Garmin epix, TOPO U.S. 100K

Ever since those old days, you know, the one's we all reference nostalgically... Yeah, those days, I have been a boy on an adventure. I never gave up on that great expedition into the world's most mysterious, beautiful, fast, loud, quiet, pure, and amazing wonders. That being said, I am very pleased with this, most exceptionally designed, lifestyle navigation device. I mean, hands down, despite the market hype-ups for smart wearables, there isn't a single watch on the planet that delivers better than the Garmin Epix.I have heard all of the negative reviews. Heard them in pre-release beta. Knew a couple of "haters," personally. The Epix is a one-of-a-kind demonstration of passionate engineering. Does it have its flaw? Who among us does not?Does it have room to grow? As much as you give it of the earth and your passion in return.I don't know what kind of person can be dissatisfied with the Epix, and have no desire to encounter any such individual.Facts:-I am sorry to report that the battery life varies, depending on how you use it. So, for those of you who just expect things to be NOW and INFINITE, this may not be the device for you. I did hear that Violette Beauregarde wanted one... I charge mine with a portable battery, while its attached to my wrist, and I think the battery life (considering I now have a computer that I can wear on my wrist, with a direct sun-readable. touch display, BT, GPS, and dedicated content supplemented by community and third-party apps) is the coolest thing since Nokia's mini candybar phones at the dawn of mobile telecommunications, just a decade ago. Cellphone's themselves only peak 40yrs old.)-The display is more than bright, fluid, crisp, and BIG... enough. It fits on your wrist. I would not want a device of this caliber to be much smaller. It will continue to get flatter as technology permits. It works. It is functional, and draws questioning about what it is. Most people who see this thing, shares my amazement. It is larger than a less powerful watch, for the obvious reasons.-Feels well constructed. No issues with the charger either. I trust Garmin's rep for building a solid product. I have a 10yr old 60CSx, but that isn't this. It is a GPS. That means that it communicates with satellites so I can know where I am, and ergo not be lost while navigating unfamiliar locations on the planet. Last time I checked, the one I have on my wrist right now is parked on the map screen-in activity helping me track my sailing ship more effectively. Rubber wrist strap isn't in the least bit smelly or uncomfortable (although, in the blazing sun -- sweat happens.-Connect IQ has some room for improvement. As is typical with a new product launch, the market is meagerly populated. The treats that are there include: a chess game teaser, a notes app, and a myriad of more specific activity trackers. I see a well rooted application community in its early stages, and have faith that more will come soon (might take a crack at the SDK myself.)-It displays the time. You can download more customized faces at Connect IQ-It has maps. I got the topo 100k, I cannot accurately say it lags at all. If you are jumping all about and trying to use the zoom like a madman, then you will certainly experience jitter. The screen is small enough to fit on your wrist. It is displaying your approximate position on the Earth in real time with more detail than you ever possessed without it... It rocks.-Compass is sharp.-Data Fields are customizable. So are activities. Really, at the end of the day, it took no time at all to program all the activities I needed for sailing and set them up, some with auto-scrolling data pages... any lag is pardoned on account of sheer awesomeness.-The firmware will update. Until then, its new, it will have bugs. You want a mastermind product. Don't want to make it yourself. Can't appreciate all of the good things, because its bulkier than a Breitling and pauses if the computations are too much for it. We humans have a much larger brain than the Epix does ;) and we possess exponentially less useful data, but want to be mad at the company who made the tool that the consumer begged for, nit-picking about smooth screens, satellite acquisition times and new firmware woes... But, is it the s*** though? YES!James Bond would have loved it.Pirate all around the Caribbean missed out.Its uniquely exceptional.I glance down at my wrist, to check the map. Still navigating, as it has been for several hours now. Got an SMS notification over the map, about 30 minutes ago. Track is showing bright behind the pointer. And, I personally thank Garmin for finally delivering technology worth a damn, I'll let ya know how it holds up to a circumnavigation.Now, I'm about to play some asteroids on this itty-bitty screen, before sunset (vibe alarm just reminded me)PEACE<SAIL>WORLD

Awesome watch. Used it during a 3-day kayaking river trip which was 32 miles. Tracked my location very well throughout the entire trip. Works underwater well. Although the touch screen will not work well while the watch is submerged under water. This is because the water presses up against the screen and thinks its your fingers pressing on it. So when I tested the gps signal while the watch was submerged I locked the touch screen feature. GPS signal was never lost and I am very pleased. This watch could live underwater. The options to choose from during hiking is easy to use. Finds satellites well even under a full canopy of trees and being in the mountains. Compass works great too and is very accurate. I used the base map software to create waypoints before the trip to help me plan out distances to kayak per day while still being able to find a camp site. Its super awesome and easy to use. Connect your Epix watch to your computer after marking your waypoints and select download to watch option. Even from my home before the trip I can verify that my waypoints have been saved. The watch face is pretty big on my skinny wrist, but I love it LoL. I wear it daily as my watch. I honestly wouldnt want a smaller watch because the color screen is a nice size when navigating on the move. Like while hiking on uneven terrain, sitting in a moving boat, etc. Used it while driving to navigate around a detour area. The watch found my location and showed me street names before I reached the next stop sign. It made me smile. I do wish the storm alert was more accurate since I used that feature alot on my Suunto Ambit 3 Peak. Im not sure if I can improve the barometer on the Epix yet, maybe Im just not good enough with the watch yet..? I just see that the watch signals the storm alert to activate when the skies are blue on a summer day. Even on the highest barometer drop setting, this feature appears to be weak and needs improvements. Atleast when I compare it to the Suunto. (But the Epix has gps features that crushes that of the Suunto, and thats what I needed, solid gps capability on the fly, which is part of a wrist watch). When I first got the Epix I noticed right away that the battery died in just a few hours. But once I charged the battery full over night a few times the battery is good. It was completely dead in the box, so it must have needed a really long charge to wake it back up. The battery lasted for my 3-day trip without recharging it. Using both satellite settings does wear down the battery faster but it locks onto your location quicker with more accuracy. I noticed while kayaking that in order for the watch to show me the next section of river and all of its intersecting waterways to choose from, before I reached a spot where it was too late for me to navigate the turn, I had to use both settings which are the WAAS/EGNOS and GLONASS satellites. But it only takes about 5 seconds to select these options while on the river in rapids and holding a paddle. So the watch is really easy to use. Most of the time when there were drops of water on the screen the watch functioned great. But sometimes if I were to select an option when there was alot of water on the screen, like a film of water, i had to quickly wipe it off before choosing a button because otherwise the button wouldnt do anything or an option i didnt want popped up. But again thats only because I didnt have the touch screen locked while in water. After I locked it, you can swim with the gps screen on without any issues. The GPS accuracy is good enough to let me see which sides of each island I wanted to go on during the planning of the trip. There was no guess work while on the water and it greatly helped me reduce the risk of getting stuck in spots I wanted to avoid. It does alot more that I typically dont use like sleep tracking, training goals, etc. But I did notice that in order to use the weather feature the watch needs to be synced to your smartphone. Which greatly reduces battery life. I would probably have to charge the watch every night if I were to leave my cell synced 24/7. If you want an easy to use gps watch that is a good solid gps or even a backup gps, this watch will make your edventure even more fun. It will make you smile.