Better Satellite Lock With The Legend/vista C?

[+the hermit crabs]

For those who have used both the regular Legend or Vista and the "C" version(s) -- do the C units really have noticeably better reception, and are they less likely to lose their satellite lock than the non-C units? I've read that that was supposed to be the case; now I'm wondering if anyone who has actually used both can really notice a difference.

[moonpup]

Well, my first gps was a Legend and then a LegendC and now a VistaC and 60CS Anyway, to answer your question based on my user experience; the new color units power on and aquire the satellites much more quickly than the older etrex line. I also have had much better luck holding satellite locks with these units. This assumes you hold or mount the unit correctly with the antenna facing up

 

If you are looking for an etrex model and can afford either the LegendC or VistaC I strongly recommend them! Granted I never had any problems with my old legend, but I would not buy another one now that these new improved models are out.

[+IVxIV]

That does seem to hold true with most brands of GPS not just Garmin. Newer models aquire/hold signal lock a bit better than older ones, and seems irregardless of antenna type too.

 

So has there been advances in antenna technology?

 

I've never cared less about all the "quad-vs-patch" wars.. I concentrate more on product age, and do see a pattern in aquisition improvement.

[+Milbank]

I used a Legend for about a year and have had a Legend C for 5 day's.

 

From the time you turn it on to the time it locks onto the satalites the Legend C is much quicker then my old legend.

 

I timed it a few times on the legend C and it has alway's been under 10 seconds to get a good lock on the satalite.

 

I have not been in the woods with it yet, but from playing around with it in the truck and walking around town with it in my jacket pocket I can say it picks up better then my old legend too.

 

They both work great, but after having a color gps I would never go back to a non-color unit again.

 

I do use my gps at work just about every day, if I only used my gps for geocaching it maybe a different story.

Edited May 14, 2005 by Milbank

[+the hermit crabs]

Thank you very much for all of your input. We'll go for the Vista C

[+Searching_ut]

You'll like your new unit. I've been using my Vista C for quite awhile now, and love it. It does indeed do better reception wise than the B/W eTrex units do. Sensitivity is a little better, the receiver is somewhat less sensitive to orientation, but you still have to keep it horizontal for best accuracy and reception. The processor is also much quicker, and it doesn't have some of the quirks the B/W units do when it looses lock which makes it much quiker at regaining lock in the crud. That makes a huge difference, as all units loose lock in some situations.

[moonpup]

Thank you very much for all of your input. We'll go for the Vista C

You'll love it, I use it more than my 60CS for caching and hiking. The 60CS has sort of been relinquished to the car for driving directions.

[+the hermit crabs]

You'll love it, I use it more than my 60CS for caching and hiking. The 60CS has sort of been relinquished to the car for driving directions. 

Ah, good to hear. That was one of my nagging worries -- that I'd regret not going for the 60CS.

 

Sounds like we'll be happy with our new toy

[moonpup]

As long as your planning on using it for geocaching and hiking you will be very happy. Trying to use the unit for car navigation and autorouting is tough unless someone else is driving and you are navigating

 

It's a great all around unit, but if your looking to use it for both of the above, I would recommend you get the 60CS because of the larger screen and more memory

[+the hermit crabs]

Well, the Vista C arrived today, and I must say I'm delighted with it so far -- and I've hardly gotten started with it. First, there's the startup: and initial display that lasts about 1 second, and then straight to the satellite screen. A definite improvement over the old Vista, where you have to sit through endless copyright screens or press the Page button a bunch of times to finally get the satellite screen to show.

 

I did a side-by-side satellite acquisition comparision with the new C and our old Vista. The new C was ready to go with five satellites within about 6 seconds, with an accuracy of 14 ft. The old Vista was struggling with between 3 and 4 partial satellites for nearly a minute, and then finally had enough to say "ready to navigate" -- with an accuracy of 96 feet. Huge difference right off the bat. Later I turned the new C on inside the house, and forgot to say "use with GPS off" -- and it was able to lock on to satellites! I've never gotten a sat lock indoors with our old units.

 

I also like the how the rotating screen display is customizable -- you can add or remove whichever screens you want, and change their order. The altimeter one was the first to go -- I never use it, and it's always a tiny little annoyance to have to click past it on the regular vista.

 

There are quite a few differences, and I'll have a lot of new stuff to get used to, but I will definitely have fun playing with this and reading the manual tonight. And I'm looking forward to testing it out under tree cover tomorrow.

 

I'm dying to order the topo map for it too (the Mapsource Metroguide maps we currently have won't work with it), but I think I read here somewhere that Garmin usually comes out with new versions in July, so I'll hold off for a couple of months on that one.

[+briansnat]

the Mapsource Metroguide maps we currently have won't work with it)

 

There is no reason that I can think of why Metroguide shouldn't work on the Vista C.

[+the hermit crabs]

the Mapsource Metroguide maps we currently have won't work with it)

 

There is no reason that I can think of why Metroguide shouldn't work on the Vista C.

 

Hmm.. I didn't actually try it; I was just going by the map-compatibility list on Garmin's website. They list all of the maps that will work with the Vista C, and Metroguide North America is not included. So I assumed it wouldn't work.

[+Milbank]

I have Metroguide V6 from my old legend loaded into my Legend C, works great.

Just no auto routing.

 

You will really like the topo maps on the etrex C.

[+the hermit crabs]

the Mapsource Metroguide maps we currently have won't work with it)

There is no reason that I can think of why Metroguide shouldn't work on the Vista C.

I have Metroguide V6 from my old legend loaded into my Legend C, works great.

Just no auto routing.

