Just Bought A Vista C...mistake?

[tickbait79]

I am very new to geocaching and was debating between buying the cheap yellow etrex or the b/w vista. well, as a surpise my wife bought a vista c on ebay for 220$. I'm glad because i assume its nice to have the color version. I'm just afraid we overspent on a unit. Is it worth the money. not that it matters because its in the mail, just looking for some reassurance.

 

my one concern is that it comes with the 'americas recreational' basemap not the 'americas highway'. we are going to alaska in september and the highway version includes alaska but im not sure about the recreational. may not be a big deal but i always tend to second-guess big purchases.

[+webscouter.]

I am very new to geocaching and was debating between buying the cheap yellow etrex or the b/w vista. well, as a surpise my wife bought a vista c on ebay for 220$. I'm glad because i assume its nice to have the color version. I'm just afraid we overspent on a unit. Is it worth the money. not that it matters because its in the mail, just looking for some reassurance.

 

my one concern is that it comes with the 'americas recreational' basemap not the 'americas highway'. we are going to alaska in september and the highway version includes alaska but im not sure about the recreational. may not be a big deal but i always tend to second-guess big purchases.

 

You have a fine unit. As far as the base map goes either map is just going to have major roads on it. If you are taking a trip I would suggest getting City Select or City Navigator for your unit. Then it will have all (most) of the roads on it and also points of interest including gas stations, restaurants, hotels etc. If you can find a new version of Select 7 buy it and then order the ver8 upgrade from Garmin.

[+Renegade Knight]

I'll second webscouters comments. It's a good GPS and has better reception than the ones you were looking at to begin with. For your trip you do want Mapsource City Select or City Navigator

 

As an aside Garmin is moving towards City Navigator and Phasing out City Select. City Select has smaller map units that you can select to upload into your GPS. This is handy when you have a lot of area to cover and the GPS memory is a concern. Then you can focus on the travel corridor better than with City Navigator. Both do essentially the same job otherwise.

[andylphoto]

Another vote in favor of the Vista C. It was one I was seriously looking at before deciding on the 60C. Your memory is somewhat limited (24 MB as I recall) but if you buy City Select, you'll be able to load some maps into the unit and use it on your trip for auto routing. The basemap has VERY limited features, so a map upgrade will be beneficial. However, as mentioned, the 24 MB doesn't allow for a whole lot of map segments.

 

EDIT to add that yes, I think the color is definitely worth spending a bit extra on. The color display is very nice.

Edited June 29, 2006 by andylphoto

[+Team ChipsNDip]

Another vote in favor of the Vista C. It was one I was seriously looking at before deciding on the 60C. Your memory is somewhat limited (24 MB as I recall) but if you buy City Select, you'll be able to load some maps into the unit and use it on your trip for auto routing. The basemap has VERY limited features, so a map upgrade will be beneficial. However, as mentioned, the 24 MB doesn't allow for a whole lot of map segments.

 

EDIT to add that yes, I think the color is definitely worth spending a bit extra on. The color display is very nice.

 

That's quite a decent price on a Vista C. The color screen makes a good bit of difference, and the C also gives you auto-routing with the correct maps. The Vista is a big step up from the Yellow Etrex... I think you'll love it.

[+geobc]

The colour screen makes a big difference if you're using maps on a GPS. No need to second guess that aspect of it.

 

If you're driving to Alaska from Florida...well, you might have problems. Last year, as a little experiment, I used Mapsource to plot a route from my city (Vancouver, BC, Canada) down to the southeastern most part of Florida, and then told it to select all the map segments on that route.

 

The 115MB of map storage in my 76C was big enough, but 24MB is DEFINITELY not going to be enough. Of course, your built-in base map might already have the main interstate hwys and then you'd just need to load more details maps for Alaska and/or British Columbia.

 

But before you buy any mapping products, definitely check to see what hwys your basemap contains. With luck, you might not need to buy anything else.

 

GeoBC

Edited June 29, 2006 by geobc

[kb9nvh]

Well, it costs more to get more memory so you have to draw the line someplace in features. That said, getting more memory than the 19meg my gps V had was one of my "must have to upgrade" features. I've got like 500 bucks in mine (60csx) so you have to rationalized what you really need.

 

Like geobc said, before you buy any maps, make sure it has small map segments or you will be very limited in that 24MB. My 19megs was OK with city select 6 but the new navigator would not be acceptable. I dont know, but there might even be some segments that are larger than 24meg and would be unlaodable to you.

 

You'be got a good unit there for what you paid..just be aware of its limitations so you dont waste money on something you cant use.

 

 

The colour screen makes a big difference if you're using maps on a GPS. No need to second guess that aspect of it.

 

If you're driving to Alaska from Florida...well, you might have problems. Last year, as a little experiment, I used Mapsource to plot a route from my city (Vancouver, BC, Canada) down to the southeastern most part of Florida, and then told it to select all the map segments on that route.

 

The 115MB of map storage in my 76C was big enough, but 24MB is DEFINITELY not going to be enough. Of course, your built-in base map might already have the main interstate hwys and then you'd just need to load more details maps for Alaska and/or British Columbia.

 

But before you buy any mapping products, definitely check to see what hwys your basemap contains. With luck, you might not need to buy anything else.

