etrex Legend

[Chillybilly]

My wife bought me the etrex Legend Canadian Tracker package for Xmas:biggrin:. My question is, has any one had any experience using this one in the bush? If so ,how was the reception? How would it compare to the Legend HCX model? I am thinking of up grading to that model if necessary.

[husky30-06]

I personnally use the legend-Basic for all my outdoor activities. It is quite good in the bush, and have had really no big complaints. I will be upgrading to the HC, only because the display on mine has started to go all gimpy (over two years old) good excuse to buy it, as mine came from my wife also. I found that in the heavy timber it can be spotty but as soon as you get view of the sky it grabs the signal quick. Over the past hunting season, I used it twice to run down a monster buck cross country, i never really lost signal and it was pretty tight brush and canopy. If you are starting out GPS'n on this unit, it would be the best one by far. all the guys in our hunting party are getting these to start out with, i will be giving an instructional day in the summer for them.

[Chillybilly]

Thanks Husky. I think I will stick with this one as I am new to this type of GPS"n. I like the fact it came with the topo maps and I could use that later if I want an upgrade.

[husky30-06]

ya it is the best to start off with, where are you located? Are you interested in a practice day with us in the spring or summer
?

[husky30-06]

send me a PM any time, I also will try to get out this winter for some snowshoeing if you are interested. We could use the GPS' at that time.

[Chillybilly]

I'm in Chilliwack, a few hours away. Let me know when your are going in the spring. Give me an excuse to go Wholesale Sports!

[husky30-06]

the guys that i hunt with are from the coast, i will let you know if or when they are coming up. play with it around chilliwack and see how everything works including the track back. that is going to be the one tool you should become proficiant at.

[Ddog]

i have had the legend for a year now and i love it, i wont hunt or hike without it now, (not sure if thats a good thing ) I always have the instructions and an extra few batteries with it wherever i go.

[husky30-06]

i have had the legend for a year now and i love it, i wont hunt or hike without it now, (not sure if thats a good thing ) I always have the instructions and an extra few batteries with it wherever i go.

all our sar members were required to be able to use a standard compass also, some areas up in the interior a compass can spin wild or give bad readings. so to use both and a map is good practice.

[ElectricDyck]

I got mine from airmiles and love it for a "free" gps.

The 8mb of memory sucks, I have to specifically download topos of the area I'm going to. I lose signal under almost any tree cover, a little bit dissapointing.

It's my first gps and I have used it to navigate lakes in the dark and find my way back to camp in the dark once, very helpful. If I were to spend my own money I would get something with expandable memory and a better antena.

[Chillybilly]

Electric how big an area can you download? How bad was the reception in timber? Most of my hunting covers timbered area, so this is an important fact for me. I have not opened the box yet, still time to upgrade!
Thanks Chilly

[ElectricDyck]

I can fit about 100 square kms of data at max detail. I lose signal in trees even when I can see the sky through the tree tops in clearings. Apparently the better ones have stronger antenas that work under most tree cover and you can get a 2gb memory card and just download all the data for all of bc. I would take it back and get a new one. The topos are available online for free as well.

[jrjonesy]

Topos are available online for free??? Where?

[martyonthewater]

I just returned mine to upgrade to the HCX model and a google search turned up quite a few sights offering free this or that -mostly product support and software conflict fixes, can't say I found a single free topo source though. I have to wait another week for my new unit to arrive as they were out of stock but I'm curious what the base maps will include?

[Kody94]

I have used an Etrex Legend for years now. Served me very well, and always loved it. Just upgraded this fall to the Garmin 60CSx, however. Makes a HUGE difference in the timber. Heck, I can even leave the new one in my pack and maintain communication with sattelites.

I say go for the upgrade.

[ElectricDyck]

Topos are available online for free??? Where?

Sent some pms.

[Mauser98]

I've used a Legend for two years on various hunting trips and have found it to be a quite suitable. It is small and compact and I liked the controls(especially the joystick). It's downside is is poor reception under a canopy and its lack of internal(and non-expandable) memory.

I recently took advantage of a killer deal at Canadian Tire and bought a Garmin GPSMap 60CX for $250.00 and a 2 gig micro SD card.:smile:

As for free up-loadable Canadian topo maps, go to http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/ . I downloaded the ISO version the used ImgBurn( http://www.imgburn.com/ ) to burn a DVD version.

These are excellent NTG maps that are fully compatible with Mapsource and Garmin GPS's. I've but these maps on my Legend and my 60CX with nary a cliche. On my 60Cx I've loaded all of the Garmin maps for British Columbia and the Ibycus maps for BC, Alta, Sask and parts of the Yukon.

To use the Ibycus maps, Mapsource must be installed on the computer before installing the maps. I don't know if older versions of Mapsource are compatible with the maps - I've got the most recent version.

[Chillybilly]

Well after much debate at my house I convinced the wife to let me upgrade to the Legend HCX! I am looking at this morning. It actually gets satellite reception in the house. Let the learning process begin. Thansk for all the help guys.
Chilly

[martyonthewater]

went to CT yesterday to see if my new toy was in yet. nope. gotta wait till jan. 19th. thanks to ED for the pm