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etrex legendcx VS Vistacx


gregnlisa

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I bought the 60CSX which includes the same compass, and to be honest, I'm not too pleased. Easily affected by surroundings and interference, it always wants you to hold it level, and it's very slow. Let's just say that I'm very happy I finally figured out how to turn it off!

If you plan on using it on foot, then I say maybe, since it will be easy to hold it level, but it's not really worth the extra cash. The new units coming out this year (only astro so far) are claiming a new 3-D compass which you won't have to hold level - maybe that will be better.....

Good luck

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Thanks, I thought that might be the case. I guess I'll buy the Legend and keep my trusty Silva.

 

If you are going for the Legend cx, then you might want to consider the Venture cx. The only difference is the color and the Venture does not come with a memory card, USB cable or the Trip&Waypoint manager software.

 

The 64MB card is fairly useless and you will probably find yourself buying a 1GB card (around $20) separately. The USB cable is standard, so might already have one around from a camera or PDA. If not, they are cheap. The Trip&Waypoint manager software comes with any Mapsource product you buy anyway.

Edited by weber_sd
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;) Oh no, More choices. Thanks, I'm glad I still have a little while till my B-day. My wife doesn't know she's buying it for me.....yet.

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. I guess I'll buy the Legend and keep my trusty Silva.

 

If you are going for the Legend cx, then you might want to consider the Venture cx. The only difference is the color and the Venture does not come with a memory card, USB cable or the Trip&Waypoint manager software.

 

The 64MB card is fairly useless and you will probably find yourself buying a 1GB card (around $20) separately. The USB cable is standard, so might already have one around from a camera or PDA. If not, they are cheap. The Trip&Waypoint manager software comes with any Mapsource product you buy anyway.

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I was trying to make the same choice around Christmas. It seemed like a fair bit of extra cash to buy the vista cx just to get a few nice to haves like the compass BUT I took advice which said buy it if you can afford it. I got the vista cx and love it. I use it often when geocaching. I have also downloaded loads of GB topo maps to the vista and use the compass for general navigation. It won't replace your silva in some situations but for most of my day to day trecking I now leave the paper map and compass in my rucksack.

Go for it!

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I have a 60CSx and use the compass 100% of the time. I have no problems with it, in fact, this is my second unit with the electronic compass and I will never own a GPS without it. It seems that those that like it love it, and those that don't will tell you not to buy it. To each his own. I would suggest giving it a try if you are able.

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We have a LegendCx and we haven't experienced no problems at all with the compass, Wheather on foot ans holding it level or in the car where it is on the dashboard and mounted vertical it works well everytime.

 

As far as the memory card goes ours came with a 256MB and that has always held more than enough maps for us, The nice thing about the SD card is unlike the legend C we can have more than one type map on it at the same time and toggle between them so you can use the maps that will serve you best at that certain cache.

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We have a LegendCx and we haven't experienced no problems at all with the compass, Wheather on foot ans holding it level or in the car where it is on the dashboard and mounted vertical it works well everytime.

 

 

That's because the Legend CX doesn't have the electronic compass that they're talking about here like the Vista CX does. The Legend CX requires you to be moving for the compass to work...simply turning the gps in your hand won't change the compass reading like it will in the Vista.

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We have a LegendCx and we haven't experienced no problems at all with the compass, Wheather on foot ans holding it level or in the car where it is on the dashboard and mounted vertical it works well everytime.

 

 

That's because the Legend CX doesn't have the electronic compass that they're talking about here like the Vista CX does. The Legend CX requires you to be moving for the compass to work...simply turning the gps in your hand won't change the compass reading like it will in the Vista.

 

I will say that my girls have had trouble getting used to the idea that the "arrow" (bearing mode) doesn't REALLY always point to the target. It only does so if you've moved enough in a straight line with the Lengend held in front of you so that it "knows" which way you are going. This makes perfect sense if you think about it. The gps can't "know" the case orientation in 3D space. If you don't believe that, walk as you normally would but hold the case backwards (i.e. top of the unit behind the bottom as you walk.) The bearing indicator will be 180 degrees out. This MAINLY causes a problem for them when they get close enough to start "hunting" and don't realize that the GPS takes some time after they've mad a turn to update its view of which way you are going.

 

I've about settled into the "ideal" rig for what I'm doing. I carry a clip board and I will mount the GPS on one side and a magnetic compass (like the Silva) on the other. All I really need is a rough idea of where North really is so that I can realize where the GPS Bearing is really telling me to go. Most of the time that's not hard with the sun out but on overcast days in unfamiliar woods it can be an uncertainty. I prefer the separate compass. Also, as was pointed out, a magnetic compass can be very affected by adjacent fields. Now in the case of a GPS, there is no question that there are built-in EM fields. For land navigation, I much prefer a reliable compass that I can distance from any metal or electrical items for a good reading. While I'm sure the design engineers of the units with the built in compass/hall effect devices have done a good job. I've come to trust the tried and true compass. Besides, if you are lost in the woods and your GPS batteries give out, you can still get out reliably with your trusty compass.

