Garmin GPS V GPS Receiver

I originally purchased this unit becasue I work on an ambulance and There are many roads in our area that are missing street signs, meaning delays in finding the roads, so, after using this product in the ambulance, and uploading the detailed mapping for the state, this problem was eliminated, it tells you on the top of the display what roads are ahead, also great for finding the best way to a location, with the auto-routing feature, also used this unit in the same capacity for the sheriff's dept. It's small size, along with the portablility, has several officers with these units in their patrol cars, I have used this unit several times to get coordinates for the helicopter with great accuracy, as for the claims of poor reception I have not experienced this, as long as your not in a building or under a structure then this unit works good. (And the speed it shows is accurate too, compared it to a radar unit, the gps shows 70.2, the radar shows 70, as most speedometers are off somewhat, this is a great way to see the true speed. Overall a very good product.

I have been using my GPS V for almost 2 years. Before that I had a GPS III+ and a GPS II. All use the same accessories and are the same physical dimensions.

I really like this unit; I just bought a second one to keep in my truck or to load up with more maps than 1 unit can hold. I use this unit on my motorcycles, 4 wheeler, boat, truck and bikes. It is very rugged and water proof. I would suggest running a 12v supply to it for motorcycles or 4 wheelers since the vibrations can batteries to swell or crush ends and they become hard to remove. Battery life is very good if you use a quality AA Battery (needs 4).

The GPS V has very good routing features, but you need to use them a few times to get the hang of it. If you go off course it will take a few moments and reroute you. Buttons are big enough to use with light gloves and making a route on the fly is easy as well. Has a powerful state of options for routes, destinations, stops as well as finding places. Keeping track of speed, ETA, mileage, top speed and dozens of other stats is a snap. Another plus is that screen lights up with 3 different levels of light for use at night. There are lots of accessories made for this unit and they are readily available.

There are some things I don't like however.

Another review talks about bad reception, I have not experienced this. You will lose reception in places where the sky is blocked. Inside a building or in heavy forested areas where a canopy of trees cover the road. Or when very tall trees or a canyon leave only the area straight above you open to sky. This usually only lasts a few seconds and it finds itself quickly when these conditions change. I think this is common to all GPS's.

The memory is not expandable; it's 19 M for maps. It is easy to out drive your downloaded maps if you have the routing feature turned on for the maps. Around home I don't have this problem but sometimes when driving 600 miles or more I need to reload maps and split my routes.

This is an older unit and maps and software are a few years old. As far as I know Garmin is not updating maps or software for this unit. This means that sometimes you run into roads that have been changed (numbers or actual roads) and it is easy to think it has lost its mind. Also the data for hotels, garages and restaurants is also old, so some are still there and a few are not.

The small screen and size is ok for what I do, but more modern units have color screens that are much larger.

Overall, the more I use it, the more I like it. I would not pay a lot of money for one of these, the new stuff just looks too good, but if you can pick them up for a reasonable price as people upgrade, it has a full range of features and is a quality unit.

I purchased my GPS V in late 2003, for an upcoming trip to New Zealand (beware, the international basemap is woefully crude and featureless) and it hasn't left my toolkit since. Recently, while packing at 9pm for yet another trip with it, I stashed it conveniently in my camera satchel, only to forget where I'd secreted it away. After a week of being unable to locate it, a sickening feeling was growing in my stomach.

My relief was palpable when I finally remembered how "clever" I was that night before my roadtrip, and I fished around in the dark recesses of my camera bag to pull out my trusty GPS. At last, we were re-united!

Pros:
* waterproof, military-grade construction; this thing feels "engineered", not manufactured
* long battery life from four AA batteries you can buy at 7-Eleven or around the world
* great support via 3rd party tools for exporting your tracks and waypoints; Garmin founded the industry, so their protocols are industry-standard
* works with most PC-based navigation software
* stub antenna can be replaced with (cheap) aftermarket antenna for incredible satellite reception
* great menuing system and buttons; everything "just works" exactly how you'd expect it

Cons:
* serial-only interface is both a blessing and curse, you'll probably need a serial to USB adapter for your laptop
* not the lightest GPS unit out there, but it is _dense_
* better wrist strap would be good (there's one included in the deluxe kit, but I never understood exactly how they wanted me to install it)
* older processor (saves battery life!), can make auto-routing slow at times; this GPS will positively cry mercy if it take it into downtown San Francisco as the streets are so dense (warning: stay PUT while it's calculating or you'll be in for a world of misdirection!)
* limited on-board memory for maps, you have to be judicious with that you put on there

Conclusion:
While the design and implementation of the GPS V is decidedly "previous-generation";, it is a superb tool with unsurpassed build-quality. This is not a toy, and you'll never confuse it with one. I would trust my life with it, and I expect to keep using it until they stop making AA batteries.

