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Garmin eTrex Touch 35 Recreational Handheld GPS – Black
£188.60
- GPS recreational handheld for cycling, hiking and geocaching with 2.6 inch colour capacitive touchscreen
- Preloaded with Garmin TopoActive Europe maps – download recreational tracks and routes to follow
- Barometric altimeter and three-axis tilt-compensated compass
- Paperless geocaching with 250000 preloaded caches
- Smart notifications – receive texts, emails, calls and social media alerts on your handheld
- With a large 8 GB internal memory and a microSD slot, there’s plenty of room for additional mapping, whether you’d like to enhance it with advanced topo maps or marine maps
by Ico
I bought this solely for geocaching as I wasn’t comfortable using my smartphone all the time due to battery life and fear of damage. I did quite a lot of research prior to buying as wanted a modestly priced unit that was good for geocaching.
Overall I’m pleased with the device. The learning curve is quite steep and the manual in the box is next to useless but a quick search on the internet brings the full manual. It took some time to get used to it and like any device which is effectively a small computer, it does have the occasional glitch, crash and annoying foibles. I’m still testing the settings to get what I consider my optimum setting and have found many useful folk on the geocaching website forums who have helpful insights.
I particularly like that I can download caches from my chrome book to the device via the included cable. It’s best to do this as pocket queries so you can do up to 1000 at a time. Again a quick internet search reveals the best way to do this (and set up pocket queries) if you’re unsure. It sounds a bit intimidating to start with but I’m not very computer savvy and seem to manage ok.
The device seems very accurate and I’ve not had an problem with geocaches being found. I also like the fact that it records your activity so you can a) see how far you’ve walked and how long it’s taken and b) track your route back to the start of the walk (though I would not rely on this solely).
Overall I’m pleased and while I may scale up to a more expensive device later, I can see this supporting my geocaching for some time to come. 4 stars as it’s a bit temperamental and technical but it’s designed to be used for far more than just basic caching so I won’t use (or probably understand) half of its features but that’s ok with me as it does the job I need it for adequately. I may update this review in future if I find my optimum set up or have anything else to add.
For a modestly priced hobbyist GPS, I think this one is well featured and priced. Not perfect but if you’re willing to put a bit of homework in to understand it’s features and limitations then you could do a lot worse. Thanks.
by Owlpellets
This is my first ever Amazon review (edit…just realised I’d made couple of minor comments before). Mainly because things are busy but also because everything I have bought before falls inbetween the ‘acceptable’ to ‘very good’ bracket. This is a different situation…
First off I’m quite ‘techy’, have no previous experience with GPS units and have no vested interest in anything but honest reviews.
So I’ve been using Alltrails (free) on my mobile for my various outdoor pursuits and fancied an upgrade to a dedicated handheld GPS unit. I did loads of research and eventually settled on the Garmin Etrex touch 35, marketed as a mid range device. I was really excited to recieve it.
So it was delivered and I opened the box. First impressions were that it was physically smaller than expected, lightweight and a touch plasticky (Garmin call this rugged). Popped in the 2x AAs and the SD card and powered up. Now I’d been told the included Europe maps weren’t that useful but tbh I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! The screen is tiny, the resolution simply a joke and the map basic beyond belief. Theres a huge forest 2 miles away and that area was blank. Just the adjacent A road could be seen. Useful for finding london from the M1 i guess if you need that but not much else at all.
I’d anticipated this and pre ordered the talky toaster HD UK map in advance. So i loaded that up and was gobsmacked. I’ll include pics but it was basically unusable also.
The screen is just hopeless. It’s a touch screen but not as we know it. You can touch 3 spots to zoom in and out and slowly move the map, but no pinch to shrink etc. And it’s so small theres almost nothing to touch anyway. As mentioned the resolution is shameful…comparable to a late 80s computer game or a pre- millennium mobile. I cant believe in 2021 this is the best that Garmin can do.
The OS and menus are equally frustrating to use. Way too many steps to perform what I thought would be very simple functions. Also, planning routes both on the unit and through Basecamp is onerous and frustrating.
I took the GPS out locally to a rural area and soon got a headache trying to decifer the info on the screen. Again due to the tiny screen I knew I was on a footpath but no idea where…zoomed out and was greeted with a confusing impression of a Jackson Pollock painting.
I dont mean to sound so negative…I was really hoping to love this GPS. But I’m returning it as not fit for purpose, for me at least. If my life depended on this in an emergency I’m afraid I’d chuck it off the cliff and take my chances with the stars.
So I’ll be going back to Alltrails until Garmin catch up to 2021 (or even 2001!) It might drain my battery quickly but I guess a power bank would sort that out.
NB. First pic is of alltrails on my mobile.
Second is a HD map on the Etrex…which would you choose?
by Mr James
Still learning how to use it fully. Very easy for beginners to use, pinpoint accuracy. Easy to plot routes and see the screen in any weather. I’ve purchased the micro sim of the complete OS maps of the UK and it’s amazing using this. Makes walking, running and cycling so much better with a little pre planning, just plot my route beforehand, then off I go.
by Td
I researched a suitable handheld GPS for Worldwide GPS “where am I and get me out of here” and came up with e Trex 20. Being aware of the imminent arrival of the e Trex 25 I held back and as no Scottish supplier had actually yet acquired any to sell I bought from Amazon. Have had one month and works in Scotland and Sweden. Best you compare with e Trex 35 as may suit better. Cannot compare with other but the bonus of GLONAS + GPS is a virtue. Getting Satellite capture in the house near a window is a surprise. At the moment is a Boy’s Toy but getting there. Works well with rechargeable batteries. Touch screen interface means taking gloves off or using pointy nose. Best get a lanyard.