eTrex Vista HCx review

Hi all,

Wrote the below for a tandem bicycle list, and thought it might be
worthwhile to post here as well.


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From theo@heise.nu Mon Jun 15 12:02:26 2009
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:02:26 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [T@H] cycle computer



[in response to my request for suggestions...]

On Mon, 25 May 2009, David Burckhard wrote:


Yes, I agree. I've gone since last year without a cyclometer at
all--on any of my singles or the tandem. It's kind of liberating,
in a way.

Despite enjoying the freedom, I still like to log mileage (have been
following correlation between mileage and weight for quite a few
years). As such, I've been getting this info retrospectively after
each ride using the gmap pedometer.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/



[...snip review...]


Sorry to take so long to get back to the list on this, I encountered
quite a number of hold-ups that prevented me from completing what I
thought was a reasonable summary--until today.

I settled on the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx, in large part because of
the points made by Alex Wetmore.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=8703

The Vista HCx was a little over $200 from Amazon, with no maps other
than the basemap (which is not very useful). The maps themselves
are a big part of the solution, and I had some challenges in this
regard which I'll describe before talking about the unit itself.

The eTrex line seems to be designed primarily for hikers, so the
Vista HCx often comes bundled with a topographic mapset. I was
trying to get the unit in time for a ride in Virginia the first week
of June, so I didn't research carefully and bought the TOPO U.S.
100K DVD (~$99) based on what I saw commonly bundled. It turns out
that the City Navigator is more complete in terms of side roads, but
I didn't find this out until I was already in Virgina. I then
purchased the City Navigator North America NT online for download
(again ~$99), but despite several multiple hour sessions was never
able to get it installed and unlocked.

Once I got back home from Virgina I was able to get Garmin to swap
my download purchase for a DVD, which just arrived Friday. I had a
little difficulty with unlock codes, which I wasn't able to resolve
until this morning. In retrospect, the map process could have
been much easier if I had understood how the various applicatiions
work together. To be honest, the Garmin documentation isn't very
good.

The Vista HCx is large by cyclometer standards, at 2.2" x 4.2" x
1.2" (5.6 x 10.7 x 3.0 cm). Still, it is only slightly larger than
the top line Edge cycling unit from Garmin. It seemed to not be in
the way on the tandem (I mounted it on the stoker handlebars). The
screen is too small to read street names while riding, but they are
reasonably legible.

This unit is waterproof, and seems pretty rugged--so far it has
survived one drop. The bike mount has worked well, though the part
(purchased from Garmin) included a back plate that doesn't fit this
GPS. The microSD slot prevents the plate from attaching to the
unit, so the plate would presumably fit the Vista H (which doesn't
have a microSD slot). The Vista HCx came with a small screw-on
piece that connects the unit to the handlebar mount. Works okay,
but I'd like to have a backup. So far, I haven't found a source.

The battery life has been quite good. I first ran it on a cheap
pair of standard alkaline AAs, and they lasted probably about the 25
hours specified. I followed that set with a pair of LiIon cells,
and they seem to have gone *well* over 25 hours and are still going.
These times are estimates, I haven't tracked them carefully. As an
aside, the unit is noticeably lighter with the LiIon cells.

The Vista HCx may be targeted mostly at hikers, but it can give you
all the usual cyclometer functions--including current speed, max
speed, elevation, trip and total odometer, moving time, moving
average speed, and so on. It can be configured to display quite a
few different views, and the data fields that are shown within them
can also be selected. The distances seem quite accurate. The
speeds likewise, though I'm not sure yet just how accurate the max
speed is.

The altimeter has been a lot of fun. It seems at least as accurate
as the altimeter on my old Avocet 50--maybe better. It's a treat to
be able to look back through the profile of a ride, and to readily
calculate the grade of climbs. One day in Virginia Kathy and I rode
up the Blue Ridge and then on the Skyline Parkway, and it was quite
satisfying to be able to determine that the 4 miles up the ridge was
a very constant 6%. I also was shocked to learn that one hill near
home is some 29% grade!

I've used the Vista HCx in the car a fair bit, and the navigation
has been just so so. The route calculation seems very reluctant to
use lesser traveled roads--even if I select "shortest route," it
seems to take quite a long time to recalculate along the route I'm
headed. Some of this may have to do with the fact that I haven't
yet driven anywhere with the CityNav maps installed and the unit may
not be seeing some of these roads.

I also tracked my position and speed on a flight from Denver to
Indianapolis last week. It was fun to see all the small towns go by
on the map (I grew up in Nebraska). The flight was delayed and the
pilot had put the hammer down--he ran at ~620 mph most of the way.
The map really moves along at that speed when zoomed in.

Anyway, that's my experience so far. Haven't gotten into
prospective map and route creation yet, but it looks to be quite
capable and relatively straightforward.

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