What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Master,

which etrex do you have?

 

[MASTER Brian]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

I have the Etrex Legend.

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Master,

how does it work with your humminbird finder? What does it do?

 

[eurolarva]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

A big disadvantage to the H2OC (color) versus the H20 is battery consumption. I have gotten 12 hours on a set of AA batteries on my H20 where about 4 hours is the best you will do with the color system. H2O has a card slot however does not come with an SD card. You would need to buy a program like Mapcreate to use this function. From my readings H2O has a much easier screen to read then Etrex as well. If you add the 40 dollars onto the etrex for the cig adaptor the price becomes a lot more comparable.

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Really, 4 hours with the color screen? That is disappointing, but thank-you for the information.

Patrick

 

[tommays]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Color and the backlight use BIg amounts of power generaly you can adjust the backlight to a lower setting and get a lot more run time on anything with a screen


Tommays

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

That's too bad, because in order to get a 16 channel gps, you have to get color. I wish they made one with no color....LOL!

Patrick

 

[Boatist]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

I do not see the 16 channels instead of 12 channels making any difference at all.

It takes 3 satellites to find a position, Latitude and Longitude.

It takes 4 Satellites to get a 3 D position which includes elevation.

Garmin if you have WAAS enabled saves 2 positions for WAAS Birds.

This leaves 6 Channels to find other Satellites in a position to be usefull in navigition.

Since there are only 24 active Satellites total and they are spaced pretty even around the globe there is no way you will see more than 12. 6 to 8 is more common to be seen.

Places where you loose Satellites reception is usually in a cayon where you can not see anywhere near the horzion. Also in a car where can only receive out the windows. Since the unit will use the strongest satellites 12 channels or 10 with WAAS enabled is more than enough to tune the channel in view.
Hiking in the deep woods with unit on your belt your body will block half of the sky and again you will have plenty of channels to tune the other half of the sky.

In the woods where satellites are being filtered by trees then sensitivity is more important than the number of channels.


Today I went to a west marine store that had both the Garmin GpsMap 76CS and the Lowrance H2O C. The H2O C was almost TWICE as bright as the 76CS.

BASE MAPS I checked the area I know very well. The Lowrance H2O C had much more shore detail than the Garmin. Ran over the same Buoys with the Cursors,

Garmin Said olny
R FL 6 S

Lowrance Said
R "12"
FL R 6 S
WHIS
Bodega Head LWB
12

This Buoy is one of the main guide buoys for entering Bodega Bay. It is about 1 mile west of bodega head. It number is buoy 12 RED light that flash at 6 second intervales and has a wave powered whistle. Comon name in the Area is the Whistle Buoy.

Up in Bodega Harbor there are over 52 Buoys

Garmin Gpsmap 76CS showed these as
"R on pole" Or
"G on pole"
ones with light were labeled the same.

Lowrance H2O C showed these as
R "22"
Bodega HBR CH DBN
22


R "24"
Bodega HBR CH LT
24

All these buoys are on a pole stuck in the mud with either a day Bekon or a light. Basicly the same as you would see on the chart.

The area is know for supper thick FOG Every morning and at night. The channel is about 60 feet wide and the sets of buoys about 100 yards apart.

Comeing in if it is foggy you follow the channel closely and the boat ramp I use you turn to port at 90 degrees when even with buoy 26. Then straight for about 60 yards to the ramp. Numbers on the buoys are very important as neither base maps shows the channel to the boat ramp or the ramp.

Anyway at least this one area I know very well the base map on the Lowrance H2O C has twice as much information as the Garmin GpsMap 76CS.

If you would want to see the area I am talking about it is at
38 19.370N by 123 03.121W

 

[gss036]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Patrick, I would agree with Boatis on his points, but I will add, that being so far north, I doubt seriously if you will be able to get WAAS birds as the only one I am aware of is in the southern hemisphere. I rarely get it here in the SanJuans ( Garmin 176C), probably because of the tall islands. I just installed an antenna on my Eagle Matrix, but haven't had it out of the barn yet as our weather is so miserable. I would hope that there would be more forth coming in the near future. I still rely on my old Loran if I want an exact spot of a penicle or somewhere w/tight space.

