Author Topic: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range  (Read 8599 times)

marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #25 on: 06 July, 2015, 07:35:22 am »
eTrex 30x compared with eTrex Touch 35...
https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/catalog/product/compareResult.ep?compareProduct=156873&compareProduct=518048

I'm not impressed with the eTrex Touch 35.

Wow - that looks interesting.  Sort of a Edge Touring, but with AA batteries (as it should have had in the first place). 
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #26 on: 06 July, 2015, 10:05:45 am »
Garmin Touch 35.

“eTrex Touch works like an in-car sat nav”
“And the maps can be updated at no additional cost.”


At last. They’ve eventually caught up with TomTom Urban rider. Four years late.

Add one to my Birthday present list.  ;D :thumbsup:

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #27 on: 06 July, 2015, 12:48:47 pm »
They seem to have gone with a traditional TFT, rather than the transmissive/reflective ones used by most of the eTrexes.  Presumably that means you need the backlight running at full power to read it in daylight, which would explain the massive reduction in battery life.

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #28 on: 06 July, 2015, 01:02:08 pm »
They seem to have gone with a traditional TFT, rather than the transmissive/reflective ones used by most of the eTrexes.  Presumably that means you need the backlight running at full power to read it in daylight, which would explain the massive reduction in battery life.
Manufacturer quoted battery life is normally taken with the screen backlight at some fairly minimal level. I see no reason why Garmin should be different, so I'd expect battery life to be even worse in real life.

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #29 on: 09 July, 2015, 12:20:35 pm »
Should any owners of no longer functioning HCx models be wanting to update at minimal cost:

Get on to Garmin Support - try to get your HCx 'repaired'

The online system will tell you repair cost of £28 but at the end of various pages (including CC details) won't give you an RMA number, but if you are prepared to hang to the (free) phone line and give the nice man who eventually answers the phone the serial number of your device (sticker inside battery compartment) and ask him for an RMA number to send it in for a repair he'll say yes, just a moment, go away for a while and then come back & say oops they cant do that any more on the old models but would you like a nice shiny new Etrex 20 for that same 'repair' cost of £28.

You still have to send your old HCx in with the RMA number he gives you.

I've just been through this... than as my old Vista HCx is an old and for a long time faithful companion I decided to give it one last chance... and would you believe, it now works !

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
    • Fuchsiaphile
Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #30 on: 09 July, 2015, 10:24:31 pm »
IMO a working HCx is preferable to a E20/30.  :thumbsup:

That said, our stable of 4x HCx's (1 each plus 2 spares) are getting a bit flakey now and I think next year we'll have to move on to the newer models.  One thing we won't ever be doing though is buying an Edge!   ;D
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #31 on: 10 July, 2015, 06:45:24 am »
They seem to have gone with a traditional TFT, rather than the transmissive/reflective ones used by most of the eTrexes.  Presumably that means you need the backlight running at full power to read it in daylight, which would explain the massive reduction in battery life.

TT Urban rider is touchscreen. Dunno what variety but I need the backlight on about 40% to see anything in daylight. 20% in the nightime country lanes.
Battery life is about 7 1/2 hours with 40% backlight and goes up to over 8 if I ride a 160 without backlight.

The touchsceen works best if I cut my right index fingernail to a point. Only 1/8" mind, not a claw  ;D

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #32 on: 10 July, 2015, 11:52:51 am »
That's a point.  Presumably this is a resistive touchscreen (like Ningishzidda's TomTom).  Capacitive touchscreens tend not to work very well when covered in rain...

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #33 on: 11 July, 2015, 08:51:35 pm »
Beware touchscreens.

DO NOT use any stylus that has a higher Mohs scale than the plastic the screen is covered with.

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #34 on: 22 January, 2016, 12:21:43 pm »
Anyone have a etrex 35 they've used on long events yet?

I like the LiveTrack idea - but the reduced battery life, and TFT screen make me wonder if the 30x isn't still a more practical unit for long events. Especially with the "fiddle factor" of a touch screen in wet weather too.
The other Robw, not the wobbly one

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #35 on: 09 February, 2016, 01:58:32 pm »
ETrex 20x

Just did a 200 Audax last weekend. Downloaded route etc everything went fine. Easy to follow.
However.......:), with "Proximity alarm" turned on, it didn't beep at incoming turns and the like.
Any ideas? Is it meant to? Have I not clicked a certain setting?
Cheers.

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #36 on: 09 February, 2016, 02:22:14 pm »
ETrex 20x

Just did a 200 Audax last weekend. Downloaded route etc everything went fine. Easy to follow.
However.......:), with "Proximity alarm" turned on, it didn't beep at incoming turns and the like.
Any ideas? Is it meant to? Have I not clicked a certain setting?
Cheers.

I haven't used Proximity Alarms - but I think they sound when you get near to a waypoint of a certain type

Turn-by-turn type alarms will only happen if you are following a Route - they won't sound if you are using a Track which you are following manually on-screen. Personally, I don't like using Routes - there's too much potential for it to auto-route you somewhere different, and I think it's limited to around 50 routing points (used to be anyhow). Whereas a track can have many more via points, and what you get on screen is exactly what was in your GPX.

I've been tempted to try proximity alarms to warn me when approaching controls or other places I may want to stop. Might given them a try on my upcoming 300 in fact.
The other Robw, not the wobbly one

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #37 on: 09 February, 2016, 02:31:29 pm »
OK thanks, so it's the route/track story. I'm assuming then that I downloaded a gpx track for the Audax.

Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #38 on: 09 February, 2016, 02:33:33 pm »
No.....just checked. It was a RidewithGPS route.

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
    • Fuchsiaphile
Re: 30x /20x Update to the eTrex range
« Reply #39 on: 09 February, 2016, 02:41:29 pm »
Proximity alarms are useful for reminding of up-coming info controls, but they don't have any more general usefulness.  You have to set them up individually.  And they may be limited in number too - older Etrexes were limited to just 10 proximity points - I don't know about the 30 or 30x.  Bleeps to mark turns are just a general feature of navigating a Route and shouldn't need to be set up in any way - though a lot of people have commented that the feature doesn't seen to work very well in the Etrex 20/30, and certainly not well if at all, when navigating (using Where To) a Track.

Downloaded files for audax - I would always assume it is a Track file unless instructed otherwise.  The problem with sites like RWGPS is that you are given options to download either - but all that is is RWGPS doing a crude 'conversion' between the formats - you can easily download in a format which is not what was intended.  Many other planners are the same - not only RWGPS.

Some FUD about the use of Routes up-thread - all you have to do is opt not to auto-route and none of the misgivings apply - you don't get led astray and you have 250 points.

To address the subject line - I recently bought a 30x and the display is markedly better than the 30, sharper and crisper and easier on the eye, a very worth-while improvement.  In other respects I don't see much difference.
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll