Rubatoguy's Full Review: Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Handheld GPS Receiver
I've had my eTrek Vista for almost a year, and overall it is a capable unit. I use it mostly for hiking, but have used it in my car on occasion.
The Vista runs on two AA batteries, or can be powered via an interface cable to through a cigarette lighter or household power. The batteries are held in place by rather fragile spiral springs, and it seems that these are prone to being bent or broken - so you have to replace batteries with care. And replace batteries you will! .I found that I required new batteries sometimes after only two and a half hours of use. The Vista does offer a battery life indicator, and will give you a low battery warning. It also has power management software so that it will shut down the unit in order to keep power to the memory, and your saved data, for as long as possible. The Vista offers a backlit display which is great for low-light or night situations, but it adds a significant penalty to battery life.
The Vista is quite compact and easy to keep in a pocket when not in use. Its screen, while small, is easy to read. It is useable for a car, motorcycle, or bicycle mount, but some people may find the display to be on the borderline of being too small for use in these applications.
The Vista is designed to be held in the left hand, and there is a small joystick, called the "click stick" that you can maneuver with your thumb to access all the menus and software features. Optionally, there are buttons on both sides of the unit that allow you to do the same thing. I found the left-hand design awkward to use, and always ended up using it with two-hands. When I asked Garmin support why it was designed this way, they explained that it was to keep your right hand free when hiking, and also, if you were to fall, it would be less likely to be broken as most people would try to break their fall with their right hand. I have to give Garmin credit for putting such great thought into the design; unfortunately it is still awkward to use.
The Vista software is full featured, and if you have the PC interface cable, you are able to download new software updates and install them directly onto the Vista. This is a great feature that helps insure that the unit will not become obsolete. Garmin seems to be very good at providing continual updates and enhancements to the software. The software is really where the Vista shines. It is easy to use and provides lots of features. The standard basemap has surprisingly quite a bit of data and points already contained. This can be supplemented by downloading maps from the Garmin topo maps or street maps software. The software in the unit has a few goodies as well, including sunrise and sunset date, phase of the moon, and tide information.
One of the features the Vista has that is absent in most other GPS units is an altimeter. This gives you the added information of seeing how many vertical feet you have ascended or descended during your hike. The Vista software is quite complete and allows you to create your own waypoints and save them. The unit will track your travel with a 'bread crumb' path
It is unfortunate that such a great unit is crippled by such a poor antenna. The unit struggles to maintain satellite lock if you are anywhere that has the slightest amount of mountains, trees, or buildings. This ends up with unfortunate consequences in the software. For example, this can cause the maximum speed calculation to be wildly off - at one point I was told that I had reached a 35 mph walking speed. The 'bread-crumb' tracking software will be affected as well, drawing a straight-line between the point the reception was lost, and then regained. This can leave you with a travel path that looks far different from the one actually traveled. The poor reception is also apparent if you try to use the unit in a car - it will have difficulty unless you place the unit directly on the top of the dashboard, and even angling the unit so you can see the display can significantly degrade signal reception.
One thing I noticed when using the unit in the car, the software in the Vista did not 'lock' onto the road you were traveling on. So it often indicated that you were traveling parallel to the road - your position indicator off to one side or the other - but within the circle of error. This may not happen if you use the optional street map software.
Overall this is a great unit hampered by a poor antenna and short battery life. I can carry extra batteries, but since there is no way to add an external antenna, you have to put up with the poor reception. That's too bad because otherwise the Vista would be an excellent unit. If you will be traveling anywhere with lots of tree cover or mountains, I'd look at the other Garmin units that allow for an external antenna - such as the GPS76
eTrex Vista H Handheld GPS features a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, allowing for better performance in heavy foliage or deep canyons. Includes built-...More at J&R Music and Computer World
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