Garmin eTrex Vista HCx - 2.4 in. Handheld GPS Receiver

This review is more as comparison to Garmin eTrex Legend which I owned previously.

I bought this device second hand at around US$200 after selling away my Legend at the same price.

Why I wanted to upgrade is just because I want a built-in compass. I was surprised to realize that it comes with barometer/altimeter and has 24MB RAM, three times of eTrex Legend RAM!

All features found in eTrex Legend is available in Vista. Same screen size (2.1' x 1.1'), same resolution (288x160pixel, 4 grey level), same appearance (4.4' x 2.0' x 1.2') except the color (Legend is translucent blue, Vista is Silver).

The unit is comfortably fit into my palm. Single hand operation made easy using the small 'joystick' above the top left corner of the screen. Too bad, just like other eTrex, the joystick can only move up,down, left and right but not diagonally which should be useful when panning the map.

I don't know why many reviewers here complain about reception. I live nearby equator and have no problem acquiring satellite signal even in the the street with highrise buildings. Maybe somehow the compass helps to reduce the satellite locking time by correctly determine the bearing. But turning on the compass all the time will drain the battery faster. I use 2xAA Alkaline battery and can last for around 15 hours with moderate backlight usage.

It is also interesting to watch the altitude changes because it does not depend on satellite. Try to ride a lift in a skyscrapper while watching the screen, it is fun! If you have nothing better do in the lift (like flirting?), try to get the speed of the lift :)

Sight'n Go feature is usefull when navigating to distance object which is not on the map yet. Just point the Vista towards the object and press the button to start navigating. Only GPS with built-in compass can do this.

Just like other eTrexes this cute thingie does not have connector for external antenna, but what's that for? Reception is good enough and it actually meant for outdoor. I found that external antenna may introduce obstacle when mounting the GPS on my car dashboard or to stuff in my backpack.

No cable included with the device, so I quickly made one using pfranc connector (www.pfranc.com). Very simple to build, I just cut the 'tail' of old serial mouse and wire it to the connector. Full instruction on the website above.
The homebrew cable is good enough to transfer waypoints, tracks and upload my home made map. I use IBM Thinkpad with Garmin MapSource software to upload/download waypoints and maps and sometimes connected to my Palm m505 with Handmap software for better in-car navigation.

I found that when the compass turned on and the Vista is connected to PC or Palm, it will send the current bearing data to PC/Palm even when there is no satellite signal. This is useful when you have moving map software on your PC or Palm, makes you easier to read the map.

OK, this is a second hand GPS and I didn't know where it came from originally. I found that it has built in Europe map and even part of Middle East. When powered on, it reads: Atlantic Map. Anyone care to share idea with me?