 

Back to the girls - I'm trying to get them to become aware of the actual readout of the bearing in numerals and become positionally aware of what that means with respect to North. My one complaint about units like the Etrex Legend (which is the one we own, the B&W display model) is that the "arrow" displays tend to lead novices astray, especially in the "red zone." I tell my girls to switch over to the MAP mode when they get close as that gives a "North UP" depciction and they can visualize the relative position of the cache with respect to a NORTH UP map presentation. It's part of the "art" and skill of orienteering/land navigation and developing proper "situational awareness" (a little pilot lingo there.) When you are "turning and burning" close in to a cache, the E-Trex vector display will "lie" to you if you aren't mindful of the compass rose state.

 

When I wrote the BT Geocacher, I deliberately designed around numeric displays rather than using a vector display. This forces you to just be aware of where "North" really is at all times. A compass, even a very basic one, can provide that. If I know where NORTH is and the bearing to target is 225 then I know it is South West.

Edited by dpbabcock
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The 64MB card is fairly useless and you will probably find yourself buying a 1GB card (around $20) separately. The USB cable is standard, so might already have one around from a camera or PDA. If not, they are cheap. The Trip&Waypoint manager software comes with any Mapsource product you buy anyway.

 

Actually 64MB is enough room for streets and maps for 99.9 percent of all geoachers. For example, 64 MB will hold the entire states of SC and GA. I know people love to load up 2 GIG's of maps but they will never use 99.9 percent of those maps. It's for ego and showing off at geocaching meetings.

 

But do concur, save the 50 bucks and buy the Venture over the Legend-C and get a 10 dollar USB cable.

 

An electronic compass is worthless for geocaching plus it's a energy drain on the batteries. According to the manual, you've got to calibrate the compass everytime you change batteries. A 3 dollar magnetic compass works better if you really need a compass.

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But do concur, save the 50 bucks and buy the Venture over the Legend-C and get a 10 dollar USB cable.

 

Careful, you want a Venture CX, not the Venture. Biiiig difference. But yes, I agree, save yourself some money and get the Venture CX instead of the Legend CX. The Legend CX comes with a relatively limited capacity SD card and the first thing a lot of people do is buy a more capacious one.

 

The Venture CX is basically the Legend CX withouth the card, USB cable and Trip and Waypoint Manager, so you aren't paying for a card that is going to wind up sitting in your desk drawer. Also you might already have the cable if you have certain digital cameras or cell phones (if not it's inexpensive) and I don't know anyone who uses the Trip and Waypoint Manager software.

 

I disagree with those who say an electronic compass is worthless for geocaching. I wouldn't buy a unit without one. Its not perfect, (you do have to hold it level, but you need to do that with nearly any handheld compass so no big difference there) but I like that you can determine direction when you are standing still. For units without

an electronic compass you have to be moving at a fairly brisk pace for them to determine travel direction.

 

One nice feature is that you can set the compass so it turns on/off based on your speed. Say if you set it at 3 mph, the unit will turn the compass off at speeds over 3 mph and use the sats to determine direction, but if you slow down while walking, the electronic compass will kick in.

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The 64MB card is fairly useless and you will probably find yourself buying a 1GB card (around $20) separately. The USB cable is standard, so might already have one around from a camera or PDA. If not, they are cheap. The Trip&Waypoint manager software comes with any Mapsource product you buy anyway.
Actually 64MB is enough room for streets and maps for 99.9 percent of all geoachers. For example, 64 MB will hold the entire states of SC and GA. I know people love to load up 2 GIG's of maps but they will never use 99.9 percent of those maps. It's for ego and showing off at geocaching meetings.
In many cases, it is simply convenient to have larger map areas on the GPSr. I travel with some frequency in New York, Florida, Tennessee, and California. It is simpler for the maps for those areas (and connecting areas if you drive) to stay loaded, rather than to have to worry about updating them if you go on a 'repeated' trip. Also, cards that are larger than come with the unit give you plenty of space to dump in gobs of caches (and child waypoints) as POIs.
But do concur, save the 50 bucks and buy the Venture over the Legend-C and get a 10 dollar USB cable.
I second weber_sd's comment. Before you waste money on a mini USB cable, check around the house. When I bought my Venture CX, I was surprised to find out that I already own six of those cables.
An electronic compass is worthless for geocaching plus it's a energy drain on the batteries. According to the manual, you've got to calibrate the compass everytime you change batteries. A 3 dollar magnetic compass works better if you really need a compass.
I know that a lot of people really went crazy about upgrading to GPSrs with electronic compasses when they first came out, but I don't really get it. Most of my GPSrs haven't had an electronic compass, so I'm completely at ease with not needng one. After all, we all carry regular compasses in the woods, anyway. This, added to the fact that the electronic compass in my Geko 301 irritated me, made it easy for me to choose the Venture CX over costlier models (Plus, I'm cheap).
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