Originally Posted by
downtube42
I've been using the eTrex 20x for several seasons of randonneuring, including several 1200km brevets. I think it checks all your boxes.
Note that I use mine without any turn-by-turn directions and without any map in the background - just the navigation line and a dot showing my location.
Cons: I find that with a map turned on, the nav line gets lost - there's not enough contrast difference between nav line and map lines. Although it has some turn-by-turn capability, I've not found it useful. In bright sunlight, even the lone nav line can get washed out. Lacking bluetooth connectivity, it's not possible to push route updates to the device without a PC.
Pros: Ruggedness. Seemingly impervious to rain. Robustness of software (only a topic because of the flakiness of so many higher end GPS units). Replaceable batteries (a plus for me, a plus for the OP, and evidently not a plus for the biggest segment of the GPS market).
I do exactly what you do, but i want the track and background map turned on when I am doing a brevet. Perhaps my Garmin 64 uses different colors or otherwise portrays data on the screen differently than your Etrex 20X
In the photo which is unfortunately not a very good photo, on my Garmin map you can see a curvy purple (fuchsia?) line trending to the right and ahead. It is easier to see in person than in the photo.That purple line is the track I want to follow.
The above photo is from a bike tour I was on, but I use the same GPS for brevets. I download the GPX track to my computer and put that into my GPS. I have a map showing on the GPS screen. If I glance down and see that I am not on the purple line, I know I need to turn around and get back on the line. I do not get any turn by turn audible voices or beeps or anything like that when I am following a track. I want that background map turned on so that when I am riding through a town, I can see how many road intersections I go through before the next turn.
The photo below is also from a bike tour, not a brevet, but in a situation like that I really like to see on my GPS map how my planned route looks so I can see how far I have to go around the round about before I get to it. When on the round about, I am so busy watching the traffic that I do not have much time to look at the road signs or GPS map, so I want to have it all figured out before I get to it. I need the map turned on for that.
