Shopping CartGarmin eTrex Summit HC Handheld GPS Receiver
date : October 25th, 2011Handheld GPS
Review : 3 Reviews
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List Price : $ 249.99
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Tags : eTrex, Garmin, Handheld, Receiver, Summit
Features For Garmin eTrex Summit HC Handheld GPS Receiver
- High-Sensitivity, WAAS-Enabled GPS Receiver Provides Peak Performance In Any Environment
- Built-In Basemap Includes Lakes, Rivers, Cities, Interstates, National & State Highways, Railroads & Coastlines
- Barometric Altimeter & Electronic Compass
- Usb Compatible For High-Speed Map Downloads
- Features A 1.7-InchH X 1.3-InchW Screen With 256-Level Color Tft
Description For Garmin eTrex Summit HC Handheld GPS Receiver
GARMIN eTrex Summit HC Hand Held Receiver w/ Built in GPS Patch Antenna. New high sensitivity GPS receiver. 24 Mbyte of internal memory for storing detailed maps. WAAS enabled, 12 parallel channel GPS receiver. Built in GPS patch antenna. Display: 1.3 in W x 1.7 in H, 256 color, high resolution, transflective TFT /176 x 220 pixels.Electronic compass displays accurate heading while standing still. Barometric altimeter with automatic pressure trend recording. LED backlit display and keypad. Battery life: up to 32 hours typical use using two AA alkaline batteries.Includes a built in Americas autoroute basemap with automatic routing capabilities including highways, exits and tide data /USA only. 500 user waypoints with name and graphic symbol; 20 reversible routes, 50 points per route. Position formats include Lat/Lon, UTM, Loran TDs, Maidenhead, MGRS, user grid, and more. Audible alarms for anchor drag, arrival, off course and clock. Large numbers option for easy viewing, dual position di
List Price: $ 249.99
Price: $ 249.99
Decent, but Expected More,
I bought this unit for use on hikes, bike rides, and other similar outdoor activities. I’ve had it for a few months now, and overall, I’m only somewhat satisfied. Here’s a list of pros and cons that have stuck with me so far:
Pros:
-easy to read/see color screen (even in bright sunlight)
-highly customizable screens (types and amount of data shown on each screen)
-fairly easy to learn and operate
-many features, including barometric altimeter and electronic compass
Now, the cons to this product may not be specific to this unit. It may be more a function of the limitations of GPS:
-inaccurate (sometimes highly) “tracking” of horizontal position or trail actually traveled (I’ve compared to trail maps and Google Earth visible trails, and some of my tracks are inexplicably way off)
-inaccurate barometric altimeter (sometimes hundreds of feet off. I’ve turned it on, and had elevation readings of -200 feet!!) which must be constantly calibrated. Also, if you calibrate at the bottom of a climb, by the time you reach the summit, it may be over 100′ off.
-very inaccurate odometer data, and inconsistencies in the data. For example, I recently hiked Half Dome, which is 4800′ vertical gain…this unit only registered 1500′ total ascent, but the begin elevation and end elevation shown were well over 1500′ different. Also, on the same Half Dome hike, the odometer read 5 miles hiked, but the track total registered a more accurate 8.3 miles.
-very “stiff” buttons.
Again, the inaccuracy may be a function of the limitations of GPS, but the odometer inaccuracies in terms of total distance, total ascent, descent, etc. was disppointing. Perhaps Garmin needs to come up with another way of calculating these values. I think a lot of these values are calculated using current horizontal and vertical velocity, which may be inaccurate at any given moment. With inconsistencies at any given moment, it is difficult for the unit to calculate the actual horizontal and vertical distance traveled.
In any case, overall, I would recommend this product for simple trail and waypoint marking. But it should be understood you will only get “general” information, and not anything resembling very accurate data.
**EDIT** Garmin released a firmware patch in Feb of ’08, and it has really helped with the accuracy of certain data. The total ascent data is much more accurate now, often within 100′ of actual climbed distance (that may not seem so great, but it was horrible before). Also, the distance measurements are better. When I save a track, the distance per the track is much more close to the odometer reading, usually within a mile for a 10-15 mile hike (which again, is just ok, but better than before).
Overall, the unit does seem to be more accurate in all ways now, perhaps due in part to this firmware update. Also, tracks seem to be more accurate in terms of comparing visually to maps. I’m more happy with the unit now, and would probably give it 4 stars if I reviewed it today.
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|Garmin eTrex Summit HC Hand Held Receiver with Built in GPS Patch Antenna,
Product Hardware: 9/10
User Interface : 9/10
Scale-ability : 7/10 (No Memory card Slot)
Precision : 6-11 mts in normal conditions.
Supplied Software and MAP: 9.5/10
Overall : Justifies the cost paid.
Other Advantages:
Power Supply: The best part is that it is powered by 2 AA cells which can be obtained anywhere. We can use chargeable cells.
Electronic Compass: Though does not function well, when unit is stationary, but extreamy helpful. You don’t have to carry a compass.
Altimeter: Very good feature. I found it pretty accurate.
Final Reccomendation: Go for a slight higher range model which has SD card slot. For daily users, this model is more than sufficient.
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|Garmin Summit is great,
In the summer I spend a lot of time on my horse in the Colorado Wilderness Areas. And yes, I have a way of mounting the GPS unit on the dashboard of my gelding. After 4 years hard service, my Garmin Legend quit. Improvements I found in my new Summit are impressive: color, faster satellite acquisition, and map orientation that matches the orientation of the unit. This last is possible only in the Summit which has the electronic compass lacking in other GPS models from Garmin. The commands are more intuitive and it works better in timber. With the new cable and drivers that came with the Summit, I was able to use my old MapSource CD to load contours.
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