Best Handheld GPS For Hiking, Backpacking & Geocaching - Garmin eTrex 20 GPS NavigatorTopSurvivalPreps.com is reader-supported. When you buy via the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. Learn more.
Use The Garmin eTrex 20 GPS For Hunting, Fishing, Emergency Survival & More A perfect choice for hikers, hunters, and geocachers, the Garmin eTrex 20 GPS Navigator is a rugged waterproof hiking GPS that is a breeze to operate and is armed with a sunlight-readable, 2.2-inch color display and a worldwide basemap. Why you might need itIn a Doomsday hiking scenario, knowing where you are and where you are headed next could make a huge difference in your survival. Whether you’re in deep woods or just near tall buildings and trees, you can count on the Garmin eTrex 20 Worldwide Handheld GPS Navigator to help you find your way when you need it the most. One of the features of the Garmin eTrex 20 is "Tracks". It plots your current track (like dropping bread crumbs). You can go to "Where To?" and select "Tracks" then select "Current Track" then push Menu button and select "Reverse Track". It will guide you back along the route you just took. The eTrex 20 also has a Waypoint Manager to store, select, and delete waypoints along your path. The eTrex 20 is ready for a wide array of detailed maps, many of which are free. You can add U.S. 24K topo maps before you hit the trail, BlueChart g2 preloaded cards for a day on the water, or City Navigator maps for turn-by-turn routing on roads. It has over 20 hours of battery life on two AA batteries (rechargeable NiMH or Lithium batteries work great), and is easy to zoom in or zoom out on a map.  The unit does have backlighting, but just note that it puts a drain on battery usage. As a handheld, it’s plenty portable, weighing only 5 ounces with batteries. With its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver with HotFix and GLONASS support , the Garmin eTrex 20 will locate your position quickly and precisely, maintaining its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons.  The eTrex 20 also supports geocaching, a high-tech version of hide-and-seek where you explore the outdoors in search of hidden “treasure” and adventure. Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants (members) navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. The eTrex 20 is the perfect way to get started.  The eTrex 20 can hold 2,000 GPX files, 2,000 waypoints, 5,000 geocaches, 200 routes, 250 points per route, 200 saved tracks, 2,000 archive tracks, 10,000 points per track, 100 custom map tiles, 250 BirdsEye Imagery files, and approximately 3,000 mapping segments. The Garmin eTrex 20 also has "Area Calculation" in the menu. You just walk the perimeter of the area and this unit will calculate the size of the area. The Garmin eTrex 20 Worldwide Handheld GPS Navigator is simply an excellent choice and value in a hiking GPS.  Added TipsIf you do add additional memory, Garmin suggests no bigger than a 32GB microSD card. If you do go into the wilderness, always take a compass and topo map with you as a backup. The eTrex 20 does provide GPS elevation that gives you a fairly good representation of your altitude and also provides a GPS based analog compass. If you want a true barometric altometer and 3-axis digital compass, then you will want to upgrade to the Garmin eTrex 30. Note: A lot of people may prefer an analog compass and the accuracy of the GPS elevation will be adequate, so the eTrex 20 is a great choice for most people. Note that you have to be moving (even a very slow walk) for an analog GPS compass to work.
YouTube VideoThe following YouTube video is a review & demo of the Garmin eTrex 20 GPS Navigator.
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"Very nice handheld GPS"
"Have used a lot, really like the ease of use and how easy is is to change settings."
"Sweet GPS. Can't wait to try this baby out on my next hiking excursion. Although I haven't used all of the features yet, the device was pretty easy to set-up...."
"Reliable. Think you can rely on your cell phone GPS while hiking? Try it and let me know how it goes. When you return from your trip place your order for this ETrex 20. Excellent, always works, and does not need a data connection."
"I use this for hiking. It works great. I love the long battery life. Screen could be bigger but that's a minor complaint. I use Garmin BaseCamp to upload/download files and plan hikes and modify tracks after the fact. Get free 24k topo maps online."
"A top quality GPS! Easy to use and very accurate! Very compact as well! Get the belt case with the built in screen protector and you are good to go! A perfect combination!"
"The Etrex 20 is a nice step up from the Legend H. Satellite reception is very sensitive. I compared the Etrex 20 head to head with the Magellan GC...The Etrex 20 locked on to 18 satellites under a sky with no obstacles vs. the 5 locked on by the Magellan GC. The Etrex was showing an accuracy of 7 feet (Glonass satellite constellation added to U.S. + WAAS and European satellites allows for this type of accuracy) while the Magellan GC was showing 56 feet. Inside a building next to a window, the Etrex 20 found 14 satellites. The Magellan GC was unable to find any satellites. The aquisition of satellites is quite fast. From a cold start out of the box, the Etrex 20 found my location in about 30 seconds. Once the unit has found it's location, subsequent aquisition times (given that one hasn't traveled several hundred miles since last turning it on) is almost immediate."
"If you're an off-road or in my case an ATV explorer, this is your tool. Operating system is the typical Garmin interface that is very simple and easy to use. This unit offers an easy waypoint option that will navigate you back to your house if you always get lost like I do. You can use the compass/bearing feature which is my primary function or the map feature that records your path. It offers programming for specific features that you commonly use that operate on the toggle switch for easy navigating through pages. The first time you turn the unit on it takes about 1 minute to acquire satellites but is always instant after the first use. I live in central/northern PA and use this under very heavy tree cover on the trails. No complaints at all about this and you can't beat the price that Amazon offers."
"This GPS is good for hiking, hunting or any other use where you want to see trails on topo maps, or trace your route. Wouldn't use it for a car or road navigation. The basemap included on the unit really only has major roads, so it's of little use. You can either buy topo maps from Garmin for way too much money, or download them for free from GPSfiledepot. You'll have to get map installer from garmin (free download) before you can load additional maps on this unit. GPSfiledepot has 24k topo maps for pretty much every state, and I was able to easily load a few states worth of topo maps on the unit. It's a cheap GPS that has easily replaceable AA batteries and an easy to manipulate rocker switch. Perfect for use in the woods, as you won't mind scratching it up. Just don't expect it to come with topo maps already installed and you'll be happy."
"The main thing that I needed was the improved elevation accuracy from barometric correction. It works well, but I had to do a little trial and error to get it right. I got the best elevation data if I turned the elevation auto calibration off (in settings) and then set the elevation in the calibration setting. All the elevations in my "track" were then relative to the preset calibrated elevation (which can even be a TBM type assumed elevation). I closed a 4 mile track and came out about 5 feet off from the starting elevation, which suited my needs."
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