The uint I purchased was a newly overhauled uint, But I am extremely pleased with it's performance.
The unit has never taken more than approxamately a minute or two to aquire sattelites fron a 'cold start' and give a position fix.
The included software bundle is excellent, and easy to use and install.
As an AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR, I like the way the GARMAN GPS V unit is easily interfaced with a terminal node controller for use on the AMATEUR RADIO APRS [automatic position reporting system]. The menus are streight-forward, and easy to understand on the fly.
Also as a field servicer, I find the address finding feature extremely helpful. It gives turn-by-turn directions and even at 300 foot resolution is easy to read on the fly. The mounting system is simple to install, and can be used with external antennas if necessary. I also found the back-lighted screen excellant at night.
Those amateur radio operators wishing to purchase a unit for APRS, this is the way-to-go.

I chose Garmin for its reputation and reliable products. The GPS V receiver although discontinued is great .
The only problem is the seller sold me an item that he did not check to see if it worked before he put it on e-bay for auction, and it did not work. I've had to contact Garmin and pay to send it back to Garmin for inspection and hopefully repair or I'm out $170.00.
Seller could care less, and ebay takes care of theie power sellers . Ebay could care less.
Would I buy again on ebay? Never, I will buy from a local store. Never again buy from any internet store because once they have your money,your screwed.
Bet you will not print this, because the truth hurts.

It is very easy to use. I like the map feature, I have the one of the USA. It is amazing how much info is available on the map. I got the America 7.0 with my GPS. I have had one other GPS it was an Eagle Explorer, and the Garmin GPS V is far superior to it. It is very easy to handle and I like that you can use it verticaly or horizontaly. One draw back is the amount of memory that the GPS has, something like only 19MB so you can't store alot of detailed map info on it. The GPS V has a lot of cool things on it that I find very useful. I also like the detachable antenna. You can purchase an external magnetic antenna to increase your reception. For what this GPS can do it is well worth the money. There are alot of bigger more expensive units out there, however, with this unit you get alot for a little $$$.

The Garmin GPS V GPS Receiver is a great compact rugged unit. I'm a novice with using a GPS system and was amaized with the amount of techincal options this unit has. I'm probably only use about a tenth of its operating capabilities. I just use it as a rough navigation, direction finding and speed indicating while boating with my kayak or canoe. It should be waterproof to 2 feet, but just to be safe I keep it covered inside a ziplog bag.

The only problem I have with it is constant loss of signal, even though I use the antenna vertically errect, fresh batteries and the correct battery setting. I don't know if they are all like this, but It could be a perfectly clear day outdoors and I still often loose contact with satelites. Reception is its weak point. Unless I have a defective unit, It need a better antenna amplifier, But I don't like the idea of carring another plug-in accessory with me while in a limited-space kayak. Does anyone have any solutions?

This was one of my best auction winnings of all time! When you buy a Garmin GPS system off of eBay, be advised: If you want to register it with Garmin, the original owner will need to contact Garmin to release the registration to you. You WILL want to register the system so you can get the free updates for your receiver. The GPS that I had won didn't have the software and is a discontinued item with Garmin. SO what I did was go to the Garmin web site and emailed the help people (a lot of times) and, finally, they contacted the original owner and got the GPS registered to me and after a few more emails, they sent me the mapping software for free! The software was an older version but you can go to the Garmin site and update the software to the newest version for free! You save $75.00 by downloading the update...
So, be prepared to send a few emails and you'll have an up-to-date GPS Receiver from Garmin!

I bought the garmin V about 3 years ago. I like the unit however I have found that it takes to long to process. If you are driving while it is possesing (might take a minute or two)you might miss your turn. Then it recalculates you direcctions and again might take a minute or two. The best thing to do is to stop and wait for it to calculate the direction (hopefully you are not ona highway. This seams to mostly happen when you are in a conjested area. One other problem is the amount of maps that you can store to the unit. Not having a SD card limites you on the amount of maps that you can store on the unit. This is only a problem if you are going to travel through a couple of states or one big state and would like to have detailed maps for your course.

