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| Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High-Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS | 
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| Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $299.99
Buy New: $222.00 (On sale from $225.00)
You Save: $77.99 (26%)
New (60) Used (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  124 reviews
Sales Rank: 215
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: 20
Batteries: 2
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 176x220
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 2.2 x 1.2 x 4.2
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: eTrex Vista HCx
Model: eTrex Vista HCx
UPC: 753759071134
EAN: 0753759071134
ASIN: B000PDR1LS
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Best Trail GPS July 13, 2008
This is the best trail GPS I have owned. I have been using it for a few months now and here is what I have observed:
1. Battery power is a big one for me. This gets the 25 hours that is says it gets. I often backpack camp for a few days at a time and don't like changing batteries all the time.
2. Size is great. If you have a case with a clip you can attach this to your pack or straps and it's barely noticeable.
3. The software and programming is a plus. You can easily make waypoints with the waypoint manager software. The on board software has many features as well. I tend to use tracking a lot. Geocaching management is built in. Maps are expandable if you use topo of street maps purchased seperately and are stored either on board or on the optional sd card card that can be put in.
My recommended additions for this product:
1. Get a solid case like the case from foarm. The one that comes with it is ok but if you do a lot of bushwhacking you'll was a more protective case.
2. Get a screen protector like InvisibleShield. It's worth the investment.
3. Since this is a trail GPS, buying the Topo 2008 DVD or whatever is current from Garmin is a plus and you won't regret it.
So overall an excellent product with room for expandability and is very durable. This is a perfect companion for hikers and backpackers.
 Does the job... July 8, 2008
This unit is not easy to use. It takes some time to get used to. Once you get used to - it is very detailed and powerful GPS. If you are outdoor person and you are not looking for fancy graphics - this is device for you. Very accurate on the road and trails. Battery last forever. You can transfer your tracks to google map or google earth with [...]. It does not come with detailed maps, be prepared to pay more. The detailed maps are not always up to date. And most important Garmin customer service is terrible!!! If you need to call them, you will spent 30 + minutes on the phone just waiting to talk to someone. This is my second Garmin unit - the first one (Garmin iQue 3600 never was working properly). With all of the downsides there is nothing better on the market right now.
 As expected July 7, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Not the most user friendly device as we're still trying to figure it out after 3 weeks, but it seems accurate and has a ton of features. Altimiter seems to drift quite a bit but I'm not sure whether there are any that do better.. ?
Garmin Vista HCX is a great GPS July 6, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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.
 Be careful with this latest manufacturing batch July 5, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Be careful with this latest manufacturing batch. It appears that Garmin is shipping junk, again. This most recent batch of units seems to be prone to locking up after limited use. See the following for more details.
[...]
or google search for "eTrex Vista HCX Locks up"
Does not appear to be isolated, and dose seem to indicate that you may want to hold off purchasing this unit until the problems are resolved.
Otherwise it is a good unit, it is just limited by the fact that it stops working after a few minutes.
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