Garmin Etrex Legend - GPS Receiver Operation instructions

GPS Tutorial: Basic Applications
Garmin models covered
1. eTrex Legend
2. eTrex Venture HC
3. eTrex High Sensitivity

Coordinate Systems
•Geographic CS: spherical (3-dimensions), such as latitude and
longitude
•Projected CS: flat (2-dimensions), such as UTMs
•Requires a GCS and map projection (to go from 3 to 2 dimensions)
•Map projections are customized for a particular location/region
•The coordinate system you use depends on where you are and what
you’re doing – there is no single system that is right for every context.
Want to know more?
resources.esri.com/help/9.3/arcgisengine/dotnet/89b720a5-7339-44b0-8b58-0f5bf2843393.htm
www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/TOC/cartTOC.html
•Coordinate system (CS): reference system used
to represent locations on earth.
•Provides common basis for communication
about a particular place or area.

Coordinate Systems
www.extension.umn.edu/youth/mn4-H/projects/docs/geospatial-GPS-coordinate-systems-explained.pdf
(Lat and Long)
GCS: Decimal degress (lat and long) PCS: UTMs
“Easting” is 6 digits but
often has leading 0.
Wyoming UTM zones
W (12) E (13)

Garmin eTrex
Legend and HC

•After turning on the GPS (power button
circled in red), click through pages using the
page (or quit) key.
•Pages should be similar to this:
Main Screens
Satellite Map Navigation
Trip
computer Main menu
eTrex Legend

eTrex Legend
•Use toggle to move between options
in a menu
•Push toggle in to select
eTrex HC
•Navigate with up and down arrows
•Press enter to select
Moving between and selecting options in a menu

1. Navigate to Main Menu
with page button
Before Anything Else, Set the Coordinate System
In ‘Position Format’ select the coordinate system you’re using. For example,
UTM UPS for UTMs (PCS) or hddd.ddddd° for decimal degrees (GCS).
After change Position Format, select your Map Datum. For UTM UPS, you
likely want NAD 83. For hddd.ddddd, you likely want WGS 84.
The coordinate system is now set. You do not need to do anything extra to
save the settings –simply navigate to the next page you need with the page
button.
2. Select ‘Setup’ 3. Select ‘Units’
4. Change units

•Regardless of the screen you are
on, push in and hold toggle
(legend) or enter button (HC)
“Mark Waypoint” screen will
pop-up:
How to Add a Waypoint by Entering Coordinates
1) Toggle until the numbers within the flag are highlighted, then
push toggle in. Name point then select ‘OK’.
2) Toggle until the field next to ‘Location’ is highlighted, push
toggle in. Move highlight box off of ‘N’ so box is on 1st number.
Enter the desired N coordinates (Latitude), enter W
coordinates (Longitude) on next line. Click ‘OK’ when done.
- This screen shows decimal degrees. Screen will look slightly
different for other coordinate systems but apply same steps.
3) After the point name and coordinates are entered, click ‘OK’ on
the main screen to save the waypoint.

•This follows similar steps as the previous slide but 1st the
GPS must find enough satellites.
•On the satellite page, the upper field will say “Waiting to
find satellites” if the GPS is still looking.
•Once enough are found, the upper field will change to
“Ready to Navigate” (this could take 5-10 min depending
on location and conditions).
•The upper field also reports accuracy. Before marking
your location, wait for accuracy to be below ~20 feet.
•Once accuracy is acceptable, push and hold the toggle in
for ~2 seconds. Name the point and then click ‘OK’ on the
main screen to save. Unlike the previous slide, do not edit
coordinates in the location field –those coordinates
already represent your current location.
How to Add a Waypoint for your Current Location

•After saving a waypoint, click the page button
(circled in red) until you get the Main Menu page:
How to Navigate to a Waypoint, Part 1
1) Click on ‘Find’
2) Click on ‘Waypoints’
3) Another window will pop-up, if choose ‘Nearest’, it will return a list of
points in order of how close they are to your current location. If choose
‘By Name’, it will return a list of points that you can search through. To
search by name, toggle so the field under ‘Waypoints’ is highlighted,
push toggle in, enter name.
4) Once find point need, toggle so point name is highlighted, push toggle
in. Click ‘Goto’ on new screen that pops-up.
eTrex Legend