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  • Garmin Fortrex 101
  • crush83
    Free Member

    hi guys,

    just got one of these, not had a chance to use it on the bike yet. anyone elce got or used one?

    any good?

    crush83
    Free Member

    ThePinkster
    Full Member

    Yes I’ve got one but it’s now been superceded by my SatMap.

    I’ve had it for about 6 years and have used it loads. It’s pretty tought, mine’s stood up to some seriuos knocks over the years and although the mapping isn’t great on screen (you only get a breadcrumb trail on a grey background rather than full OS mapping) it’s proved very useful when following new routes. The direction pointer is very useful for this.

    Battery life is normally pretty good but it’d still advise you to use good quality batteries and carry a couple of spares, just in case.

    The data screens are very adaptable with a useful range of different fields to personalise it with.

    If you’re after a basic, small(ish) GPS unit I don’t think you would need to look much further than the Foretrex

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    crush83
    Free Member

    cool,

    not even powerd mine up yet.

    read about people having waterproof issues with the batteries.

    found a handlebar mount for it too 8)

    CraigW
    Free Member

    Its a pretty decent basic unit – its a similar sort of spec to the yellow Etrex, or Geko 201, but smaller/wrist mounted. Its easy to attach to the handlebars with a bit of pipe lagging.
    So its fine as a basic cycle computer, plus recording a track for where you have been.

    Though I think the GPS receiver is not all that great, so it may be a bit slow to figure out where it is when you switch it on, and could be inaccurate under trees etc. Also it uses a serial port for connecting to a PC, so rather slow for uploading/downloading, and you need s special cable.

    The newer Foretrex 301 or 401 improves on these, as it has a much more sensitive GPS receiver, plus uses a standard mini-USB port.

    crush83
    Free Member

    i got it for free as part of my job so im not complaining

    Stoner
    Free Member

    crush – I love mine.
    Had it for years now. I always naivgate by paper maps, but now and then it’s useful to get a grid ref. The foretrex is brilliant for that in the UK, and Ive even used it these last few weeks here in france using a different grid setting. Better than 201 as it runs on AAA instead of an internal rechargeable so its just a case of a spare set of batteries in the bag.

    You can use it for tracking and Ive successfully used it for uploading to google earth, but TBH, it’s best as a standalone nav aid.

    RestlessNative
    Free Member

    I used one for years as a bike computer and as stoner says to get a grid reference. I finally cracked the screen on it. If you have a serial port on your computer and want to connect it up I can have a look and see if I still have the cable and you can have that if you want?

    I replaced it with a 301 which is an update on it, connects via usb and the gps reciever is better. I use that in the same way and also for running then upload everything to Garmin connect.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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