Both of you guys were exactly right -- I just tried it, and the Metroguide maps work great on the Vista C, in spite of them not being listed as compatible on Garmin's web pages. Sweet!

 

We'll probably still get the topo maps later, but for now I'm delighted to have our old maps on it. Thanks!

[moonpup]

And I'm looking forward to testing it out under tree cover tomorrow.

How did the tree cover test go?

[+the hermit crabs]

And I'm looking forward to testing it out under tree cover tomorrow.

How did the tree cover test go?

 

Yesterday afternoon, I got to the parking area of the cache I was going to try. It was little dirt lot with room for about 6 cars. There were five cars parked in it, and I thought I could squeeze in, but it turned out that they were spaced far enough apart that I couldn't. So I decided to leave and find someplace else to park. I backed up just a bit to turn around, and heard a lound *CRUNCH*. arrgghh, I had backed into a big rock and did some damage to the car... so I left and spent the rest of the day dealing with that rather than caching

 

Short answer: I haven't tried it under tree cover yet. Dang rock!

 

..........

 

Followup an hour later: I went out into the woods behind my house with both units. The trees aren't quite as thick and full as they will be in a month, but they're still leafy enough for significant signal blockage. Both units started out with freshly recharged batteries.

- I waited in the yard until both units had a sat lock, and then headed into the woods. In less than two minutes, the old Vista lost its lock; the C did not.

- The old one eventually reacquired the satellites. As I continued walking, the C consistently had more satellites than the old Vista did; of the satellites they had in common, the C always had a higher signal strength.

- There was no satellite that the old Vista locked onto that the C did not also get.

- I tried sticking them in my jacket pockets for a minute. Old vista lost its lock; the C did not.

- I shut both units off, walked to a pretty dense patch of trees, and turned them both back on. The C reacquired its satellites in about 10 seconds; the old Vista took about a minute. (I was thinking that the old Vista might not be able to relock in that spot at all, but it did.)

- I tried walking around holding them vertically rather than horizontally. The sat-trength bars dipped down noticeably on the old Vista, but I didn't see a significant change on the C.

- I tried enabling WAAS, which I normally don't do in the woods. The old Vista could not lock onto a WAAS satellite, but the C surprised me by picking up #35.

 

I had planned to try a few more things, but my stupidity streak from yesterday is continuing: while I was in a state of dorky obliviousness, paying attention only to satellite signal strengths, I walked right into a rather deep, muddy puddle. Then I noticed that I had not put on my caching shoes, but was still wearing my look-semi-presentable-to-go-get-my-hair-cut shoes from this morning. So I cut the experiments short and came home to clean off the mud.

 

All in all: the C is wicked nice!

Edited May 20, 2005 by the hermit crabs

[moonpup]

That's fantastic! I'm so glad your happy with your VistaC. Did you think we would steer you wrong Also, sorry to hear about the car that's a bummer

[+Milbank]

[moonpup]

Milbank, I know you want my 60CS...hahahha. You'd be happy to know that I gave the unit a dunk test after my recently taking it apart. It passed with flying colors, I let it sit in the kitchen sink for 20 mins today with no problems It even kept a satellite lock!

[peter]

I'm dying to order the topo map for it too (the Mapsource Metroguide maps we currently have won't work with it), but I think I read here somewhere that Garmin usually comes out with new versions in July, so I'll hold off for a couple of months on that one.

Thanks for the comparison report and I hope both the shoes and car were fixable - you certainly went well beyond the call of duty to conduct the experiment.

 

Sounds like you're satisfied with the MetroGuide maps you already have. I think Garmin doesn't include it on the compatibility chart since otherwise they'd get complaints from people that the auto-routing feature on their new GPS doesn't work right.

 

But I just wanted to clarify that it has only been the MetroGuide and CitySelect/Navigator maps that have been getting annual updates. The Topo maps have not been updated and are based on USGS 1:100,000 maps that are also very dated. So I wouldn't expect any updates of these maps for a long time

[+IVxIV]

- I tried walking around holding them vertically rather than horizontally. The sat-trength bars dipped down noticeably on the old Vista, but I didn't see a significant change on the C

 

I find that same observation with my iFinder Pro. It too has a "modern" patch antenna similar to the Vista C technology, and I've never been able to notice any signal performance difference whether I hold it upright, flat, or even inside a coat pocket, the thing just clamps on and holds satellite signal lock like a bulldog to a mailman's leg

[+the hermit crabs]

But I just wanted to clarify that it has only been the MetroGuide and CitySelect/Navigator maps that have been getting annual updates.  The Topo maps have not been updated and are based on USGS 1:100,000 maps that are also very dated.  So I wouldn't expect any updates of these maps for a long time

Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification.

 

Speaking of maps, I saw something a bit unexpected on the maps yesterday. We were driving along a highway, and I had both the old Vista and the new C on, and was watching the map page on each one. (Don't worry; I was in the passenger seat. ) They were zoomed to the same level (800 ft). For the most part, they showed the exact same stuff, which was what I expected, since they both had the same Mapsource Metroguide maps. The only difference I saw was when we drove past a little municipal airport: both units showed a large shaded area for the airport, and both idenitified it by name -- but the Vista C showed the layout of all of the runways, while the old Vista showed just a large blank space. I tried zooming in closer, but the old Vista never showed the runways at any zoom level.

 

Not that I need to know where runways are -- but I wonder what other little tidbits of information will show up on the C that I never saw on the old Vista...

[+Milbank]

Very interesting about the runways.

 

I have also found the address seach much more user friendly on my Legend C then it ever was on the old legend.

 

It has some type of filter you can have turned on when searching and it's much quicker.