Best GPS System

Garmin Foretrex 301 Waterproof Hiking GPS

$135.59

User Reviews about Garmin Foretrex 301 Waterproof Hiking GPS

This is a great device. Purchased and then immediately used on a 4 day backpacking trip. The PITA (abbreviation for Pain in __ __) part of it is turning the tracking on or off. It's buried within the menus. So to save battery (because we all want to carry a bunch of batteries backpacking...) I would turn this feature off when we break for lunch/etc. The end result of the tracking though is stunning. Upload to google earth and you can see 3d of where exactly you were. Pretty slick. The file this outputs is a .gpx, which you can upload to some sites on the web and get all kinds of statistics, like time climbing, total distance, etc. The screen on the device is customizable with a selection of available variables. I found these usefull all on the same screen for backpacking: sunset time, time to next waypoint, and elapsed distance. This way we could approximate how long we had until sundown (a very accurate feature) and how far we were from where we wanted to go. Also note you can turn this on at home, and enter coordinates using the buttons for waypoints ahead of time before you go on a trip, but you cannot "upload a file" to it with waypoints you want. You have to do it manually. Overall, a pretty capable little device for a great price. Also, it takes a beating, mine is a little beat from the trip I took, but the rubber and plastic body is plenty tough. Recommend it. -- Good, takes a beating

I love the ease of a wrist GPS when hiking. I had the Garmin 101 and lost it somewhere between Oregon and Texas. Naturally I replaced it with the updated version which is grand and waterproof and works well. My biggest problem is that it does not come with the rechargeable battery. You have to buy batteries for it and I bought the Sony rechargeables. They work well and lasted for a 4 hour trip and some to spare, but I miss my 14 hr charge on the old 101. Otherwise, good product, and it catches satellites faster and can be used in the kayak. -- Garmin 301 Foretrex

Bought this under the impression that it like all the other 300 or higher series Garmin devices could use ANT+ devises. Other than that the device works great, very quick satilite aquisition long battery life, easy to repower with standard batterys, light wieght and small. I will get a lot of use from this just not on my bicycle. Did not come with software to manage waypoints. -- this 300 series device does not do ANT

I had the Garmin Foretrex 101 and it worked great until it got stolen. I have the 301 now and it works just as well. The only problem I had with the 101 was the strap. It was held onto the GPS unit with crappy watch pins. I'm in the military, so if you have to put a heavy ruck on and off quickly, and you get the ruck strap caught on the GPS, the unit would pop off the strap. Then, you are trying to find a tiny watch pin with NVGs on a mountain. Also, the strap that comes with it is just a bit too short, but the extension strap makes it too long. WTF?! It will barely fit on your wrist with nothing under it, but if you have a uniform on (ACU/BDU) you will have to use the extender and then it's too long and will move around.

For the 301 there is a better design to hold the strap onto the GPS. It uses screw in pins, so I think that problem is fixed and it shouldn't pop off. However, the strap length is still too short or too long. I am going to just buy a case where you can take the GPS and put it inside of a clear case and that has a Velcro strap.

I used the 101 on every mission in Afghanistan and it was really great to get quick grids of your location. Projecting points on the 101 and the 301 isn't that easy though. You can only choose distances at 100 meter intervals, so that's as accurate of grid as you will get. It's also not very easy to navigate the menu to get at the project waypoint screen. I just used it to quickly find out where I was, and for that it was fantastical.

The sensitivity of the receiver is awesome. You can pick up signals when it's sitting on the passenger seat of your car or when your in the woods walking. I ride mountain bike, and it seemed to work OK when I was under moderate cover at all speeds. When you get into really thick cover and you are going pretty fast the accuracy degrades a little, but it still tracks satellites. Your speed won't be that accurate though.

Hooking it upto a computer is easy too. It just loads as a USB mass storage device, so you don't need serial ports anymore. For military, I'm not sure if it will still be compatible with moving map on Falconview, haven't tried it.

I definitely recommend this. The only problem is the crappy strap that's not meant for human-sized wrists. On a bike mount, in a different case or attached to your body armor or whatever it's awesome. -- You'll do...

Very happy with this little guy. I chose the 301 over the 401 because I wanted to track things based on GPS altitude and NOT barometric altitude. Specific example: pressurized aircraft cabins will not read correct altitude on the 401 because it's barometric... the GPS readings are slightly less accurate but ideal for what I needed.

There are lots of free software tools that read the GPX format that this device uses. You can also edit the onboard .gpx file directly if you really know what you're doing, which is very nice for bulk imports, etc. Just copy a valid .gpx file into the "GPX" folder (one level ABOVE the one that you download in the first place).

The GPS receiver is much, much more sensitive than earlier generations. It locks on to satellites in much less time, holds the signal better, and works through more overhead cover. This does NOT mean that you can take it into a cave and get a signal, nor will it work in the center of a widebody airliner... but it's still much better than anything else I've tried.

The logging and interface are a little cumbersome, but that's the tradeoff for making something this small and rugged (there are only four control buttons plus the one power button).

All in all, I've been exceptionally happy with mine. -- extremely good for size and cost