The Garmin 12 xl is the unti to buy if you are working in forests. I have recently started working in closed canopy tropical forests, and it holds onto satellites brilliantly, especially if you increase its power to get a fix with an external antenna. No, it isnt bright colours and wont fit in a matchbox, but for dependable, accurate fixes you cant do much better. I'm still waiting for the day that Garmin produce something that doesnt run out of batteries in a day though!!!

Customer Service

Excellent

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Magellan Palm/GPS unit

I have had my 12XL for about 5 years and " It works for me ". I use a external antenna sometimes so I can keep the unit in my pack or pocket and still have the unit tracking sattalites. I use my gps for hunting, fishing, geocaching and it has brought me home when I thought I was lost for sure.

Customer Service

I had the internal battery loose power which then makes it impossible for the internal stored memory to keep track of your waypoints or any other map datums. This would only happened when I had to change the batteries and then I would need to reset things like time and other options. I called Garmin about the problem and they said it was a internal battery problem and to send it in to them. I did send it back and within a week they sent me a factory rebuilt unit back. It looked and opperated like a new one so I was well satisfied

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None to compare the Garmin with

I bought this one as it is the best of the Garmin 12 units, I looked at the Magellan 330 and eMap but decided against them when I saw how fast they used batteries. The 12XL has water resistance and good battery life, and has a decent display resolution, more than you can say about some competitiors. Garmin has the easiest-to-use website and the most free uploads of any of the manufacturers. Since I was already familiar with military grid, and I ALWAYS carry a proper map and lensatic compass, I don't need or want map displays or built-in compasses. The computer software maps I looked at all seemed more suited for somebody on a road trip than a backpack excursion.

One problem with the 12XL is that it's a little big and bulky compared to newer models, so you have to carry it in your pack. I kind of wish I'd gotten something smaller now. In the pack, it's easy to turn the receiver on by accident and run down the batteries. It's not what I'd call a bargain, and I wish Garmin had included more of the optional accessories as standard.

Customer Service

Website rules

Similar Products Used:

Garmin eMap
Garmin eTrex
Magellan 330

Kevin Lake, it sounds like you are really in touch with your gear, but please keep in mind that "Similar Products Tried" means "Other similar GPS units you have tested/used."

BTW, this is a great product...the unit helped to keep us on track with our maps and compass and is certainly a good value against the other units out there.

Similar Products Used:

None

I "love" my Garmin 12XL. (I traded up from the Garmin 38). I had a little trouble with the early version's software, but Garmin is a wonderful company to deal with.

I don't generally leave my unit "on" all the time. Mostly I'm a day hiker, but I do take extended hike's & canoe trips. I just turn it on to verify my position from compass, altimeter & topo maps. It's very reassuring. This also makes the batteries last a long time.

I love to bushwhack, so it comes in handy for distances. It's nice when you pop out of unfamiliar-trailess woods (onto the road) and not sure where your car is parked.

Customer Service

Garmin's customer service is nothing short of excellent.

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I'm a gearhead & a gadget lover. I love fleece. I like (cheap) clothing that is a 50%polyester/50% cotton mix. I love my sweetwater filter. I like '17 foot aluminum canoes for lakes & 15' coleman's for headwaters & streams. I like the coleman backpacking lantern for canoe trips. (I rarely start fires) I liked my peak one stove but switched to a MSR to conserve weight. I love topo maps. I love my Vasque Clarion GPX boots, but liked the old design better. I like my caribou (extremely adjustible) day pack. I like my (very old) external flexible framed peak 1 backpack. I like anything "peak 1" makes. I love portaging wheels for canoes. I love snowshoes, especially in the early spring. I love crampons. I don't like casio watches. I love parachute chord. I like aluminum hiking sticks (getting old & helps w/ the knees) and their carbide tips for ice. I love thorlo socks. I LOVE night hiking in the wintertime especially under a full moon. I like the "AA" mini-mag flashlight (carry 2)

An energy hog. Garmin's upper level handheld's are previous-era technology, and focus their software, wrongly I think, on mapping displays. Topo mapping still lacks a lot of detail in GPS handhelds, is difficult for a hiker to use to orient oneself. It's better suited to vehicle navigation when you cover lots of distance at a time on large known roads or trails. This is relatively useless for dependable long-distance navigation in remote areas. The new standard is the Brunton MNS, which offers every GPS detail important to a person backpacking in remote country, including 1000-waypoint capability and one-button 'straight-path' return to home. It also has a backup electronic compass which you can use to shoot and lock in bearings, separate (& much more accurate) altimeter, weather barometer, thermometer & clock. It accomplishes this with much more modern energy-saving hardware-only 2 AA batteries supply all of the functions for a considerably longer period than the Garmin.

Similar Products Used:

Brunton MNS
all Garmin 12 products
Garmin e-trex (good entry-level product)

Excellent navigation aid. In concert with a detailed map provide flawless positioning accuracy. With the new change in national selectivity, I have found the unit to be absolutely precise in a wide range of circumstances - in all kinds of weather.

I regularly use the unit in the car, download and upload to a computer and us for trip planning.

An excellent aid!

Customer Service

Good support and helpful web page

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Magellen

Outstanding product. I used a Garmin 12xl for many hours of forestry field work and found it was quick to give a position fix, easy to operate with many useful screens. I was also using a differential GPS at same time (a Trimble unit) so I could compare the accuracy of the Garmin, and time after time I was impressed by how close the positions were for the 2 units (often 5m or less).

Downloading is easy and the external antenna helped our crew when driving around forest cover.

My only complaint is that you will lose all your waypoints if the batteries run out while the unit is turned on. So, if you're 12xl starts to beep 'low battery', be sure to turn it off, then replace the batteries so you can retain your waypoints.

I see these units getting smaller in size in the near future. The 12xl's size is all batteries (4xAA's), so once more compact batteries are used, they should get smaller.

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Trimble GeoExplorer