+Phil&Phil2008 Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Last night, my dad and I ordered our first Etrek Vista (just vista not HC or anything special) for geocaching, did we make a good choice? Thanks! ~Phil Quote Link to comment
vaq45 Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I had a Vista and liked it very much-It was hard for me to see the screen so i up-graded to the vista HXC--color screen is so much easyer to see and minipulate,but the vista is a wonderful starter--have fun Quote Link to comment
+Phil&Phil2008 Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 Thanks! Quote Link to comment
vaq45 Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 No problem--just don't look at a color unit--(you will be spoiled)--ha ha Quote Link to comment
+julianh Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Last night, my dad and I ordered our first Etrek Vista (just vista not HC or anything special) for geocaching, did we make a good choice? Thanks! ~Phil Be aware that some of the B&W Vistas (maybe all - I don't know) have an issue where the system date goes haywire from time to time. For most users this won't make any difference, and they may never even notice it if / when it happens - the unit works perfectly well in all other respects. For me, it was a killer issue - I couldn't download tracks into MapSource (the corrupt dates meant MapSource assumed the whole track-log was corrupt, so rejected it outright), and downloading the tracks into other software (e.g. OziExplorer) got the spatial information OK, but the dates were scrambled, so I couldn't georeference my digital photos - a core functionality for my use of the unit. If neither of these issues matter to you, you will probably not have any problems. If these issues do matter, you might want to check out this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=177915&hl= Quote Link to comment
+The Pathman Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 I have a different unit, But that one will do very nicely Quote Link to comment
gallet Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 I had a Vista and it was OK for a b/w unit but the battery life, at 12 hours was very poor, I do not think that the flux gate compass is as efficient as they are in the newer HCx's. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Last night, my dad and I ordered our first Etrek Vista (just vista not HC or anything special) for geocaching, did we make a good choice? Thanks! ~Phil If you paid under $100, then yes. Anything more than that you made a poor choice. You can get a Venture HC with the high sensitivity receiver and color display for under $150. That would be the way to go. Quote Link to comment
+Jeepergeo Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Don't second guess yourself. Get the unit, read the instructions, and then get out in the outdoors and find a geocache! You'll have a ton of fun! There's almost always a bigger, better, brighter, and more whazoo unit of some sort out there. You'll need to decide if you want to spend your time and money chasing GPS technology or or looking for caches and maybe placing your own cache. Have fun! Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 There's almost always a bigger, better, brighter, and more whazoo unit of some sort out there. You'll need to decide if you want to spend your time and money chasing GPS technology or or looking for caches and maybe placing your own cache. Actually you can have a good GPS and still get out and look for and hide caches. It's foolish to spend a lot of money on an obsolete unit, when you can get up to date technology for close to the same price. Quote Link to comment
+Jeff in Pa Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 (edited) I used the Vista and it is a better unit that the blue Legend that many on here have had and recommend, and yes I have also used a Legend. The compass works good, don't let these guys cut up your chioce, just give it a chance and you will have fun with it. As long as you bought what you wanted (or could afford which is the case with most poeple here on the forum) then just go out and have fun! Edited February 23, 2008 by Jeff in Pa Quote Link to comment
+Phil&Phil2008 Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 Thanks Jeff! No offense to others, but you were the most helpful poster in this thread! Quote Link to comment
+proimion Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 I used a "no frills" Vista to find nearly 200 caches all over the USA. It works fine. I never had a problem and battery life was good. I've upgraded to a Vista HCx since and it is better for sure, but you didn't make a mistake. What will be more helpful to you than an improved compass, color screen, or whatever is to become a premium member of geocaching. That way you can use Pocket Queries to find the caches you want to hunt and then use one of the many programs out there (such as Geocaching Swiss Army Knife--GSAK) to download the coordinates to your vista. As your addiction to geocaching grows, you will find that data management utilities are far more useful than the latest gadget. I sometimes still cache with my Forerunner 201 that doesn't even have a compass (it is a running GPS that staps to your wrist) and I still find caches. Get out there and find some caches! Quote Link to comment
+Phil&Phil2008 Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 Thanks! Quote Link to comment
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