When I go to their home page I get:

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Thus, I have removed the link to Garmin.

I have owned:

1. Garmin 45
2. Garmin 48
3. Garmin GPS-II
4. Garmin GPS-III
5. Garmin GPS-130
6. Garmin eMap
7. Garmin GPS Map 76
8. Garmin GPS Map 176C
9. Garmin Geko 201
10. Garmin C330

Garmin has some good engineers, but there ethics and marketing leaves a lot to be desired. Here are the problems:

1. I have the literature and the manual for the Garmin 45. Nowhere do they mention that to force customers to buy the much more expensive 90, they made the 45 quit when the speed exceeds 100 knots. Making it useless in an airplane.

   Certainly, Garmin can make and sell a crippled version for less money. But, this should have been in the Specifications and the manual. Garmin, and West Marine chose to keep the facts secret.

   Only after Garmin got bad press from users on the internet did they decide to remove this crippling. I believe none of the 12 Channel models have this intentional deception, and will go up to a few hundred knots or better. Non-the-less, Shame on Garmin's intentional deception.

2. To transfer Waypoints and data between a PC and a GPS Garmin sold something called PCX-5. It was a disaster, in fairness to West Marine and a couple customers in the store they all advised against PCX, but I bought it anyway. In those days a far better program was Gardown, and it was free.
3. The GPS-130 was a disaster, and the most expensive GPS I ever bought. The problem was the inconsistent user interface. Fortunately, Garmin soon took it off the market.
4. The eMap was an attempt to "simplify" the interface, but it was poorly done. For example they changed "Simulator mode" to "Indoors" such things are only confusion. The case and external connector are very cheap and poor. I believe all the e-series have the same very poor connector.
5. The GPS Map 76 out of the box was non-functional. You had to do a software download to get the date correct. After getting it functional it is probably the best hand held Garmin has ever made.
6. The second most expensive and second worst GPS was the GPSMap 176C. It eats batteries, and you can't see its' color display in the daylight. A worthless device.

   I actually bought from West Marine a GPSMap 176 (not a color display) but when I got it home it had a track and waypoints at Lake Tahoe. Obviously, the San Jose West Marine had sold me a used one as a new one. I called and complained to West Marine's home office. As a result I got a call from the San Jose store, and they offered to exchange it for the more expensive 176C, at no price increase. Regrettably, I was talked into taking a 176C (Color display) which turns out to be useless except at night. I called Garmin to inquire about a down-grade to the non-color model. Garmin's response was, You can buy a new 176 otherwise go away. I threw it in a Junk drawer and it has never been used since.

7. On a positive note: The Geko 201 does not have any map data, but for the price I would recommend it. The user interface is elegant and simple. It would be a "best first GPS" for anybody. The 101 is cheaper but the extra features in the 201 are well worth the additional price. The 301 has a magnetic compass and barometric sensor for altitude, but uses batteries faster. I would pay more for a 201 to get additional battery life. The Geko's all have the inferior external connector of the e-series, but it is better implemented.
8. I bought from Fry's Electronics a reconditioned Garmin C330 which calculates roots and gives driving instructions. It is one of the most fun and useful GPS devices. I told a friend about it and he bought one and created a nice web page about the C330 so I won't try to describe it here.

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