hogrod

The Vista Hcx gets very similar battery life as the Legend Hcx, when I was hiking with a friend who has one I was surprised they get virtually the same battery life as my old with my old legendC or my VistaCx. If I run lithium batteries in those models I would get close to 50hrs battery life. The color Etrex models(at least the older ones) also have a power saving mode. using this mode can 5-10hrs more battery life, though at a HUGE sacrifice in accuracy. I'm sure someone who actually has an HCX can check and see if they still have this mode. I found that just not using the back lighting saved allot of battery power and you wont effect the units accuracy. Another thing to consider, as quick as these newer units get satellite lock you can turn the unit off when not in use. the only reason to leave the unit on all the time is if your trying to record a tracklog. I quite often will turn my gps on at a trail head or parking spot and mark a waypoint. then each time I use the unit along the trail I will mark a new waypoint so when I use the unit to check my position again I always have reference points along my route. one set of batteries can last a week easily this way.

Wow, that looks really nice! thanks for the link.

Since you are using the older version of US topo I would also recommend loading all three of topo 3.02 cd's to your hard drive. that way when you go to load your maps you wont need to insert cd's every time.

The Garmin vista came out in 2001 or slightly before, so you bought very old technology. If you were to buy a VistaC, or the newer VistaCx or the latest and greatest vistaHCx they all have a USB connection.

I've owned many gps brands and have loved the features and accuracy of the garmin units the most, but for a new unit I also plan on buying the Pn-40. I'm not sure what units you have checked, but I can use three data fields on my 60Cx and my VistaCx with the most recent unit software installed. I know this was something they added and wasn't available originally. Using three data fields you get 1wide one, and two smaller ones.

There are no magellan gps at our local REI anymore either.

I'm not really sure what you mean by this site not supporting magellan gps's. Not only can Magellan users download geocaches and upload them to their units, there are many happy Magellan users that post on this forum.

The 60Csx will hold just as well as the VistaHcx, and doesnt have any issues with the odometer. It does however have very slight drifting when you stand still, if you zoom the map screen to the max you can watch your little arrow moving around 10-50ft sometimes. The thing is even with this slight drift its very accurate at finding waypoints and lays down just as accurate of tracks. you never get those weird shooting off tracks that the HCX will sometimes do.

I really wouldn't use the word satisfactory to describe the base map in any garmin handheld I have owned, I can think of another S-word that more accuratly describes the basemap(Sh*tty). My Magellan and Lowrance models had much more detailed basemaps(as well as older garmin handhelds). The base map in most newer garmins is not only missing any road that's not a main hwy, it will sometimes be missing sections of main roads too. You can autoroute(turn by turn directions) with the basemap, but since its missing 95% or roads, its pretty worthless. to have full US coverage for autorouting you need to buy garmins City Navigator 2009NT maps for around $100. You will also need to buy an MicroSD card to load the maps to. If you buy a 1gb you can load almost the whole US, a 2gb card you can load the whole US. you can also buy a pre-loaded microSD card from garmin that already has the whole US loaded. it cost around the same price as the DVD but you can't use these maps on your PC so it's not really worth it.

Slightly off topic, did anyone else who upgraded notice that the 2009 version has allot more water data than 2008 had? In my area and others I've checked there are lakes, streams, and rivers that only the topo maps ever had. I really think this made the upgrade worthwhile.

I believe with one of the older firmware/software combos the problem was the gps odometer and track log would have significant differences.

I had a similar issue with one of my meridian golds, it was the battery contacts had lost connection with the main board inside. I took the unit apart and bent the connections back, I didn't have any issues again. I've seen people do a more permanent solution and solder the connections.

I've owned a gps 18 for a couple years, but have always wondered, can the magnet in its base damage the screen, hard drive, SD cards, or any of my portable flash drives if I carry it in my laptop bag?

Check out the Comments posted below the story, a couple people mention it being in the paper during the flood of 1993, and the news article having allot more detail at that time. maybe someone could do some digging and find one of those old articles.

I used to not think it needed a redesign, but after talking to some people who had older etrex models they had the exact opposite issue most people have now, the glue didn't become gummy it dried out and the rubber became loose. Obviously finding a happy medium with the glue is much harder than just designing the unit to not have rubber glued around the whole unit and over the buttons and usb connection. The only simple option I can see for redesign would be to add a smaller version (offset left like the click-stick is now) of the Rock ‘n Roller input wheel from the Colorado series. The unit might be slightly larger but could still be operated with one hand, also put a couple buttons on the front like the colorado series, now the only button left would be power. Now they could use a regular sandwich gasket like the 60 series uses on its sides. It would be like a mini Colorado series. Granted I'm not sure how the unit would be but at least it wouldn't have the almost 8year old field test failed design of the current models.

