Garmin Etrex 30 - cheap deal today only at Dick Smith

[keithy]

If anyone is interested, I spotted this deal today 23 April 2015 -

http://www.dicksmith.com.au/handheld-na ... dsau-d9226

Online only special price at $261.40+$7.95 shipping.

Not sure how limited the actual stock is though - I couldn't find any stores in capital cities with stock, but is a pretty good price for this GPS if you can get it.

[Travis22]

Once a year Harvey Norman seems to have a special where the Etrex 30 + the Aus topo maps for around $280-290.

I got mine when this deal was on around 2 years ago and a friend of mine bought his last year when the same sale occured on this bundle.

Travis.

[Zone-5]

I got an 'Etrex 20' years ago at Harvey N for about $180 including the 16 Gig micro SD card.

Data collection is great and the map display is ok but not so good for sore eyes.

The 20 has none of the crazy recalibration issues the 30 has and if you really need a compass then get a compass!

[keithy]

I got an Etrex 20 years ago at HN for about $180 including the 16 Gig micro SD card.
..
The 20 has none of the crazy recalibration issues the 30 has and if you really need a compass then get a compass!

The compass issue has been fixed in the last few firmware updates. They didn't mention it in the changelog, but calibration works fine again in mine running 4.20. Before that it was annoying as I think they broke something in the software after 3.20 when the calibration issue started. But that was back in 2013?

I haven't seen any recent cheap deals on the Etrex 20 or 30 though. I mean back in 2012, there was a promo at Jbhifi that got you 20% off the Etrex 30, plus you got the Garmin redemption for free V3 topo maps, so you got the GPS and topo maps for around $255.

I haven't seen any recent deals on the Etrex 20 under around $195. Current prices around for the map-free Etrex 20 is around $195+shipping or for the Etrex 30 around $295+shipping.

[keithy]

Rather than making another thread, I thought I'd just bump this one up with this deal I saw at JBHifi (20% off Navigation):

Etrex 30 - $295.20 https://www.jbhifi.com.au/gps-car-audio ... nit/84960/ (not as good as the dicksmith deal earlier)

Etrex 10 $76.80 - https://www.jbhifi.com.au/gps-car-audio ... nit/84590/ (pretty close to the cheapest price it's been for a non-mapping GPS unit).

[keithy]

JBHifi are doing their 20% off navigation again, so the Etrex 10 and 30 are discounted like they were in May.

THe Magellan units are also discounted, but I'm not as big a fan of the Magellan handheld series, but the Magellan 310 comes with a bonus "state based" topo map.

Jbhifi.jpg (150.67 KiB) Viewed 30711 times

[Johnnie Walker]

The eTrex 30 and eTrex 20 will go down in price with the 30x and 20x around the corner. eTrex 30x eta July 2 and the eTrex 20x eta June 19.
More info: http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2015/05/introducing-etrex-20x-and-30x-outdoor-handhelds.html#.VXO3BkYeqPs

[edit]
On the Johnny Appleseed website the eTrex 30 is $275 and the eTrex 30x (pre-order) $377

[keithy]

The eTrex 30 and eTrex 20 will go down in price with the 30x and 20x around the corner. eTrex 30x eta July 2 and the eTrex 20x eta June 19.
More info: http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2015/05/introducing-etrex-20x-and-30x-outdoor-handhelds.html#.VXO3BkYeqPs

Good to know. The "upgrades" seem minor though. The bump in screen resolution from 176 x 220 pixels to 240 x 320 pixels is nice, brings it in line with the resolution of my Oregon 600, and the internal memory is upgraded by an additional 2Gb. It doesn't sound like they've change the processor though, and a fix to the case to prevent the thumbstick's accidental presses would have been nice.

Still, the JBHifi deal on the eTrex 10 is good for those who don't need a mapping handheld GPS. JAGPS has it for $132, but it regularly goes for around $100-110.

[Zone-5]

I wonder if the new 20x/30x will get USB 2.0 instead of the current rubbish USB 1.0 file transfer speeds!

These upgrades are purely cosmetic just to get last ditch sales in before this line is dropped altogether for something better!

