Review on 🌟 High-performance Garmin 010-01772-00 Foretrex 601: A Trustworthy 2-Inch Companion by Daniel Ogbebor

As a longtime 401 user, I bought this 601 to replace a 401 that was stolen from my luggage a few months ago. Foretrex is the only GPS range on the market that does all the work for me when hiking or dog sledding in extreme winter conditions. The physical buttons mean I can operate it with gloves on, and its AAA batteries are quick to swap out after the cold quickly killed them. I've run the 401 in temperatures down to -38°C/-36°F (well below the minimum -20°C rating) with no issues. The biggest improvement that the 601 delivers is the greatly improved battery life. - Chips have become much more energy efficient since the 401 came out. The way I burn lithium batteries with these things will recover the cost of the device over its lifetime. The improved screen resolution and GLONASS/Galileo support are nice too, I think, but I don't really mind. The USB 401 interface was finicky and I had many problems getting it to work with modern PCs. It seems to be fixed in 601. It's a USB mass storage device that contains a file system full of GPX files, so you don't need to use Garmin software to operate it. From my Linux system (not supported by Garmin) I was able to populate the Foretrex with waypoints from the mountain peak database by copying the handwritten GPX file to GARMIN/GPX/WPTS.GPX in the Foretrex file system. I don't like the new removable tape; it seems cheap and not as convenient as the old one. Annoying to have to remove it to access the battery compartment and USB port. Reading between the lines on Garmin's product page, I believe there is some legal bullshit at play: Since the strap is made in China, the Berry Amendment (google it) requires devices sold to the US military be shipped without one having to be shipped. So Garmin probably had to make some compromises to make it easier to attach your own wristband. In the few days I've had with the 601, the only issue mentioned in the one-star Bigfoot review that I've been able to reproduce so far has been the lack of satellite accuracy display. I take his word for the abbreviated list of waypoint symbols, but I didn't miss any. The maximum drop I've seen is about 60 feet in a few hours, comparable to what I got from the 401.