
Garmin Etrex Vista CX with color screen
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.
I'll start off by explaining why I purchased a GPS. Since relocating to a new town in Georgia, I found it hard to get my bearing and recognize directions. I did have a chance to try out the Garmin 60 series unit, and saw a good reason to get a similar type unit. Now, there is quite a selection of GPS units available and more features than you can use if you are driving. The car units are nice and readable, but they are limited to use in a car. I wanted a unit that I could use while walking or hiking, that was easily readable and that had convenient controls and not over complicated in use. I did what most people do, read reviews, and looked at the features and pretty much learned about the features on different brands. My brother-in-law, having worked first mate duties on yachts that used GPS, had a piece of advice. "Garmin is the only one I've seen on yachts". So, with that information, I decided to look at Garmin exclusively. Of course, this isn't the only source of information I used to make the decision. I went ahead and read some reviews on hiking units, now concentrating on Garmin. The Garmin my brother-in-law owns, was a little larger than I wanted, so I then started looking at the Etrex line. The main features I was looking for was ease of use, color screen and ability to be used in the car or walking/hiking. With the smaller unit the screen is smaller than a car version GPS. Obviously with the Etrex you are not getting a large , car sized screen, such as in the car units. But, with the color screen, even somebody like me that wears glasses, can read the screen. And, it readable when I'm driving.
Now the Etrex line.
There is a choice of the Venture,Legend and Vista.
The units have a black and white screen or a color screen.
Get the color screen! The difference between black and white & color is huge.
CX denotes color screen, as in Legend CX, Vista CX etc.
The units have similar features and internal memory,or a micro SD card.
They all have the little toggle on the front left, that moves the directional scroll to see different parts of the screen. If you've never used a GPS, what this does is scroll the screen sort of like in Google maps. You're not using a mouse but the toggle. Similar to the button mouse on a laptop.
Hard to explain, but suffice to say that it is better done when you are stopped, if you are in the car. The two buttons on the left side, magnify the map view or zoom out the map view. Below those two keys, the menu key takes you to a more than adequate menu of options. There are icons and text regarding each option. I like the layout, personally, the pictures are a little small to see when driving. So you should really set the unit to the map view and resist the urge to go through different screens while driving. Too easy to get distracted.
But, the toggle is easy, fast and I like the way it feels.
Also click it down and it can set a waypoint, which I'm not going to explain here, because I'm running out of characters as I type this.
I usually upload a map to an area I'm visiting, and study the map on a pc, before I go to that area. That way I know some of the streets and don't have to scroll the screen around too much, while mobile. The right side has a button at the top, that changes screens. You get a map view, a horizon, compass,and altimeter to name a few.
Don't have enough space to explain the rest of the features.
Overall,remarkable. Best choice for handheld. Fits in a shirt pocket.
Review ID: 10000000003919061

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