Real world experience review of this GPS unit

Many reviews that you read on this product will cover it feature by feature. I would like to share my real world experiences with this GPS. I would venture to say that we have used ours more than most people who own one. We bought this GPS unit to replace our Garmin Etrex Visti. It is very similar to the Vista C but it's screen has a gray scale display.

Our experience with this unit comes from well over 1000 miles of back country remote horseback riding, some hiking, some atv riding, and some geocaching.

First let me say that the maps it comes with are mediocre at best. They only show basic roads and absolutely zero topographical data. This unit is marketed as a type of back country device and not an in car navigation tool. If you want to be able to see topographical information such as remote roads, rivers, streams, elevation data, springs, and other information that back country users would find valuable if not necessary, you need to purchase their "Mapsource Topo" software. At the time I purchased it I paid over $100 for my copy. You can, however find it cheaper online these days. The software is OK but it doesn't show all the details of the back country. We're always coming across streams, springs, and roads that are not shown on the GPS. I don't know where they get their data or how old it is but in our experience it does miss some things. Having said that, having the software really makes the difference between this GPS unit just being a "bread crumb trail leaving device" and a useful back country tool. As the unit is shipped, it will keep a somewhat accurate record of the path you took during your travels. You can also mark way-points which are basically like putting marks on a paper map so you can pin point where you are in the event that you ever want to return to that location.

Let me mention that the older etrex Vista which simply has a gray scale display makes the topo software virtually useless. With it you can't tell the difference between roads, streams, elevation lines, and other handy information.

This unit has an electronic compass which is better than the old models. With the old units you needed to be moving in order for the compass to work. I've never compared it with an actual magnetic compass so I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

The sensor in the unit that receives the satellite data has been a disappointment to me. If you're in thick trees or deep canyons it's quite common to loose the signal. Now here's the kicker. My biggest complaint. The unit comes with a nylon lanyard so you can hang it around your neck. About all this is good for is keeping you from dropping it or misplacing it. While riding our horses it works decent "IF" it the unit doesn't flip over so that the screen is facing my chest. When that happens, it's not long before it beeps to tell me that it lost the signal. I find myself constantly needing to flip it back over to regain the signal. To me this is unacceptable. I understand that the newer models have an improved sensor that is more sensitive. I would hope that the new technology fixes this problem but I don't have any experience with it. In many cases the unit takes quite a while to acquire the satellite data when you first turn it on. We've found that you need a fairly clear view of the sky for it to sync with the satellites and pinpoint your location.

I have a friend who has this same unit and his experiences have been the same as mine.

Ok, so you've heard my complaints. Now onto what I like about it.
As I've mentioned before, it has a feature like most GPS units that tracks the path that you take on your journey. If you ever want to retrace your steps you can use the "track back" function. It's pretty easy to use and fairly accurate. Let me clarify this. Our experience is that sometimes the unit reports that it's accurate to within 25 feet and other times it has reported that it's only accurate to within 100 feet. You're not going to be able to retrace your steps exactly but it has been close enough for our needs. We use this feature quite often and on a couple of occasions it has really come in handy. On one ride a rider lost his wallet. He didn't even notice until the following day. The track data was still on the GPS so we were able to retrace the path we took and find his wallet. That made the initial cost of the GPS well worth the money.

On another ride, we sat down to take a break and my friend took his saddle bags off his horse to get his lunch out. When we mounted up to continue the ride, he inadvertently left the bags hanging on a stump. The following day, when he realized that they were missing, he was able to ride out and retrieve them. He had his digital camera in the saddle bags so again the GPS paid for itself.


Another time my husband was bucked off of a grumpy mare and landed on his head which promptly knocked him unconscious. Luckily he was wearing a helmet. He also had a severel fracture to his clavicle bone. The other riders who were with him use the GPS to find an old logging road. One rider rode ahead and by some miracle came across an off duty duputy sheriff who was elk hunting. He was nice enough to drive my husband down the mountain so we could get him to the hospital. Without the GPS, these riders would never have known where that road was.

There are rarely trails where we ride so it's extremely easy to get lost. On many occasions, the GPS unit has really saved our bacon.

It's defiantly worth carrying a GPS with you when you are in the back country. In my opinion it's stupid to go without one.

At the time we purchased this unit it seemed like it would suit our needs just fine. It has performed decently but not exceptionally.

Garmin has since discontinued this model. There are still plenty of new old-stock units to be found online. My advice would be to pass on them and spend a bit extra for a new unit that is equipped with a more accurate sensor.

I'm looking forward to replacing ours with a newer unit that has the better sensor.