Product Description

Gekos are the smallest and lightest waterproof GPS units on the marketinexpensive, with sleek designs and simple operating systems. With its sturdy, dark-gray case, the Geko 301 packs an amazing amount of functions into its slim frame. It has all the features of the Geko 201, plus an electronic compass and a barometric altimeter. The compass provides bearing information while you're standing still, and the altimeter determines your precise altitude and provides a 12-hour pressure-trend tool for gauging changing weather conditions. The Geko 301 also includes five interactive games that transform the great outdoors into a virtual board game, including the new Gekoids, which takes advantage of the electronic compass. You can also enjoy a good workout while chasing a virtual lizard in Geko Smak, match symbols in a grid version of Memory Race, navigate to reference points without crossing ones trail in Nibbons, and collect symbols along a path in Virtua maze. In the box: - GekoTM 301 - Manual

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76695 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Garmin
• Model: 010-00319-40
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .19 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Gekos are the smallest and lightest waterproof GPS units on the market - inexpensive, with sleek designs and simple operating systems.With its sturdy, dark-gray case, the Geko 301 packs an amazing amount of functions into its slim frame. It has all the features of the Geko 201, plus an electronic compass and a barometric altimeter. The compass provides bearing information while you're standing still, and the altimeter determines your precise altitude and provides a 12-hour pressure-trend tool for gauging changing weather conditions.The Geko 301 also includes five interactive games that transform the great outdoors into a virtual board game, including the new Gekoids, which takes advantage of the electronic compass. You can also enjoy a good workout while chasing a virtual lizard in Geko Smak, match symbols in a grid version of Memory Race, navigate to reference points without crossing one's trail in Nibbons, and collect symbols along a path in Virtua Maze.

Customer Reviews

Sadly, a huge disappointment.
I looked forward to getting this device, having seen a friend's 201 in action. Sadly, it has never worked well enough to be of any real use. It takes far too long (up to 2 hours on occasion) to find satellites, even in open country, and can lose its lock in an instant.

This expensive little toy has been shelfware from the first week of ownership, and due to an almost complete lack of practical support from the supplier (all I was told was how to clear the user data by starting the thing with a certain combination of two buttons pressed), this has led me to remove Garmin from my list of chosen suppliers for good.

Don't expect much help from Garmin Uk, if yours goes wrong. I was offered two options; spend around £30 more on cables and do my own software update, or send the darn thing to Southampton for a factory reset at £40.

Neither option offers what I'd call an after sales service for a device that costs over £100 and has NEVER WORKED.

Oh, and the telephone support person didn't have much of a clue about the 301 model I have; they insisted it had USB connectivity, when it doesn't.
A quick search for relevant accesories will reveal that this model uses a Serial port connection with a proprietary interface to four brass contacts under a rubber flap. The latest 301 models may well have a USB connection, but mine doesn't. It's poor when technical support staff haven't been properly informed about the product lines.

I will not be buying any Garmin products again.

Geko 301 comments
Have found this to be a very useful navigational tool. I spend lots of time in mountains and have generally navigated with map and compass. When deciding to have GPS as well, I was clear that I did not want mapping - I can read an OS map perfectly well and have been under impressed by the cost of hand held mapping devices. The Geko 301 has lots of more useful features for a sensible price - pretty reliable altimeter and reasonably good electronic compass. I have found it relatively easy to set up and modify settings to suit my needs though there are lots of menu options - far more than I can be bothered with.
In field use, it locks on to satellites quickly and only suffers occasional blips in loss of signal - even though it lives inside a protective bag on a rucsack in bad weather. Calibration of compass and altimeter is very straightforward and it prompts you when it senses a need to re-calibrate. Generally, what I want it to do is give me an accurate grid reference, altitude, heading (direction of travel) and distance covered - I can have all these continuously reading out on one screen - ie confirming my own judgements from map reading. If I want more, I can switch to other screens - crumb track, compass display, waypoint navigation etc.
It runs on two AAA batteries so not a lot of power but I find it works fine for a full day on re-chargeables and I just carry a few spare non rechargeables as back up. I ski a lot and would perhaps doubt its capabilities for Canada in January temperatures but otherwise it seems fine and is, of course, pulling far less power than colour display models.
Overall, if you want hand held GPS for the kind of reasons I have outlined, then this is a good bet. The trouble is that it is not easily available - Garmin seem to prefer to market their more all singing, all dancing all profit making models, though you can find the Geko 201 readily - though it is less fully featured.

Rod