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1. Ryan Pratt

   March 24, 2011

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   31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Capable unit with lots of uses, December 2, 2008

   By 

   Ryan Pratt –
   
     

   This review is from: Bushnell Onix400 Waterproof Hiking GPS (Electronics)

   Build
   The first time I picked up the unit, it felt very natural in my hand. The construction was solid. The rubberized back and glassy front were a nice contrast. The first thing that popped into my head was that this was a military grade device. The bulbous head which houses the antennae and protruding battery pack were pronounced, but had a natural feel to it. After holding it a few times, the unit fell into my hand with my trigger finger wrapping around the battery pack while my thumb held the unit securely in place. It is very easy to navigate with only one hand.
   Although I never plan on submerging it, I can see how the waterproofing can come in handy especially in navigating in the rain or getting to a favorite duck hunting spot. I have wiped it clean with a moist towel and there were no problems as expected.
   The top access panel houses the port to the external antennae. This is used to connect headphones or more commonly an auxiliary cable from your car radio. The bottom port is used to connect a mini usb port and to charge the unit. Unfortunately the bottom port does not have a swinging hinge like the top port so any day now I will lose the plastic connector that must be removed to recharge the unit.
   Grade: A-
   Comments:
   * It did feel very comfortable in my hand, but it is on the large side
   * Including a protective plastic screen cover would be nice. I can see the screen getting scratched with continuous use
   * The bottom port cover is easily lost

   Buttons and Function Navigation
   When navigating, the screen is far enough away from the controls, so there is no screen blocking when moving around the controls. I like how there aren’t too many buttons to get confused with. It took me a while to figure out that certain buttons needed to be held down to activate, but once I did, it was a breeze.
   Switching between topographical maps and aerial views was easy. The scrolling function on the map was too slow though. It should have an increasing rate of scroll as you hold the button down. This is important if you’re semi lost or choosing between a Y in the road. If you want to see a mile to the east, it takes quite a while to scroll that way.
   All of the buttons feel good and are easy to reach.
   Grade: A
   Comments:
   * Easy to use
   * Not cluttered

   Satellites
   As the directions note, it takes one or two minutes to acquire satellite locks. I commonly see 8-12 satellites once everything goes green and locks. It is very clear once the unit locks on as the satellites turn green and your exact location and altitude are displayed.

   Geocaching
   I am a novice geocacher, but when I entered the coordinates of 3 caches, I was able to find one. What I didn’t realize is that besides entering the coordinates, you should also read the description and hints which would’ve made me three for three. There is a geocaching mode or set of settings which I didn’t look too deep into. I believe that other GPS systems have a true geocaching mode with logging and cache maintenance. I’m not sure how important that would be for a casual cacher as myself.
   Grade: B
   Comments:
   * It seemed to work fine

   Off-Roading/Trails
   This was my most anticipated use for the GPS. I recently bought an off-road capable truck as well as a guide for off-road trails in my area. These trails were very detailed and also included GPS waypoints for each trail. Since many of these back country roads are poorly marked, GPS waypoints are vital. I set the waypoints for each trail. It was nice to be able to have long names for these waypoints. For example, I can name 01 Switzerland Trail through 05 Switzerland Trail and then connect them all by using the route feature.
   The aerial maps were a big help for off-roading as well. When there was a fork in the road, the aerial view showed me which way each trail went. I could then either follow to my waypoint or compare the coutours of the roads to the maps drawn in the book.
   I could have used a louder beep when the way point was reached, but there may be a setting that I missed.
   The downside was that my book listed coordinates in days, hours and minutes, while the Bushenell GPS companion required the coordinates to be input as decimal hours. I had to go online and convert all of my waypoints into the appropriate format before I entered them into the GPS. This can be very time consuming. There should be a feature to switch between the three coordinate types.
   Grade: B+
   Comments:
   * Creating waypoints and linking them together was easy
   * I need to see if I can increase the volume for waypoint arrival

   Car Driving
   Although this unit is not designed to be a driving direction assistant, it does have major roads on the base map. With the aerial view…

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2. G. Jimenez

   March 24, 2011

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   60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Bushnell Onix400 GPS XM Receiver, August 14, 2008

   By 

   G. Jimenez (Jacksonville, Fl USA) –
   
     

   This review is from: Bushnell Onix400 Waterproof Hiking GPS (Electronics)

   This is one of those products that can either be a great thing or can be a great disappointment… All dependent on actual need / intended use.

   For me, it has been a great product that met my needs. I like to do a lot of camping and hiking in the middle of the woods and all I need from a portable GPS is just the basics. Let me mark locations, get me from the car to the camping site or marked locations and get me back. For this, I don’t really need advanced features such as street routing, a POI database filled with restaurants, gas stations, etc. For that, I use the navigation system on my car.

   Having said that, pretty much, any of the portable GPS devices meet my requirements but what attracted me to the Onix 400 was the addition of the XM Weather receiver. That extra feature, for me was worth the price as it does come in handy to be able to see when storms are coming, their severity and to be able to estimate roughly when it will be on top of you and how long it will be before it passes once is on top of you.

   While the GPS with the Weather feature has been great on my outings, I do have a few complaints, which I did make sure Bushnell knew so that they can improve the product.

   1. While XM does seem to work during bad weather provided the device is out on the open, it is useless when one is stuck inside a tent while waiting for the rain to stop. The GPS does have a connector to allow peripheral devices to be connected, including an external antenna, but Bushnell does not offer such an antenna. The closest they have is a headset with an antenna, but is not designed to take the role of a real external antenna. Cable is short and because of it being a headset, I don’t believe it will be a good idea to leave it out on the rain for any extended periods of time.

   2. The cost of extra batteries. Only Bushnell batteries can be used due to their design. These batteries are not cheap to be able to buy a couple of spares, so one has to trade real time info for battery life. Pretty much, to extend battery life, once you get to where you need to be (Camping Ground),turn the unit off and if the sky shows signs of bad weather approaching, turn it on, wait for the XM signal to update the Weather info, then turn it off again.

   For me, this has not been a major issue, as turning the device off is what I would have done anyway with any other portable GPS without XM and turned it back on when on the move. Just thought other users may want to be aware of this.

   In summary, if you are looking for a portable GPS specific to outdoor activities and would like to keep an eye on severe weather, this is a GPS for you.

   If you want to use it as an MP3 player or for urban door to door navigation…

   Have you looked at Tom Tom or Garmin?

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