Home > Consumer Reviews > Garmin PC interface cable (RS232 serial port connector) - not applicable to Geko 101
Garmin PC interface cable (RS232 serial port connector) - not applicable to Geko 101
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £17.80Average Customer Rating
(2.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
Compatible with Garmin Geko 201 and eTrex GPS
(3 out of 5) by MartinJ on May 31, 2006 (England UK)This lead is compatible with a Garmin Geko 201/301, eMap and eTrex GPS.
It plugs into an old style serial COM port on your PC.
If you only have USB ports on your PC you need to also buy a
USB to RS232 adapter cable.
I thought the description on this site was very ambiguous.
But they do list the manufacturers part number which
you can look up on the Garmin Web site.
It's fun to upload your routes to Google Earth Plus.
It plugs into an old style serial COM port on your PC.
If you only have USB ports on your PC you need to also buy a
USB to RS232 adapter cable.
I thought the description on this site was very ambiguous.
But they do list the manufacturers part number which
you can look up on the Garmin Web site.
It's fun to upload your routes to Google Earth Plus.
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
Why why why do Garmin still insist on serial!!!
(3 out of 5) by G. WILLIAMS on Nov 28, 2005 (UK)Why on earth do Garmin insist in this day and age on using serial connectors? There isn't one on my laptop and I have been forced to get a USB adapter. (The Targus one is pretty good). But since Garmin have the corner of this market you have to buy this to link your GPS. And to be honest it is good when you can link your GPS to your laptop. Instant moving map!
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Works okay but USB would be better!
(2 out of 5) by David Roberts on Dec 5, 2006 (Gwynedd)I am using this with a Targus USB converter that I also bought from Amazon - shame Garmin can't make a single cable and save us all a bit of cash!
Had a few problems getting started - the FAQ section of the Garmin website pointed me in the right direction. To find the USB to serial converter cable, you might need to look in the "System" part of Windows "Control Panel" (found from "Settings" in the "Start" menu). Have a look on the Hardware tab at the Device Manager and you will be able to find which COM port the cable has been assigned. You can then tell whatever map software you're using where to find the GPS.
Had a few problems getting started - the FAQ section of the Garmin website pointed me in the right direction. To find the USB to serial converter cable, you might need to look in the "System" part of Windows "Control Panel" (found from "Settings" in the "Start" menu). Have a look on the Hardware tab at the Device Manager and you will be able to find which COM port the cable has been assigned. You can then tell whatever map software you're using where to find the GPS.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Does it's job
(3 out of 5) by Michael Steggals on Aug 6, 2007 (Around the UK)Why can't this cable be a bit cheaper, it's half the cost again of my Geko unit. This doesn't make sense.
Contacts could be better. Half the time I plug it in the computer is telling me that their is no GPS attached until I wiggle the unit and try again.
The cable does it's job, simply enabling the cool stuff that the GPS and software can do.
Contacts could be better. Half the time I plug it in the computer is telling me that their is no GPS attached until I wiggle the unit and try again.
The cable does it's job, simply enabling the cool stuff that the GPS and software can do.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Problematic
(1 out of 5) by John E. Parker on Sep 26, 2008 (Hertfordshire)I had problems with my cable but in all honesty wasn't sure if it was this half (GPS TO SERIAL PORT) of the cable or the other half of the cable (USB TO SERIAL PORT) that was at fault.
Downloading was hit and miss, sometimes it would work, other times it said it couldn't find the GPS. It even slipped out of its connection at the GPS end on several occasions.
Wiggling the two halfs of the serial connectors together seemed to fix the problem each time the message appeared 'unable to find GPS', but I soon became very annoyed with this and decided to send both halves back.
In the end I settled for a one piece cable (not available on this site - see comments) which works perfectly and was cheaper too.
Downloading was hit and miss, sometimes it would work, other times it said it couldn't find the GPS. It even slipped out of its connection at the GPS end on several occasions.
Wiggling the two halfs of the serial connectors together seemed to fix the problem each time the message appeared 'unable to find GPS', but I soon became very annoyed with this and decided to send both halves back.
In the end I settled for a one piece cable (not available on this site - see comments) which works perfectly and was cheaper too.