Dear Garmin,

I don’t know if anyone told you that you build pretty good hardware but your firmware SUCKS! It’s Nearly March 2010 and your customers still have to fight with an embarrassing Y2010 bug in your code, the UI is horrible and getting anything on or off the device is a pain. I am the not-so-proud owner of an eTrex HCx but I can’t remember the last time I actually used it. Why? Because a Nexus One with My Tracks is way better than anything you have to offer. No need to jump through hoops to get tracks off the device, no proprietary drivers that work with one and a half operating systems and I carry it anyway…

Do you want me back as a customer?

Build the eTrex Android.

Specs:

• rugged version of the Nexus One (same screen, processor, etc.)
• replaceable batteries (with a tiny battery in the device to let me switch batteries without shutting it down)
• better GPS antenna & chips
• tiny solar panel on the back

If you or any other company would build a device like that, you could ask ANY price and I would buy it. So please build it. Please…

Being back home I have the time to write some more about the West Highland Way.

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We reached Fort Williams yesterday after yet another windy and rainy day. Read the rest of this entry »

relax all morning, a Cheesburger and a Guiness in a Pub for lunch, go up Ben Lomond (974m/~10km)…

finished our second section of the West Highland Way today 26(?)km with heavy rain with a 20+kg backpack. This felt worse than the marathon I did 2 years ago – the last few kilometers I was close to giving up, but after a hot shower and food everything looks much better…