In 1997, before I retired, I bought a new hand-held GPS. A Garmin 38. It still works and has kept all my waypoints through a lot of battery changes. But, the display is filled with missing lines. So, a year ago, during a trip back to the States, I bought a new Garmin etrex 20x. After the driving trip through Mexico, I misplaced it but recently located it exactly where I left it. 
The manual didn't make much sense, so I downloaded the full-size manual and printed it out.
I like the 20x a lot. I compared the old waypoints from the GPS38 and they are very close.
The 38 took a very long time to find where it was, and it was lucky to get 3 satellites. The new one finds typically 12 US satellites and 8 GLONASS Russian satellites. And, it finds them fast. Only a few seconds and it has a lock.
Plus the 38 seemed to be very weak. Any tree or being in a car or in the house and it was useless. I used the water cistern in front of the door for the old one. Now, there is a carport with metal roof there, so I assumed I could not get a lock. But, no problem at all.
The new one even works inside my house. It has a concrete reinforced with rebar roofs, and the 20x doesn't even blink with all the steel doors shut. There are a few small glass skylights in the roof. Again, almost instant lock inside the house.
I like the waypoint averaging function. It takes about three or four tries then is within a foot each time
I also like sunrise and moon rise information though the old machine had that, too.
There is only one difficulty. I remember the GPS 38 has a function that lets you bring up any stored waypoint, then request distance and bearing to any other stored waypoint. That was nice. This one does not seem to have that waypoint. Or, maybe I lack information on how to do it? I tried Route and that didn't give much information.
I do like it a lot. But, I have a habit of buying one-step down from what I need. The 30x has more capacity on altitude and elevation, plus a built-in compass, and I wish i had got the 30x for that, what with living in the mountains. But, I assume this one will last the same 20 years the GPS 38 has done. At my age that will be the last hand-held I buy.
The manual didn't make much sense, so I downloaded the full-size manual and printed it out.
I like the 20x a lot. I compared the old waypoints from the GPS38 and they are very close.
The 38 took a very long time to find where it was, and it was lucky to get 3 satellites. The new one finds typically 12 US satellites and 8 GLONASS Russian satellites. And, it finds them fast. Only a few seconds and it has a lock.
Plus the 38 seemed to be very weak. Any tree or being in a car or in the house and it was useless. I used the water cistern in front of the door for the old one. Now, there is a carport with metal roof there, so I assumed I could not get a lock. But, no problem at all.
The new one even works inside my house. It has a concrete reinforced with rebar roofs, and the 20x doesn't even blink with all the steel doors shut. There are a few small glass skylights in the roof. Again, almost instant lock inside the house.
I like the waypoint averaging function. It takes about three or four tries then is within a foot each time
I also like sunrise and moon rise information though the old machine had that, too.
There is only one difficulty. I remember the GPS 38 has a function that lets you bring up any stored waypoint, then request distance and bearing to any other stored waypoint. That was nice. This one does not seem to have that waypoint. Or, maybe I lack information on how to do it? I tried Route and that didn't give much information.
I do like it a lot. But, I have a habit of buying one-step down from what I need. The 30x has more capacity on altitude and elevation, plus a built-in compass, and I wish i had got the 30x for that, what with living in the mountains. But, I assume this one will last the same 20 years the GPS 38 has done. At my age that will be the last hand-held I buy.
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