mrhughes

I have been using my Vista hCX with the bicycle mount for about a year now on my road bike, about 3000 miles, sometimes on pretty rough roads (even gravel). One thing I would recommend is also tying the lanyard to the handlebar. I had the screw on my clip work itself loose once and was glad I also had my GPS tied on.

When I said it should work mathematically, I meant that there is no difference mathematically between adding up the totals then applying Pythagoras, or applying Pythagoras to each of the points then adding.

I am not familiar with this particular GPS, but if it gives total ascent and total descent, then you should be able to add them together and then get your answer from Pythagoras; i.e., sqrt(x^2 + y^2), where x is the 2D distance, and y is the total ascent and total descent added together. The accuracy of this method will depend on the accuracy of the GPS altitude at each point, but mathematically it should work. Unless you are climbing some really steep mountains, the difference between 2D and 3D distance may not be very great.

Nuvi 205W eTrex Vista HCx Wanted something that would work on the trail, on my bicycles, and in my car. Decided it would take more than one to do all these jobs well. I used (and still have) a GPSMap76s for years, but decided it was time for an upgrade and just got my new models during the last couple weeks. Quite an advance.