Etrex Vista GPS May 29, 2004

I finally broke down and dropped $235 for the Etrex Vista on Amazon (Prices continue to drop).<br><br>I've been experimenting with the tool around town in various weather conditions and have found it to be the neatest gadget I've yet had my hands on.<br><br>Learned how to synch it up with the National Geographic software to upload and download tracks/routes. The synchronization is amazingly accurate...and cool. For example, you can go out and tour with the GPS unit on and tracking, then hook it to the PC and the mapping software...your track will be downloaded and traced on the topo map, giving you distance covered and an elevation profile. Or it can be done the other way around, where you create a route (track?) on the software, load it on the GPS then allow the GPS to guide you along your planned path.<br><br>The Vista has a compass, altimeter, USA basemap, 24mb of memory and includes the PC cable.<br><br>As far as I can tell, all of the Etrex line uses the same satelite tracking technology...so the least expensive $99 unit will track as well as the most expensive. Spending more gets things like memory and PC connectivity. I'm all for the PC connection. It's twice the tool with mapping capabilities.<br><br>Anyway, I'm a neophyte with the GPS, so any tips and tricks are welcomed.<br><br>Let me know what works and what doesn't.<br><br>-Doug

JibberD, IMO, with the mapping software mated with the gps, you've figured out some of the major benefits of the hand held gps unit.<br>I've been using the eTrex Summit since it first came out (5 years?). I believe it's the same unit as the Vista, without the background map.<br><br>The only tips I can add have to do with batteries. The unit seems to work better (read that acquire and hold sattellites, and thus track its position better) with batteries that keep the voltage higher, longer. AA rechargables are only 1.2 volts fully charged so you're starting out fresh with 2.4 v in a unit that's designed to run on 3.0 v. AA Alkalines start out at 1.5 volts but the voltage drops gradually as the battery is discharged. So the unit tends to track position worse as the alkalines diminish from fully charged. So if you want the unit working at peak efficiency on alkalines you need to change batteries even before they are fully discharged. AA Lithiums, on the other hand, hold their output voltage at 1.5 volts until just before they go dead so they work a lot better in the unit. They're pricy, (about $2.25 ea, in quantity) about twice the cost of good, name brand alkalines. I think the trade off is worth the extra cost though, as the lithiums generally last four times as long as the alkalines, and are half the weight.<br><br>The other thing you might consider has to do with the electronic compass. There is a setting for the unit's directional display that determines whether the unit is displaying gps track direction or magnetic compass direction based on the direction you point the case. It can be set so that the magnetic compass is operational below certain forward speeds. The compass is a power hog; I know some users leave it off to get greater battery life. I set mine so that it comes on only when the track speed drops below 1 mph for 5 seconds. That way it is off while I am on the move and comes on when I stop. Set up this way, I usually get about 4 day trips out of a set of lithiums, including times spent uploading routes & waypoints before a trip and downloading the tracks after the trips.

Battery life is definitely the major problem with these little units.  I've got the Etrex Mariner, which has all the marine navigation points programed in for any conceivable place I may sail or paddle from Seattle.<br><br>I no longer leave the unit on to track my path, because it eats the batteries.  When I'm in the mountains, I stop and set waypoints into the memory anywhere I think there might be some confusion on the return trip if I find myself in a complete whiteout. Then I turn the unit off again until I need to set another waypoint.<br><br>The second major problem with handheld GPS units is that they are completely worthless under the forest canopy.  The signal does not penetrate the foliage.  This is unfortunate, as most of my "off route" misadventures occur somewhere between a thicket of alder, a dense patch of devil's club, and a grove of second growth trees that all look the same.  At that point I pull out the old-fashioned compass to orient the map and find my contour line with the altimeter to determine which drainageI had the misfortune of wandering down.<br><br>Another problem I've encountered is inaccuracy.  Unless you're in a very open area with a large amount of visible sky, you are apt to get coordinate readings several hundred feet off and altitude readings several *thousand* feet off.  On summits I generally find the altitude reading is accurate to within a few feet, but on hillsides and valley bottoms I only refer to my wrist altimeter for altitude.<br><br>In short, it's primary function is to help you find your route back in whiteouts above treeline.<br>