Garmin Foretrex Question

Once my foretrex 101 has aquired sat. it seems to hang on. I’ve used in deep cover and steep canyon [devil’s gulch,wa.] without any problem, I’m on the east side of washington state so I don’t see cover as thick as someone on the west.

I have both the etrex legend and the fortrex 101. the foretrex has MUCHO better reception than the etrex. i can even get a signal while sitting inside my house. when outside with both units the the fortrex is faster to aquire and gets a better signal than the etrex. havent done any time tests for specifics yet, but the fortrex would win by a landslide.

Search the Forums for GPS, Garmin, or Foretrex. A regular has posted about his experience with it. In the northest, very poor reception on trails under tree cover – no more than 25% of the time. It could be used in those situations by pausing in any open terrain you come across, turning the For-etrex on, wait for it to acquire a sufficient number of satellites which it does this quite well when in the open, and then taking one’s bearing while in the open spot, then turning it off. Continuous breadcrumb trail deposition and “TracBack” are virtually worthless on trail and under tree cover since signal is present so intermittently. MIne was purchased as soon as they went to market. Don’t know if any improvements have been made to the antenna.

Will the foretrex do utm? I can not find utm on the forerunner I have. I think utm is a must.

>I think utm is a must.

Agreed–it would be strange if it didn’t do UTM. On my other Garmins, under Setup, Units, Position Format, there is an entry “UTM UPS” (the third from the bottom of the list).

If it’s really not there, check Garmin’s web site to see if there is a firmware upgrade for your Foretrex.

Yes the Foretrex does UTM/UPS.

Per manual p.47, the Foretrex can be changed to UTM. I didn’t find a similar page for the Forerunner, but pure navigation isn’t that series’ focus.

http://www.garmin.com/manuals/Foretrex201_OwnersManual.pdf

I’m not a GPS guru; but I’ve also been disappointed with the performance of the eTrex under tree cover. While researching this on several GPS sites, it became apparent that the biggest factor as to whether a GPS unit would work under tree cover was the type of antenna used.

The eTrex and the Fortrex both use “patch” antennas — economical but not very useful under trees. The GPSMAP and the SporTrak both use “quadrifilar” antennas which are reported to be better under tree cover (note however than any GPS will have some problems under tree cover — its just a question of how much).

IF I take a GPS anymore (and I often don’t); I only plan to use it as an emergency backup and figure in those cases I can find an open spot to get a solid fix and bearing. So my lightweight but poor receiving eTrex is adequate.

So a lot depends on how you want to use your GPS.

Good luck!

Right on, thanks for the fill in on what the terminology was. I’d been thru it and discovered what you did, but forgot what the types of antenna were called.

Sounds like the foretrex isn’t for me.

I learned to hate that worthless etrex Legend after getting myself pretty lost and not being able to use it as my way out. Had to do it the hard way and had my wife kinda worried.

David White wrote:
>The eTrex and the Fortrex both use “patch” antennas — economical but not very useful under trees. The GPSMAP and the SporTrak both use “quadrifilar” antennas which are reported to be better under tree cover…

I have an eTrex Legend and a GPSmap 60C, and I agree with David–the eTrex antenna just doesn’t work very well. I’ve lost signal for miles at a time even under partial cover in Hawaii; it does better in the thinner spruce/pine cover in Wyoming, but it’s still sketchy. If you can get a good solid lock and then work at keeping the antenna exposed you may continue to keep the lock where you couldn’t initiate a lock otherwise.

The GPSmap antenna is far superior to the eTrex. I’ve used both side by side, and when the eTrex is lost the GPSmap isn’t having any problems. I have only lost signal on the GPSmap when under heavy cover in Hawaii. My cure for this is a Gilsson external antenna (2.8 oz) on the GPSmap. I’ve never lost a lock with this antenna, and it even works inside my house (don’t ask me how). I use it for mapping trails and it makes a big difference over the GPSmap’s built-in antenna when track accuracy is important.