Garmin GPS receiver

Advantages Small, Brightly Coloured, Splash-proof
Disadvantages Limited functionality, memory

...Sattelite navigation? in the palm of your hand? surely not! Only two years ago your scepticism would have been justified, but technology has advanced rapidly during that time and it is now possible to get a range of gps devices at a much more reasonable price. This particluar review is (obviously) on the Garmin eTrex hand-held gps receiver, the cheapest in the eTrex family and a device aimed at the active outdoors type of a person. But first things first... what is GPS? it stands for global positioning system and at it's simplest can be thought of as an array of satellites circling the earth, each sending out a time signal. GPS receivers pick up these signals and, from the difference between the times in the signal from different satellites, works out where on earth you are (literally). GPS is surpsiingly accurate, down... Read review

Advantages Nice/Small/Portable
Disadvantages Not detailed mapping

...This unit is for the person who likes to go walking. You can store waypoints such as, where you parked, camped and pubs etc. You can name the waypoints and see where you are in relation to any of them. The unit will not give you any road mapping detail so it is not really designed for road navigation. Although should you have a laptop you can get this for about £120 and a data cable for around £30 and then use something such as auto route to have street level navigation. Software used on the laptop would depend on how useful and detailed that type of navigation would be. But you can use this as just the reciever unit for the GPS signal at a very affordable price. The unit is limited in that it can only have one route on it at a time but you can have multiple way points within that route. You can reverse a route at the click... Read review

Advantages Handy for when we get lost
Disadvantages We keep needing new batteries

...My boyfriend and i use the Garmin eTrex when we go mountain biking, and its definitely solved a few disagreements where locations and distances are concerned!!! (you know what men can be like!) Its a tough little thing, as its been dropped a few times to say the least, and with a case, it's nicely waterproof (as we found out!). The only things i could say that are wrong with the eTrex are the colour (but thats down to personal preference) and the battery life. We found buying rechargable units saved us lots of cash!! The price isn't great (£100 - £120), but in these times, you have to pay for quality, and thats exactly what you get here. Would definitely recommend to hikers/walkers, bikers and those who want to use it almost like a Sat Nav when they are driving!!... Read review