One thing I have found very useful on the Garmin GPS is being able to load your own custom POI's (Points of Interest). These custom POI's can show the location on your GPS of anything from campsites to Starbucks cafes. You can download POI files from various web sites, some are free and some you will have to pay for (see list of links below) or if you have the GPS co-ordinates of a series of way points and know anything about spreadsheets you can create your own .csv or .gpx custom POI files.
Remember that Garmin maps already come with certain POI's installed and you may be duplicating when installing some custom POI's. Also be a bit selective as to what custom POI's you do install as each one has its own custom icon and your GPS screen can get a bit cluttered with too many icons if you are not careful.
If you have track files on your computer that you'd like to transfer to your eTrex or someone else's, the process is much the same. Click on the folder containing your track data, and you'll see its contents appear at the bottom of the pane on the left of your screen. Select the data you want to transfer.
ETrex HC series Owner’s Manual i IntroductIon IntroductIon Thank you for choosing the Garmin® eTrex Vista® HCx, eTrex Legend ® HCx, eTrex Summit HC, or eTrex Venture® HC. These units use the proven performance of Garmin high-sensitivity GPS and full-featured mapping to create an unsurpassed portable GPS receiver.
Deleting Waypoint Etrex 20. Bitterroot 0 Points. October 2014 in GPS Discussions. Hello, I have a Garmin Etrax 20 (3 yrs old) and would like to know if someone can give me a clear and concise description on how to delete single waypoints on this unit? When managing waypoints the only option I seem to find is delete all waypoints, I don't want that.
How many waypoints can my unit store? Garmin 60Cx ™, Garmin 60CSx ™, Garmin 76Cx ™, and GarminG 76CSx ™ can hold 1000 waypoints. Garmin eTrex Legend Cx ™, Garmin eTrex Venture Cx ™, and Garmin eTrex Vista Cx ™ can hold 500 waypoints.
GPS Training Notes for the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx V2.1 Jan 2015 Page 7 of 9 Clearing Track Logs and Waypoints Only clear track logs or waypoints when specifically instructed to do so. For Tracks select MENU PAGE • TRACKS • CLEAR. For Waypoints select MENU PAGE • WAYPOINTS • DELETE ALL.
Custom POI links
http://www.gps-data-team.com/
Below is a step by step guide to installing custom POI's, although it is written for the Garmin Etrex Vista Hcx it is pretty much the same process for all Garmin GPS's that support the addition of custom POI's.
Downloading and installing the Custom POI's
In order to install the custom POI's onto your Garmin GPS you will need to have a copy of Garmin's 'POI loader' installed on your computer. It is available as a free download from the Garmin site for Macs and for windows PCs from here.
You will then need to download your POI file from one of the many POI sites. A good example that is useful for cycletouring is the POI files from archiescampings.eu which give all the locations of all the campsites in Europe. We will use this as an example. These files usually download as a compressed zip file, if your computer doesn't automatically unzip them on download you will need to use something like 'StuffIt Expander' on the Mac or 'winzip' on a PC to decompress the files first.
When you have expanded the zip file you will find that you have a folder called 'Archies_europe' with several folders inside for various GPS formats. The two files that will work on Garmin GPS's are the files in both the 'GARMIN-csv_Archie_vs_01-11-09' and 'GPX eXchange format_Archie_vs_01-11-09' folders.
You can have quite a few custom POI files on your GPS, therefore I prefer to set up some folders on my Mac for each of my map micro SD cards. Within these folders I have sub folders for each category of custom POI. As you can see from the image below I have one for 'Campsites' in which I have copied the two files from the 'GPX eXchange format_Archie_vs_01-11-09' folder. As the POI files are stored on the GPS's micro SD card theoretically you can have as many custom POI files as you have room for on the card.
Once you have organised and copied your files you will need to connect your GPS to the computer using the USB cable and open up the 'POI' loader application.
Click continue and the 'POI loader' should find your GPS. If it hasn't found your device you will have click 'Find Device'. Once it has found it click 'continue'.
You will then be asked if you want to load or remove custom POI's on your device, select 'Load new custom POI's onto your device'.
You will next need to click the 'Browse' button and navigate to the folder with your custom POI's for the map you are using. You can leave the units for distance and speed as they are unless you are installing speed camera POi's and leave it on 'Express' mode. Browse and select the folder that has all the custom POI's that you wish to install on your GPS, in this case selecting the 'POI Europe map' folder or what ever you have named it.
Once you have selected the folder click 'Continue'. If everything is OK you should get this successful dialogue.
The custom POI's should now be installed on your GPS. Click 'Done' and disconnect your GPS.
Setting the zoom level at which the Custom POI's will appear on the screen.
You can set the zoom level at which the custom icons will appear, this is useful to avoid too much clutter on the screen at higher zoom levels.
1. To do this go to the 'Main menu' and use the joggle switch to select 'Setup'.
2. Then in the 'Setup Menu' use the joggle switch to select 'Map'.
3. Then use the joggle switch to move to 'Map points' and click 'Enter', then use the joggle switch to move up and down the scale to select the zoom level. Once you have set the zoom level click the 'Quit' button on the right hand side top several times to get back to the map.
Updating the POI files
Remember when you wish to update or add any additional custom POI files you will need to copy these to your generic folder that you created in step 4. If you in step 8 simply point to another folder it will only install the custom POI's in that folder and overwrite all the others previously installed.
< Garmin
Garmin Etrex Vista HCX
Garmin/eTrex Vista HCx is part of the Garmin/eTrex series of GPS devices, suitable for #Recording traces and #Using OSM maps
1OSM specifics
1.1Recording traces
2Generic information
2.1Firmware updates
OSM specifics
Recording traces
General suggestions
This device has two options for trace recording - internal memory and microSD card. If recording to the microSD card, traces are written in gpx format, which is suitable for OpenStreetMap usage.
