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Garmin eTrex Legend HCx GPS Receiver

Deep foliage, nor canyons phase the rugged eTrex Legend HCx. Its high-sensitivity receiver holds a GPS signal in the toughest environments. Similar to the Legend Cx, this handheld navigator also has a bright color screen, microSD card slot and automatic routing for wherever adventure takes you.With its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver, eTrex Legend HCx locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons. The advantage is clear – whether you’re in deep woods or just near tall buildings and trees, you can count on Legend HCx to help you find your way when you need it the most.Adding maps is easier than ever with Legend HCx’s microSD card slot. Conveniently plug in optional preloaded microSD cards with MapSource data for your land and sea excursions. Just insert a MapSource card with detailed street maps, and Legend HCx provides turn-by-turn directions to your destination. The card slot is located inside the waterproof battery compartment, so you don’t have to worry about getting it wet.Like the rest of the eTrex series, Legend HCx is lightweight and compact – the perfect size for all your travels.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Geocache the easy way!
I bought this unit to geocache with. The ease of transfer from geocache.com to this unit is excellent. It would be a little better with the streets maps added but as it is I am nothing but impressed with the quality and battery life. Geocachers will love!

5 Stars Great for Geocaching
We use this for Geocaching and we can easily download from the Geocaching site items for us to hunt in our treks.

4 Stars Great little GPS, crappy policy on maps from Garmin
I love this little unit. It locks up the satellites very fast, has great battery life (have yet to run out of juice), and the size is nice. You can just slip it into any pocket. I found it very easy to use. You can see the display nicely in the dark as well as broad daylight.

My real complaint is the map software. I had owned a Garmin Street Pilot for some time and foolishly thought that I could use the City Navigator that I already had to load up onto the Legend. Note that the base maps in the are very large scale and essentially show major freeways and bodies of water. I found Garmin’s licensing to be obscure at best and spent hours trying to figure out how to load City Navigator. It seems that I was going to have to spend more then the cost of the unit to load any decent maps.

However, during my Googling I found some wonderful sites that provide FREE topo maps in Garmin format. After adding a 4GB memory card, I can now load tons of topo maps into the Legend that provide all the detail that I want. The free maps do not support routing, but I do not use this little baby unit for that anyway….this is used for hiking and not for drving.

If you are going to use this as a primary GPS for driving and finding destinations then be prepared for extra cost for the Garmin maps, but for hiking and other applications it is a great little unit.

4 Stars Etrex Legend Hcx Worth The Extra $
I bought the Legend Hcx after using the plain Legend for 1 week. The extra bucks the Hcx cost were worth it! The USB connection was worth the money all by itself. I also love the color screen and how bright it is. The regular Legend only had black and white…it does make a difference! The other thing that I noticed about the Hcx was that I could get Satellite locks inside my house and very easily in my truck…something I could never to with the plain Legend. This is a very nice unit to start out on. I use mine exclusively to Geocache.

5 Stars Great Outdoor GPS
This is my first time buying a GPS unit. I wanted it for mostly geocaching- and then for hiking, biking and running.

It has worked great for me. The base map on it are very minimal-so buying the TOPO maps are worth it. Which is why I bought this GPS because I was including the price of extra map software when I was comparing it with other units.

The screen is large enough and bright enough. I have always gotten satellite connection even in cloudy weather. Getting to a point, the GPS usually gets me within 3 to 10 ft of a point depending. It’s light weight. The battery life has been great. It’s rugged enough to withstand me dropping it and tossing it in my backpack. (I did get a case for it though)

The menus and navigation of the GPS are easy to understand.

Overall I’m really pleased with my purchase and think it’s a great GPS for any one who looking for a good practical model without over complicating the fact that it’s a GPS. I don’t use it for road navigation because that’s not what it’s made for–they make models for the car. If you want that-then don’t bother with the eTrex. This is a handheld, get out into nature and find a trail GPS.

Buy/More Info

TomTom ONE 130 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator

3.5″ TFT 320×240 Color LCD Touchscreen / 1GB Flash Memory / Pre-loaded maps of USA/Canada / High-sensitivity GPS chipset / 266 MHz, 32 MB RAM CPU

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars The Best Idea I’ve ever had
I drive all over the place because I work in promotions, and getting this GPS was the best decision I’ve ever made. It has vastly increased my productivity when it comes to errands and easily directs me around Boston, a city in which I used to hate driving with a strong passion. The text to voice is a very important feature, especially at intersections with a few roads coming in and I highly encourage getting a GPS with this feature. I’ve noticed that sometimes it has trouble connecting to satellites, but plugging it in to charge usually corrects that problem immediately. The volume gets very loud and though it’s difficult to adjust sometimes, that small problem doesn’t reduce my wholehearted recommendation of the 130S!

