 GPS Advice
On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 12:18:24 +0000 (UTC), "Joe" <sorry@noemail.com>
wrote:
>Hi Angus
>Just a few thoughts having recently upgraded from a Summit to a Vista.
>Try to see a working example before buying. The Higher resolution Vista,
>Venture & Legend screens have quite small text and can be difficult to read
>if your eyesight is not excellent. In my view, the larger the screen the
>better.
Agree entirely - screen is very crisp and clear, but very small. I
had to upgrade my specs to multi-focal to see it. But its a
trade-off, big screen = big unit. The Vista is shirt-pocket size and
very light - fits in the hand a treat. NB it works best when flat or
nearly, which is fine for reading it (like a book), but not so good
for carrying it in a pocket. I carry mine either in my hand, or
tucked into an elastic loop on the rucksack strap.
>Currently in the south UK, WAAS is not much use, especially under tree
>cover, but may improve next year when fully up and running.
>The battery drain on the Vista is high compared with the Summit. Use 2200mh
>rechargeables if possible and carry spares. The smaller AAA cells on the
>Gecko range have been known to give problems.
I get 8 - 10 hours of continuous use on 1800maH NiMH rechargeables.
>For hiking use, the track scale range is greater on the Vista (down to 20
>feet units as against 200 foot units).
Didn't know that - but certainly the Vista tracklogging is both
accurate and flexible - you can set parameters for logging points, or
use an 'auto' setting, which uses a quite sophisticated algorithm to
decide when to collect points, which maximises accuracy and storage.
10,000 track points storage, which should be enough for a week's
walking, plus up to 10 saved track memory.
>In built mapping can be useful for matching roads to footpaths etc. (The
>main reason for my change).
>Remember to think about what software you will be using either now or later.
>(Can be expensive).
>Good Luck
>
Agree with both the above points.
Jim Hutton
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