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Anyone have any experience of these and have a preference?
Sick & tired of my phone battery dieing so going to invest in one of the above. Similar specs except the dakota is touch screen and the E-trex is button job.
My first thoughts are that the buttons on the Extrex will be better for glove hands and keep the screen in better nick as your not thumbing the screen with gritty gloves etc...
Dakota 20 can be had for a good price at moment though and has a slightly bigger screen...
Not used an etrex but my Dakota 20 is a great unit. Get a mobile phone screen protector and you'll be dandy.
never had an issue using my Dakota with gloves on and the (unprotected) screen is unmarked a year later
No experience of Dalton but my etrex 30 has withstood lots of abuse over the last 12 months.simple to use and the screen is more than big enough
Had my Dakota 20 for 5 years. It's great and works fine with gloves. Infact, my friend's etrex is harder to use as its not touchscreen.
Thou, I would say the screen is better on the etrex, it's slimmer and the batteries last longer.
The mounts are shit on both.
Tough choice.
etrex 30 bike mount is pretty poor and you will end up using something to strap GPS to it to secure it- it will fall off without this.
I can get you full UK maps for a very reasonable price 😉
Easy to use with gloves and the OS mapping is fine on the unit
About 12 hours ish use using reasonable rechargeable batteries
Does not give you total height climbed which annoys me compared to an older etrex unit
not used the other unit so cannot comment
Can't decide whether touch or not would be better!
What Mapping is that Junkyard? OS Mappings? was planning on the toasty versions but an OS map at a reasonable price would be cool!
We got a Dakota 20 for Dab_jnrs Christmas present. He's very impressed and got stuck in straight away. I downloaded the Open streetmaps UK map from toasty and stuck them on - no need for an SD card. We're planning to go geocaching. It's easy to use and the screen is nice and clear.
I've got an etrex 20. Didn't seem worth the price hike to the 30. Display is a bit small and on the fly navigating not as good as using a large touch screen but if you are organised and have routes all uploaded it is hard to beat in terms of cost and battery life. I just wish I could plan a route on my phone and then send it to the device when out on the bike. I,be got the etrex mount but did look at the third party ones that are universal. But they were quite expensive compared to the garmin for £7. Only gripe with the garmin is i cannot get the gps out easily so it stays in and i rotate it when transporting the bike in the car to stop it getting knocked.
As the Dakota 20 is quite old now (came out in 2009?) is anyone in the know to say if there is any news of a replacement? I'm just thinking touch screens, screen resolution, pixel brightness, CPU efficiency, etc have come along way in 6 years... Or are they focussing on other ranges like the Oregon?
Mapping is that Junkyard? OS Mappings? was planning on the toasty versions but an OS map at a reasonable price would be cool!
YGM
[quote=jaymoid ]As the Dakota 20 is quite old now (came out in 2009?) is anyone in the know to say if there is any news of a replacement? I'm just thinking touch screens, screen resolution, pixel brightness, CPU efficiency, etc have come along way in 6 years... Or are they focussing on other ranges like the Oregon?
I "upgraded" from Dakota 20 to Oregon 600. I much prefer the larger screen, the menus are more customisable, it re-draws the map quicker and it hasn't gone loose in the mount the way the Dakota did.
You can create OS maps for the Dakota using the free MOBAC application
Punted for a Dakota 20 in the end. £130 over at Go Outdoors.
Thanks everyone
The mounts are shit and the unit can sometimes pop off. So do this mod [url= http://www.aidanharding.com/2012/02/how-to-fix-a-garmin-dakota-bike-mount/ ]Mount mod[/url] and get a short lanyard to attach it to the bars in case it drops.
Seems like a faff threading the lanyard around the bars each time, but over 5 years I have got used to it and its no bother now.
Or if you dont mind the bulk, Ram do a proper secure mount for it.