Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High-Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High-Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS
Customer Review: Superb performance
Summary: 5 Stars
Supplemental Comments to Original Review
I've now (Feb 2011) used the HCx for a number of other trips including mountain biking and several backpacking trips. I've loaded and used several maps purchased on Micro SD. All have worked well and with excellent accuracy. I thought the map was "off" while hiking in Big Bend National Park, but subsequently learned that the trail had been rerouted a couple of weeks earlier - the GPS map simply had the original trail marked. Couldn't fault Garmin for not picking up on such a recent change in the trail. I've had the GPS unit come loose from the Rail Mount Adaptor on my mountain bike a couple of times. Vibration from riding seems to cause the attachment screw to come loose from the back of the GPS. I have to remember to carefully tighten the screw (the edge of a nickle seems to be about a perfect fit, but dime or penny works too). The GPS has hit pavement hard a couple of time and other than scuffing the exterior it continues to work fine. It' a testiment to the product's durability that the electronics survived. I ordered a second Rail Mount Adapter so I can leave one on the mountain bike and use the other on canoe trips.
The Vista HCx is the 3rd hand-held GPS unit I've owned. I bought it to replace a Garmin 60CS. I just returned from a 12-day wilderness canoeing trip using the HCx where it performed superbly.
- Battery life using Eveready lithium AAs (unit uses 2) was frankly amazing at 35+/- hours (a significant improvement over the 60CS).
- Mounted unit in the canoe using separately purchased Garmin Rail Mount Adapter(010-10496-01)which worked magnificently. Rail Mount Adaptor attached to aluminum cross-brace of a Souris River Quetico 17 canoe in front of the rear seat and once angle of the Mount was set appropriately made GPS easy to view while paddling. The quick release enabled the GPS unit to be easily installed or removed for portaging the canoe. Quick release (included with the GPS Unit) screws on to the back of the GPS. Easily removed to access battery compartment.
- GPS unit was not affected by heavy rain or water from paddle splash, etc.
- On lakes, as would be expected, excellent accuracy and rapid satellite lock; but the unit also maintained satellite lock while in my pocket over heavily wooded portages.
- Color screen was easy to read - even in bright sunlight (and typically wearing sweat/sunscreen/insect repellant encrusted glasses). While the screen is smaller than the 60CS, it's brighter.
- Separately purchased a 2gb micro SD card which was easily installed. Detailed map downloaded(relevant sections from Garmin Topo Canada)without a hitch. I understand that with most recent (May 2009) software upgrade the Vista HCx will acceptand operate with a 4gb micro SD card.
- Controls and various menu options as with the other Garmin GPS units I've owned are somewhat complicated. I'm still figuring them out (wasn't till the end of the trip I figured out how to set the display so that the top of the screen was always "north"). The complexity is a slight negative, but for the most part you'll figure it out from playing with the menu or read the owners manual in detail to learn what's important to how you particularly use the unit.
- Buttons were difficult to operate while wearing paddling gloves - not a flaw in the unit's design, just a fact.
Customer Review: Issues with Garmin Vista HCx
Summary: 2 Stars
Sadly my old Vista Cx died again due to a malfunctioning power button. Like the first unit, which exited service after only about two weeks of use, the warranty replacement died about two years later the same death. Cannot turn it on reliably anymore, it takes about 20 tries to get it running. Failed attempts result in a software crash, making it necessary to remove the batteries and start anew....
Anyway, this review is about the new high sensitivity model HCx. I elected to buy a vista again since there still does not seem to be any serious game in town when it comes to outdoors GPS units. As promised, the HCx indeed has a much higher sensitivity and works even in some basements. No more last signal in the woods etc. This part of the device works great and I was very happy to have upgraded. However, it is upsetting that Garmin did not bother to fix some of the severe shortcomings of the old Cx model like the Atari-stone age like limit on the number of tracks (20!!!) and waypoints one can have in there, despite the option to put SD cards of up to 4 Gb in there. Ridiculous!
Furthermore, the unit shows the same strange SD-card "turning-the-device-off" problem like I encountered on the old Cx: The device works fine with SD cards as long as one NEVER connects the thing to a computer as "USB storage" device (i.e. as hard drive). Putting in a fresh card into the Garmin and then loading maps from Mapsource without using the "USB storage" feature seems NOT to cause this problem. However, as soon as one connects the device as USB storage unit to a computer (for example to copy the daily track-log to your hard drive to use it in Google Earth) the SD card gets somehow altered (i.e. the computer seems to write something on the card, even if one only copies items from SD to computer). This has the consequence that the Garmin henceforth cannot be turned off anymore properly as long as this card is inserted in the SD slot: After shut down a continuous beep is emitted, which can only be killed by removing the batteries. If the 'tainted' SD card is removed before STARTING the Garmin the effect goes away.
