I do not agree that the Garmin 12 is a better receiver than the eTrex. I can only speak for the eTrex Vista. I had a Garmin 12XL and used it extensively for three years. I hunt in both Colorado and Wisconsin and do quite a bit of backcountry camping/hiking/fishing in Colorado as well. The receiving capabilities of the eTrex Vista are as good if not slightly more accurate than the Garmin 12. I upgraded to the eTrex Vista for several features: active compass (you do not have to be moving like you do with most other GPS units), an altimeter which is more accurate and a barometer which come in handy in the mountains on extended trips. You have more upload (maps) capabilities as well. For most people the eTrex Vista is overkill and if I did not spend so much time in the backcountry I may not have spent the extra money. But always carry a compass.

Garmin Etrex is what I have. Low end? Probably, but it gets me close enough to where I'm going, it is extremely user friendly and does pretty good all around. Again, very quick and easy to use....at only a little over a hundred bucks.
The area I hunt (up scouting again this weekend) is very large and you can go for miles before you even find and old logging tote road in some places.

I have the eTrex legend. not all the bells and whistles of the vista, but IMHO you don't need them all. It has more than the vanilla eTrex though, and the built in basemap is pretty decent. I do lose signal in heavy tree cover, but can easily reacquire in a clearing. amazon.com usually has a decent deal on them, with free shipping...

I have a magellan meridian color. it works awesome. i also have the topo mapping software. The topo piece of it is terrible, but it has every street and trail i've been on so far. the gps works for me in thick woods and most of the time I have it in my bag, and it still works. It's fun to upload your tracks to the pc and see where you've been. it also has lakes in it too (no depths though).

Any is good depends on what you do with it.