Garmin Legend Hcx-Vista Hcx-Summit Hcx

majiktripp

Does anyone have experience with these Garmin handheld GPS units? Looking to get one in the next while and I'm torn between the Legend Hcx and Vista Hcx units which can be found quite cheaply on ebay. The Summit unit has its appeal too. Just that the others take MicroSD cards while the Summit one does not.
Thanks for any help / input you may have.

Alun

I have the Vista HCx, my wife has the Venture HC (you didn't mention that one).

The HC models have 24 MB of internal memory. That's not quite enough to load the SMC Contour maps for Ireland (you need about 27MB for that) but you can load them tile by tile from Mapsource when you need them, so that's not really a problem or just miss out the tiles where you're unlikely to go walking ever.

The HCx models can take a microSD card up to 2GB, so obviously have more map capacity, but also have the advantage that you can automatically continuously record track logs to them (in GPX format), so overcoming the 10,000 track point limit of the Active Track Log. Handy, if you're on a multi-day trip somewhere and want to save all your tracks in their entirety.

Otherwise, the new H series is incredibly sensitive, I can even get a half-decent fix inside my house, and out on hikes it's never missed a beat even under heavy tree cover.

There have been some issues though ... a) with early versions the trip odometer under-read quite seriously (compared with the track log), although this seem to have been resolved by firmware updates, b) there seem to be some issues with the altimeter in that Total Ascent and Descent seem to bear no relation to reality and finally c) sometimes the display appears washed out when first switched on but a quick "switch it off and on again" seems to fix it Probably all teething problems with the new model range.

majiktripp

Cheers for that, would you recommend getting one? Needed for travelling through NZ and the likes.

Alun

majiktripp wrote: »

Cheers for that, would you recommend getting one? Needed for travelling through NZ and the likes.

It depends on what you're going to be using it for exactly, I suppose, but it's one of the best ones out there in it's class.

majiktripp

Toss up between these two now at this stage
1. Vista Hcx
http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280192697973&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=018
2.Legend Hcx
http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220193922668&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=012
Seem good value for the price, I assume their greymarket versions but not that bothered as long as they work ok.

Alun

The only difference between these and the European versions is the basemap that is installed on the units - it'll be the North American basemap for these units, and the so-called "Atlantic" basemap, i.e. Europe for ones sold in Europe. There's a Pacific basemap also for units sold in that region. Note that you can't change the basemap, it's hardwired in the unit so you're basically stuck with it.

Like I said, it all depends on what you're going to use it for, and what other maps, if any, you'll be using on it. If you use it outside of North America you'll only see the coastline and any major boundaries on the map nothing else, whereas on a European version you'll see some major roads. If you want more detail then you'll have to buy additional maps, in which case the lack of a basemap becomes a moot issue.

There is also the warranty issue to consider as well, of course.

robinph

European base map can be obtained from here.

I got my 60csx from a US ebay seller and have had no problems with it being the US version. Once you've got more detailed maps loaded onto it the base map is pretty much irrelevent anyway and only seen when you zoom all the way out to the 500km range or so.

Edit: fixed link

majiktripp

Cheers for that, will take the plunge this afternoon I think!

Alun

robinph wrote: »

European base map can be obtained from here.

Where? And more importantly how? You could probably load a basemap obtained from another Garmin device where it's easily accessible (like a nuvi) as a supplementary map just by renaming it I suppose, but how would you integrate it into Mapsource so you could download other purchased maps as well? Then there's the legality of it as well since as far as I know you can't actually buy the basemaps separately from Garmin.

I got my 60csx from a US ebay seller and have had no problems with it being the US version.

Again, I've read of problems reported with people trying to get warranty work / repairs done on units bought outside of Europe though. It's your call, I suppose, but I was just pointing out that there might be problems.

Once you've got more detailed maps loaded onto it the base map is pretty much irrelevent anyway and only seen when you zoom all the way out to the 500km range or so.

True, but if you're not planning on buying extra maps (and the memory card you'd need for doing that) then the basemap is better than nothing.

robinph

Alun wrote: »

Where? And more importantly how? You could probably load a basemap obtained from another Garmin device where it's easily accessible (like a nuvi) as a supplementary map just by renaming it I suppose, but how would you integrate it into Mapsource so you could download other purchased maps as well? Then there's the legality of it as well since as far as I know you can't actually buy the basemaps separately from Garmin.

Sorry, my copy and paste messed up there and I used the wrong link. I've fixed above and this is the correct one:
http://www.geodude.nl/gps/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=13
Not sure where that map was originally sourced from though but I think it is a pretty old version anyway.

You can load multiple map sets onto the device at the same time and depending on if they are transparent or not you'll actually be able to see both on the device at the same time. Some combinations of map sets that I've used did not work like that though. The SMC contour maps for UK and Ireland will show up at the same time as the other EU road maps overlayed on top of each other. But using two sets of Garmin maps together they tend not to be transparent.

Alun

robinph wrote: »

Sorry, my copy and paste messed up there and I used the wrong link. I've fixed above and this is the correct one:
http://www.geodude.nl/gps/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=13
Not sure where that map was originally sourced from though but I think it is a pretty old version anyway.

Interesting. It is certainly quite old, but appears to be more detailed than the basemap in either my Vista HCx or my Nuvi 760. I wonder where it came from?

You can load multiple map sets onto the device at the same time and depending on if they are transparent or not you'll actually be able to see both on the device at the same time. Some combinations of map sets that I've used did not work like that though. The SMC contour maps for UK and Ireland will show up at the same time as the other EU road maps overlayed on top of each other. But using two sets of Garmin maps together they tend not to be transparent.

I know. The SMC contour maps are defined as transparent meaning the always show what is underneath them. The Garmin street maps aren't and there is a specified hierarchy that determines what is shown, although you can turn off individual layers in the map setup menu if you want. I believe the official Garmin topo maps are transparent also, and will show the detail from, say, CityNavigator underneath them, although I haven't tested that.

BTW, an unfortunate side effect of the SMC maps being transparent is that the size of the error circle displayed around the map position cursor is based on the next non-transparent layer's accuracy, and if that's the basemap, it can get huge and a bit off-putting. I've recompiled the Irish segments of the SMC maps to be non transparent using MapEdit and cgpsMApper to get around that problem.

robinph

I forget exactly which versions it was but I used some Garmin US Topo maps with their US City Navigator last year and found that one or the other of them wouldn't show and had to turn one or the other off depending on what I was doing at the time. Could have been something to do with the order in which I selected them in MapSource then I guess.

majiktripp

Took the plunge and got the Legend Hcx for €160 including shipping from the states.
Ask him to declare a $50 value on package for customs....not holding my breath on that one though!

Alun

majiktripp wrote: »

Took the plunge and got the Legend Hcx for €160 including shipping from the states.
Ask him to declare a $50 value on package for customs....not holding my breath on that one though!

Good luck!

BTW, make sure when you get it to connect it up and download and run the WebUpdater from the Garmin website, and make sure you choose to update both the firmware (to 2.5) and the GPS firmware (to 2.6) (choose to install 'additional updates' after the main firmware update). There are some quite important fixes in there.

majiktripp

Just quick update, got the GPS for €160 all in,no taxes etc as seller kept his word! Nice little unit, smaller than I realised but still very good for its size!