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

...very interesting guys,

thanks for the in depth detail....Hmmmmmm

Patrick d

 

[Boatist]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Gss036
All WAAS Satellites are Geostationary. To be Geostationary they must be over the EQUATOR so 0 degrees latitude. Also to be geostationary they muse be in high earth orbit, 36000 miles up. Alaska is in view but ofcourse low on the horizon. This is where the external antenna really helps.

There getting to be more WAAS Satellites and they have move many around for better coverage. AT my location 38 N Lat by 122 W long they use to be low on the horizon but now have 2 above 45 degrees.

I have no idea where the San Juans is on earth but here is the number and location of the WAAS Satellites I know of. This may help. All must be over the Equator

#47 178 degrees East POR Pacific ocean region
#35 142 degrees West AOR-W Atlantic ocean West Moved to pacific ocean

#48 133 degrees West Panam Pacific ocean
#51 107 degrees West ANIK Pacific ocean

#34 53 degrees West Inmarsat Atlantic ocean
#33 15 degrees West AOR-E Atlantic ocean region east West of Africia

#39 64 degrees East IOR-W Indian Ocean

I also use Loran C as my main navigation but do have GPS also. Loran C very good at going back to the same waypoint. GPS will be more accurate to go to a new location the first time.

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Thanks for the added information boatist!

Patrick

 

[gss036]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Boatist, thanks for the info, that is new to me. Last I had heard, there was only one, I knew eventually there would be more.
I need to mount my new Humminbird GPS antenna, but should work just laying on the dash for tomorrow. I already have 3 antenna's on my 23WA, so am at a loss as to where to put it so it is out of the way.
I think I am going out tomorrow. we have a decent forcast between wind and rain storms.
The SanJuan Islands are right on the U. S./ Canadian (Gulf Islands) border, north Of Seattle. I guessestimate that there are 3-4000 islands in the 2 chains that run all the way to Alaska.

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

I don't know I mean I have read reviews where gps units that have more channels will outperform ones with not as many channels.....anywho...LOL!

Patrick

 

[Boatist]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

gss036
While your out move your antenna around and look for Satellite #48 and #35. Alaska can now see these Satellites. They have a ground WAAS reference station in Barrows Alaska.

From your information San Juan's would be between 128 and 136 degrees west Longitude. External antenna is much better for picking up WAAS Satellites because it can be mounted where boat structure and humman body do not block it view of the horzion. At 38 degrees north Latitude and 123 degrees west Longitude WAAS #48 at 133 West longitude is more than 45 degrees above the horzion. From you location I would think you are between 48 and 58 degrees North Latitude. I feel you should be able to see #48 very easy. There is a web site that you can put in your latitude and longtitude and it will tell you your azimuth. If I can find it I will put in the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Area_Augmentation_System

 

[Boatist]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Patrick
You are right there may be a time when extra channel may allow you to lock on to one more Satellite but I belive the times are Rare.

Back when we had one channel receiver and tuned to different satellites and later when they went to 3 channel GPS recievers adding more channel was a big help.

Today even most very high priced GPS units usually have 12 channels. Next time you have your GPS out go to the Satellite page and see how many are locked on and being used.

 

[gss036]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Boatist, just got back in a couple hours ago, cool overcast day. I was able to see two WAAS birds on my Garmin. The Garmin was giving me a little trouble (kept turing itself off) early on this morning , but did ok in the afternoon.
The Humminbird works great, but still have not figured out all the menus yet. Did not see the satellite page. It is 16 channel and WAAS capable so I presume it (WAAS) was on. Maybe will have time to play with it tomorrow in the driveway, but it is suppose to blow and rain again.
I guess we kind of hijacked this thread, but about the same subject. Please forgive me.

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

That is okay because it has something to do with the topic...LOL! Thanks guys!

Patrick

 

[MASTER Brian]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

Master,

how does it work with your humminbird finder? What does it do?

I haven't had it out on the water since I got the cable, but it add's the time, speed, and charting capabilities onto the humminbird. There may be a few other things, but I haven't had much time to play with it yet. I'm hoping to get my boat out for the 1st time this year today and if I get a chance to play with all this much I'll try to post my findings.

Sorry for taking so long to reply, for some reason, this stop emailing me when responses were posted.

 

[Saskatoon2005]

Re: What can you tell me about the Garmin E-trex Legend?

That's okay, I kinda forgot I asked but, I am interested in how it hooks up to your fishfinder and what it actually does, so keep posting on here and I always check on my posts....

Patrick