I was not able to find a way so far to restore such 'tainted' SD cards, i.e. various attempts to reformat such cards failed so far. This has probably to do with the fact that to format a card it needs to be connected to the computer as USB storage device, i.e. it gets immediately 'tainted' again once the formatting process is over, before it can be removed. The consequence is to either dump the card in the trash after each download of data and load the maps to a new one using direct copy from Mapsource, or to accept the fact that turning off the device in future means to remove the back panel and take out one of the batteries.
That Garmin apparently does not bother to fix such issues after several years has in my opinion to do with their quasi-monopoly in this market segment. Their disregard for their customers is apparent in all of their interactions with customers starting with the abysmal customer service extended over the phone to the greedy non-transferability of maps between devices, and extremely expensive map upgrades.
Bottom line: Great GPS sensitivity in a 1980's Atari style package (did I mention the included laughable Mapsource software, which works about as well as 1980s style DOS software?). You could really do better Garmin! Can't wait to get my first GPS enabled iPod touch!
Customer Review: Love my HCx!
Summary: 5 Stars
A few months ago, I decided I needed to upgrade my old Magellan Sportrak Pro, because I was tired of losing signal in canyons and heavily treed areas. So I started reading on forums and every online site I could find to decide what to buy
Because I love the DeLorme maps programs (like Street Atlas for my laptop when we take long road trips), I decided to get a DeLorme PN-20 after seeing it had good reviews. DeLorme had a special price going and a 30 day return policy, so I felt I had nothing to lose to try it. Then reading some more, I kept coming back to a couple of Garmin models that were highly recommended, the 60Csx and the Vista Hcx. I had never tried Garmins before, but I found some good deals on both handhelds and decided to try them as well.
I received the PN-20 first, and I was impressed. It was definitely a nice handheld and seemed to acquire satellites much faster than my old Magellan. It had nice maps included in the package as well. My wife and I went on a few hikes, and I was pretty satisfied with the PN-20.
Then a few days later, the Vista Hcx arrived. I was immediately taken with the really small size and weight, so handy it would fit in a shirt pocket. I also bought the Garmin Topo 2008, because the maps the Garmin's come with are pretty useless - you definitely want the extra Garmin software - you pay extra but it's worth it for sure. I loaded about a third of the western U.S. on a 2 Gb micro SD card, and then we tried it out. It was even more impressed with the Hcx than the PN-20. It was far faster in starting up, better in cover, plus the small size gave it a user edge in ergonomics. It also seemed to repeat tracks on known trails better than the PN-20, when walking on the same trails. I immediately decided to return the PN-20 for a refund.
A few days later, the Garmin 60Csx arrived. This is also a very nice handheld GPS. Since I was now used to the Garmin Hcx interface, getting to know the 60Csx was easy. I loaded the exact same maps into the 60Csx and we went hiking again. The 60Csx performed fabulously, picking up satellites very fast, and finding a lot of them. It had a bit bigger screen than the Hcx, but part of it was a bit useless because of the time display always showing. It was also not quite as bright as the Hcx screen. But I liked the buttons a bit better on the 60Csx, so it was quite a challenge to decide which one to keep and which one to return.
We went on a few more hikes, carrying both Garmins, one in each hand. Both of them seemed to pick up the same number of satellites, about the same startup times, and both duplicated our courses with equal accuracy. I was very impressed with both handhelds. I told my friend who was also interested in a better geocache handheld about my findings, and he decided on the 60Csx because of its rave reviews everywhere.
While my buddy loves his 60Csx, I ended up keeping the Hcx, and for me, I think I made a good choice. The Hcx has two significant advantages over the 60Csx - for me anyway - it's small size and weight and the battery life, which to my knowledge is the longest of about any handheld. My Magellan used to go through batteries like it owned them - the Hcx batteries seem to last forever (exaggerating of course). For a truly portable handheld that performs great, you won't go wrong with either of these Garmins, but for me, the winner is the Vista Hcx.