5 Stars Easy and Accurate!
After weeks of researching GPS devices, I finally decided to buy a TomTom. The price is better, TomTom includes Canada at no extra cost, and it is fast and easy to set up. So far, this device has been very accurate and I live in a very rural area. I am very happy with my purchase!

5 Stars I LOVE my Tom Tom!!!
I researched this item on Consumer Reports first and plugged in all the important features I was looking for, including price. I am extremely happy with the value and how well the product has performed so far. The touch screen is easy and clear and it shows you the names of streets before you come to them. I would definitely recommend this product. It is easy to use and helpful when navigation and directions aren’t your forte!

5 Stars Very good choice!!
This GPS is a very good navigator. It’s the perfect size for me and fits in every place in my car. It’s exactly what I was looking for, and it’s very easy to download the actualizations from the computer.

5 Stars Great GPS (TomTom ONE 130)
This is one of the best products and/or gadgets I’ve ever had the pleasure of using. From the day it arrived I turned it on (it was fully charged), and noticed how easy and intuitive it was to use and play around with. I thought maybe there was a problem with the contents when there were no user’s manual that fell out when I opened the package. It didn’t matter — it was very easy to use. I knew that I could download the manual from the TomTom website.

I bought this GPS for planning our trip up to New York City. I did some searching and reading about a few different GPS’s, and eventually ended up getting a low-priced but a newer model from TomTom. What finally helped me decide was:

1)portability (fits in shirt pocket).

2)support available on the Net.

3)simplicity of use.

First use:

Going to checkout the local parks near our home became so simple and nice, that otherwise would have been a difficult and time consuming task, with the unfolding and folding of maps, looking out for street names, or printing them out from Google Maps.

Extensive use:

Before the trip I entered all the restaurants and places we would like to visit as “Favorites”. This is a trip from Virginia Beach to NYC (Manhattan). Never been there before, but with this gadget we weren’t afraid to go just about anywhere we pleased. We followed the GPS to Delaware, caught the ferry to New Jersey, and reached our hotel with ease. This route was modified. The original route was given by TomTom to use the I-95 area, but we modified it to go our way which was very easy to do using the “Find alternative” icon.

Basically, we stayed in New Jersey going to Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry (which is FREE), and back to our hotel in New Jersey. And we did this for a few days with the help of this GPS. We didn’t bother driving in Manhattan, looking for parking, etc.

The hardest part about this whole trip was figuring out how to use the subway system. We even used our GPS to help us find out which way to go from time to time while on foot (thus the small size and portability). And it’s great for a map reference. But I have to mention here that picking up the GPS signal while being surrounded by tall buildings out on the side walk is a little difficult. And I have to guess that it’ll probably have the same effect while driving here.

Next, there seems to be some concern with the volume problem that I kept reading about. Ours was o.k. This GPS is very loud at its default of 70%! And clear! We had to turn down the volume while driving on the freeway — it has a “Link volume to car speed” feature, which I think is ingenious, so it was louder on the freeway, then it gets down to its lower volume at lower speeds. The suction cup is nicely designed, and it’s simple to take the whole assy. on and off to put away from vandalism.

There were fancier ones that mention the street names aloud, and ones that give you traffic information, and other things. But all I wanted was something simple and straight forward (turn left, turn right, stay on the left lane, etc. — TomTom ONE 130 is perfect). Also I thought about getting the bigger 4.3″ wide screen, but after using this it’s not necessary.

Minor complaint:

One minor complaint is that when naming your “Favorites” it doesn’t let you tap the cursor to any of its area, instead you have to erase the whole thing that has been highlighted or put the cursor at its very end. And when you want to give it a name and the address together, the number portion automatically gets inserted at the beginning which is annoying.

My solution: enter the name, and when entering the number portion, precede it with a special character like an asterisk then the number, then follow it by another asterisk, then the street name but without any space before it. Also I found it convenient to include the phone number on this whole line.

