you get absolutely no reception inside (pretty much common sense though). I also noticed that you do not get reception as quickly in a vehicle, but you do get it. You get it faster if you are standing still and not driving. I was also thinking of mounting mine, so if you get that mount, let me know how you make out and what you think of it. Thanks. :fireman:

 

I have had the E-trex Legend for about a year now. I love it. I chose the legend because it had longer battery life over the Vista. I bought the mount and the ext power cord from REI. I mounted the base to the top of my dash and satelite reception is good (not great because the roof masks 1/2 the sky). I used velcro to mount the base to the dash so I can move it to my other vehicles (mount is designed for permanent glue on). I also use the topographical maps with mine, but am dissapointed in that the maps are out of date (freeway built 25 years ago not shown). The city maps I don't know about, but hopefully they are more current. If you are even thinking about linking to a laptop, buy the power cord with serial plug on it. I watched a laptop linked to a GPS and it was WAY COOL!! Tracked our location on MS streets software perfectly. The laptop doesn't need Garmins software, just a GPS compatible software.

 

Hey Dave, as you may have read here in the past few weeks, I have been playing with my E-Trex hooked up to my son's laptop.

I have been using the Nat Geo software.
I do have MS Streets, but have not tried the GPS with it.

Now I noticed when I had Geo running out in the rig that it would mark down the waypoints, but not draw a line for me.
Maybe because all the wp's were to close?
Or does the MS Streets software do a better job at drawing a route?

I'll have to try it.
I also need to pick up the double cord from REI like you have.
I have the power cord for the GPS, but of course I can't use that and the serial at the same time unless I get the good one.

I also need to check into how to run this laptop on the rigs power too.

 

Thanks Yoda for chiming in on the mount for the GPS, I think I'm definitely going to go ahead and get it.

BTown- Yeah i've been noticing that I can only pick up one or two satelites while I'm inside, and when i'm driving (I found it helps to open the little sliding door on under the sunroof if you have one for reception ) I pick up 3-4 but it can't lock in until I stop moving.

I bought chose the Legend also because of the longer battery life, and to be honest I couldn't really justify spending an extra $100 for some more memory, and an electric compass.

Joshik, if you buy the Legend, or other eTrex, Garmin has a $50 Mail In Rebate on them, that I believe runs until the end of November or December (I can't remember) So that might be a little incentive

As far as mapping software, I just bought the National Geographic Topo! for California (10 CDs of maps! :eek: ) I actually just ordered it on Monday night, and I just got it in the mail today, so I haven't had any time to play with it yet

I'll let you guys know how my mounting goes (ack that sounded really bad)... Let me re-phrase that, I'll let you know how I mount my GPS into my truck

-Braden

 

Braden,

These people have a re-radiating antenna that will work the the etrex GPS units if you need one. I have one on my dash up near the defroster outlet since I've mounted my GPS where it doesn't have a good "view" of the sky. If you put the GPS itself up there, I'm not sure that the extra antenna will gain you anything. You can always try without the extra antenna first since the reradiating antenna isn't cheap. I've had some trouble with reception in trees with antenna where it is, so one of these days I need to put it on the roof temporarily to see if it works better.

http://www.tri-m.com/products/tri-m_....products.html

Alan

 

i have the e-map and it is very good at locating itself in my rig i also have the garmin mount for it but as yet i have not found a good place to mount it , I like the idea of using the velcro so i will try that out when i get round to mounting it .
it also has the advantage of having an external aeril that can be mounted outside or with little suction cups to go in the window and it greatly improves the reception.as for being able to use it on a laptop i have only found 1 peice of software over here for that and its about $450 so i wont be using that.
ih you have yet to get a gps have a look at the e-map it is very good.

 

You can use MS Streets to post your waypoints? I have it and if so, I can use it. How can you do it? That would be sweet if you could. Can I use it for my ETrex? :fireman: