Garmin Vista HCx mini-review

July 12, 2007

I received my Vista HCx today from TVNAV so I thought I'd write up a mini-review and give some first impressions. Whatever comparisons I make will be to the Vista C unit (which I've owned since it's initial release) so if something carried over from the Vista C to the Vista Cx, I wouldn't know about it...so pardon the ignorance.

The box along with the GPS. Whatever new "high sensitivity" GPS chipset it uses blows away the Vista C upon my initial comparison (in the house with a metal shingle roof). As can be seen in the above photo, I have a very good sat lock. The Vista C is unable to find/lock any sats in the same location (sorry, no direct comparison pics...I warned you that this was a mini-review). I have yet to use it in any kind of vegetation/trees so no comment on that.

The back compartment cover is made of some type of cast metal alloy (likely aluminum...I doubt it's titanium but it sure looks like it...a "scratch-test" may be in order). The entire cover is made of this alloy with the exception of the rubber moulding/built-in gasket seal.

As can be seen in the above photo, the mounting hole for the belt-clip attachment is threaded into the alloy making the back cover *very* solid. Button placement and feel are identical to the Vista C. As far as what adhesive is used to attach the rubber outer band to the unit, I really don't know but it seems very similar in strength to the one used on the Vista C. How long it will last right now is pretty much anyone's guess.

That's about all I have time for right now...sensitivity seems *very* good and should please those that currently have poor performance with their unit.

Quick edit: Just did a quick side-by-side comparison between the HCx and my nuvi 350 (SiRF III chipset) with the HCx edging out the nuvi by a couple of sats...

Edited July 12, 2007 by SergZak

11.3k · July 12, 2007

Whoooo Hoo! You are first on the block with the new toy!

Nice pictures! I'm looking forward to hearing how it does in the field and how the track logs look.

July 12, 2007

Quoting snipped by moderator

Quick edit: Just did a quick side-by-side comparison between the HCx and my nuvi 350 (SiRF III chipset) with the HCx edging out the nuvi by a couple of sats...

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!! Keep the pictures coming. Looks like Christmas is coming early... lol. All I have to do is to try and convince the wife on how important this is to have in my... I mean... our possession.

How is the backlighting btw?

Edited July 12, 2007 by robertlipe

July 12, 2007

Thanks for the review. I just ordered mine from tvnav as well. I had the Vista Cx that I bought from walmart.com, but took it back in favor of the HCx. By the way, Wal Mart is the best. They refunded the GPSr cost and the shipping charge...I love WM!

July 12, 2007

Hi!

Congratulations SergZak and thanks for your mini-review. It helps, but we are all waiting for a little more. Perhaps on the next week-end you could make some more tests with it. It seems to be more robust.

Is there anything on the manual about the new chipset? dBm?

Regards

AA

July 12, 2007

I doubt that the casing is made of any kind of "alloy", most probably plastic with a metallic coating (Al) for RFI shielding.

I wish they were made of cast aluminum, mineral glass etc... I am always worried my 60CX get scrached by my gun, knive, cartridges ...

July 12, 2007

I doubt that the casing is made of any kind of "alloy", most probably plastic with a metallic coating (Al) for RFI shielding.

I own both a legendC and a vistaCX, the vista CX has the metal looking and feeling back cover, and it is much heavier cover than the one on the legendC. I just assumed the cover was metal to shield the unit from RF because of the electronic compass, but who knows.

by the weight difference my guess its a solid metal rear cover.

Edited July 12, 2007 by hogrod

July 12, 2007

hmm looks like its time for my upgrade to take place...was going to go with the venture cx as an upgrade to my legend....think i'll go with the legend hcx once we get some field reports.

July 12, 2007

I doubt that the casing is made of any kind of "alloy", most probably plastic with a metallic coating (Al) for RFI shielding.

I was referring to the the back cover *only* as being some sort of cast alloy. On my original Vista and Vista C, they were plastic. I know that the main body of the unit is plastic...I've been around these things long enough not to make that kind of mistake.

July 12, 2007

I was just comparing my current Vista to the new HCX, and it turns out the Vista is superior in 2 places:

Display resolution

Vista: 160 X 288 (46,080 pixels)

Vista HCx: 176 X 220 (38,720 pixels)

Built in memory:

Vista: 24MB

Vista HCx: None

Of course, the HCx trounces mine in almost every other important area, especially battery life, USB, auto routing, color screen, high sensitivity receiver, expandable memory, etc etc etc. I'm not sure it is enough of an improvement for me to replace mine just yet, especially considering that I am leaning towards the 60 CSx. I would so love to have better satellite reception when in the woods. I did a NYC cache the other day, and my GPS was useless. It was giving me an accuracy of 167 feet. Found the cache simply from the cache description.

July 12, 2007

I was just comparing my current Vista to the new HCX, and it turns out the Vista is superior in 2 places:

Display resolution

Vista: 160 X 288 (46,080 pixels)

Vista HCx: 176 X 220 (38,720 pixels)

Built in memory:

Vista: 24MB

Vista HCx: None

Of course, the HCx trounces mine in almost every other important area, especially battery life, USB, auto routing, color screen, high sensitivity receiver, expandable memory, etc etc etc. I'm not sure it is enough of an improvement for me to replace mine just yet, especially considering that I am leaning towards the 60 CSx. I would so love to have better satellite reception when in the woods. I did a NYC cache the other day, and my GPS was useless. It was giving me an accuracy of 167 feet. Found the cache simply from the cache description.

admo1872, you do know that the HCx takes microSD cards, right? So there is no need for built-in memory. I just bought a 2GB Sandisk microSD card for under $25 with free shipping. FYI.

July 12, 2007

I was just comparing my current Vista to the new HCX, and it turns out the Vista is superior in 2 places:

Display resolution

Vista: 160 X 288 (46,080 pixels)

Vista HCx: 176 X 220 (38,720 pixels)

Built in memory:

Vista: 24MB

Vista HCx: None

Of course, the HCx trounces mine in almost every other important area, especially battery life, USB, auto routing, color screen, high sensitivity receiver, expandable memory, etc etc etc. I'm not sure it is enough of an improvement for me to replace mine just yet, especially considering that I am leaning towards the 60 CSx. I would so love to have better satellite reception when in the woods. I did a NYC cache the other day, and my GPS was useless. It was giving me an accuracy of 167 feet. Found the cache simply from the cache description.

admo1872, you do know that the HCx takes microSD cards, right? So there is no need for built-in memory. I just bought a 2GB Sandisk microSD card for under $25 with free shipping. FYI.

could you post a link please.

Edited July 12, 2007 by bubnme

July 12, 2007

I was just comparing my current Vista to the new HCX, and it turns out the Vista is superior in 2 places:

Display resolution

Vista: 160 X 288 (46,080 pixels)

Vista HCx: 176 X 220 (38,720 pixels)

Built in memory:

Vista: 24MB

Vista HCx: None

Of course, the HCx trounces mine in almost every other important area, especially battery life, USB, auto routing, color screen, high sensitivity receiver, expandable memory, etc etc etc. I'm not sure it is enough of an improvement for me to replace mine just yet, especially considering that I am leaning towards the 60 CSx. I would so love to have better satellite reception when in the woods. I did a NYC cache the other day, and my GPS was useless. It was giving me an accuracy of 167 feet. Found the cache simply from the cache description.

admo1872, you do know that the HCx takes microSD cards, right? So there is no need for built-in memory. I just bought a 2GB Sandisk microSD card for under $25 with free shipping. FYI.

I've highlighted the relevant part of my post

July 12, 2007

So far the chip sounds good. Now I am eager to see someone report on a comparison between the etrex hcx and the 60/76 c(s)x chipset. Could be interesting!!

July 12, 2007

How is the backlighting btw?

The backlighting/display are virtually the same as my Vista C, both of which are better than the 60C and 60CS 1st gen color units that I have (they will likely be put up for sale after gathering up all package contents).

July 12, 2007

@SergZak: How fast is the map-scrolling compared to the other garmin-units you know

Edited July 12, 2007 by freeday

July 12, 2007

@SergZak: How fast is the map-scrolling compared to the other garmin-units you know

I tried an impromptu "stress" scrolling test between the Vista C and the Vista HCx. The two units were set to the exact same map detail level of .5mi (I used Topo U.S. 2008) and both were set to the same coordinates with the GPS receivers turned off. Then I simply used the sticks on both units (started them both as close to the same time that I could get) to scroll the maps to a pre-determined location and noted the difference. The HCx got to the same pre-determined location approx. 1.5 times ~faster~ than the C. The HCx also seemed to be able to draw out more of the detail in the map tiles faster before the scrolling jumped to the next section...in other words, it was drawing out more of the map and scrolling ~1.5 times faster than the C (if that makes any sense). Garmin has definitely implemented a faster processor in these new units which is always a good thing.

