Garmin Dakota review

Sunday, September 19th 2010 - 21:10 CEST - Comments: 0

T he Garmin Dakota 20 is sort of a smaller version of the Oregon. It’s about € 50 cheaper, but that does not mean that it is of lower quality, nor that it offers less possibilities. Choices have been made that will appeal to different user groups. I think it would be a good partner for a cycling tourist. I traveled to South Africa with the Garmin Dakota 20, and I ran into things that were out of the ordinary.

• Read our full Garmin Dakota 20 review.

 

Garmin Dakota 20 review - GPS receiver with touch screen

Garmin also makes use of a touch screen in the Dakota 20. It most resembles the Oregon's screen from an earlier review. It has a beautiful matte surface, which limits reflections, it is clear enough in sunny weather, and is sensitive enough for finger control, even with gloves on. I do still have to make a few side notes. The resolution is noticeably lower, which costs quite a bit of detail. The dimensions are a bit smaller, and this is noticeable in the size of the letters on the screen. The letters are smaller and therefore less visible, for my older eyes. I tried to enlarge the letter size via Settings, but this did not offer the desired result.

 

 

Review Garmin Dakota 20 - Creating profiles

We can adjust the Garmin Dakota for every type of use. Other applications are important for hiking than for driving. The adjustments can be saved in profiles. There are 5 standard profiles offered, but we can also create extra profiles ourselves. For example, we have the possibility to change the combination and order of the buttons in the main menu. The settings can be adjusted in each profile. For geocaching we can load topographical maps while for car navigation we can effortlessly switch to another set of maps. There is a "sun profile". It switches off the hatching for more contrast.

 

 

Garmin Dakota 20 GPS review

The Garmin Dakota 20 GPS device is indeed smaller than the Oregon, but even with my bigger-than-average-hands, it is easy to control. The dimensions only differ a few millimeters in width and thickness, but the Dakota slides more easily into my breast pocket. Due to the length of the carrying cord, this will most likely be the storage space for most people. Read our full Garmin Dakota 20 review.

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