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The Garmin i3

My first navigation system ever. I bought it because of the form factor and the price of 200€. In a not eraseable memory is a map of Germany and the Czech Republic. Data can be input via one rocker wheel with press function and two extra buttons. This works perfectly and if you don't have high expectations on a navigation system the i3 is THE system for you. If it would not be very outdated ;)

But I have the device still in use. I made a map update and got MapSource with complete Europe. Not just an update for the internal Germany and Czech Maps. But I had to buy a micro-SD-Card and disable the internal maps. No problem.

The Garmin Foretrex 101

My second navigation system. I have the Garmin Foretrex 101 since August 2006 and I am very content with this device. I bought it, because it was on offer in SportScheck for approx. 130€.

I wanted the 101 because of the size, the price and the replaceable batteries. I wanted to explore the possibilities of GPS apart from pure car navigation. It took approx. one year to learn everything you can do, find the tools, websites, connect to the PC and transfer tracks to the to the 101.

Although the display is very rudimentary (no mapping) it worked good. Find tracks via gpsies.de, adjust them if needed, cut them to 500 points and transfer them to the Foretrex. Then you have a big fat line on the display and if you set the zoom to 80-120m you can follow this line easily. But it's better not to hit a detour, because then you are lost.

The chipset of the 101 is kind of old. The reception is weak in comparison with modern devices. This was annoying sometimes. Geocaches with finals in a forest were very difficult to find. Also I was missing a way to scroll and zoom around and to enter more than six letters for a waypoint. But overall I was very content with this device, as I said. The Foretrex has lost one rubber knob which I could replace very quick with a tight folded paper and some gaffa tape.

The Garmin Foretrex 401

I was very curious when Garmin introduced the Foretrex 401, the successor to the 101 and 201 series and ordered one right away. The highlights:

• USB-Interface instead of serial port (Finally!)
• You can enter more than 6 letters as waypoints. Fits the notation of geocaching.com (GCnnnnnn).
• Sirfstar III Chipset. Better reception than the 101.
• A barometric Altimeter. Not just a GPS altimeter like the 101.
• A real magnetic compass. Not only a GPS compass like the 101.
• It is now possible to zoom a track while navigating.
• Slightly smaller size of the case. The display has the same size like the 101.
• Works still on two AAA-cells.

So Garmin has adressed most of my issues with the 101. The reception of the chipset was really good, I could use the device indoors as well (near to a window, of course) when I wanted to play around. The "feel" was more quick and responsive than the 101. And although you get for the money nearly a full fledged GPSMap60CSX, the 401 is very small, looks like a big watch, which is a big advantage for the inconspicuous geocacher. But I sent the device back, because I thought about it and wanted a device with a map.

The Garmin Dakota 20

This was a hard fight. A friend of mine has a GPSMap60GSX, which gets very high credit at amazon. Especially the bright display. But the friendly review-writing folks were not very content with the display of the Dakota and Oregon-Series from Garmin. At least if you compare these displays with the 60CSX. But I gave it a try and ordered a Dakota 20.

It's ok. In bright sunlight there is no problem to read the display on the Dakota 20. In a forest you may always turn on the backlight. The look and feel is good, the device is much more responsive than the 60CSX, so I'm happy I did not bought this. Although oriented on the iPhone, the typical scrolling and the quality of the screen is in no way comparable.

I use a compiled Open Street Map for Garmin. In this map you can not search for cities and streets, because (like I understood) the file format from garmin is not yet full reverse engineered and the people from OpenStreetMap just don't know how to put in the data. Apart from this these maps are very detailed.

The touchscreen is ok. I often hit keys I don't want to hit. But it's better than the two buttons on the 101.

Meine Tracks bei GPSies.de