Like anything, you are best served to first determine and prioritize your needs from a product and then seek the product that best meets those needs.
Here were my needs:
A small GPS for dirt bike navigation, good interchangeability between dirt bike, hand held and car (and anything else for that matter), durable, low cost with decent routing, tracking and mapping functions.
I half expected to destroy the GPS in my first dirt bike crash so low price was actually a pretty big deal.
Well at $240, this wasn't the cheapest, but it certainly had great flexibility particularly with 90 degree rotatable screen. Map quality is better than I expected as is the track navigation. Plot your tracks and then turn on navigation and getting from point A to point B off-road is as simple as following an arrow.
The street navigation is even better! Again, plot your destination and it will calculate the best route (per your criteria to define "best") and alert you to turns and direction changes.
Lastly, the CitySelect maps included have a ton more useful info. When recently out of town, I wanted to find a nearby Mexican restaurant for my group of 10 to have dinner... I used the FIND feature and not only found one close by, but it also had their phone number. A short cell phone call later and I had directions and reservations for 10 without ever having to find a phone book or map.
Great GPS for the price.
The only downside I have found is that I wish this either had more than 19MB memory or that it was flash upgradeable (SD card).

UPDATE: It's April 11, 2007 and this GPS is still going strong! Since I orginally posted this review, I have literally put this unit through some tough testing, the most significant of which was a crash at over 70 MPH on my dirt bike. The bars where this is mounted were bent, the triple clamp was bent, smashed the headlight and for me only some aches/pains and a minor concussion... this GPS V only a few very minor scratches to the body but works perfect! I have also added a mount to use this for snowmobiling... it is awesome for this too, especially since most of the time, you cannot see roads or trails when they're covered by several feet of snow. I only thought to update this since I realized I am getting this ready for it's 3rd season of riding in Baja and I have not had any problems with it. For automotive use I have since graduated to an in-dash color system (Kenwood KNA-G510)... but it doesn't have the topo capabilities so I sometimes find my self even using the GPS V to supplement my Kenwood when off-roading.

I've been using this same GPS to navigate in Iraq for almost two years. It's never failed me and I highly recommend this product to everyone. Even for first time user's, it's easy. I additionally own a Garmin Etrex, which has almost identical controls and I use in my survival kit as a back-up. The mounting bracket works great on vehicle and power boat dashes.

I just used the GPS to navigate through Kansas City, Mo this past weekend. The system gives you an audible warning when your next turn is coming, aside from displaying the distance to and type of turn. The back-lit display worked great at night.

All in all, no complaints about the item.

Now I can not search using the "Find" utility. Whatever I enter it starts at Z. Great if I wanted to only go places that start with Z.
Patheric piece of crap.

Bought it to replace my old Garmin III+ that I use on my motorcycle. Has a few more advantages than older one, not the latest & greatest, but good for my application...knowing exact travel speed, good maps, etc. I don't use it to its full potential so wanted one that fit my needs but at a good price. No problems.

Bought on ebay for $100 plus shipping. The seller was very helpful in getting license changed over to my name. Talked with Garmin about map update - very, very helpful and courteous. Unit works like a charm. Would love to upgrade some day but have you checked the prices on these things? Mine is like new and other than being in gray scale, it is perfect for me. Will take only 19mb but that is sufficient for our travels at this time. Have upgraded to newest software (no charge) and a US map version 8.0 (latest as of 11/06). Great little unit and highly recommend it if you can get your hands on one.

The GPS came in good working order with all as advertized -thanks. It arrived within a week and was shipped safely.

Hello, I really liked the GPS 5 But I gave it to My grandson since He is going to collage in a strange town and needed more than I did. The only thing I didn't like, was that the shipper sent it so I had to be home to sign for it. This caused me some problems so I wont order anything else from them. I intend to find another one on EBAY soon, this time I want one with a color screen.
Have a good day tommahauk

Returned it to seller. It did not include the necessary cable needed to download the maps from a computer from the included software. Also the manual was somewhat water soaked and the pages were stuck together. The seller was very good about returning the item. She was selling it for a friend and did not know the cable was necessary.

Purchased at my price, Mailed imediately, no problems. Received new, in box, with all instructions. Workes great with little effort.

The item had all of the features that I have been looking for, but was unable to afford. Buying this unit will allow me to pursue a hobby that has interested me for sometime.

excellent product, just what I was looking fulfills what interests me, it works well and is in good working condition.

I had purchased the item a few weeks ago and found the item to be a valuable asset to the projects required. It is versatile both as a Automobile GPS as well as a hiking gps.

I am very pleased with my purchase. So far everything is working great. Looking forward to using the GPS unit for some time now and in the future.

The Garmin GPS V is a great size and very durable for off-road adventures on a motorcycle or bicycle. It is very durable, withstands vibration and is waterproof. The unit operates for nearly two days on four AA batteries. Three things would have made the GPS V excellent, an antenna that ran the length of the unit vs one that stands straight up, a memory card for more than the 19mb internal memory and the use of a 9 volt battery with snap connectors vs the four AAs. Even with the limited memory, the GPS V will hold a large area using the Garmin Topo maps and can easily be refreshed using a small laptop.