List Price: $299.99Amazon.com's Price: $179.00 You Save: $120.99 (40%)as of 11/21/2009 01:10 EST
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Batteries: 2 AA
Binding: Electronics
Brand: Garmin
Display Size: 2 inches
EAN: 0753759071134
Includes Mp3 Player: 1
Item Dimensions: 420220242120
Label: Garmin
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Manufacturer: Garmin
Model: eTrex Vista HCx
MPN: eTrex Vista HCx
Native Resolution: 176x220
Number Of Tracks: 20
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Publisher: Garmin
Size: Garmin Part #010-00630-00
Studio: Garmin
Features:- High-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver provides peak performance in any environment
- Lightweight, compact and waterproof
- Features a 1.7-inch X 1.3-inch screen with 256-level color TFT
- Built-in basemap with automatic routing capability
- USB connection for high-speed map downloads
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Product Description:
Neither deep foliage nor steep canyons will faze the rugged Garmin eTrex Vista HCx navigator. Equipped with a high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver, the unit locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover. The advantage is clear: whether you're traipsing through thick woods or strolling near tall buildings and trees, you can count on the Vista HCx to help you find your way when you need it the most. The Vista HCx also includes a built-in electronic compass that provides bearing information even when you're standing still, along with a barometric altimeter that tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude. You can even use the altimeter to plot barometric pressure over time, which can help you keep an eye on changing weather conditions.
Adding maps to the Vista HCx is easier than ever thanks to the device's microSD card slot, which accepts cards preloaded with MapSource data for your land and sea excursions. Just insert a MapSource card with detailed street maps, and the Vista HCx will provide turn-by-turn directions to your destination. Plus, the card slot is located inside the waterproof battery compartment, so you needn't worry about it getting wet.
Besides appreciating its small size, users will also be happy with the Vista HCx's unique button layout, with five buttons located on either side of the unit. The benefits of this design are twofold: First, the Vista HCx is a breeze to operate with just one hand, and, second, with the buttons on both sides of the unit, the bulk of the front is dedicated to the 256-color, sunlight-readable TFT display. This makes it easy to distinguish map details regardless of the time of day.
The Vista HCx basemap, meanwhile, contains lakes, rivers, cities, interstates, national and state highways, railroads, and coastlines--in short, a host of helpful details for your outdoor adventures. Other details include an IPX7 waterproof housing, 1,000 waypoints with names and graphic symbols, a built-in patch antenna, a USB interface, a hunt/fish calendar, sun and moon information, and a geocaching mode. The Vista HCx, which runs for up to 25 hours on a pair of AA batteries (not included), measures 2.2 by 4.2 by 1.2 inches (W x H x D) and is backed by a one-year warranty.
What's in the Box
eTrex Vista HCx, basemap, MapSource Trip & Waypoint Manager software, USB cable, wrist strap, quick start guide, user's manual.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
a road was flooded out and I turn around and my garmin gps keep wanted to turn around and take a flooded road after it tried to make me make a u-turn for the 10 time I was so up set I slammed the gps in to my dash board !!! I wall never buy a garmin gps ever again !!!!! Garmen sucks !!!!!!!!!!!! Bye for ever!!!!!!
Rating: -
--If you are new as I am to this type device, it is going to take patient practice and focused reading to get comfortable with it. After all, this device is essentially a computer calling for point by point feature mastery.
--As with any keyboard, so with the 5 buttons and rocker switch: I had to get past the frequent error of hitting zoom instead of the "menu-find" key. No problem now.
--I am happy with the precision of the device. In my experimenting, if I walked around a tree, the tracking showed the circular loop.
--In finding a spot I had marked as a waypoint or on a route's endpoint, I am very happy with the guidance and closeness of the final arrival.
--Currently it serves the simple needs I have, which maybe says I could have done with a simpler model. I use it for deep woods nature location work. It works nicely under trees. Out of curiosity, I walked right through my house with it and it kept tracking.
----The map provided lists only major highways. The county road by my house isn't there. When I went to the website, I don't recall seeing a map for the northeast US at the detail level given the rest of the US, and wondered why. I noted a review saying a map download takes 24 hours. Given my household, I'm not sure I can reserve the computer that long! I have to explore further to see if Garmin sells preloaded SD cards. I welcome comments on that. My rating is 4, not 5, based on some map disappointment. I have no knowledge of other gps's for comparison, but the device itself seems an ingenious product--again, for my needs.
Rating: -
I was looking for a GPS for my trek across Ladakh (Himalayas, India). This one fit the bill well and the purpose too. Here in India, forget about downloadable maps, we do not even get printed topographic maps of that area (but for the Olizane editions). So I pre-fed the GPS with coordinates that I took from Google Earth and Wikimapia. The GPS has an altimeter which was a good thing to use in the mountains. Navigation was easy, reception is good, battery life is good (I used Duracell), body is rugged (it fell with quite some force twice on tarmac, getting only a few scratches on the screen and body), but it takes time to become comfortable using this GPS to its full potential. For the price at which it comes, I think its a good deal for someone like me (at best I go for two long treks a year). I have not been able to use it or test it for city driving - which is really difficult in this part of the world (Delhi, India). But I would highly recommend this for trekkers looking for a rugged, few frills, for the purpose GPS. Does the job very well!
Rating: -
Ultimately I love this unit. The features are great and once you learn your way around the interface it is a joy to use.
The downsides; if you want separate maps it will be costly. I understand that Garmin is simply passing on the price of the mapping service it buys them from BUT they could make the unit accept third party maps, thereby driving down the price. Also GPS's at this price range usually include street maps so I would think they could have a lower price for this model since it does not include street maps out of the box.
After a year or so the glue that holds the soft rubber going around the side of the unit "disintegrated" It turns out this is a common problem with this GPS model and Garmin will fix it for you if you send the unit in. I didn't want to go without my GPS that long so I tried MANY different glues to try to reattach the rubber but nothing has worked so far.
Overall a great little navigator but probably priced too high.
Rating:  -
After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to buy the Garmin eTrex Vista HcX,
which basically seemed like the top of the line for a hiking/handheld GPS.
Although all the features are there, not all of them work as effectively as one would hope.
I bought also a topo map of Germany.
Negatives:
Transfer time for about 10% of the map from my computer to the GPS took over 3 hours!
So VERY slow data transfer.
Also scrolling on a highly detailed map is very slow. One has to wait several seconds (8-10), for
the new part of the map to be rendered.
Also the least important negative. This GPS is mainly for hiking, but it does have a road routing function.
Where supposedly it can give you road directions to go from some point a to b.
This function is embarrassingly bad, where I either the system cannot compute this, or gives some crazy route
which is 4-5x longer than some obvious route one would pick. I didnt actually buy the system for this routing
function, but including it with the GPS when it functions so badly, is just embarrassing.
Positives:
Otherwise the etrex Vista does what it says. Its a good detailed GPS, color screen, compass, pressure gauge, altimeter, and does have the claimed battery life.
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