Ok here is my 2 cents worth and that's what it's worth. Let's say I'm going birdwatching or whatever, I don't want to fuss with navigation. I mark where my truck is,I agree with all this is most important. Then I turn off the unit and do what I came to do. When I want to return to the truck I get the bearing and distance to it from the gps, set up my compass, turn off the unit, and walk to the truck.
Most important skills are how to mark a waypoint, be able to recall that waypoint & use the goto function.
I always carry a compass and usually carry a paper map. I usually only use the map if I find something interesting or I want to know what the terrain is like over the ridgeline without going there.

Excellent, you guys are the best!

Thanks.

I just bought mine early in Jan and did the update last week and it was three firmware vsrsions behind.

I kept the windows copy that came with my laptop on there as a dual boot so once every few months I'll boot windows and run all the updates so I checked my gps version then.

A fresh pair of Eneloops last about 13 hours in my Garmin GpsMap 60cx. I prefer to keep the unit switched on when walking. Having a track of everywhere you've been can be more useful than just a few waypoints.

In any case it's worth leaving it on for half an hour or so every few months, so it can update its almanac. (The almanac is a database of satellite positions which helps the unit get a quick initial fix.) It can also be worth switching it on before you start the journey, because they can be slow to get an initial fix when they are actually moving.

Mine is mostly used for in-car navigation. I have found it best to configure the screen "north up" rather than "track up". Although "track up" makes it easier to understand the directions it gives you, "north up" is easier to relate to paper maps and to the real world. Eg it is immediately apparent if you are moving east to west when you should be moving west to east.

I leave them both North up, but then I only use it for waypoints, not tracks. . .Unless I'm driving in which case it's hooked up to the truck's 12V power.

I have an eTrex Legend Blue and it seems to be a decent unit for the price. The only thing I wish I had was a card slot. It works pretty well clipped to a strap. It may lose some accuracy like carriedthat, but when you pick it back up to look at the screen you can see the numbers stabilize down pretty quick.
I don't like to turn it on and off because it takes a bit long to achieve lock on (or I'm too impatient.) Of course, I haven't taken it out on multi-day hikes yet so battery life hasn't been an issue for me. I use it alot in my car tethered to my Dell Axim running Tom Tom. Excellent reception in there using the stock antenna.
Some nice cable stuff here, including additional antennas:
http://www.pc-mobile.net/gpsant.htm

The card slot is nice, I paid extra for mine just to get it. I leave mine on all the time too letting it log to the card so later I can save off those gpx files.

By the way, one of my concerns with the Garmin eTrex lineup is that, at least to my knowledge, it does not provide a connection for using an external antenna.

They're great units, but I never understood why they didn't include an ext. antenna connector.

I also never could get used the not having labels on the buttons, but that's just because in my old age I just can't remember where the .... uh .... what were we talking about?!

I've had an Etrex Vista for quite a while in all kinds of environments.

Best advice that I can give you is geocaching.com.

There is a forum on there with quite a bit of resources on GPSs.

And geocaching will get you out there working with it. You will be having so much fun that you wont even realizing that you're becoming an expert with your GPS.