...45 minutes plus to upload via USB a Topo map onto the Etrex 20 is just a joke!

http://forums.gpsreview.net/discussion/29737/new-etrex-series-on-way

The eTrex 20x and 30x look very, very similar to the existing eTrex 20 and 30 models. The differences appear to be:

• higher resolution display, but not that much higher: 240 × 320 pixels instead of 176 × 220 pixels. I’m surprised they didn’t at least double the linear resolution while going to the bother of doing this, but I suppose they’re limited by the transflective panels available on the market.
• preloaded Western Europe Garmin ActiveMap with shaded relief instead of TOPO UK & Ireland Light map (in the UK) or none (France). This appears to be based on OpenStreetMap (same as before), and Garmin claims it’s routable and shows elevation changes. So I suppose the difference is wider coverage, presumably making it easier for Garmin to sell the same SKU across more markets.
• more memory (3.7 GB versus 1.7 GB, i.e. 4 GB instead of 2 GB of flash memory).
• on the 30x the Hunt/Fish Calender goes away!!!

Same size, weight, battery life, price (in the UK and France before discounts). Maybe some of the unadvertised innards are improved/changed. Maybe not.

I am not sure it’s worth the risk of 18 months of firmware problems. All depends on how much the internal hardware has changed, I suppose. But the change of display resolution has scope for causing all kinds of mayhem.

I am surprised the differences are so minor except for the new prices!

[Strider]

I don't know what you're doing Z5 but it takes me under a minute to transfer a topo to my Etrex 20.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Zone-5]

Hi Strider, yes I agree it's quicker when you completely remove the Micro SD card from the Etrex unit and do the file transfer externally via another card reader.

But if you do USB cable file transfer from a computer to the Etrex 20, it can only use USB v1.0 which is very very slow! (The Etrex 30 uses the faster USB v2.0)

USB v1.0 is a painfully slow 1.5 Mbit/s and if you have a Topo map of some 2-3 Gig then the wait can be well over an hour!

USB v1.0 is 1.5 Mbit/s
USB v1.1 is 12 Mbit/s
USB v2.0 is 480 Mbit/s
USB v3.0 is 5 Gbit/s

[Strider]

I plug in directly to the port on the rear of the unit. All the topo maps Ive ever used are only an image file and are therefore quite small.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Zone-5]

Yeah I have the same but some of my files are huge though.

I've got a City navigator 2015 that is about 130 MB but I've also got A&NZ Topo v5 that comes in at a whopping 4.2 Gig!

I've also got area specific maps that I have tiled off Mapsource using NEMA raster maps that are between 20 and 60 MB. All are *.img files and it seems that the Topo maps be that Garmin, HERE, Sensis, Navionics, Oztopo or Bluechart seem to be just getting bigger and bigger! My 32 Gig SD card is getting rather full.

The Etrex 10 and 20 have the super slow and obsolete USB v1.0 as a way to get user to buy the better product the Etrex 30 but due to the horrendous policy of Garmin's use of buyers as Beta testers for early firmware versions, some like me just wanted a device that worked rather than having to endue years of buggy firmwares before getting a working model finally and not surprisingly right before the release of an updated version with an updated price to boot!

So after all of this, if Garmin forgets to update it's processor to handle the better graphics and retains it's useless obsolete USB v1.0 as standard then my advice to buyers considering the new Etrex 20x/30x would be to stick to the now much cheaper Etrex 30 and don't waste your "hard earned" money on the new Etrex 20x or 30x that offers not much more than a BIG price hike...


Whoa, maybe there is brandy in brandy custard after all...

[climberman]

Folks,

Am looking at an etrex30x, any word on the street about how the unit software is performing? I was burnt buy the Garmin 810 software on an outing last year and so while i love the features of the etrex am nervous about Garmin's software issues. TIA

[neilmny]

Folks,

Am looking at an etrex30x, any word on the street about how the unit software is performing? I was burnt buy the Garmin 810 software on an outing last year and so while i love the features of the etrex am nervous about Garmin's software issues. TIA

Climberman, a thread of your own with the appropriate heading might be the best way to get answers on this.
Unfortunately I can't answer your question. There does seem to be a number of people using the Etrx 30 though.

[keithy]

Am looking at an etrex30x, any word on the street about how the unit software is performing?

The eTrex 30x should be pretty stable. They are running a different fork of firmware from the eTrex 20/30 series, the latest being 2.10 from July 2015 (which was the second firmware update released for it). They haven't appeared to change the processor or the GPS chipset from the earlier 20/30 models, just added a higher resolution display and increased internal storage memory, so most of the issues that were experienced with early eTrex 20/30 firmwares have been sorted out.

I recall there were some early issues with Garmin Express and the eTrex 30x on launch, but I believe they have been resolved now.