 

GeoBC

Edited June 29, 2006 by kb9nvh

[tickbait79]

The colour screen makes a big difference if you're using maps on a GPS. No need to second guess that aspect of it.

 

If you're driving to Alaska from Florida...well, you might have problems. Last year, as a little experiment, I used Mapsource to plot a route from my city (Vancouver, BC, Canada) down to the southeastern most part of Florida, and then told it to select all the map segments on that route.

 

The 115MB of map storage in my 76C was big enough, but 24MB is DEFINITELY not going to be enough. Of course, your built-in base map might already have the main interstate hwys and then you'd just need to load more details maps for Alaska and/or British Columbia.

 

But before you buy any mapping products, definitely check to see what hwys your basemap contains. With luck, you might not need to buy anything else.

 

GeoBC

 

Thanks all for the tips. I can't wait to get this unit in the mail. What accesories should I get? as i said, im very new to geocaching. I was introduced to it this past weekend at our family reunion and am excited to get going on my own.

as far as alaska, we are flying to seattle and cruising to alaska. too long to drive with an infant (long flight too, though). I just was curious about that as I will try to find some caches in the ports we will visit. So I understand that I 'can' use the vista c to route car trips? I wasn't planning on purchasing it for that but that is definitely an added bonus my wife will appreciate.

[tickbait79]

I guess I'm going to have to get educated on downloading these maps and cityselect citynavigate things. again, I'm brand new to this and looking forward to learning as I go. so you can buy maps of certain cities to download to these units?

[moonpup]

I just wanted to say I had a VistaC until I got a 60CS and 60CSx. If I could grab another one on ebay for a decent price I probably would. I absolutely loved mine...

[+ejnewman]

Seconding (or fifthing or whatever) that any of the base maps are going to be pretty worthless; if you want to use it as a roadmap then you would have to buy a better map package no matter what base map is on there.

 

You have to buy all of N. America in one package, I think it runs about $100 for either of the versions. City Navigator is the best, though as someone already mentioned, City Select may be better for you because it is broken into smaller pieces to give you a little more flexibility on what to load on a device with a small amount of storage. The alternative is always to bring along a laptop so you can swap out sections of the map whenever you want.

Edited June 29, 2006 by ejnewman

[+Miragee]

I have a Vista C and really like it. It is very durable . . . it took a 200 foot leap off a mountain and when we found it in the dirt below, it was still on.

 

I got the City Select maps in a combination package with the Beanbag automount and the cigarette-lighter adapter for about $145.00.

 

If you have a laptop with you with the maps installed on it, it doesn't take very long, with the USB connector, to upload new maps for the area you are heading towards.

 

You got a very good deal on that GPSr.

[+geobc]

Thanks all for the tips. I can't wait to get this unit in the mail. What accesories should I get? as i said, im very new to geocaching. I was introduced to it this past weekend at our family reunion and am excited to get going on my own.

as far as alaska, we are flying to seattle and cruising to alaska. too long to drive with an infant (long flight too, though). I just was curious about that as I will try to find some caches in the ports we will visit. So I understand that I 'can' use the vista c to route car trips? I wasn't planning on purchasing it for that but that is definitely an added bonus my wife will appreciate.

Ugh. We had a rather tortuous flight with our 2 yr old and 4 mos old last year when we went to Hawaii (Vancouver to SF, SF to Hawaii). Good luck! ;-)

 

My most used and valued accessory I have for my GPS units are the uploadable maps. In fact, I find the desktop map viewer, Mapsource, to be very useful and spend a lot of time playing with it prior to outings and trips. If you've bought a mapping GPS, you really, really should spend the bucks to get at least one set of maps for it. That'll set you back about $100 so if you thought the $220 price for the GPS was high, you might not want to buy much after the maps.

 

My second most used and valued accessory is the RAM suction cup mount that I use to attach my GPS to the windshields of our cars. The whole setup cost around $40 or so.

 

Oh yeah, the other accessory that I think should be mandatory is a screen protector. I had a pack of 25 protectors for my Palm PDA so I cut one of them to fit my GPS and it works just great.

 

Some rechargeable batts would be a good idea, too. I think the eTrex uses a standard USB connector so make sure you've got a cable for it.

 

For geocaching, a small, reliable magnetic compass is very useful.

 

GeoBC

[+benjamin921]

 

What accesories should I get?

 

Auto Nav Kit.

(City Select NA, full unlk, auto mount, friction mount, dash mount and 12-volt power cable)

 

http://shop.garmin.com/accessory.jsp?sku=010%2D10564%2D00

 

Edited June 30, 2006 by benjamin921

[+Night Stalker]

I would suggest purchasing a copy of City Select. It would be nice to have the most recent version, but if you can save money and get version 6 for a good price i would consider that. Just make sure it hasn't been used with another GPS. The software is set up so you can only use it with 2 units. After that you have to pay for additional unlocks.

 

As far as trip to alaska is concerned. Your basemap should contain all the main roads so all you would need to load would be detailed maps of the areas you plan on stopping at on the way. This would allow you to auto-route all the way and be able to enter stops for your motels on the way.

 

I own a laptop so I have City Select on it and can download additional maps if I need them. If you already have a laptop you might consider this option also. It will help when you need to get the most recent caches on the way to your destination also.

 

[tickbait79]

thanks everyone