Experiences with Garmin Summit HC

[sushiboy21]

I'm looking for a new GPS to replace the eXplorist 210 I lost over the winter.

 

I'm torn between the Vista HCx and the Summit HC. My main use will be geocaching and I can't really see needing to load street maps into it. The routing is also not a factor as I have a Garmin Nuvi 200 for in-car use.

 

Does anyone know if the GPS chip in the Summit is the same as the Vista HCx? I've heard raves about the Vista's sat acquisition times and this is a priority for me.

 

Also, the other concern is the battery life of the Summit vs. the Vista. It seems odd that the Summit's would be so much shorter (14 hrs vs 25) if they are essentially the same unit. Or maybe this is because the Summit's memory draws power where the Vista's SD card does not?

 

Any opinions appreciated.

[+Miragee]

I have the Vista HCx and the main reason I would recommend that GPSr is for the 'x' meaning it has the memory card on which you can put 1000's of waypoints as POIs.

 

I have all the local "Unfound" caches, all the caches I have "Found," and more than a thousand "Benchmarks" on the card as POIs.

 

I don't know how many Waypoints the Summit HC can hold, but I sure like having 1000 Waypoints on the Vista HCx after dealing with the 500-Waypoint limit on my Vista C.

[+julianh]

I have the Vista HCx and the main reason I would recommend that GPSr is for the 'x' meaning it has the memory card on which you can put 1000's of waypoints as POIs.

 

I have all the local "Unfound" caches, all the caches I have "Found," and more than a thousand "Benchmarks" on the card as POIs.

 

I don't know how many Waypoints the Summit HC can hold, but I sure like having 1000 Waypoints on the Vista HCx after dealing with the 500-Waypoint limit on my Vista C.

The Summit HC has a waypoint limit of 500. This is hardwired and can't be changed. However, you can now load Custom POIs onto the Summit HC - this was added in software version 2.30. Note that the product information page still hasn't been updated to reflect this capability, but it exists, and it does work! Not sure if there is a limit on the number of POIs - I think they get saved into the map memory space, so presumably the more POIs you save, this will eat into your 24 MB map memory. (I have a couple of hundred POIs loaded on my Summit HC, and it doesn't seem to have had a significant impact on the amount of mapping I can load.)

 

I wouldn't underestimate the need to install maps in due course - the base map is pretty much useless in my opinion. It can actually be misleading when in the map view, because it will show you whatever detail is installed (although you can turn the base map off), but it only shows main roads etc, and these can be out be several hundred metres to several km, so you can actually be searching on the wrong side of a main road altogether unless you are careful. (My experience based on Australian base map - I don't know how good the US base map is.) If you are only using the GPSr in your local region, you can easily install street coverage and / or topo coverage for several hundred square km into the 24 MB memory (assuming you buy the maps, of course!)

 

As far as sensitivity is concerned - I believe the Summit HC uses the exact same receiver and antenna as the Vista HCx (I could be wrong, but that seems to be the general view). Certainly, time to obtain a fix and signal lock are both excellent under even challenging reception conditions.

 

I note that Garmin claim a shorter battery life on the Summit HC than the Vista HCx. I don't understand why, if they use the same receiver - maybe it is the different memory configuration, as you suggest, although I would have thought integral memory should need less battery power than modular memory if anything? Anyway, I can confirm that the Garmin figure of 14 hours for the Summit HC is conservative - I regularly do at least this well or better with my Summit HC using a pair of 2,100 mAh hybrid NiMHs. My practice when I am out on a trip is to swap batteries every night, and recharge the used pair. I easily get a full day's use on one pair, including using the compass, barometric altimeter, saving waypoints, etc, swapping between screens frequently, and having back-light on with a 30-second delay.

 

Bottom line - the only significant difference for me is that the Vista HCx can load up a a lot more maps - but I get by with the 24 MB map limit just fine - it just means I need to load up the relevant map segments before I go out on a trip. I can get full road and detailed topo coverage for a trip of several hundred kms, so this works for me. Secondly, the Vista HCx supports auto-routing - IF you buy routable road maps. I use a dedicated car sat-nav for car navigation, and I think it does a better job than any hand-held, but if you wanted an all-in-one, the Vista HCx might be a good option.

 

Other than that, the Summit HC is a great unit.

 

Hope this helps!