July 13, 2007

I was just comparing my current Vista to the new HCX, and it turns out the Vista is superior in 2 places:

Display resolution

Vista: 160 X 288 (46,080 pixels)

Vista HCx: 176 X 220 (38,720 pixels)

Built in memory:

Vista: 24MB

Vista HCx: None

Of course, the HCx trounces mine in almost every other important area, especially battery life, USB, auto routing, color screen, high sensitivity receiver, expandable memory, etc etc etc. I'm not sure it is enough of an improvement for me to replace mine just yet, especially considering that I am leaning towards the 60 CSx. I would so love to have better satellite reception when in the woods. I did a NYC cache the other day, and my GPS was useless. It was giving me an accuracy of 167 feet. Found the cache simply from the cache description.

admo1872, you do know that the HCx takes microSD cards, right? So there is no need for built-in memory. I just bought a 2GB Sandisk microSD card for under $25 with free shipping. FYI.

I've highlighted the relevant part of my post

admo, you did say it was superior in 2 places... as far as memory goes, I don't see it that way. Just my opinion. I ordered a Vista HCx to replace my aging Vista yesterday.

Edited July 13, 2007 by igr00ve

July 13, 2007

Addendum:

I found another way to gauge performance between two units. You'd need to have a mapset loaded to the GPS that contains Tide Tables (both the original Topo USA and the updated 2008 version have this data...you can find a Tide Station using Find/Marine/Tide Station). Select a Tide Station & note the amount of time it takes to plot the graph using a stopwatch. Here are the times I recorded for the Vista C and Vista HCx:

Vista C: 6.93 sec

Vista HCx: 1.88 sec

Using the above results, the HCx is approx. 3.5 times faster at this particular test. Also note that the processor was probably (I'm just speculating here) upgraded in the Vista Cx units of which I do not own so the difference between the Cx and HCx may be minimal.

Edit:

It appears that the HCx is still using a USB 1.1 hardware interface since map transfers to the memory card through the HCx were pretty slow, but still tons better than the old serial interface for those who remember those lengthy transfer times. I have a feeling that by the time Garmin implements USB 2.0, there will be an even faster updated USB interface spec. or different interface altogether.

Edited July 13, 2007 by SergZak

July 13, 2007

Thanks for testing, SergZak !!

Is is interesting that you have no problems with the tide tables, but Garmin tells there is no time table function.

Better than vice versa :laughing:

13.07.2007_07:38:38_tide.jpg

July 13, 2007

The webpage is correct, but only in that there are no tide tables built-in or pre-loaded on the unit. The unit does indeed support tide tables but as I stated elsewhere in my posts, they have to be user-loaded to the unit by uploading map data that contains the tide stations. This is where the webpage is a bit vauge and misleading. Be assured that if you have the map data with tide stations, the unit *will* display tide tables.

Edited July 13, 2007 by SergZak

8.3k · July 14, 2007

The webpage is correct, but only in that there are no tide tables built-in or pre-loaded on the unit. The unit does indeed support tide tables but as I stated elsewhere in my posts, they have to be user-loaded to the unit by uploading map data that contains the tide stations. This is where the webpage is a bit vauge and misleading. Be assured that if you have the map data with tide stations, the unit *will* display tide tables.

where does one find these maps?

TIA

Jim

3.8k · July 14, 2007

I believe that tide info comes in the Topo 2008 maps, but you can also download it from here, and then install in into the unit as another "map" from mapsource.

July 14, 2007

I believe that tide info comes in the Topo 2008 maps, but you can also download it from here, and then install in into the unit as another "map" from mapsource.

Sputnik 57 is correct. The tide table data is in Topo 2008 and also in the original US Topo version (but not in the 24k National Parks version) and an early version of MetroGuide (v3). It's also in all versions of Blue Charts. Also note that Garmin doesn't officially disclose (or not that I've ever heard) if the tide station data is included with the mapping data in any particular product with the exception of (naturally) Blue Charts.

11.3k · July 14, 2007

I believe that tide info comes in the Topo 2008 maps, but you can also download it from here, and then install in into the unit as another "map" from mapsource.

Do you know which units you can install that tide info into? Seems like it might only be the GSPMap units . . .

Could you put it on a Vista C?

July 14, 2007

OK,

So I just received by eTrex Vista HCx from TVNAV as well, so here's my 2 cents. The GPS it's replacing is an eTrex Vista Cx, so that will be my basis of comparison.

First off, the rear cover is almost identical to the one included on my old Cx, I think they're both metal, and they both weight in at the same 1.1 oz. However, the new HCx cover is a *much* tighter fit, my guess is that this makes it substantially more water resistant. The little twisty metal loop you use to tighten it into place is larger, and allows you to put MUCH more torque on it when closing.

Reception: Yeah, it's a lot better. Hard to measure exactly how much better, I'd say 3x at least, based solely on running them side by side and comparing the size of the reception bars. However, in actual real world use, I'd say the reception is almost infinitely better, since I've taken both units through several heavy cover areas and I never could get the HCx to lose reception, but the old Cx lost signal several times. So in terms of total "downtime" the HCx is infinitely better. Finally, when it's switched on (which can be a pain, see below), the satellite aquisition time is so fast I can't even see it, it's almost instantaneous.

There does seem to be something quirky about the way the HCx tracks movement, at least at low speeds.... sometimes it doesn't respond to turns fast enough, it's almost as if it's trying to guess ahead on where you're going, but then sometimes it doesn't seem to do this, sorry I can't explain it well enough, I'll have to do a more detailed comparison today.

The interface/menus are identical with the only exception being that you can now program what color (both during the day and night) you want your routing path to be (the default is still purple).

Speed: Yep, the HCx is also quite a bit faster, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3x faster when it comes to calculating long, complicated routes. Scrolling across the map seems a lot better too.

Problems: Yes, there are some big bugs I've discovered already. The first is that the WAAS setting returns to disabled every time I turn my unit off and restart. Also, I've never been able to get the thing to turn on when powered by the USB/external power cord. At this point, I can't seem to ever get it to turn on without first pulling the batteries and restarting, so this is a serious problem. I don't know if the "I can't shut off my GPS and restart it without taking out the batteries" problem is caused by some strange combination of settings on my unit or what, because there's no way they would have shipped a GPS you can't turn on, and I know it did turn on the first time I threw batteries in it and started it up... who knows what's going on? Hopefully is a firmware fix that will come down the pipe soon.

Other than the massive on/off bug, I'd say this is by far the best handheld GPS I've ever seen or used. This GPS takes all the features we liked from the old Vista C/Cx, and adds a much improved antenna and faster processor.

Edited July 14, 2007 by captain454

July 14, 2007

Could you put it on a Vista C?

Yes, it works just fine on my Vista C.

11.3k · July 14, 2007

Cool!

Off to the download page . . . . .

July 14, 2007

Problems: Yes, there are some big bugs I've discovered already. The first is that the WAAS setting returns to disabled every time I turn my unit off and restart.

I'm not seeing this on a shutdown/power up instance. WAAS *is* being disabled but here's what I'm seeing...if the unit cannot get a fix on any WAAS sats for a predetermined amount of time (that amount of time is unknown to me), it then proceeds to automatically disable WAAS in the system setup menu. Maybe you can verify this...

Also, I've never been able to get the thing to turn on when powered by the USB/external power cord.

Here's how I am seeing this. If you plug the unit into a USB port, it will not automatically power on (the same as with my Vista C), but will power on while plugged in to the USB port by using the on/off switch. It's verified that it is indeed using external power by the "electrical plug" symbol on the Main Menu screen and by pressing the on/off switch. If I unplug the USB cord to the unit, I get the "lost power" message and the unit proceeds to run on battery power. If I then plug the USB cord back in, it goes to external power. It all seems normal to me. You may want to verify your USB port(?)

One thing I noticed is that the unit will not continuously record barometer readings while the unit is powered off (also know as "pressure trend recording"). I don't know if this was something that they omitted in the Cx units (both the Vista and 60CSx) or if it's a new "feature". Anyways, the Vista and the Vista C were both able to do this but the HCx does not. I sorta miss this on the new unit...

