Switch To Gpsmap 76s Or Etrex Vista

[Fire Eater]

With the advent of the new Metroguide Canada V4 I have been pondering the idea of purchasing a Garmin GPSMAP 76S or the Etrex Vista. Mainly because of the 24mb memory. I Have owned the Etrex Legend for over a year and it is a great unit...just lacking the memory. Wondering if the users had different input regarding their units...Pro's and Con's.

 

Do I need to have tons of maps loaded......probably no.......

 

Would I like to have tons of maps loaded.....Of Course.

 

Fire Eater

[+Renegade Knight]

The 76S has a better antanea and a better interface (my opinion) with the keys.

 

The Vista is smaller and has the Quad antanea.

 

There is something else the 76S has that I'm forgetting.

 

At this point I'd consider the new 60's before I'd jump the the 76S.

[Fire Eater]

I'm missing something! The new 60's? Garmin does not have any in the 60's that I saw

[+PDOP's]

The Vista is smaller and has the Quad antanea.

 

The Vista has a patch antenna.

 

I'd look at the 60C if I was buying right now.

[+The Wet Coast Explorers]

I've got a 76S and love it, but if I was getting a new one, the 60CS would be the one for me!

[+Renegade Knight]

...The Vista has a patch antenna.....

Whoops. I meant that but it's not what I typed. Thanks for catching it.

[The Big Kid]

I have a vista, but no 76 experience.

 

my vista has spent a fair amount of time being wet, by rain when it rides on top of my pack, or slides off the side of kayak in to the water- love that lanyard(its tied on top)- cuz it doesn't float.

 

its light weight, even with a spare set of batteries. batteries last longer than forecast if it just rides along and tells you where you are, and how fast you got there. Never have a set of batteries died in less than the advertised time, no matter what I have done.

 

easy one handed use.

 

did I mention its light, and fairly waterproof. doesn't float though.

Edited January 23, 2004 by The Big Kid

[Fire Eater]

The 60c and cs look like great units but are past my upper limits for spending. I am leaning towards the GPSMAP 76S. I like the idea that it floats, the memory, and the external antenna option. We do alot of camping and thats one thing that I have been extra paranoid about....donating my legend to the fish gods

If anyone has any opinions on this unit, it would be appreciated.

 

Fire Eater

[+EraSeek]

The map76 series has a graphing tide function (very cool), a larger screen, and is the most customizable of all GPS's. You can pick and choice data fields and format them most anyway you please on your GPS screen.

 

[+Fish]

I have a GPS76 .... Abd I've found it to be very accurate... Wish it was the MAp76 thoungh....

[+Capitalpete]

Unless you NEED the tide functions, and the audible alarms, base your decision on the size of the GPS that you are willing to live with.

 

With you having owned a Legend, you would be very comfortable switching to a Vista and all your accessories would work. You MAY find that the 76S is too big to pack comfortably, or you may not.

 

My wife loves our 76MAPS, but does not like our Vista. Her argument is that the 76S is easier to use with the buttons all on top, and the screen is much easier to read.

 

I like the reception that we get with the 76S, with my very Unscientific tests, the Vista MAY lose satellite reception sooner than the 76S. I have found this most applies when hiking in very heavy underbrush.

 

Both have pro and cons. I think we can all find things to do better if we were planning the units ourselves but that is human nature. I get my new 60C this weekend, and am sure that I will find things to complain about with that model as well.

 

Hope this helps.

Pete

[Peregrine007]

My first GPS was a Vista, which I bought pretty much exactly one year ago. It's a great unit - small and light, it gives good fixes and I've never had any problems with it.

 

I recently upgraded to the GPS Map 76S, and for the most part it's not really that much different. It has some extra features - mainly small things like the tide calculator, and the screens are a little more customizable in terms of how many data fields you want on each screen, and how large or small each field is etc. It will average a position over as long as you want to give it (when you're marking a waypoint, that is), and shows the estimated accuracy based on how long it's been averaging and what the EPE is for the duration.

 

But, they both have pretty much the same major features - electronic compass, barometric altimeter, etc. etc. and there are even a few small things that I preferred about the Vista (relocating a waypoint to "here", which was useful to have a "car" waypoint that you could just reposition, etc.).

 

The Vista is also considerably smaller and fits easier in your hand, especially when you're climbing loose rocks up a 7,285 foot mountain down in Death Valley :-D and you're concerned about falling on it or dropping it as you scramble down steep loose bits trying to get to plane wrecks.

 

All in all, they're both really good units - the weak point of both of them is that the Canadian Mapsource maps leave a lot to be desired (although I've heard the most recent one is a major upgrade), and we still have no topo maps of Canada that can be uploaded (I really miss those after using the US topo maps recently!).

 

Oh yeah, if you decide to go with a Vista, let me know - I have one for sale that's brand new (replaced under warranty)! :-D