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Garmin eTrex Vista


Garmin's eTrex Vista GPS receiver is smaller than its popular eMaps, but far more powerful. The Vista offers more memory, more features, and more convenience than any other GPS hardware in this price range.

Don't be fooled by the product's small screen. Although smaller than the display used in products like the eMap, it has a higher resolution, letting it show more information more crisply. Small text can be difficult to read from a distance, but there are "big number" options available to make important data like your speed easy to read.

It's this configurability that makes the eTrex Vista so special.
Map page(shown with optional MapSource topo detail).
You can easily set it up to suit your needs, regardless of the situation. Menu choices are highlighted and confirmed with a small joystick near the top of the unit, providing an elegant interface for navigating a formidable amount of options. Our only complaint is that the joystick used to access all the product's features is offset to the left, making it nearly impossible to control using only your right hand. When the joystick is held in your left hand, however, every control is within easy reach of your left thumb, freeing your right hand to hold a flashlight, walking stick, lantern, or anything else.

This GPS unit's diminutive size and weight, not to mention its rugged design, make it an ideal hiking companion. It's waterproof in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes and is generously coated with shock-absorbing rubber. The barometric altimeter keeps a historical record of your ascents and descents, graphing elevation changes so you can easily track your progress.
Elevation page
The ability to store waypoints, points of interest, routes, and other information means you can blaze your own trail and always find your way back to camp.

Best of all, 24 MB of internal memory makes it possible to store an enormous amount of data from Garmin's optional MapSource CDs, turning the eTrex Vista into an interactive road atlas. The memory isn't expandable, but 24 MB is enough to store street-level data for entire states in some cases.

A serial cable is included for transferring the maps from your PC to the GPS unit, but it's terribly slow. A USB connector, sold separately, transfers data in a fraction of the time.

The eTrex Vista was very accurate in testing, especially in a car on the open road. Accuracy diminished somewhat when the device was used in heavy tree cover or a dense urban area, but not enough that you're ever going to get lost or miss an exit. Used side-by-side with an eMap, the eTrex Vista kept up in update speed while displaying even more information on the moving map than the eMap did, cementing its position as perhaps the best all-around handheld GPS unit money can buy. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

  • Small and light without sacrificing features
  • 24 MB of integrated memory stores reams of detailed maps
  • High-resolution screen displays sharp text legible even at extremely small sizes

Cons:

  • Can't be used one-handed when held in the right hand
  • Smaller display is hard to read from a distance, as when the device is placed on a dashboard



Customer Reviews

Average rating:

How about the reception?

Just used my new Vista for the first time this weekend in the Rockies, where you can easily need a working/accurate GPS.
The system gave me weak signal notes almost all weekend. I was just a mile or two off HWY 24? Not many trees. Even lower quality further in the mountains just west of Pikes Peak? Ok, I have been around, I will try to figure if it is me, but I have used GPS before and this does not seem right.
Luckily, I always terrain navigate with 1:24K maps I produce from Natl Geo, so a non-functioning GPS is not a big deal, just thought it could help. Hey, maybe I do not need a GPS?? For about $0.40 I can print my own maps.


Good, But not as good as my old gps.12

the vista is good, but in trees it looses reception fast, and not in that thick of trees, My old Garmin gps-12 eat batteries, but it never lost satelite reception, but the vista is great in open country


Hard To Read

We loved the Garmin and it helped us locate 4 caches on the first day we used it with our 10-year old grandson.
My negative - the numbers are too small and hard to read. If I bought it again, I would get a diferent version.
Check you age and your eyesight when you order the product. If you can read the telephone book in dim light you are almost OK with this model.


Good features, but screen refresh is too slow, not good for car

I had a Magellan SporTrak Map GPS before I got my Garmin eTrex Vista. I bought the Garmin because I needed an additional GPS as my two sons were constantly using my SporTrak for geocaching, and I always like to keep a GPS in my car for those times when I need a quick detour, or need help getting somewhere and I don't want to miss the turns. I had read in a number of reviews that the Garmin units were more feature-rich than the corresponding similarly priced Magellan units, so decided to get an eTrex for my car, and let the kids keep my Magellan.
Here's what I found. The features are good, 24MB of map memory compared to my Magellan's 6MB. The waypoint siteline (the line it draws between you and your destination) properly moves *with* you, instead of the Magellan's wacky fixed siteline that stays put from the moment you set a waypoint destination. Good screens, I like the fact that you can customize it so that the satellite accuracy in feet can be displayed on both the map and the navigation pointer screens (good for geocaching).
But as it turns out, this unit is completely inappropriate for use in a car. The screen is too small for use in a car, the light is way too dim, and the redraw is *way* too slow. If you scroll the screen a bit just to find out what roads are up ahead, you will wait 8 seconds (sometimes longer) just for it to repaint! The only way to avoid this long repaint time is to zoom out so that not as many detailed roads are displayed, but then that defeats the whole purpose, since you then can't see the smaller roads that you're interested in.
The items that this unit falls short on compared to my Magellan SporTrak Map are:

-Incredibly dim light, not very useful unless your eyes are 3 inches from screen
-No audible beep feature
-Very slow repainting
-Very clumsy panning (slow to move the cursor, and once you move off screen it repaints, causing a long wait).
-Small screen

In order to get the detailed maps, you still need to buy the MapSource software. I got the MapSource Metro Guide USA, it has detailed roadmaps for all of US.

The features of this unit that are superior to Magellen SporTrak:
-Waypoint siteline moves with you
-Shows satellite accuracy in feet
-Much more space for maps (24MB)
-Built-in compass, keeps you oriented even when you're not moving
-Longer battery life (12 hrs)
-Small, fits well in pocket

All in all, a good unit, but not useful for driving when you need *quick* response in order to avoid taking your eyes off the road for too long. For geocaching and hiking, I think this is a very good unit.


Not for new user or for trail riding on an ATV

I bought this for when we go trail riding on our ATVs. Although I have used GPS systems before, I am new to the eTrex. I rated it so low for a number of reasons.
The Compass is useless, unless you hold it at the exact required angle it will not read correctly. While this might work if you are hiking, it is not going to work on an ATV.
The supplied Map Software is useless. I could not even find my own street! It lacks detail, it lacks road names, it lacks place names, it is totally lacking and a waste of time.
The GPS itself is very sensitive to location/environment. It barely works on the second floor of our house. It barely works in our car. It works well when outside with a clear view of the sky.
I was unable to set any useable waypoints using the eTrex itself but did manage to set a couple using the supplied software.
The only function that I liked and that seemed to work well is the Trip Computer.
Overall, very very disappointing considering Garmin's reputation. I will be returning it and will try something else.


Get the Garmin eTrex Vista from Amazon.com.