laguna_b

I went for a hike the other day with my Vista HCx and had it in my pocket alone. I was astounded to find the screen marred with patches of micro scratches that make reading it difficult. Does anyone know if the is replaceable under warranty? I am ordering a shield for it today though when I tried previously to use Belkin screen protectors made for my Palm and cut to fit but the bubbles and plastic itself made the screen hard to read. Someone mentioned Macguires PlasticX to fix the screen, any other polishes known?

You get a single unlock code when you purchase the software. You would need to purchase additional unlock codes for additional units. I got the CN 2008, loaded up maps and took it to SoCal with a route preloaded to try it out. Driving along the freeways it would be telling me to take U turns periodically even though I was on teh freeway and it was a straight path. Later, I asked it to take me to Laguna Beach from I5 and it refused to recognize the very direct route 133 that I was on taking me long distance out of the way. If i wre unfamiliar with the area, I would have been in deep ssss. I thought this would be a good navigator in a rental car. Any ideas?

I still have 2.20 firmware in mine and am not seeing that problem. I thought you could try reinstalling 2.20 as an experiment to see if that fixes it, but I just found out that Garmin didn't archive that version of firmware, so no way to backup. You could also enable the compass at low speeds to see if that stabilizes the compass arrow. What are your compass threshold settings now for speed and time? I too have had this behavior just today. Hmmm. Does anyone have a backup of the firmware 2.20 that we could roll back to? I don't see it on Garmin's site. I have my settings set to <3 MPH for >60 seconds. I may set them back to the defaults and see what happens too. My unit lists two SW versions.... SW 2.20 and GPS SW version 2.10 Plus I can't connect to the server even to find out what the newer versions are. Anyone have that problem?

I got my FIRST GPS last week. The Vista HCx. I thought about the 60 long and hard. Screen size was one issue but as I recall they are the SAME in numbers of pixels, just different in ratio. The throttle stick control can be annoying since it is 5 position including press for enter which frequently gets interpreted differently. While the button layout on the 60 may be easier to use (haven't tried it) the weight and size factor was my determining quantity. BTW, I get no less than 7 sats in heavy canopy.

Can one assume that you calibrate it ONCE or each time it is turned back on?

I called Garmin and they said that the server was haiving problems and generated teh 25 char unlock for me.

Been there done that...tried again after reading your message...no usccess...but thanks.

I started up the unlock wizard and it prompted me to get a more recent version of Map Search. I got that, downloaded it, installed it even rebooted with it. Verified it was the current version and I still get teh same prompt. So, I went to Map Search and checked for software updates. It failed to connect. I disabled my Norton firewall, no change.... What is the problem?

Do you know if I can then load topo maps onto the same microSD card? Or do I have to use a different card and switch out cards to access topo maps? Yes you can load topo maps on the same card as CN maps up to total of 2025 map segments. The topo maps have smaller segments. I use a 2gb card and usually hit the map segment limit before filling the card to capacity. Switching between them in the field is a bit clunky but it works. My Vista HCX arrives tomorrow along with Topo 2008 and US Cities as above. I got a 2G card yesterday to be prepared. So, how hard is it to switch between the two packages when loaded? This is my first GPS, so how many map segments are there for say California? I want to use this unit for hiking as well as getting around cities on foot or rental car. I read that the USB is only 1.1 which is only 1.2Mb/sec max. Does it take a while to download the 2G flash or can I do it directly to the flash card to save time? Thanks, Barry