I'm in the market for a cheap and simple GPS navigator.

Saw and add for Garmin etrex H GPS in my newspaper and thought great!

It shows current direction on a compass display, good, I need that.

It shows current speed, good, I need that.

It has waypoint/route functionality, good I don't need that.

It has backtrack/go home sleep functionality, good, I don't need that.

But, I need to know my current position.

Can this device actually show frequently updated current position? in degrees/minutes?

I've searched the www sites of Garmin, the www sites of a number of local shops,

I'v seed an 8 minute demonstration video on Youtube.

The all show a lot of fancy screens and a lot of fancy functionality but I can not find one single

picture that actually show current position in degrees/minutes.

So to those of you who might have one of these devices,

does it have a display that shows position?

If I could have speed/direction and position in the same display that would be all I need.

From the user manual on garmin's website page 24, Units page, it talks about postion format & using a map in conjunction with the etrex H, so I would think it displays this most fundamental readout for a handheld gps. Wouldn't be much use if it didn't.

Better off with an Android phone with GPS.

From the user manual on garmin's website page 24, Units page, it talks about postion format & using a map in conjunction with the etrex H, so I would think it displays this most fundamental readout for a handheld gps. Wouldn't be much use if it didn't.

should think so, but I'm not convinced since I cannot locate such a display

it can always be used for backtracking home to sleep

Better off with an Android phone with GPS.

hardly, don't need any ringing/speaking GPS, and they ain't waterproof

From a review on Amazon.com

"Pros: light, small, fast to fix

Cons: No screen to display current position...that's a must have feature.

Best to get the next model "up"

The only way to know your current position is to make it a waypoint

(storage of which is then optional)"

double post

Edited March 5, 201214 yr by MESmith

I have an Etrex Legend Cx which is a couple steps up from the basic model. When I use the find button and select a waypoint, it gives the coordinates under the selected waypoint. Since the waypoints are based on the coordinates, I'm sure there is a way to display the coordinates for all the waypoints.

From a review on Amazon.com

"Pros: light, small, fast to fix

Cons: No screen to display current position...that's a must have feature.

Best to get the next model "up"

The only way to know your current position is to make it a waypoint

(storage of which is then optional)"

thanks, suspected that,

must look for another model then

weird though, developing a gps navigator that cannot continuosly show your position

From a review on Amazon.com

"Pros: light, small, fast to fix

Cons: No screen to display current position...that's a must have feature.

Best to get the next model "up"

The only way to know your current position is to make it a waypoint

(storage of which is then optional)"

thanks, suspected that,

must look for another model then

weird though, developing a gps navigator that cannot continuosly show your position

It does show your position, that's the whole point in a GPS, just not in the format you want. I would also not get to excited about Garmin's weather proofing as those rubber seals soon break away or off from wear & tear and UV light.

Perhaps consider getting a GPS with a decent display showing a map and use a weatherproof case. I find a strip sealed plastic bag costing next to nothing does me for my Android. In the old days we all used to look at lat/longs on a screen because the GPS screens weren't capable of showing a decent map (a lot of Garmins still cannot with their cheap screens such as the EtrexH) and then transcribing that lat/long onto some other map, but nowadays an all in one map on screen does away with need for a lat/long output which are just numbers and not much use to most users, though a few may need them.

From a review on Amazon.com

"Pros: light, small, fast to fix

Cons: No screen to display current position...that's a must have feature.

Best to get the next model "up"

The only way to know your current position is to make it a waypoint

(storage of which is then optional)"

thanks, suspected that,

must look for another model then

weird though, developing a gps navigator that cannot continuosly show your position

It does show your position, that's the whole point in a GPS, just not in the format you want. I would also not get to excited about Garmin's weather proofing as those rubber seals soon break away or off from wear & tear and UV light.

Perhaps consider getting a GPS with a decent display showing a map and use a weatherproof case. I find a strip sealed plastic bag costing next to nothing does me for my Android. In the old days we all used to look at lat/longs on a screen because the GPS screens weren't capable of showing a decent map (a lot of Garmins still cannot with their cheap screens such as the EtrexH) and then transcribing that lat/long onto some other map, but nowadays an all in one map on screen does away with need for a lat/long output which are just numbers and not much use to most users, though a few may need them.

Yes, it kind of shows my position. As far as I gather it will be shown on a sketchy drawing

as a point relative to a pre-programmed waypoint. No bearing/distance, no lat/long.

However, I can ask that my current position be saved as a waypoint and then enquire about

that waypoints lat/lon position.

Kinda clumsy.

Anyway, I did buy the Garmin etrex 10.

What I am after is current position in degrees/minutes, current speed and current direction.

The etrex 10 offers this, not on the same screen though.

One display offers continously updated position, in lat/lon ddd mmm,nnn

Another display offers speed and direction. Satisfies me, don't need all 3 at the same time.

Maps on a mobile don't meet my needs. Many of the points I am interested in are not

even visible on those maps. Have tested, with friends, a handfull of these devices.

I'm happy with degrees minutes and decimal fractions thereof as I am used to think

distances in terms of nautical miles, cables and fractions thereof.

So a display with continous position in ddd mm,nnn serves me just fine.

(in conjunction with a larger format laminated paper map)

as I said above, I did buy a Garmin etrex 10, received it yesterday, have played a bit with it today,

to briefly sum it up; not impressed

it looks OK, the colours are OK, it is comfortable to hold in your hand, its not heavy,

screen not too bad,

instruction manual? so so

it can probably do an awfull lot of things, just short of ironing shirts,

it does offer the 3 things I am most interested in;

displaying current position

displaying current speed

displaying current direction

one display shows speed and direction, this display is reasonably good in my view

direction and speed stands out and the information is easy to read

another display shows current position in degrees/minutes lat/lon

however, this display is called Satellite and seems to be designed more as a gadget

kind of thing;

it gives the user a sketchy drawing showing which GPS and which Glonass satellites that are being received and the position of these birds on the sky above

this display has some empty space in the upper left hand corner, and it looks that as an afterthought they have filled in this empty space with the user's current position,

in a very small font, the info doesn't stand out at all

the whole thing is cheap though, I paid about the equiv. of US$130 for it

(think I will still be lookin' for something a bit better)