Customer Reviews:
 Ok Charger March 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It's fine as a charger but I wish Garmin had designed it as a standard 1 pin charger and placed the access point at he base of the unit not the top rear. Horrible placement. Also cord is way too long and is difficult to get the charger into the usb port. I am also concerned that the constant opening and closing of the rubber flat the waterproofs the usb port will damage it.
 Works as expected March 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The cable works just fine. It's great to be able to have my Garmin Legend turned on for hours while traveling in the car, without the hassle of batteries (rechargeable or not).
Happy February 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Garmin 12 volt adapter is just what I was looking for, Garmin quality, but at Amazon price. Nice.
 Fantastic on longer trips or for use at night December 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I took a six hour road trip last summer and this device was fantastic in that I was able to use the backlight on my Garmin all the way and never had to worry about running down the batteries. I also use it at night when a backlight is pretty much essential. It conveniently plugs into the USB plug on the unit, and works fine with my dashboard mount. Yes, it is expensive, but I told a friend I would get him one for his Garmin as he was going to try and rig up one homemade in the hopes of saving some money. I thought that a car fire or toasting his Garmin is not worth the meager savings, or the risk that his homemade rig could go terribly wrong, so he will have a proper power source for his Garmin this Christmas.
I took one star away because I do think it should have been priced less for what it does.
 WAY OVERPRICED October 8, 2007
49 out of 52 found this review helpful
No matter how much I want continuous power to my Garmin I just can't pay that much for a little power cable that costs probably $1 to make. It's the principle of it.
Instead I did some research and discovered a nifty little item called a USB car adapter for as low as two dollars! - then I can just use the USB cord that came with the unit! Only the wires needed for supplying power are used and not those for the data (they are separate wires in the cord). For more info do a search on Wikipedia for USB, and Goggle and right here at Amazon for USB car chargers.
I found a great dual charging unit elsewhere for $15 including shipping. With the dual unit I can charge my eTrex Vista HCx and phone or PDA, both at the same time. Just make sure the power output is 4.75 to 5.25V, that's the USB power specification. All but one of the units I found where in the proper power range though one was 7.2V, which is too high.
BTW, the little connector at the eTrex is also a USB connecter, just a different type (shape) then you may be used to. They call it a `mini USB,' while the larger one on the other end (of the cord that came with the unit) is a `USB type A', the same you typically see for computers and flash cards. It doesn't matter though, they are just differently shaped connectors that do exactly the same thing.
Don't pay Garmin's outrageous prices. Get a USB car adapter and power your eTrex through the USB cord supplied with your unit. It's the same as when you plug your unit into your computer's USB port and the computer supplies the unit with 5V power. Enjoy
|