Edited July 14, 2007 by SergZak

July 14, 2007

in actual real world use, I'd say the reception is almost infinitely better, since I've taken both units through several heavy cover areas and I never could get the HCx to lose reception

That's a critical information for me. Could you specify what type of terrain you tested it in? I mostly hike in a hilly country with up to 50% tree cover, and my old Vista was useless there.

Problems: Yes, there are some big bugs I've discovered already. The first is that the WAAS setting returns to disabled every time I turn my unit off and restart. Also, I've never been able to get the thing to turn on when powered by the USB/external power cord. At this point, I can't seem to ever get it to turn on without first pulling the batteries and restarting, so this is a serious problem.

This does sound pretty serious. Could some other owner confirm to see if this is just a single-unit problem, or if this is a bug in all units?

July 14, 2007

New eTrex H from Garmin with Galileo support

The devices are not Galileo ready out of the box but will accommodate a drop-in chip when available.

European Space Agency, esa Galileo Navigation

BTW, I recommend Sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries for your GPS receiver. I use eneloop in my Canon PowerShot S3 IS camera and in the Garmin GPSmap 60CS.

Regards, Otto

http://www.navigate3d.com

Edited July 14, 2007 by OttoLund

3.8k · July 14, 2007

One thing I noticed is that the unit will not continuously record barometer readings while the unit is powered off (also know as "pressure trend recording"). I don't know if this was something that they omitted in the Cx units (both the Vista and 60CSx) or if it's a new "feature". Anyways, the Vista and the Vista C were both able to do this but the HCx does not. I sorta miss this on the new unit...

Same complaint was made about the 60CSx and 76CSx units when they came out. Apparently the SiRFIII chip won't let you do this (or at least, Garmin's disable the functions in units with SiRFIII chips).

July 14, 2007

OK, some more testing updates:

First of all, the power on/off situation, I think I've figured out what my problem is. If I turn off the unit, and then try to turn it back on a few seconds later, it screws up and won't come on, but will if I take the batteries out and put them back in. However, if I turn it off and leave it off for at least 10 minutes (could be less, haven't figured out the minimum time yet), then it turns on fine?! I don't get it.

So I took it on another short hike today, I kept the Vista Cx in my left pocket and the new HCx in my right pocket, just to get as poor reception as possible. Under tree cover the Cx lost signal a couple of times, if you look at the track log, there are lots of "straight" sections over twisty parts of trail. The HCx stayed on the trail the whole time. Also, there was a blank section where the old Cx lost reception for a significant amount of time, but the HCx kept recording perfectly. Finally, right now as I type this indoors, I'm getting 3 stong satellites and 3 weak ones on my HCx with a location fix of +/- 35 ft; my old Cx has "lost reception" and only shows a weak signal from one satellite.

Finally, as I pan around the maps, the HCx is much better too, it never "chokes" on refreshing the new map detail, whereas the old Cx frequently chokes up and makes you wait to see map detail.

Re the loss of WAAS on restart... mines definitely doing it all the time, the unit itself always gets a strong WAAS signal, so it's not like it's looking around and defaulting to off simply because it can't find anything. Although, if I'm the only one who seems to be having these off/on restarting problems, I guess my unit could be screwed up somehow?

Forgot to mention: the backlighting is slightly improved on the HCx (vs. the Cx) as well; it definately brighter and more contrasty on any given setting.

Edited July 14, 2007 by captain454

July 14, 2007

Re the loss of WAAS on restart... mines definitely doing it all the time, the unit itself always gets a strong WAAS signal, so it's not like it's looking around and defaulting to off simply because it can't find anything.

Ok, your WAAS problem is now my problem.

I have verified that WAAS is indeed being reset to "disabled" after a position lock, then a power-down/power-up sequence. Looks like you found a bug.

Although, if I'm the only one who seems to be having these off/on restarting problems, I guess my unit could be screwed up somehow?

I'm still not seeing this on my unit. You may want to check your battery contacts along with the contacts in the unit to make sure they're clean. I've had power glitches in the past on different units and cleaning the contacts seemed to remedy them. But then again, yours may be doing something beyond a "glitch".

July 14, 2007

Are we convinced of a "faster processor"? With fewer pixels to write the "same" processor will appear faster.

July 15, 2007

Garmin Vista HCx mini-review

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment