Garmin Etrex 30 vs 30X

I’m using an old Garmin Etrex 30 as my bike GPs and general handheld, and it’s still pretty useable. My main gripe is (and always has been) that it’s a little under powered with an ancient USB 1.1 interface as well as taking a while to calculate/re-calcualte routes, redraw its small screen and search for POIs in its database.

My wife seems keen to get me a new cycle GPS for Christmas but I really like the customisation, versatility, robustness and features of my Etrex 30; removable batteries are a plus too and I don’t need the training features of an Edge.

I’m not keen on a touchscreen and keep looking at the Etrex 30x. It looks like an old style 30 with a higher res. screen, and if that’s all it is then it probably isn’t worth changing. However if it’s got a faster cpu and usb port it might be worth a try, the problem is I can’t find anything about this on either the Garmin site or the internet as a whole.

Does anyone have experience of both the Etrex 30 and 30x units and is the 30x a worthwhile upgrade or just a 30 with a higher res. screen?

not got a 30 but do have a 30x

its still frustratingly slow to load routes and maps at times.

redraw of maps is still slower than a week in the jail …

if yours is any slower id have thrown it along way along time ago 😀

I guess that it’s just a bigger screen and more memory then (I did find a Garmin press release and that’s what they seem to be selling).

The Oregon 700 looks a possibility but a bit pricey for our pockets.

As usual Garmin excels in having 1000 models of gps that could be great, but all fall down for one reason or another!

I’ve been using an Oregon 600 for the past few years and woyl6d happily buy another if something happened to it.

dont get me wrong id buy another etrex if it shit the bed.

Its great for following a line on a map.

Just dont expect to “navigate” like you would on a map.

I’ve used and seen both. 30x slightly nicer screen but you don’t really notice, think it has better SD card support but thats about it.

if you’ve got a ’30 then a ’30x is not enough of an upgrade.

I went for an Oregon 700 for a bigger screen. Miss the proper buttons when on the MTB and the battery life is noticeably shorter. Much better interface though.

I’ve had both.Biggest difference is the latest etrex comes with open source mapping already installed, so less need for velomap or openmtb maps.

I went from a Etrex 20 to a Garmin Edge Touring, never looked back.

Yeah, but it’ll be immediately out of date. One of the massive advantages of OSM is that it’s regularly updated (in fact, you can contribute, wait for an update, and then download that new version).