gallet

The Invisible Shield are excellent, super tough. They have a slightly tacky feel due to their rubbery self repairing quality. They do not peel off and they certainly would stick to a plastic cover. I am waiting for the new HCx screen protector from Boxwave, which I haven't tried yet. Then I will do a Shieldzone/Boxwave comparison. I'm not sure if the invisible shield cuts down the transmission of light because of some polarising effect. It does appear to do that but I can't remember what it looked like off. Apparently the 60CSx is ready from Boxwave but I've not seen it yet. I'm getting another HCx next week so I can compare this.

Problem with the eTrex Vista is that it only gets about 10 hours in real world battery time. Which was annoying.

I uploaded some poi's into my HCx to test it but now I can't remove them. I tried emptying the poi folder and reloading but that didn't work. There doesn't seem to be any option in the poi loader for removing poi's from the unit. And there is no 'delete' poi's menu item on the HCx. I'm stumped.

The so called track log bug is not really much of an issue and it certainly would not be wise to reject a particular gps because of a bug that will be fixed in a firmware update. Also do not forget that the 60 screen is a lower quality. Lower resolution and much lower brightness.

Thanks Jimbo, somehow I linked to the windoze updater. Sorry about that primula, I'm on a mac btw.

unclejimbo Good for power pc or intel. I'm using it on an emac. Primula.Foxburr Just had a quick look and yes it does do full mapping with 24mb of internal memroy. should have a basemap too. Yep, it does usb. The small end goes in the gps and the usb end goes in the computer. So that's all good. The communicator plug in works for transferring files from geocaching straight to the gps. It's a plug in for the web browser to enable communication to your gps using a browser. Don't bother about the drivers on the CD, download the webupdater and connect your gps and run the updater, it will find any unit software and should find any driver software as well. The drivers are just to run USB they aren't anything to do with the software you run. Once you run the webupdater (maybe do it twice) it should all be sweet. Then download the communicator plug in, linked to above. Then really you should have a look a the video tutoria on takitwithme.com where they show you how to make a route in maps.google and then open it on their page. You can then transfer that route to your gps. Once it's in your gps you can then use gps babel to save it from your gps to a .gpx file on your desktop. You can then drag that .gpx file straight into a googleearth window and you will see your route you made in googlemaps in google earth. It's pretty cool. UPDATE: you don't actually need gps babel as you can export the gpx file of the map directly from takitwithme.

Biggest problem with the Venture HC is that for a measly $40 extra you can get the LegendHCx and be future proof. It's just not worth it for $40.

Garmin could offer a rebate just like they do on the 60CSx. But to be fair Garmin also did the dirty on the retailers by announcing to the world the new HCx series a couple of months before they were released.

maps.google is brilliant for checking, find an intersection where you live and dial in the googlemap cordinates and see if you can navigate to the intersection.

You might find this fun... Download the Garmin Communicator Plug in for a start. Then you can use GPS Babel do extract saved routes or tracks for your Garmin and export it as a gpx file. Then you can...you might need to sit down for this...drag the gpx file straight into Google Earth and all your track and routes are imported. Not sure if you need a Google Earth premium for this if you do it's $20. Also you can use maps.google to create a route and then load that into your Garmin, it's all explained on this page with a demo video tutorial

forget the forum search it doesn't work very well. but this might help

Unbelievably, Garmin don't make a T & W manager for Mac yet. but if you do a forum search for "Garmin macosx" you will find a bunch of other software that will work with mac.

No.

You are not wrong in what you say. However Garmin should not be complicit in this little conspiracy. If a seller has instructed staff to offload superseded models at no discount while purposely not informing their customers, that's one thing. However it is an entirely different proposition when the manufacturer themselves have the superseded and the new product side by side at the same price. This is why there are sellers who are able to keep a straight face and legally assure a customer that a superseded model is in fact the 'latest' model.

Googlemaps are pretty good when I've checked it against my GPSr it appears to have the same level of accuracy. Here's a photo form topozone (published for review purposes) It doesn't look to me that a cache could be placed with 5 meter accuracy on a regular basis. Maybe a cache could be placed that was accurate enough to find but remember every doubling of the 'ground zero' radius requires a 4 fold increase in the search area. So even if the accuracy dropped from 5 metres to 10 metres then that would take four times as long to find.

The Venture HC has about half the battery life of the Legend HCx. You either use twice as many batteries (expensive) or carry twice as many rechargables. This could be significant over time. Both for cost and convenience. Well the answer needs to be placed in context. Remember when Bill Gates wondered why anyone would need more than 640k or RAM? It's a bit like that with the new Media Tek chips. Before that came there were those who had to have the SirfStarIII chip and there was all the other Garmin users who were more than satisfied with their eTrex. I know I was. However once you have used an H chip you will wonder how you ever did without it. It's no more accurate but it never loses reception and once you've tried it it is difficult to go back. Garmin are using this leverage to try and coerce you into getting their top of the range units. They put the H chip in the crappy yellow eTrex with the poor waypoint input method (no pick stick) and they put the H chip in the Summit C and Venture C so again if you want the H chip you *have* to go with units with no exandable memory and very poor battery life. A stubborn person won't care but if you look at the cost of the various models in the US then the pragmatic person will just say "OK Garmin, you win, I'll get the LegenHCx or VistaHCx". There's no point in fighting it, because it will only be oneself who suffers. In Australia and Europe the costs are so much higher that the price difference between models is significant but not so in the US. Having said that, I'll also say that there is nothing really wrong with the non H eTrex but really it's old technology. I never noticed how much I'd lose receeption on my old b/w Vista in the City or under tree cover until I got the HCx. If you are after good value and you like your legend then really the best advice I could give if you don't want to buy a Legend HCx (or VistaHCx) is to buy a second hand b/w Legend on ebay in mint condition. But a good condition Legend (b/w) is going to cost $90 and a brand new LegendHCx is about $195 and won't want to upgrade for a very long time.

