Garmin V Review
A wonderful upgrade to our eTrex Vista, we found the Garmin V to be much friendlier to us as jeepers. We’ve always been budget-conscious when choosing electronics that we plan to abuse and fill with dust. In the short time that it’s been ours, the GPS V has seen several states, countless trails, and has even tumbled down a very dirty hill!
Ed Note: This model has been discontinued.
Like the Vista, the V is WAAS enabled, has the altimeter, odometer, compass, and many other built-in goodies – check out Garmin’s site to see the V’s complete tech specs.
The big and most important difference from the Vista is that the V supports auto-routing. This is key to getting an accurate and on-the-fly route to the trailhead, ranger station, or post-trailrun dinner gathering. Just push the ‘find’ button to locate your destination, and upon requesting a route, you’ll be presented with turn-by-turn instructions. Don’t leave home without it - even if you know exactly where you’re going this can come in handy for a spontaneous adventure.
The 19MB internal memory is somewhat limiting, but for most localized adventures (even those from California to Colorado) we haven’t needed much more. If you do plan your route beforehand on the computer, be sure to include maps of all the areas you’ll be traveling through in the data transfer. If any are missed, even if the route is included, the V will re-calculate the route based on the mapsets on the actual device.
The clear, accessible buttons on the front of the unit make this device much more jeep-friendly. You can look up and see which button you’re pressing. The V also rests on a nice base which fits great on a TJ dashboard.
Pro’s:
- Auto-Routing
- Sturdy Design
- Accepts External Antenna
- Good Battery Life
- Accessible Buttons
Con’s:
- 19MB Internal Memory
- Memory not Expandable
- Additional Garmin Mapsets are Expensive
Be sure to read the setup instructions! You will need to enable WAAS (it’s off by default, and you may not get those 8-foot accuracies with it off) and calibrate your compass. We also like to turn off ‘road-lock’ because the track jumps around alot.
All in all, we haven’t had any trouble with this device (knock on wood). The built-in antenna is powerful enough to hold up to our backcountry adventures, while the auto-routing is something that we now can’t be without. This is a very full-featured device for the price and an excellent choice for beginners, especially now that it’s discontinued. Pick one up used at a fraction of the original cost.
