The Garmin eTrex Vista is an excellent, rugged handheld gps navigator, which through the testing period has been to the Egyptian Desert at the Sudanese border, The North Cape in Norway and as far North as Upernavik in Greenland. This is a gps navigator you can depend on. Its only shortcoming is the 24Mb memory for maps and its inability to do navigation, but if you're looking for a versatile handheld gps navigator, then the Garmin eTrex Vista is a good choice.
Tested hardware and software
The test was done using a Garmin eTrex Vista bought off the shelf, with a European basemap. To give good map coverage the Mapsource European Roads And Recreation maps were added. In order to test its usefulness in a car, a car kit was used.
The Basics
The Garmin eTrex Vista comes with 24Mb memory for maps, and a basemap which can be used as a guideline at best. It can handle 500 waypoints, which are locations you choose, either on the spot and on the unit, or through the Mapsource software and downloaded to the Garmin through the data cable. The Garmin eTrex Vista performs to the IPX7 standard, which basically means that it is waterproof and can handle up to 30 minutes under one meter of water. It has an electronic compass, and a barometric altimeter. It fits in a shirt pocket. It takes 2 AA batteries. The unit had firmware upgrades done as they became available on the Garmin website.
Pros
The Garmin eTrex Vista is durable. During the test period it was used in the Egyptian Desert, trekking around the Ilulissat Glacier in Greenland and on military excercises in conditions you don't normally put civilian equipment in. The Garmin eTrex Vista took it all without any major problems.
The unit precision is good. It has WAAS/EGNOS capability, which makes it perform even better than the average gps navigator.
The eTrex Vista fits in a shirt pocket. This makes it easy to fit into rucksacks or in jacket pockets and you can take it everywhere.
The eTrex Vista is lightweight. You can easily include it in your hand luggage when flying.
Cons
It takes too long from the power button is pushed till the unit gives a 3D location. And the unit is somewhat sensitive to leafy overhangs from trees and urban canyons.
The thumb stick can lose function in one or more directions every now and then. It usually helps to turn the unit off and on again.
The screen sometimes shows only vertical black stripes and no regular picture. This happens during bootup of the device and may or may not disappear after a short while, or through pushing the power/light button shortly.
The data cable contact to the gps unit is guided by a thin plastic rail down the contact. This plastic rail gets worn after a while and makes the cable contact unreliable. When driving and the cable decides to lose touch with the interface poles, it consequently changes the gps power source from a car battery to its batteries, which then run empty a lot faster than intended. The loss of power from the car also makes the gps display a message telling you to acknowledge the change to battery power or the unit powers itself off after 30 seconds. This happened at a few very unfortunate moments during the test period. It should be possible to turn this message off in the unit setup.
At one time, after having been working for 10+ hours, the unit suddenly told that it was now traveling at 330 kilometers/hour (206 mph) at 1500 meter (4900 feet) altitude, which was a somewhat uncomfortable message, as it was at the time mounted in a car going down a Spanish highway, between Toledo and Madrid. The unit was turned off and on, and the problem went away.
Conclusion
The Garmin eTrex Vista is a very dependable handheld gps navigator. It is hard to find conditions that make it give up, whether on land or at sea. Its map memory capacity of 24Mb is somewhat limited, but adequate for use with the Mapsource Roads And Recreation maps. It is a bit too battery hungry, so use high capacity NiMH accumulators. Consider buying the enhanced Cx version which is now available.
Written by Hans-Henrik T. Ohlsen
April 2006