That's pretty well nailed it. I hate seeing people taken advantage of. Trying to equate the 'value' of the micro card with the Media Tek chip is ludicrous seeing as a $64 Mb card is worth about $3 now and it is not possible to upgrade the chipset.

It's all got too bewildering for me. The last one they sent I've not put on yet but I've measured it and while I'd prefer it a bit smaller as it seems to be perfect on the width. i't good on the length too. But this came in a C series packet. I'd be interested to know yours comes in a HCx packet or a C series packet and how it fits.

Hi Techwiz, first let me say that it is not good form to personally attack me. I welcome comments but not about me personally. The Legend HCx has been available for the same length of time as the VistaHCx which is number 2 on the list. As I already noted. If you think my purpose here is merely to "whine" and vent my hatred of Garmin then you are wrong. For me the purpose of the forums is to help others and the best way is by posting one's thoughts honestly and without fear of being attacked. For example, many newbies get talked out of getting a compass by being told it's useless, my opinion is that it's wrong and I'll always say why. A little while ago someone on a thread told how they advise all their students not to get the VistaHCx but to get the LegendHCx because it's pointless, but they themselves go out and get the Vista. If I were one of those students and accepted the advice I'd be pretty peeved later on. I respect the other persons reasons and I like to give my reasons and I have faith that the reader of the forums when presented with both sides of an argument are able to work out for themselves which bits to take and which bits to leave. Don't worry about Garmin, they're big boys I'm sure they can take a bit of criticism. I think their products are excellent and well made but that does not mean I agree with everything they do.

here

@=Techwiz Hi, unfortunately your analysis collapses if one looks at normal market models. Apple computers is appropriate here. Every year or less they upgrade their components on the imac for example, by putting in larger hard drives, or faster and more advanced chips or more RAM, yet after each significant upgrade the price does not increase, you just get better value. As you correctly point out the Media Tek is so cheap that there is no need for a price increase.

Wow, that's a frightening list. The eTrex Legend Cx is at Number 5 and the Legend HCx is not on the list at all. If that list is based on sales then that would mean there's a hell of a lot of people who are getting suckered by Garmin.

How about this: the choice a newbie might be offered between the eTrex and the eTrexH. Choosing the eTrex will ALWAYS be a bad choice for everyone, would you not agree? There is no possible way that choosing the basic eTrex (as the lineup currently stands) is a good choice. Ever. Same with choosing the Legend Cx over the Legend HCx, or Vista Cx over the HCx, there's two more choices that would be embarrassingly bad. Imagine this scenario, your good friend and newbie GPSr user comes around to show you their latest GPSr they just bought. The Vista Cx and he tells you the shop assistant told him it came with a 64mbSD card but the VistaHCx didn't. What would you say to your friend. Would you not tell him to take it back and exchange it for the Vista HCx and buy a $5 card? Or buy it for him. Or give him one of your old ones that you replaced with a 1 gig card.

A 1 gigabyte card costs about $10 so the 64 Mb card in the Cx is worth what? If the card is the difference then Garmin are giving users the choice of a free $3 card or the latest chipset that is as good as a SirfStarIII. Isn't that making even more of a mockery of their customers. I mean only a newbie who didn't understand about the chipsets and what it means would buy it. But of course there is no difference as all between the yellow etrex and the H model. Apart of course from the chipset. What is the terrific choice Garmin are offering there? I can't see this in any other light than Garmin relying on the ignorance of buyers to cynically get rid of superceded stock. The honorable thing to do would be to discount the old stock. But instead Garmin appear to be relying on the fact that there are a lot of people who really don't have a clue and won't notice. This seems a bit wrong, it would be like Apple upgrading one of their computers and still selling the old one at the same price. When apple upgrade a component they remove the old one the same day the new one arrives. In fact they go further, if you bought the old one and they upgraded within two weeks you can exchange it for free. Compare and contrast that with Garmin deliberately fooling ignorant customers to buy their old stock. Maybe there should be a pinned notice at the top of the "Getting Started" forum with a warning to newbie buyers about this.

When I say 'bad' I don't mean intrinsically bad just relatively. For example the LegendCx and the LegendHCx they are the same price however compared to the HCx the Cx is an inferior product yet the price is the same? Same with the basic Yellow eTrex they sell that and also the eTrexH at the same price. Why? or more appropriately 'How'? Are they just taking advantage of people who might not notice? Isn't this a bit dodgy? Is it good business to trick customers. I mean how would you feel if you innocently bought an eTrex only to learn later that you should have bought the eTrexH at the same price seeing as it's the same unit with a much much better chipset.