Garmin Foretrex 401 Waterproof Hiking GPS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Fantastic - buy one immediately.IMMEDIATELY!!

Much smaller than you may think - fantastic.

GPS speed -- super fast, fantastic.

Display and controls -- absolutely fantastic. As simple as they can possibly be, yet does every single thing you want. See your exact miles/yards walked, exact time (both moving, stopped, average, etc etc etc) and everything else from sunset time to height climbed or whatever.

Battery life, fantastic, 15 to 20 hours.

Works with computers PERFECTLY.If you have basic understanding of computers -- so for example you do know how to "Open A File" -- you will have a ball with this machine:

The 401 is simply a USB hard drive -- just connect it to your laptop using a normal compact USB cable.(They pointlessly give you a cable for free with the 401 package...like you don't have ten laying around already from your video camera, USB drives and everything else.)

So, simply plug in the 401 to your laptop.You will instantly see a file "Current.gpx" GPX is the label for GPS files.

Now, open the file -- so for example launch Google Earth and open your "Current.gpx" file in Google Earth.You will immediately see the track where you walked shown as a blue line on the Google Earth map!!

Or, look on the web for one of the awesome track measuring applets (eg at utrack dot crempa dot net) and get graphs, etc, of your speed and the like.

It literally could not be simpler -- nothing to install, no passwords, nothing.

Once again assuming you "know how to open a file" you will have no problem.

TIP: the 401 uselessly includes a digital COMPASS, as a freebie (much like the digital compass in say an iPhone). Digital compasses are of little or no value; however they use a lot of battery power. Look through the settings and turn OFF the digial compass.

Note that, of course, like any GPS unit, the unit will flawlessly and perfectly show you your heading AS YOU ARE WALKING, using the GPS signals (nothing to do with a magnetic compass).But the actual "digital compass" (i.e., you are sitting by the fire and you want to see which way "North" is) is largely useless (not because of the 401 -- all digital compasses are useless), so just turn it off in settings to save power.

Tip -- if you want rechargeable batteries, buy the terrific LaCrosse smart charger, and some eneloop batteries.

Enjoy your hike!Buy one of these before Garmin changes it to something confusing and not so good.

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Product Description:
Foretrex 401 Portable GPS System

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