Etrex Vista

[SamTheMan]

A few years ago my parents got me the Etrex Yellow for me i didnt even know what geocaching was. Well now i want to upgrade. So i was wondering if the Vista is good. Also i was wondering if it can have Topo maps.

[+Miragee]

I had the Vista before upgrading to the Vista C. The monochrome Vista was often more accurate in zeroing in on the cache location more quickly than my friend's 60CS.

 

It also holds 1000 waypoints, which is really handy if you are covering a large area in your cache hunts.

 

You can load topo maps or road maps, up to 24 MB, which depending on where you live, can cover a lot of territory.

[SamTheMan]

Should i sace up for the VistaC It would be like almost a year for me to get enough. Woudl that be worth it? Please reply soon.

[+Miragee]

I found a lot of caches with my Vista. It worked great. In fact, lots of people use the eTrex Legend and do really well.

 

I would get any GPSr you can afford that connects to a computer.

 

Some people recommend the Lowrance and say it is the best GPSr for the money.

[Tahosa and Sons]

My Vista has been held together with Duct Tape and Loctite and still keeps on working. And I use it for a lot more than caching. I may retire it next year and get another Vista (monochrome) and keep on using the vista again.

[+briansnat]

The Vista is a good unit and yes, it can load topo maps.

 

Some people recommend the Lowrance and say it is the best GPSr for the money.

 

It might just be. The Lowrance H20 is in the Vista's price range and is a better unit. The Mapcreate Topo software is better and the fact that it uses memory cards is rather than the limited 24 megs in the Vista is a plus. It can hold literally thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of waypoints. 1,000 in unit's internal memory and you're only limited by the size of your memory card as to how many you can load on the card.

 

There are some negatives. The Vista is smaller which is important to many people. The H20 also uses a card reader for PC connectivity rather than a cable. While faster than the Vista's serial connection, it's a bit of a pain to have to remove the batteries and to get at the card.

[+denali7]

i have a vista c and absolutely LOVE it.

[+Kai Team]

I used a Vista for 2 years before upgrading to a 60CS. I still miss the Vista sometimes. It's a very good unit. The color screen is nice and the extra bells and whistles are nice, but not worth waiting a year for.

 

I also wouldn't wait to save up for the Vista C because in another year, there will be more new products, and they may leave you saving for another year.

 

Get the Vista - it's so much better than the eTrex Yellow that you won't regret it!

[+salpal]

I have an Etrex Vista and the Vista C. The C is much easier for me to read, especially differentiating an '8' from a 'B'. That was my main reason for upgrading to the C. I also notice that the battery life in the C is SOOO much better. I like its smaller size, too, for my smaller hands.

 

What I REALLY don't like about the C is that it only stores 500 waypoints, versus 1,000 on the regular Vista. If I am going out of town, I'll load the first 500 onto both, and add 500 more to the regular Vista.

I don't know why I think I'll find that many caches in a few days, but you just never know.

[+hacked0ff]

I bought my Vista back in 2001 and have used it 3 or 4 times a week since I got it. Now that I've added Geocaching to my list of hobbies, I've been using it almost daily. The battery life does suck compared to some of the other units and its selling for about $100 less than what I paid for mine, but I haven't regretted buying it. I bought a Legend at first and returned it to get the Vista. One thing I've noticed about the new Etrex C series is that most of them don't output NMEA which for me is a deal breaker. The best thing to do is really look at all of them (Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance, etc..) and compare features. Take the Etrex Yellow out caching for a while and decide what features it doesn't have that you would like. I just ordered a Garmin GPS 60 (non mapping) as a backup gps while the Vista goes back to the mothership for an overhaul (five plus years of heavy use is starting to take its toll).

 

Just remember you don't have to have to the latest greatest GPS to play this game or have fun with it.

[WH]

The Vista is an awesome little unit and well worth the price.

[+Langner91]

I borrowed a Vista a couple of months ago. I was really impressed with it.

 

My father had never seen one in action, and he was impressed with the altimeter on the Vista. We were riding around his 80 acres on his Polaris Ranger and making notes of how much elevation change we were seeing. Plus, we were able to see our speed (which all/most units will do).

 

We had a lot of fun just goofing off with the Vista that afternoon.

 

We always knew dragging deer up some of the hills that they were steep, but the Vista was able to tell us exactly how steep they were.

 

Very nice unit.

[+jamrasc]

I love my Vista. I'd like to get another one for the hubby and kids to use, so I won't have to share.

[+sc93]

I have a Vista C and love it!

Good size, great color, accurate!

sc93

[+Robespierre]

It's been a few months since I've involved myself in this discussion, so here goes:

As far as accuracy, given the day, they're pretty much the same - at least the compact models - so take the yellow, or even a *choke* Maggie. Cachin' in groups, I've seen several - several times.

-Vista has electronic compass - somethin' I really love.

-maps aren't bad, I've downloaded my cousin's software, and that's real good - but there are better mapping units that speak to you, etc.

-the Legend will do anything the Vista will do for less -except the compass, and I VOTE FOR THE COMPASS. Love my Vista.

The Maggie that Bug NV has will do one thing I really like. It doesn't just list the gcxxxx number - it will also bring up the cache name. Wish the Vista did that.

[+Miragee]

The Vista C gives the cache name, but I also have GSAK put the Smart Name for the waypoint, plus Size and Type. But, you can do that much with the monochrome Vista.