Garmin Dakota 20 GPS

"Used for ice fishing now."

"I've only used the Dakota on 2 hikes so far(Rattlesnake Ridge and Mailbox Peak). I've had the Etrex Vista HcX for the past year and have enjoyed it thoroughly. So far the Dakota 20 has gone above and beyond in every way. The screen visibility is less but with the high battery life i don't mind turning up the back lighting a bit.

An exciting discovery is that the Dakota also has shaded relief mapping capabilities. Something that i was never able to find mentioned in any of the product specifications. The touch screen is more responsive than my HTC Touch telephone and, after owning the Vista, the Dakota was very easy to work with.

Also, at REI i was told that the Dakota's with the "buggy" software were all recalled and that it is no longer an issue."

"I switched from the Etrex vista HC. I mainly use the GPS for hunting and hiking in the mountains. I mark were I park on logging roads, mark trails, roads, animal signs and use it for backtracking often in terrible weather where fifty meters can make the difference between finding the car or not.

I really liked the way this unit works with the touch screen. It's fast enough and with the "hotfix" it found reception quickly. It's easy to use and while it did drop a couple features they were not ones I used.

HOWEVER, I have three complaints which are absolute deal breakers for me along with a couple more minor complaints. I have to jump in with the crowd of people who have serious complaints about the dark screen. It can be very difficult to see if the light is not just right and I had to keep the backlight on all the time which reduces the barely acceptable battery time. While hiking with the Dakota (and fresh batteries) for the first time through woods and open fields on a clear sunny day the Dakota lost reception 13 times while hanging from my neck. My buddies Garmin Colorado never did while he walked 5 feet from me. Lastly, the my Dakota just shut down for no reason. This unit will go back to REI later today. Minor complaints: Garmin dispensed with the accuracy circle which tells you how far you might have to search in any direction for a place or object. My compass was erratic at times.

It's to bad since it really is easy to use, but it's just not reliable enough for the way I use it. I'll go back to the Vista HCx and just wait until Garmin gets it right. Bottom line: I'll recommend it when Garmin fixes the weak screen, has more reliable reception, and doesn't shut down for no reason."

"This is my 3rd GPS in 6 yrs. The Garmin Dakota 20 is my latest. I have been using this unit for 3 weeks, bicycling to work , on the hiking trail and in the car. In comparison to my e-trex Vista Cx there are many feature that are improved and some that are not.



Cons:

1 – The biggest negative is the display brightness. This is almost a show stopper. If you can't see the display then the unit is basically useless. I say this because the e-trex Vista Cx display is very bright, good in any lighting condition. At night it was so bright, you had to turn it down or put on your shades. The brightest setting on the Dakota 20 is about 20% of the brightest setting on the e-trex Vista Cx. This is a very big difference.

2 – Some of the adjustability has been removed. Being able to select what fields you want to reset in the trip computer. This is the most noticeable lost feature; the others did not catch my attention.

3 – The colors on the display of the elevation plot are the same as the e-trex Vista Cx, but since it is so dimly lite the display is very hard to discern where the line is.



Pros:

1 – The touch screen allows you to operate the unit with 1 hand while hiking or driving.

2 – The 3-D compass is very nice to use. When standing on a slope it is hard to hold a regular compass level, which leads to an erroneous reading. The 3-D compass does not care about level, I have more confidence using it.

3 – The editing of text for waypoints labels is as easy as typing. Unlike the e-trex which uses a joy stick to select letters.

4 – The high sensitivity receivers is amazing compared to both of my previous units.

5 –The vertical and horizontal settings for the elevation plot are retained when you exit to view other displays. This is an improvement over e-trex Vista Cx.



Conclusion: This was a tough choice, the display brightness is a big deal. If in direct sun light the display was unreadable I would take it back. However, the Dakota 20 is very readable in direct sun light. Along with the 3-D compass and the easy to edit text I will keep this unit."

"I like to climb 13ers and 14ers along with back country hike/camp trips. I shopped for over two months before I made my purchase. I was looking for a GPS unit that would give me my attitude and distance traveled, water proof, easy to carry and read in day light and night time. Also I was interested in a unit that could track my morning runs. I wanted to test the unit before I started going out on more serious adventures so I went up Grays Peak as I know this rout well and could judge how the unit was doing. I found it to be very easy to navigate on the trail. The screen was easy to read. It is light and easy to carry on my morning runs and very accurate. Within 15 min of opening the box I had the unit up and running. I purchased the Topo sim card for my area and have found that to be adequate for my adventures. After reading many reviews on several units I was a bit cautious but I am very pleased so far with this unit. I have used it about 30 hours now and battery is just now down one bar. If I have any issues in the future I will let you know. For now I think this unit is great and I am happy with it."

