Garmin 010-01772-00 Foretrex 601, 2 inches

I have used this in the Army for over a year now and I love it. Before this I had a Fortrex 401 and loved it. There was some issues with the 401 that this solves. I will do a comparison of the 401 to to the 601.So the biggest upgrades from the 401 to the 601 are as follows.1. Battery Life- Like this is enough of an upgrade alone to justify it, if you are using these in the Military, or just use them often. I went from having to change my batteries every mission, to changing them every 3-4 days of heavy use.2. Built in Watch- Having the ability to now tell time is great, its saves you from having to carry another thing around your wrist, and works well. The watch only mode allows you to use this without taking much battery life at all, so you wont have to worry about it draining your battery supply for a watch.3. Back Light- The back light on this is way better than the 401’s orange light. It has the ability to be super bright if you need a quick flashlight type ability, and on the other end of the spectrum, it has a night vision mode that is very dim and even on the darkest nights, cannot be seen past 10-15 meters.4. Screen- It has a much better resolution and slightly bigger screen on it, allowing you to more easily see everything displayed.5. GPS- The GPS seems like it connects a little faster than the 401 and is slightly more accurate at the single digit meter level, But that aspect is not a huge difference from the 401.Overall- If you are in the military or use GPS’s a lot, this thing is amazing. It is small, doesn’t kill your batteries and works extremely well.If you have a 401 already…trust me when i say the battery life alone makes this worth the upgrade.

This is a pretty good GPS. It is hard for me to say it’s great due to the constant loss of connection with the satellite. This happened and happens even if I’m in a clearing between an area of thicker vegetation with slight overcast skies. Using it to get accurate azimuths is a little tricky you kind of have to average the readings…. not too difficult more like an easy educated guess. I was able to use this in Louisiana and New York and it has done what I needed it to do. Take me from point A and get me to point B or C or D and back. Batteries could last a little longer if you use lithiums but as for just regular triple a batteries three will last about 2 1/2 days. Depends on duration of use how good of a satellite connection and so forth. Over all a good fairly easy to use system.

I bought this GPS as an update for an older garmin that I have been lugging around for far too long. I wanted something small, light-weight, wrist-mounted, with an uncluttered display, as I wanted something convenient for search and rescue call-outs.Set-up was relatively easy and with a download of garmin express, I was able to update of the software in a matter of minutes. If you have an older mac, update the os to 10.13 or better – otherwise the garmin software will not work.I also looked into dloading a copy of the garmin western states 1:24,000… But at $99, no thanks. I will import my custom maps from garmin basecamp. Also, I wanted another wrist strap, but again, at $49.99 for the run-of-the-mill silicone version… No thanks.Overall: I would recommend for any outdoors person that is looking for a GPS with no frills functionality.

I have used the Garmin Foretrex 401 for years. I am a huge advocate for this product because of how quickly it receives a signal, the adaptability to your specific needs or wants, and the functionality of the basic info. I spent months trying to decide if it was worth replacing my 401 with the 601 and honestly couldn’t find a review to help me make the decision with confidence. It seemed as thought pros or cons mentioned weren’t that meaningful and it just came down to either wanting something new or not. I will say that the differences, as few as they are, made it well worth it for me. Listed belowPros: The ability to link to a cell phone through the Garmin app, and have others track your location Phone sync (bluetooth) for message alert, etc.Cons: NoneNeutral: Screen size Functions (almost the exact same as 401)Yes, the functions appear to be a mirror image of the 401, and until you get into the “guts” of a few of the setting you will notice almost zero difference. Certainly the screen is larger which I think can be oversold because to some people like myself that was not seen as a negative with the 401. I am actually glad the screens and functions are almost identical because that is exactly why I used the 401 religiously for years. However, I am truly surprised that more people do not talk about the phone and app capabilities more. These give the user an ability to accomplish some very important things for safety and convenience. I don’t want to be on my cell phone when hiking but like having the ability to be notified if someone is trying to reach me so I can decide if it’s worth getting my phone out of my pack. The app allows me to be tracked which brings a safety feature for family or friends that isn’t possible with the 401. Obviously if those two capabilities are not needed for you, then the 401 is perfectly fine. For me, this was worth the purchase because of that.

Short comments:- Durable outer shell.- 2 x AAA battery support and long lasting battery life.- Easy to keep the route by using Garmin Connect mobile app.- Garmin Basecamp support for planing or editing your route.I had using some GPS loggers before, e.g. Taiwan simple GPS logger, smartphone or Garmin GPS map 64…. etc. I would like to keep the GPS log when traveling or hiking but I face a main problem that is the GPS device’s battery life always weak. Finally, I find the Garmin Foretrex 601 has the BEST battery life. It can help me to keep GPS logs without issue and it can syn all data to my Garmin Connect mobile app for keeping or sharing. Of course, you can edit the GPS data through the Garmin Basecamp on PC/Mac if you have time.p.s. After you buying this. Please spend sometime to read the manual first.