ant1606

Hi everyone, I have a Vista HCx and tried the original Garmin handlebar mount. Very weak and I abandoned it after my first ride, too much vibration and shaking during MTB practice. I don't trust such a small screw connecting the mount to the battery cover, although I always keep tethering the unit to the handlebar with a safety lanyard. For some time I've been using the original Garmin case and connecting its belt clip to a self-made support on both my bicycles' and motorcycle's handlebars. The plastic cover makes it at times difficult to read, plus I hate the unit to shake. I've been considering to modify the battery cover by drilling and tapping extra holes to fasten a solid connecting plate, but I have instead made a case out of scrap which I attach everywhere with Velcro strap. All of my handlebars, backpacks and even car dashboards. Simple, easy to build for a cost of say $1. Very reliable under any condition and easy to get on and off. Photo herebelow shows my first prototype which I've now been testing for quite some time. I prepared nicer ones but the prototype is still good, so I'm testing it for longevity and it hasn't let me down after a year of intense use. Should it happen, I'll just replace the velcro. If interested, please find the concept, details (including a cutout template) for case/mount and building description here: http://ant1606-garmin-etrex-vista.blogspot.com Ciao Ant

Hi all, yesterday my Vista HCx decided to stop counting the traveled distance. The unit works otherwise fine, it records tracks as usual and displays the moving speed. Routing is as good as ever. On my main map page I set the two readings on top of the screen as 1) the actual speed and 2) the odometer. Speed works fine but the odometer keeps reading zero. In first place I searched for Garmin contacts or customer support but I couldn't find anything on their website. Not finding a Garmin contact for support is as annoying as the problem itself. On my "trip computer" page, the readings that stopped working and show zero values are: - Odometer - Moving time - Moving average - Overall average I still get the max speed, elevation and stopped time (which is then the time the unit has been on). I get this problem either when using the European or the US map, each on micro SD memory card. Swapping them doesn't help. I've been using the unit for almost one year with 4GB SDHC (PNY brand) cards without problems. Any idea, trick or suggestion to fix the problem? Or contact information for Garmin support? I thought that an option could be to re-install the same software version, which I have now downloaded as an .exe file. My unit has: - Software Version 2.70 - GPS software version 2.60 I also found the 2.80 version but I'd be interested to start with the 2.70 and see if it fixes the problem. Could someone please explain how and what should I do to re-install it? I'm aware that my data will be lost but I'm afraid of doing something wrong! Please help! Any guidance on the procedure will be much appreciated. Thank you all in advance.