New eTrex Touch

[javawa]

Couldn't find an announcement on the Garmin website, but the new eTrex Touch is already present in their store.
Same screen resolution and screen size as the Oregon 700, using the new software like the GPSMAP H1.

Spoiler

eTrex Touch.jpg

Spoiler

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1326077/

[luvvinbird]

I like the sounds of this one. Better check my bank account....

[WallyGator]

Very interested in this unit but will have to wait and see when Amazon sells & ships the unit direct with their usual price drop after a couple of weeks (rather than from a third-party which can make returns more complicated). Definitely relying on their good & uncomplicated return policy for something this pricey and "experimental". Also hoping to read/watch some unbiased reviews from others before the purchase. The GPSMAP 67 (not the 'i' variant) I purchased a few months ago (and returned after a few days) was much too large for my liking so I thought I would just wait it out. I figured something new was on the horizon in the eTrex-like form-factor.

Here's a good YouTube overview of the unit, directly from Garmin (biased, of course).

Spoiler

eTrex® Touch | Beyond the Basics

[WallyGator]

Hmmm...I sense some reluctance (or just lack of people actually buying them and knowing of this site) here in this forum in regards to the new eTrex Touch 2. Watching the "Beyond the Basics" video I linked to in my above post, the UI seems very close to (if not identical to) the GPSMAP H1(i Plus) units. The Touch 2 seems like a shrunken, touch screen only version of the H1 & without the bulk. This form factor suits me just fine personally as I don't care for the bulkiness of the GPSMAP series. Funny thing I didn't realize is that it has no mSD card slot so the supplied 32GB onboard storage is all you get as far as additional map loading. Might not be a huge factor since 32GB has always been overkill with my eTrex 32x...I only really relied on it's 8GB since the maps on the mSD card seems to slow the unit down even more than it already is.

[WallyGator]

I've had the eTrex Touch 2 for one week now and have been jotting down some pluses and minuses mostly in comparison to my eTrex 32x

Pluses
1. Vastly faster map drawing speed vs eTrex 32x
2. Overall speed & responsiveness of device
3. Larger screen size and better map legibility
4. Good size, easily pocketable, and much slimmer
5. Very usable touch screen vs 32x’s lousy buttons/click-stick
6. Well placed on-screen buttons
7. Configurable Home screens & glances
8. Good device menu, UI & navigation
9. Much faster USB-C interface to internal storage
10. Very quick battery charging


Minuses
1. Constant blinking green LED when sleeping or in Expedition mode. I covered the LED with matte black PVC contact "paper”. It would be nice to have the ability to disable this "feature"
2. Lack of mSD card slot for map expansion
3. 32GB base storage with no mSD card slot. Base storage should’ve been 64GB because of the lack of mSD card slot
4. Lack of USB Mass Storage mode (use with the Mac requires Android file transfer to access file system)
5. Loss of replaceable AA’s but internal battery is very long-lasting
6. Power button is very hard to press & trigger
7. Spine mount 2 & loss of spine mount 1 accessories
8. Previous “Profiles” system seemed to have more configurable options on older units
9. When copying/syncing data from Basecamp to Touch 2 via GPX files, waypoint icons use large bubble icons, obscuring map way too much. Non-issue when syncing data from Garmin Explore. Syncing through the Explore app & using the “multicolor” icon style, icon's characteristics are maintained
10. Seems to be a push further away from Basecamp because of data inconsistencies and use of new courses & activities
11. Less map detail configuration, configurable text sizes, zoom ranges as in previous models
12. Buggy map selection with additional maps installed on device. Unit always defaults to displaying additional map on unit after a power cycle despite deselecting the additional map and selecting TopoActive
13. Map text legibility seems to be worse despite the larger screen size
14. Settings, system, accessibility, review text size (normal/big) seems to do nothing
15. Is the barometer actually recording data while powered off like older units? There is no setting "always when off" as with older units
16. Infrequent loss of already configured Wi-Fi connection
17. Swiping up on an open app to close it requires two swipes, one swipe up which seemingly closes it, then another swipe up reveals that it’s not actually closed with the next swipe up closing it correctly. Maybe by design?

Despite the numerous "minuses" mentioned, I am thoroughly enjoying the unit, despite paying the retail $450 price tag.

I'll return with any new observations

[GPSrChive]

Fantastic overview! Thank You!

Can you please provide Firmware version during observations above?

[WallyGator]

Yes, I will. In the process of composing/previewing my post and before I was done editing, I hit Submit rather than Preview. It's not like you can go back and edit the post after doing so.

Firmware version for the above observations is v4.09 (current as of this writing).

[WallyGator]

Additions to my above overview:

Pluses
11. Seemingly very long battery life

Addendum to #15 minus (barometric pressure reading while off):
I've turned off the unit overnight and when powered back on, the barometer shows a perfectly straight line (diagonal in this case) from when it was shut off to a new higher point on the graph (the barometer had risen). I assume then that the unit does NOT keep recording data while powered off. I can't comment on Expedition Mode since I have not tested but I would think it would keep recording in this case.

[wmarek74]

@WallyGator
I have three questions to check:
1. ASCENT Planning feature (does it work?). Garmin claims on its website something that sounds like a "ClimbPRO" feature: 'ASCENT PLANNING: See upcoming climbs on your route, when they will occur and how steep they will be'. Could you check how it works?
2. Address search (how?). Can you also upload any of address indexing map and check if the address search acctually works? It does not work on the Topo Active Map though.
3. COURSE turn-by-turn CUES (is it generated by Etrex or require external sources? What about users' generated POI's?). Can you check how the turn-by-turn directions works. Is this feature built-in into the internal Etrex system, or it is based on the self generated files using the third party apps (e.g. Kommot, RideWithGPS and similar ones)? Is it possible to add POI's and use them together with the navigation cues?

And my final remark: what is your opinion on the energy consumption of the Edge series with comparison to the so energy-efficent modern handhelds? Why Edge series of units are still consuming that much energy, when currently Garmin shows that they are able to produce to energy-efficient GPS handhelds? Could we expect "a hundred" hours working Garmin Edge units in the foreseeable future?