My take on the Garmin Vista HCX

[highrolla7]

Just thought I would post this for people looking to purchase a GPS or for people to see how my success was with the unit....

 

I drove from Iowa to California and back and used the Vista HCX to track almost every movement I made (2 week trip). I have TOPO 2008 loaded as well as City Nav NT 08 as well. Let me start out by saying this unit is GREAT!! I loaded 14 waypoints before I left, such as Grand Canyon, Tropicana Hotel in Vegas (we stayed there for 4 nights), friends house in San Diego, Route 66 museum in Kingman, Arizona, Hoover Dam, Meteor Crater, etc, etc, (you get the idea). As we took off, I set everything to zero and have a 2 gb card for memory. Set tracking to "on". City Nav NT 8 kept me on course and depending on where we were at, I just found my next waypoint and push "goto". It would give me the route wouldnt let me get lost. At the end of each day, I took a picture of the trip details like odometer, elevations, hrs stopped and moving, etc. I would turn it off at night and loaded recharged batteries in the morning. When we arrived at the Grand Canyon, I "hid" CN NT 8 and it showed TOPO 2008. It even showed trails I was walking on and contour lines to show elevation as well. Very cool! When we decided to turn around and head back a different direction, I was able to "track back" and went to our starting point on the trail.

 

One of the best things about this City Nav is the fact that is stores phone numbers and business info. I cant tell you guys how many times I would find a pizza hut and it would give me a phone number, I would call them when it says I was within 15 minutes, have one ordered and it would be ready when we get there. I also used it a lot for getting gas, it gives you info on gas stations ahead and how far away (gives you miles away as well as minutes and time to get there).

 

As for negatives, the screen is small but does work well. I wish it would beep louder, you cant really have a bunch of people talking and the radio going and still expect to hear it beep. Another thing is I did lose signal in the Yosemite National Park (for about 5 miles). Pretty much the only time I did lose signal, so cant complain too much. Another gripe I had was Im not sure how to change my home position so I can see how far one place is from another place while it is still tracking where I am currently at. For example, Everybody wanted to know how far ROUTE 66 (I-40) was from Meteor Crater, we were at Kingman Az. I could easily tell them the distance from Kingman, but not sure how to calculate from a different place that where I was at.

 

I know this is long, but just wanted to post this for people to see how a complete newb was able to figure out this unit (for the most part) and LOVE IT! I have never owned a GPS before and was overwhelmed at first. But, I learned the basics then while on the trip, I learned the ins and out of it (on that long of a trip, there was really nothing else to do)

 

If somebody is looking at getting a GPS, I would highly recommend the VISTA HCX with the City Navigator Maps. Without the maps, the unit is basically worthless in my opinion. I purchased the VISTA HCX TOPO 2008 bundle for $199, then purchased the City Navigator NT 08 maps (DVD) for $82, then upgraded to 09 for free.

 

Hope this helps and gives an idea on how the unit handles a long trip. Im planning on Geocaching next week, we'll see how it holds up for that.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

TJ

[TeamEcuador]

Great report. Thanks for sharing. This is just the kind of info people look for when considering what unit to buy - real world experiences.

 

I have the Legend HCx, mainly for tracking to and from (no good street maps here in Ecuador), and a little geocaching.

 

I agree with your comment about the beep - even in the car with nobody talking it is basically inaudible above car noise sometimes. Wish that were adjustable.

[highrolla7]

I have gotten a few PM's from people here and the write up seemed to help. Im still a newb, but have learned quite a bit from just reading the manual and playing with the GPS.

 

Im just glad I took the plunge with the vista hcx.

 

TJ

[+Chuy!]

...Another gripe I had was Im not sure how to change my home position so I can see how far one place is from another place while it is still tracking where I am currently at. For example, Everybody wanted to know how far ROUTE 66 (I-40) was from Meteor Crater, we were at Kingman Az. I could easily tell them the distance from Kingman, but not sure how to calculate from a different place that where I was at...

Easy, the Vista has a calculator - use Pythagoras' theorem.

 

If you become a premium member, you'll discover pocket queries and how to take advantage of customized POI's. Essentially, waypoints that get stored on your data card. Approx 10000 waypoints take up 2mb of memory space with each waypoint holding 132 charaters of information.

[highrolla7]

...Another gripe I had was Im not sure how to change my home position so I can see how far one place is from another place while it is still tracking where I am currently at. For example, Everybody wanted to know how far ROUTE 66 (I-40) was from Meteor Crater, we were at Kingman Az. I could easily tell them the distance from Kingman, but not sure how to calculate from a different place that where I was at...

Easy, the Vista has a calculator - use Pythagoras' theorem.

 

If you become a premium member, you'll discover pocket queries and how to take advantage of customized POI's. Essentially, waypoints that get stored on your data card. Approx 10000 waypoints take up 2mb of memory space with each waypoint holding 132 charaters of information.

 

Im still working on changing my home position while navigating- Im taking it on a small trip this weekend, I'll see what I can do. It really shouldnt be too difficult. Premium member??

[+vultures]

Great review -- just the sort of info I was looking for before I made my first hiking gps purchase a few weeks ago. Thanks for taking the time to write it up and post it.

[+Kit Fox]

Although my trip wasn't near as long as yours, I had a very similar experience with my Vista HCX. I have both the Topo, and the City Navigator maps installed as do you. I made a nearly 1000 mile round trip to Sacramento for Geowoodstock VI. Using the autorouting while navigating "downtown Sacramento" was invaluable. It worked flawlessly. Autorouting to caches in an unfamiliar area was great to. I love how the GPS predicts how the ETA for upcoming turns, freeway interchanges, etc based on your current speed.

