Legend

[+tomwilson74]

What is the difference between the Garmin Legend hcx and the cx? Besides about $70... I had been considering the Delorme PN 20 but I know Garmin gives better support and is easier to work with geocaching.com. I figured I would buy the Garmin and the Streetmap CD.

[Ken in Regina]

The difference is the "H". (cue rimshot)

 

If I understand Garmin's model designations correctly, the "H" means High sensitivity, which means the HCx has much superior GPS receiver technology (the "C" is Colour, the "x" means eXpandable, eg. uses memory card).

 

I have the Legend HCx and it is very good. Quick to acquire a lock and holds that lock in very difficult conditions. Probably the worst test is in my basement office. My office is directly underneath the cold air return (sheet metal). It will get as many as 7 satellites sometimes.

 

I have two USB receivers and two Bluetooth receivers that all have SirfStarIII or similar technology in them. They are excellent receivers. My Legend HCx is better.

 

However, the Legend is not a good device if you want to do paperless caching with only one device. If you want to use a Palm PDA or something similar for all the clues and just put the locations into the Legend HCx, it's good for that. You can download straight into it from the Pocket Queries on here, or from your MyGarmin account on Garmin's website. They will go into the Legend as geocaches and have the appropriate icon assigned to them. And you can mark them as found when you find them. But you can't load the clues and you can't add any notes about the finding. You'll need another device for those. Or paper.

 

...ken...

[+Wintonian]

Agreed - you deffinitly want the "H" to be able to lock on with minimal difficulty.

 

To add a electronic compas go with the Vista HCX, but not everyone will agree on how usefull it is Personaly I find it saves me having to hold the GPSr and a standard compas at the same time, although you have to be patient with it sometimes.

[+Hrethgir]

What is the difference between the Garmin Legend hcx and the cx? Besides about $70... I had been considering the Delorme PN 20 but I know Garmin gives better support and is easier to work with geocaching.com. I figured I would buy the Garmin and the Streetmap CD.

 

The HCx has the high-sensitivity reciever, while the Cx doesn't, and that is something you definitely want. And I don't think you can say Garmin has better support, especially since DeLorme has a presence here on these forums (Team DeLorme), plus their own forums ( forum.delorme.com ), and they have been very good with support and help. And there is now a plug-in that allows you save a cache directly to a DeLorme handheld just like you can with the Garmins, the newest firmware adds geocaching features that are much more like what is on the garmins, and the upcoming Cache Register will make loading PQs and large groups of caches into a DeLorme unit much easier. I have a Legend HCx and a DeLorme PN-40, and previously had a PN-20, and even without all the geocaching improvements, I liked the DeLorme PN-20 better than the Garmin, so I sold it to buy a PN-40, and I'm loving it! And remember, if you get a DeLorme, you don't need to buy the streetmap DVDs, they come with full topo and street-level detail maps in the box.

[+briansnat]

What is the difference between the Garmin Legend hcx and the cx? Besides about $70... I had been considering the Delorme PN 20 but I know Garmin gives better support and is easier to work with geocaching.com. I figured I would buy the Garmin and the Streetmap CD.

 

As others stated, the difference is the high sensitivity receiver. As far as customer support, I have a Delorme that went south after a few days. They said they would send me a new one right away. The didn't ask for a credit card number (like Magellan does) and didn't wait for me to send the broken unit (as Garmin does).

 

I've yet to receive it (made my call yesterday) but if I do receive it by Monday (as promised) I will have to give their support high marks.

 

As far as easier to work with, Garmin wins hands down. I spent a full day and then some trying to get my DeLorme working with the Topo 7 software and still the software locks constantly, so I need to reboot the PC and start all over. And for a comparatively complicated app it comes with very little documentation.

 

Garmin's Mapsource doesn't come close to Topo 7 when it comes to providing detailed maps, but it's a snap to use.