"This is a very well-designed GPS, comparable in features to the Oregon, but smaller and lighter. The screen is fairly bright, and compared to the Oregon its smaller size is surprisingly adequate. The menus and software are well thought out and very easy to use, and upon initial testing I was very impressed with the Dakota. However....



When I used it 'seriously' for the first time while backpacking an unmarked trail in the Boundary Waters, the Dakota totally crashed about 6 miles in. It wouldn't power on, even with repeated battery changes. Talk about cougar screams! The main reason for the trip was to track the remote trail, and to have the Dakota fail so totally was infuriating.



I managed to connect it to my Mac and found an update to the software which addressed a 'potential power on issue', but after downloading the update and transferring it to the Dakota, it wouldn't power on to install the update. Epic fail.



I returned it to REI for a refund, but I would consider purchasing it again providing this critical error is fixed. Apart from that (although it is a BIG problem) the Dakota is nice - just not trustworthy for the wilderness yet."

"Oddly, my previous review was removed, so I'll try again...



The Dakota 20 is a very nice GPS, which, during initial testing, worked very well. Simple, intuitive, easy to sync.



However, when I wanted to put it through a real in-the-field test, it failed me completely. The software crashed while I was backpacking in the Boundary Waters on a wild and unmarked trail. Needless to say, when a GPS crashes in the wilds, it's pretty useless. There is a new software update out which is supposed to fix a possible power-on issue, but as I had to return the non-functional unit, I've been unable as yet to test it.



If the problem is solved, then I would heartily recommend the Dakota 20. If not..."

"I searched for a long time for a unit for powered paragliding. I was considering the aviation products from Garmin, but these were too 'airport centric'. I dont use airports for flying. The Oregon line was nice, but way too expensive. When the Dakota line came out, it seemed like a reasonable choice. I got 20 bundle, with topo maps. The unit was fantastic. I love it. The best thing is the ability to configure the display options. Plus there are a lot of options avaialble that are aviation useful. I had a problem though, one day after a couple of months it just stoppe working. This was right after I logged a long day skiing, and I really wanted that track log. So I sent it back to Garmin, and they sent me a refurbished unit. Unfortunately, it was one of the early dakota 20's that have a really poor display- blurry and quite dim. They wouldnt give me a new one, so I exchanged it for a brand new one with REI. Hopefuly this one will be a good one. I am so glad I shop at REI since they have such good customer support."

"After looking at numerous GPS units, I finally decided on the Garmin Dakota 20. It may not be the best unit for any particular activity, but it does a pretty good job across multiple activities. I purchased it mainly for cycling, but found that it was also adequate for hiking and auto navigation.Now the downside. Garmin describes the Dakota thusly: Both durable and waterproof, Dakota 20 is built to withstand the elements: bumps, dust, dirt and water are no match for this rugged navigator.The first time I dropped it (while attempting to put it on my bike mount), it ceased to function altogether. [...] I have dropped my smartphone and golf GPS unit countless times...they still work. I drop the "rugged" Dakota ONCE and it dies! I have to say that I expected much better from Garmin. The Dakota 20 is probably not that bad, but the company leaves something to be desired."

"I just received my new Dakota 20 and planned to use it primarily for geocaching. I discovered that it will neither send or receive caches, tracks, waypoints, etc. with Garmin MapSource mapping software. I'm very disappointed that Garmin would come out with a new product that isn't compatible with its own basic mapping foundation software. They heavily promote purchase of their Topographic software and/or City Navigator software to install on the Dakota (at about $100 each) which both require subsequent installation of Mapsource. Then, after you purchase and install the software you can't even send or receive (easily that is) all the basic geocaching functions, i.e., caches, tracks, waypoints. You're kidding me! The workaround that requires switching file types from .GPX to .GDB in BaseCamp (a separate, free Garmin software download) isn't satisfactory to me after spending several hundred dollars and after having been a loyal Garmin customer since the inception of geocaching. I also don't care much for having to install more software (BaseCamp) that does little more - and in my opinion considerably less - than Mapsource.



Perhaps there is some other resolution or fix for this problem that I don't know about right now, but until I find out what it is I'm thinking that this incompatability just sucks! At this point I would not recommend the Dakota series to anyone. I'd recommend the GPSMap 60 series instead (I own two of them).



I will be returning this product and I sure hope Garmin doesn't make this same mistake with their new GPSMap 62 series.



I do like the touchscreen, paperless, etc. and all the other features of the unit. The brightness and sharpness isn't as good as my GPSMap 60 Series, but it's a different type and size of display so I'm okay with that. The display is a bit dim in low light (but still quite acceptable to me) and fine in bright sunlight although it sometimes it has to be turned "just right" to get good reflection. It's an easy remedy if handheld, but I would imagine not so easy in a bike mount (although I don't ride a bike). Night time is not a problem at all of course."