When autorouting, I tended to keep the radio down.

 

I learned how to download custom POIs before my trip, so I had about 1000 custom "POI waypoints" with the correct geocaching icons. I also had about 600 Geocache waypoints for the area of the event. Geocaching mode worked perfectly for me. I purchased a 12V cig lighter to USB adapter, and never changed batteries during my trip. Having the icons was great. I wasn't really in the mood for "city micros," so I avoided most of the 35mm canister caches (micro icon), and looked for the traditional cache icons, as well as unique virtual caches.

 

Calling for pizza using the POIs is a brilliant idea that I never thought off. I'll use it next time I go on a trip.

 

If I could change one thing, it would be the ability to disable certain types of POIs. For example: I'm geocaching in a strange city, and I want to zoom in a bit on the maps, to see the roads, the entire screen gets covered by auto shops, and store icons. If I could only have custom icons, or geocaches show up, I'd be even happier than I already am.

Edited July 3, 2008 by Kit Fox

[+TMDMom]

Yay! this is good to hear, since I just ordered a Vista Hcx and Topo 2008 today! Woohoo! I am so excited and I should get it Monday. Thanks for the reviews!

[NoBite]

LOVED your report. I have the Vista Hcx and wonder if I will ever graduate to newbie status! I feel worse than a dork. I have Topo USA and have not yet been able to get a topo map to show up in the Vista. We primarily trail ride (horses) and I have enjoyed noting our speed and elevation changes and such. But, I really want the topo maps! I guess there is yet hope, but I wish there was someone close by to take me by the arm (or throat) and show me the ropes.

[gallet]

Yo, newbie hcx dudes!

 

I don't think it is possible to find the distance of two unrelated places by road, and keep tracking your current position. However if you really want to know, you can turn off the gps Satellite>menu>TurnGpsOff then press the menu again and set a new location, one of the two places you want the distance from. Then Find>Address>GoTo the other one. Can't remember if you need to reset your current location or it resets itself when it's turned off.

 

HCx hot tip of the year: The "page in" button should be used in all fields where you would normally use the "OK" button on the keyboard.

[highrolla7]

LOVED your report. I have the Vista Hcx and wonder if I will ever graduate to newbie status! I feel worse than a dork. I have Topo USA and have not yet been able to get a topo map to show up in the Vista. We primarily trail ride (horses) and I have enjoyed noting our speed and elevation changes and such. But, I really want the topo maps! I guess there is yet hope, but I wish there was someone close by to take me by the arm (or throat) and show me the ropes.

 

If its anything like TOPO 08, there are 2 icons in toolbar, one is recieve from device, one is send. Just click on send to device and you can click on the map, it will highlight the ones you want, then your good to go. What I did was read the manual and thats where I learned pretty much everything I needed. Good luck

 

TJ

[jmundinger]

LOVED your report. I have the Vista Hcx and wonder if I will ever graduate to newbie status! I feel worse than a dork. I have Topo USA and have not yet been able to get a topo map to show up in the Vista. We primarily trail ride (horses) and I have enjoyed noting our speed and elevation changes and such. But, I really want the topo maps! I guess there is yet hope, but I wish there was someone close by to take me by the arm (or throat) and show me the ropes.

 

Without a little better definition of your issue, I'm not sure I can tell you how to deal with it.

 

My first suggestion (not specific to the map issue) is to go to the Garmin website and download the user's manual for one of the earlier models (I used the one for the Vista C - you have to look in the discontinued section). The earlier user's manuals are more complete that the one that came with your unit.

[highrolla7]

Yo, newbie hcx dudes!

 

I don't think it is possible to find the distance of two unrelated places by road, and keep tracking your current position. However if you really want to know, you can turn off the gps Satellite>menu>TurnGpsOff then press the menu again and set a new location, one of the two places you want the distance from. Then Find>Address>GoTo the other one. Can't remember if you need to reset your current location or it resets itself when it's turned off.

 

HCx hot tip of the year: The "page in" button should be used in all fields where you would normally use the "OK" button on the keyboard.

 

Excellent advice! I honestly had no idea that this was possible. I just know that I had to use my measuring tool, then draw a line from where I was at the starting point (Point A), note the miles, then draw a line to the ending point (Point b ), subtract the miles from the current position to starting point, then I would add a few more miles for curves etc. not really confusing, but kind of a pain.

The only thing I dont like about the turning GPS off is I would lose my tracking info. Not a big deal I guess, but would be nice to just be able to calculate distance from point A to point B neither of them being your current position.

Edited July 7, 2008 by highrolla7

[highrolla7]

Without a little better definition of your issue, I'm not sure I can tell you how to deal with it.

 

My first suggestion (not specific to the map issue) is to go to the Garmin website and download the user's manual for one of the earlier models (I used the one for the Vista C - you have to look in the discontinued section). The earlier user's manuals are more complete that the one that came with your unit.

 

In Mapsource products, there is a great help section also. Gives you pictures of the icons you are using as well. I used this once or twice until I figured out what I was doing.

 

To be honest, I learned just the "basics", then while on a 2 week vacation driving, I used it all the time, reading the manual and just trial and error. It will just come to you after getting down the basics

[gallet]

If you are driving in a straight line then it would not matter. ps, don't forget my hot tip, it improves the user experience when entering addresses and stuff, by a *big* margin.