zer0vector

I just received a Vista HCx as a gift and I have a few questions. How easy is it to use the City Navigator software on the handheld unit? When mapping to places away from your computer, I'm guessing you have to type names and addresses in using the four-way switch and the on-screen keyboard. Also, how big an SD card do I need to load all (or a substantial portion) of the City Navigator data?

I'll primarily be using it for hiking and other non-auto uses, but it would be nice to have a dual-use unit, i.e. the ability to switch out the TOPO and City Navigator cards to trade between hiking and driving. Any thoughts on using the Vista like this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.

Andy

I have a 76CSx and use City Nav NT on it. All of the US takes up 936 MB. I use a 2 gig card in mine. This leaves extra room for tracklogs or for using Topo. I don't know how much space Topo takes up. Having 2 cards might be the best solution.

You have to use the four way to enter addresses and names. It takes longer than the touch screen on the Nuvi 660, but it's not that much of a hassle. You won't get voice prompts like you would with one of Garmin's automobile models but it still alerts you of approaching turns.

To make it really useful in a car, get a mount for it. Having to pick it up really takes too many seconds for safe driving. I have Garmin's dash mount for the 76CSx. It works well. It will beep to let me know I'm approaching a turn, then switch screens to show the turn, etc. It gets the job done pretty well.

zer0vector

Thanks for the info. I think I'm definitely going to get the CityNav software, my only decision now will be whether to get it on the microSD card or just get the DVD and load it myself. Anyone know how much space the US 1:100000 Topo takes up?

Andy

I like the DVD since if you ever loose the card or GPS you still have a backup. Plus you can select the areas you want to load on the card. All of the Continental US of Topo 2008 takes up over 3129 MB.