How to Take Screenshots on a Garmin eTrex 20 - and more!

Here's two quick Garmin eTrex 20 tips - how to take screenshots, and how to create a startup message.

The three current eTrex models are very similar, so this tutorial should also work on the eTrex 10 and eTrex 30.  I'm assuming that screenshots on the eTrex 10 will be black and white, as that model has a black and white screen.  If anyone happens to have an eTrex 10 and wants to try this out and leave a comment, that would be great.

How to take Screenshots

Setting your GPS up to take screenshots is a snap.  In the menu, click on Setup.

Next, click on Display.

Select Screen Capture and change the setting from Off to On.

This dialog window will pop up, explaining what to do:

Any time you see something on your screen that you wish to capture, press the Power / Light button.  Instead of popping up with the brightness settings, a screenshot is taken, and the file is left scrn subfolder of the Garmin folder.  Connect your GPS to your computer, navigate to that folder (shown below), and you're all set.

Click to Enlarge.

The files are in BMP format and can be used in pretty much any image editing, word processing, or desktop publishing software.

 While we're looking in the Garmin folder, open up the startup.txt file.

Click to Enlarge.

This file is where you can create a custom startup message that is displayed when you first turn your GPS on.  In my case, I have a message that just says that the GPS is mine, and to call me at my number if you happen to find it.

Click to Enlarge.

See the section where you can make the message stay online for X number of seconds?  If you have any custom maps (which I'm covering in another tutorial), your GPS is probably already staying on that screen for at least 10 -15 seconds anyway, so there really isn't any need to make that number anything other than zero.