Buy/More Info

Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS

Deep foliage, nor canyons phase the rugged eTrex Vista HCx. Its high-sensitivity receiver holds a GPS signal in the toughest environments. Similar to the Vista Cx, this handheld navigator also has a bright color screen, barometric altimeter, electronic compass, microSD card slot and automatic routing for wherever adventure takes you.With its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver, eTrex Vista HCx locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons. The advantage is clear – whether you’re in deep woods or just near tall buildings and trees, you can count on Vista HCx to help you find your way when you need it the most.The Vista HCx has a built-in electronic compass that provides bearing information even while you’re standing still, and its barometric altimeter tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude. You can even use the altimeter to plot barometric pressure over time, which can help you keep an eye on changing weather conditions.Adding maps is easier than ever with Vista HCx’s microSD card slot. Conveniently plug in optional preloaded microSD cards with MapSource data for your land and sea excursions. Just insert a MapSource card with detailed street maps, and Vista HCx provides turn-by-turn directions to your destination. The card slot is located inside the waterproof battery compartment, so you don’t have to worry about getting it wet.Like the rest of the eTrex series, Vista HCx is lightweight and compact – the perfect size for all your travels.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Easy to use
Bought one for my trip to California. Was a bit put off by the reviews that said it would be hard to use, I think it is very intuitive and has worked great for be. If you use a mac you need to convert the maps using Mapconverter in Windows, which will generate a map file that you can use on the mac. This might be considered a bit of a hassle.

The sensitivity of the GPS is really good, mine localized satellites even when indoors. Battery time is superb.

Only drawback was that it froze a couple of times when I started using it, but since I upgraded the firmware it has worked without problems.

Highly recommended.

1 Star Waste of money
After two weeks it stopped working – wasn’t able to acquire satellites. Amazon gave me the money back.

5 Stars Garmin etrex Vista -iompressive product
The Garmin etrex Vista is every thing promised. Seems to work great, But for me it demands some study and learning.

4 Stars I like my Garmin eTrex Vista HCx
The basic operation is easy. It works well when I’m out with my hiking club. I got it with Mapsource Topo US which shows major trails. I was afraid of getting lost, and it’s a snap to backtrack. If you don’t buy any map with it, there’s a built-in map that just shows major highways. You can set the backlight bright enough so that it’s easy to read in full sunlight.

2 Stars No interface for Mac users!
If you are a Mac user and want to be able to upload and use anything from a Garmin product (or any?), you are out of luck.

First, let me clarify that by itself, this is a good unit in the way it functions–I have had no glitches or function errors. The menus and functions are fairly intuitive. It is accurate and offers great visuals. Long battery life, easy buttons and toggles.

If you know nothing about GPS, the owner’s manual offers great descriptions of the basics, but fails to describe the more technical terms or how to use some of the more intricate features.

A minor irritation is that the screen light has to be reset to your preferred setting every time you turn it on.

Another irritation is that there seems to be no way to truly turn off the track log so that there is not a big straight line from the end of one track log to the beginning of the next. This would normally not be an irritant, because one would simply edit the tracks as desired with the appropriate software. BUT this brings me to the main problem I have with Garmin:

THERE IS NO VIABLE SOFTWARE FOR MAC USERS. The entire reason I bought this unit was because I want to track my off-pavement routes, then be able to create printable maps. Despite extensive research and assurances from Garmin customer support, THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE. Bobcat (Garmin’s Mac interface program) is a joke–I have not been able to figure out why on earth anyone would waste their time writing or downloading this program. As far as I can tell, it does nothing. You cannot edit, print, or do anything other than look at your track. The background maps only identify major highways and major cities–completely useless for even the most basic on-pavement navigation.

So I bought National Geographic TOPO! which does not recognize the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx, even with their latest updates. TOPO! is supposed to function with Intel-based Macs (which I have) yet continually pops up warnings, errors, and will not download my tracks, if it runs at all–it usually crashes.

I have sent emails to customer support at Apple and TOPO!, with NO response, let alone a helpful one. Garmin at least replied with a “try to reload Bobcat”. Ummmmm…I am not having trouble running Bobcat, I am having trouble with finding anything even remotely USEFUL in it!

The bottom line is: if you are just looking for a handheld unit for exploring, this functions great, but you can buy the same service for much cheaper. IF you want to be able to use more extensive features AND you are a Mac user, don’t waste your time and money–there is nothing out there for us right now. I could have kept my 3-yr-old $99 Magellan and had the same results I have had with this purchase.

Garmin, please prove me wrong!

Update 9/23/08. Garmin has now released RoadTrip to replace Bobcat–this program actually works, though you still cannot print from it. It does allow one to much more easily upload tracks, edit them, and even–YES!–even export them! What I have found is that I can save a track file through RoadTrip, then import it as a Geocache GPX into TOPO! and actually print from there. TOPO! still sucks, but we have at least achieved basic mapping ability. Yay! If I could, I would change rating to 4 stars for Garmin. Why 4 instead of 5? Because Mac users are a serious gizmo-geek crowd and don’t appreciate being an afterthought. Will leave separate review for TOPO!, but unfortunately, the lowest rating possible is one star.

Buy/More Info