Customer Review: Excellent unit, could use better PC software to support it.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had this unit for 6+ months and have used it traveling in Italy and France, for biking, for hiking, for skiing and for auto navigation in the USA. I also use it to geo-tag photos that I take while traveling around. The unit comes with very little software i.e. the maps that make this a useful device. The maps get pricy and of course there are strict licensing rules that seem to rule out having the software on your desktop and laptop at the same time.
I have the Topo US 100K and the City Navigator. City Navigator on this small unit is still very nice, even although there is no sound other than the warning beep that a turn is coming up it works pretty well. For biking it works very well as long as you get the correct handle bar attachment which is not the simple rail mount kit but the larger handlebar mount. Just don't stare at the GPS unit too much while biking. The unit collects useful statistics but the software does not give you a lot of them neither Mapsource or Basecamp. In the past I have used Delorme software which will give you total climb and decent and other things that you really want to know when planning a trip or reviewing the statistics from a completed trip. The same would go for hiking. Planning a trip with too much vertical climb on either a bike or hike can be a real bummer. The software does not give you this information, just the profile with a marker you can move from a starting point to an ending point. Hence I am looking for third party software or write my own to process an output GPX file.
For trips to places like Europe where I did NOT want to spend a lot of money for another map product that I would rarely use, I found public domain maps that worked fine at [...]. These maps do not have the navigation functions, they just have an image so you can see where you are. By directly dragging their IMG file onto the SD memory card I was able to install these maps. I was very happy with the results - knowing where I was all the time and where the nearest Paris metro station was at any time! It even knew which fountain I was standing to the palace of Versailles.
The software provided by Garmin could be integrated with Google earth better. The software will export and kick off Google Earth, but it does not import anything from it. For example since I lacked navigation in Europe I set push pins in Google Earth and then exported and had to convert to gpx and then import them one at a time. This was very useful but it should have been able to read the Google formats and not force me to spend hours marking important landmarks. Having done that I was able to Find-Waypoint-MyHotel and always be able to find it. I love never being actually lost.
When taking pictures I the Garmin files can be downloaded and used by external software (Copiks) to add GPS coordinates to your photos. Just having the time set on the camera correctly allows the software to compare your tracks and mark the photo.
Sensitivity is much better than my old Garmin 12XL. The little joy stick to move around menus and select things could use some improvement but this little unit does a lot for me and I am very happy with it. Now if they improve their software products it could be even better.
Customer Review: Garmin Vista HCX is a great GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent a great deal of time selecting this unit. I wanted a GPS that had the following features. This unit made the cut on all the features except for the manual/documentation.
- turn by turn routing
- compass - magnetic and GPS
- bright color screen that provided clear detail
- ability to handle both land and marine maps and usage
- high sensitivity and high accuracy
- as water proof as possible
- over 500 waypoints along with at least 10 routes. It has 1000 and 20.
- reversible routes / tracks
- time to waypoint and to final destination
- distance to waypoint and to final destination
- eta to final destination
- needed to be good in the car and superb on the water.
- proximity alarms
- altimeter
- strong back light
- at least 12 hours of power from one set of batteries (easily meets this requirement with several hours to spare)
- needed to accept power from my iGo power supply
- several different screen color displays to get the most out of available light / too much light / not enough light conditions
- lots of options in terms of numerical data displays
- ability to have road and topo maps loaded at the same time
- reasonably easy to master (It is easy to use.)
- USB connection to the PC
- enough memory to store road maps for the entire country and Canada along with topo maps for at least two non-contiguous areas (it did it with a bit of room to spare using a 2 GB memory card)
- good to excellent manual (This is the area it failed miserably in. But, the unit is easy to use and there are lots of tips and tricks on the web to get you started. So, I let this one go in terms of the decision process.)
- under $300 for the unit and under $500 when I added in the maps and optional stuff like a car windshield mount. I went first class on the maps and the mount and still made it.
Cons
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1) The manual is next to worthless. It explains the buttons but does not detail how to use them. It does not show the all the sub-screens underneath the buttons/selections. If you are a first time GPS user you will need to buy a book or Google the tips and tricks along with the GPS basics. I have used a GPS and I just spent a few hours playing through all the screens and took notes on how to get back to the features / selections I know I would regularly need. I good manual would have made this extra work unnecessary.
2) The manual is next to worthless. (I won't type this in any more.) Garmin could and should do much better given the cost and the sophistication of this unit.
3) The car power supply sold by Garmin is way over priced. I chose not to use it. Instead I bought a USB adapter for my iGo power supply and used one of the short USB cords I had lying around. Cost $10 bucks and works perfectly for me.