I have owned my Garmin 12 for 10 years and have not yet been tempted to upgrade. I find my garmin to be extremely rugged and reliable. I use mine to mark way points for hunting and marker bouys and shoals for fishing. My only complaint would be high battery consumption (get the 12V adapter), and awkward tagging of way points. (not sure if anybody has found a faster way of tagging points)

Many say that this is an easy unit to use. Maybe so, but I only used it occasionally, and always had to keep the book with me if I wanted to do anything more than read my speed and direction. I consider that not easy to use. Unit seemed slow to read sats, became impossibly slow, even in open areas. I decided not to bother getting it looked at, mainly because I did not like using it to begin with. Mine is quietly resting in several pieces on some rocks along the Kansas river. I'm going to look at the Magellan.

I have had this unit for about two years. I have found it to work well and fairly accurately. I do agree that it does tend to use a lot of power (4 batteries usually will last me two full days of use).

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The Garmin 12 has been a great hiking friend. I have not yet had to use it to get me back to safety, home, or camp. It has given me a piece of mind as well as a since of well being in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. Of course I Don''t go any place without a map, and a quality compass to use along with the Garmin 12. My GPS is more like a toy rather than a tool. I have learned more about the lay of the land than I could have learned any other way. The Garmin 12 is fast to locate and lock on to its location. If there is one complaint It''s the battery usage. It likes batteries! I enjoy hiking to very high places. With a map, compass, and a GPS you can spot, and most of the time, name all peaks within 50 or more miles around. The Garmin 12 is quick to lock on even in the dense old growth but has a little trouble when surrounded by rock or deep in a narrow rock canyon. I have had my GPS for about 9 months and have already stored 95 of 500 waypoints. I record all my hikes and waypoints, with special software and my GPS, on my home computer. My Garmin 12 was one of the best additions to my backpacking/hiking gear.

Customer Service

Never had to deal with them.

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An energy hog. Garmin's upper level receiver's all use previous-era energysaving technology and as a result require lots of extra batts for extended use. Water resistance is non-existent - I've found Garmin 12 battery compartments packed with desert dust after a trip, let alone keep water out. The backpacker desiring a light, small GPS that lasts a long time would be much better off with the eTrex with its more advanced energy hardware requiring only 2 AA batts.

Similar Products Used:

All Garmin 12 Products
Garmin eTrex
Brunton MNS

I've owned my Garmin 12 for nearly 2 years now, and I am satisfied with it's performance, and ease of use. My first GPS was a bottom of the line Magellan. It was slow, and not very accurate. It did not compare to the Garmin 12. I do a great deal of "wilderness" (if there is still such a thing)flyfishing/camping/kayaking/mountain biking in the Northern parts of MIchigan, and have come to rely on my Garmin for trailblazing/exploring. It's a lot of fun. Just make sure you've got extra batteries on hand! I've found that the rubber battery cover leaks, so becareful near water. It is not waterproof (the battery compartment)!

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None

I have the 12XL. I purchased this unit for day hikes and an occaisonal one week hike into NE Oregon. The 12XL is rugged, has an excellent battery life, is quick to pick up the satellites and it intuitive in its controls. Unfortunately it comes with a cheesy case. Go to REI and get a hard shell case for about $10. This unit is ideal for land navigation. The internal antaenna is quite sensitive. I wear the unit on my pack harness by my left clavicle and the 12XL reads its signals continuously. The price is reasonable and it is the industry standard.

Customer Service

No Problems with customer service.

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Magellan, Eagle and Lowrance. All inferior. Slower to pick up satellites and awkward control set up.

I really love this receiever. I've been backpacking with friends who had Magellans and I found them to be slow and, overall, lame. I looked for something simpler (and with a built-in, rather than external, antenae) and better and found in in the Garmin 12. No mapping, but, to be honest, no one really needs (or more weight for a bigger unit). Great PC-link abilities and all the goodies.

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Several Magellan units

This is the second time I am enter this info thanks to please re-enter your outdoor style and zip bang everything is gone. Anyway the Garman 12 is a pretty great unit I will suggest that you buy a case to protect your unit. I have had mine for about a year with zero problems.

Customer Service

Was looking to get a NSN for the "12", but was kind-of blown off by Garman's government rep. no biggy their loss.

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Many brand and different models

Overall, the GPS 12 is a basic but very useful tool with a large memory capacity for waypoints and routes. I've found it has good reception even in tree cover and canyons, and it presents information in a logical manner. Battery life is reasonable, 30+ hours in power save mode. It has no mapping functions, but I find that I use it most for hiking and don't need an electronic map. The feature I like best is the serial cable port, which facilitates downloading of free software upgrades from Garmin's Web site.

Customer Service

Called customer service once with a software bug, they explained how to get it fixed for free.

Similar Products Used:

Garmin e-Trex