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Garmin Foretrex 401 Review – Lightweight and Rugged

Garmin Foretrex 401 Review

The Garmin Foretex 401 is a lightweight GPS that is designed to be attached to your wrist in order to give you hands-free access to a GPS whenever you need it.
It’s size and weight, along with its durability, have made it a favorite among military members in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also makes it a perfect GPS for preppers, and any outdoor activity.

Garmin Foretrex 401 GPS

Garmin Foretrex 401 GPS
8.5

ACCURACY

9.0/10

DURABILITY

9.5/10

BATTERY LIFE

7.0/10

EASE OF USE

8.5/10

PROS

  • Uses normal AAA batteries
  • Light weight at 3.1 oz
  • Small at 2.9 x 1.7"
  • Rugged
  • Easy to use

CONS

  • Not the latest model
  • Battery life could be better
  • Doesn't have some of the extras that other GPS have
  • Low-res black and white display
CHECK THE PRICE ON AMAZON

Who Should Buy The Garmin Foretrex?

Anyone interested in a durable, reliable, no frills GPS should be interested in picking up the Garmin Foretrex 401. Hikers, military, preppers, and mountain bikers will love this little GPS.

Features

The Foretrex comes in a durable little package, weighing just 3.1 oz with two AAA batteries installed. The GPS itself is 2.9″ x 1.7″ and has a backlit, 1.6″, black and white display.
It claims a run time of 17 hours on batteries but I found that it’s normally somewhere between 12-15 hours.
It can track your routes, mark your location with the push of one button and wirelessly share waypoints with other Foretrex 401s.
The Foretrex is water resistant to 1 atmosphere. This means you’re good for rain and snow, but you’re probably not going to want to go swimming with it.
It can also track heart rate and steps with extra Garmin sensors that are sold separately.

Pros

The Foretrex 401 is super lightweight and fits nicely on the wrist. I’m not a fan of having anything on my wrists that can snag on stuff while I’m working so mine has spent most of its life hanging on the front of my body armor or off of the strap of a backpack.
Durability is another one of the Foretrex’s strong points. I had a one of these hanging off the front of my body armor for years. It was banged around all over Afghanistan, inside vehicles and on dismounted patrols, blown up twice, and kept on going with no problem.
I finally broke one of the pins that secure the wrist strap to the body by dropping my body armor on the ground and smashing it with the full weight of the plates. A little duct tape later and the wrist strap was reattached. The electronics still functioned like a dream.
Another great feature is the fact that it takes regular AAA batteries. This is a lifesaver when you’re not going to be able to recharge batteries for a while. A lot of GPS these days have rechargeable internal batteries. These batteries give them more life than the Foretrex 401, but they can’t be swapped out if they die. With the Foretrex, you just toss two more AAAs in it and you’re back up and running.
The ease of using the Garmin Foretrex 401 is another strong point. I was able to pick it up without using the directions and figure out how to do everything that I needed it to do in about 5 minutes. If you’re not familiar with GPS functions then you may need to take 10 mins to get it up and running.

Cons

The Garmin Foretrex 401 has been around for a long time now. Their latest model, the Garmin Foretrex 601 looks really good, but it’s almost $100 more and doesn’t offer that much more in my opinion. I haven’t used the 601, but if I pick one up in the future I’ll review it here.
The 401 lacks some of the added features and programs that you can find in other GPS. I don’t ever end up using them so it isn’t really a loss to me. If you need a GPS that does more than basic GPS functions you may want to look for something else. The lack of these extra features actually makes the 401 more appealing to me. It just makes it easier to use.
The screen is a monochrome back and white. For some people, this can be a deal breaker. I actually prefer it.
Battey life for the 401 is much worse than Garmin’s latest offerings. This is easily fixed by carrying more AAA batteries, but it still needs to be said.

Conclusion

Overall, the Garmin Foretrex 401 is a great little GPS for those that want something, small, reliable and easy to use. I highly recommend it.
Do you want to share your experience with the Foretrex 401? Please leave a comment below.
You can find other gear that we put in our bug out bags here. For more gear reviews, check out our gear review page.

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