My first etrex(a legendC) lasted about 6months before I noticed the rubber coming loose and glue oozing out around the batteries under the battery cover. This was after using the unit for 3-6hrs in a light sprinkle. I got the replacement unit from garmin and this one lasted even less time, I only used the unit a couple times in three months and it was already starting to come loose. I gave that unit to my parents and bought a VistaCx, this time I thought I would keep the unit in my air conditioned house except when I was using the unit. I used the unit under 20times, never for more than a couple hours and sure enough 6months later the rubber was starting to coming loose. I've came to the conclusion it must have to do with the humidity here and the heat of holding the unit in your hand, and the fact you have to press the rubber everytime you use the buttons. I never let my last unit get wet, sit in a hot car, or hold in my hand to long. I recommend the etrex to anyone looking for a cheap great gps but I always tell them that the rubber will probably come loose at some point. I won't buy another etrex unit garmin redesigns it, even though I would love to buy a VistaHCX. I prefer the size & battery life of the etrex while hiking to my 60cx, but my 60cx has been though so much in the two years I have had it without any issues at all.

The .gdb files are mapsource files, they can contain routes, tracks, waypoints & map segments that you have selected. When saving your work in the most recent version of mapsource the default format to save in is Garmin database version 3(gdb format). There are a few other formats you can save in also, .gdb(V2), .mps, .txt, .dxf, & .gpx

I get an error message using the newest POI loader, It crashes and I can't even use the thing. I reverted back to the version before and can load all the same files just fine. I emailed garmin and they were of no help. seems strange the issue I have is only with the newest version.

I've tried them(V2 most recent), and really like the work being put into all these free map options, but at least in my state there were numerous errors that no other maps have, and whole sections of the state where it was just blank(at least mapsource never showed anything).

I wanted to also say I own garmins City Navigator NT 2009 and topo US 2008. Since OSM maps are fully editable they are much better than garmins topo maps, otherwise they have the same errors you would find in those maps. on the other hand garmins city navigator maps are Way better as of right now for accuracy. I mostly use the OSM maps for displaying hiking trials I have added(via tracklogs I traced), its so nice to go hiking and actually have all the trails correctly placed on the gps map. All the streets in my town that were wrongly placed or named I fixed, having my town loaded on my gps is great when going for a bike ride. I have even added a few POIs to the map and those even show up in garmin GPS find menu.

I've loaded OSM data to my 60cx, though using the Export function on their website I am only able to get a small area of OSM data at once. It's still really nice since I can edit the maps and add details most others are lacking. I used Mkgmap to convert the OSM data to an .img file that I could load to my microSD card. The only issue is the program needs to be run from the command prompt, so its not for everyone. After I made the image file I just renamed it gmapsupp.img moved it to the card & everything worked great. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Mkgmap I'm really hoping someday that someone makes a program that makes using Openstreetmaps this way with a garmin gps much easier.

You hear wrong. Depends on who you ask, I have heard allot of people happy with the Oregon when they switched from the Colorado. I've heard the Oregon screen is very hard to see in sunlight compared to the Colorado, and being a touch screen I would think you would end up finger smudges making it even worse.

I was actually surprised at all the recommendations for a 300-400watt power inverter, most laptops need nowhere near that much power. Check your power brick in the power cord, all three of my laptops use under 75watts. The inverter I use is 100watts, and fits nicely in my laptop bag. Never had any issues using it in the last few years. That's not even considering that most newer laptops get 2-4hrs of battery life so if you don't plan on using it all the time, you might be able to get by with just the internal battery.

I can power up my Legend HCx and PN-20 at the same time, and the PN-20 takes signifigantly longer to aquire satelites than the Legend, and indoors, fugedaboudit! Downstairs, the PN-20 can't get squat. But outdoors, even thought the PN-20 shows a bigger error, it took me right to the cache i was testing it out on, and that's all that matters, really. The difference in error is probably just a difference in how the error is calculated, probably. Well, after my post of yesterday, I went outside and timed it. From pushing the ON/OFF button to aquistion was about 50 seconds. Was that moving or standing still? when was the last time you used the unit? My 60cx I can turn on and have lock in under 5seconds, if the unit was on within the last few hours and I havn't moved significantly. If its been awhile and I try to get lock while moving it may take a couple minutes or even longer sometimes. I find tihs unit likes getting lock sitting still, takes about 40-50seconds.

This website Lists Michigans highest point wrong, the highest point was changed in 1982 when more modern equipment was used to calculate the highpoint: http://www.holoscenes.com/special/geocac/extreme_index.html Michigan's Highest point benchmark: http://www.Waymarking.com/waymarks/WM44PA I believe allot of geocachers have been incorrectly logging their finds for that Benchmark at the highest point on this benchmark which is on a hill three miles to the west, though I could be wrong. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=RL1514