Etrex H or other suitable GPS

I've been using my Tom Tom Rider for training walks just for the trip statistics. The problem is, it has a internal battery and only lasts a few hours. Plus it has started acting wierd lately.

All I want is a GPS that measures average speed while moving and distance traveled. I don't need navigation capabilities. It also has to use AA or AAA batteries as I'm planning a long day walk that will outlast any internal batteries.

I know the Forerunner watch will do this, but it seems kind of expensive.

Thoughts?

Any used etrex will do what you're asking and I'm sure you can find them quite cheap. The now-discontinued Gekos as well. I agree that wrist GPSs are quite limited due to their internal batteries.

Cheers,

The Garmin Foretrex series would do what you want. I have been using a Foretrex 101. I can easily get a day's use from one set of batteries, with much more possible if I use it intermittently. That model is now discontinued; it equivalent would be the 403.

One thing I like about the Foretrex series is that they use AAA batteries, as do nearly all of my other electronic goodies.

I decided to go with the Etrex. I couldn't find the Foretrex to check it out.

The Etrex seems like it might be a pain to navigate with, but all I want is the trip status page.

Safe choice, and the etrex user interface is the easiest to use I've encountered. Navigation is well supported, even if the display is dinky. It's not easy to read a map segment that small.

Cheers,

Really?

I found it to be really clunky compared to my old eMap and now my Oregon 200.

I did like the feature set though, and I think once you get one you'd use most all the features. The screen is small, but I'd still want one with mapping capabilities. It's pretty easy to cross reference the small GPS view with a paper map for the bigger picture.

The Etrex H came in. It works well for what I want it for. Distance and average speed. For $79, that's all I really wanted.

For navigation, you'd really have to get the extra cord and have a program to link it with to download tracks. Maybe they have a cord at Big Lots.

Back in the day, we'd drop bread crumbs on the way out and eat them on the way back. (Your turn, Glenn.)

We had to just use flour - yeast was a bit hard to come by; and, what with no stove and all, it didn't matter.

We got bread each week and would use it to bait fish hooks to catch pigeons. We'd trade the extra pigeons for a little gas for my Svea123 stove and bread for the next week.

As for making bread without yeast, my ancestors learned me how to cook it on a hot rock. (Think matzah and passover.) We'd pick up wheat along the side of the road during harvest season amd spend the winter months using rocks to make flour out of it.

I surrender! (We wanted to try making rocks by gluing sand together, but never had any glue - and Gram didn't know the proportions for putting water and flour together to make paste. Maybe if she'd ever learned to read - but what with no brother to carry her to school uphill through the snow and all...)

You win this round.

Flour? You had flour?!? Sheer luxury! We were so poor we had to lick the trail on the hike out and follow our saliva home. Let me tell you, that built character!

Bla-hur, harrumph,

Yeah, but look at all the nutrients you got - I think I read somewhere that the top 6 inches or so of soil is the most biologically active?

Welcome to the game!

You had trails! All we had were footprints - and they weren't even ours. They didn't last very long in the blowing snow, anyhow.

Well, a review after one day and about 7 miles.

The status page I wanted works great.

The trackback function seems to work fine.

Loading a track without the cord would be a mess. (The cord doesn't come with it.)

I think teens are the most biologically active.

I might have a cord that will fit that, if it's not the standard USB cord on the GPS, and I have the old "MapSource TOPO" maps for the U.S. (1:100,000 scale) If they'll work for you let me know and I'll send them to you, they're just collecting dust right now.