Morton

I just purchased a Vista HCx about 5 days ago. I am sure this won't be a surprise to many of you, but it is a very different animal to the c340 which I have owned for about a year now.
The logic/OS of the c340 was easy to learn and use. It consistently 'nails' my location and I have never known it to lead me astray. Essentially I have learned to trust this unit.
OK compared to that, the Vista HCx seems unnecessarily complex and for the fist time ever I'm feeling the need to buy an aftermarket manual. This is especially disappointing since I bought the unit to share with my 9 year old son who's favorite pastime seems to be exploring. The real shock however is that the unit constantly identifies my location on the US 2008 topo map as being 450 feet away from the real location even when the 'error circle' is about 10 feet in radius. I have called Garmin Support on this and they acknowledged the error and said it was the map software itself and they would be issuing a patch soon.
So the crux of the problem is do I trust Garmin to issue the patch and assume that corrects issue? Is it really just a software problem or is it hardware? At the moment I don't really trust the unit - it seems highly reproducible (tracks overlay themselves consistently) but it is a little disconcerting to see them several hundred feet from the map location. Overall I am happy with the size (that and cost was the reason I didn't go for the 60), battery life seems OK, display is adequate and I am happy with the altimeter (consistently gets the 1st to 2nd floor difference in my house as 10 ft - impressive).
I am still within the Amazon return period but I would not know what else to get.
Advice?

Andy

Hi Morton, welcome to the site!

All of Garmin's handheld line will seem more difficult to use. The automobile line was designed with a simplistic approach. Minimal screens and information displayed.

With your new Vista you'll find it has a lot more options. A lot more pages and data fields. While it may seem confusing, with some practice you may appreciate the added benefits. I started out with a handheld GPS that has many of the features the Vista has. When I did finally buy a Nuvi, I liked the simple interface but missed all the customizable features found in the handheld line.

I think that might be your biggest complaint with the change. I can see if my experience had started with a C340, I would view the Vista or any of the other handheld models as complex and confusing.

I agree with Garmin's diagnosis on it. If the error circle is showing about 10 feet, that is accurate. That is what the hardware is seeing. I don't think it's a problem that returning and getting the same model would fix. If the device didn't display maps at all, the lat/lon readings would be within 10 feet. The map data it is displaying under that could be off. Garmin has responded in the past with software changes and updates fairly quickly, meaning a month or two. If they feel this is a major problem it could happen sooner. That may be longer than the Amazon return policy.

This is the first I have heard of the new Topo 08 being off or aligned wrong. When you say you are 450 off, how are you determining that? Are you standing on a road for example and that road in Topo 08 is about 450 from where you are? I haven't loaded it on my 76CSx yet but I think I might to see if I have the same problem.

Edit: I just looked at a tracklog I recorded yesterday near my house. When using City Nav software, the track is dead on the roads. I switched to Topo 2008 in Mapsource and sure enough, some of the roads are off. Some are right on, but my house for example is off by about 250 feet. I notice most of my neighborhood are all shifted to the east about 200+ feet compared to City Nav software.

I think this is the same type of error you are seeing.

Morton

Andy,
Thanks for the advice and yes I'm already beginning to appreciate the flexibility of the interface of the hand held - being able to change the order of the pages and the displayed fields is nice.
I used the 'measure distance' function in the map menu to calculate the error of 450 ft. This is the distance from where the unit identifies my house to be compared to where my house is on the map. Overall my observations are similar to yours, some areas of the map are 'out' while other areas are correct. It is not as if the unit is behaving inconsistently - repeated tracks and locations are spatially very reproducible but just not consistent with areas of the map.
I am beginning to enjoy the altimeter - the kids and I went downhill skiing tonight and I kept the unit in my pocket. The 'saw tooth' elevation profile is interesting to analyze I have read some complaints about this function but so far I have found it to be far more powerful than what I have used in the past (an Avocet cycle computer with altimeter).