Do not use the device 'Save' feature for tracklogs. Saved tracklogs cannot be uploaded to OpenStreetMap (time information is removed from them).
IMPORTANT: deactivate the 'Lock on road' feature before recording tracks. To do so, press menu button from the map view, Setup map, and in the leftmost page set 'Lock On Road' to 'Off'.
By default, sampling rate is set to 'Auto' and 'Normal'. This is quite unsatisfactory for OpenStreetMap traces. Here is a comparison of logging at 'Auto/Most often', 1 second and 0.01 km options:
Red - Auto/Most often
Blue - 0.01 km
Green - 1 second
As can be seen, even at 'Most often' automatic mode is not satisfactory. '0.01 km' mode, while mostly producing adequate results, falls a bit short on turns sometimes. '1 second' sampling provides the best results, but, unfortunately, also lots of excess data, especially when not moving. It is thus suggested to choose between '0.01 km' and '1 second' modes. If logging is set to one second, clean up the excess and trash points before uploading the traces.
To automatically remove all points that are closer than 2 metres to the previous point:
After such an operation it is still suggested to manually clean out 'blobs' of points if having stayed in one location (especially indoors) for some period of time.
Saving to microSD card
To activate saving to the microSD card, press menu button twice, then navigate to Tracks -> Setup -> Data Card Setup and mark checkbox 'Log Track To Data Card'. Files will be saved with full date being the filename - YYYYMMDD.gpx.
Download 2012 Roster For Cricket 2007. 0 Comments 2014 Roster FOR EA Cricket 07. 2014 Roster For Cricket 7,Most updated roster (December 2013).Download It and Enjoy-All Correct Player Names and Values. Installation: * Download Both Roster Face Files and Roster*. Roster Faces Files folder contain more than 7. Download 2013 roster for cricket 2007.
To retrieve the files, either insert the microSD card in a card reader, or connect the device to a computer via USB cable and set it to the USB mass storage mode. To do so, press menu button twice, Setup -> Interface and 'click' the 'rocker' button to activate 'USB Mass Storage' option. To return to the normal operation mode, press on/off button once.
Transferring trace from the built-in memory
Length is limited to 10 000 data points. In reality this is not so short - 10 000 data points is about 350km of cycling with 'most often' sampling, but see above for trace recording options. With 1 second sampling built-in memory fills up fairly quickly.
To transfer trace from the built-in memory, gpsbabel can be used. Connect the device with a USB cable and issue:
Make sure you have required permissions and use correct USB device.
-t stands for 'tracks'. -w can be used for waypoints. Note that this only downloads current log, not the saved ones.
Using OSM maps
See OSM Map On Garmin..to get the OpenStreetMap maps on the device
Maps can be created with mkgmap and uploaded to the SD card. Note that map name (--mapname option) should not exceed 8 characters, otherwise the map will be silently ignored.
Vista HCx supports lowercase letters in horizontal text (city names etc), but not for rotated symbols (rendered street names).
Generic information
Garmin eTrex Vista HCx is a handheld GPS device. It has colour display, supports loadable maps and runs on 2 AA elements.
It accepts a microSD card for map storage and direct GPS trace logging to gpx format.
Connecting to a computer with a mini-b USB cable allows to use it as a generic GPS receiver (for example, with gpsd).
If connected with a mini-b USB cable to a power source, can run on that power and does not draw power from batteries. It is not capable of charging batteries (source).
Firmware updates
To check the current firmware version goto Menu->Setup->System, then press the MENU/FIND button (the one below ZOOM IN), then select 'Software Version'. Microsoft powerpoint crack version download.
v3.40
Newer units (Sep 2011) are shipping with v3.40.
v3.30
Latest units (Aug 2010) are shipping with v3.30 although the Garmin website states that 3.20 is the latest (Dec 2009). No changelog appears to be available.
v3.0
According to Garmin :
Correct time scale of altimeter chart.
Add support for maps greater than 2 GB.
Modify track log function for steady barometer output at power on.
Undocumented changes :
The auto calibration of the altimeter now works even with huge differences between barometric altitude and GPS altitude (was not the case with 2.80, manual calibration was necessary)
microSD cards
All microSD cards <= 2GB should work
Some older 4GB cards use a non-standard addressing format (not true SD or SDHC) and might not work.
All new cards > 2GB use SDHC and should work. The following cards have been reported to work without problems: Sandisk 8GB, Transcend 4GB microSDHC.
User reviews
--Rgmerk 00:14, 1 November 2007 (UTC)This unit is similar to the Vista Cx, but uses a higher-sensitivity chipset to make getting fixes easier.
Color screen is quite good.
Has multiple modes for different types of AA batteries, including one for NiMH rechargeables.
Mine came included with a USB cable for transferring data to your computer.
Track logs and waypoints can be saved to the internal memory (and can be extracted with gpsbabel).
Waypoint name length maximum of 14 charactors.
Tracks can also be saved as GPX format on a micro-SD card, and then extracted by putting the unit into USB Mass Storage mode.
Mkgmap untested at this stage.
The Vista HCx has the best readable screen (alongside with other color etrex h series) of all Garmin units, when viewed under direct sunlight. The backlight is the brightest of any garmin outdoor unit. This makes the etrex hcx series the best series to be able to read the screen while cycling or mtbiking. The screen is transreflective and if you hold it correctly (the sun or a lamp shining onto it from above) you need no backlight. If you wear sunglases on a mtb, have a screen protector applied (this reduces the transreflective effect a bit), with the sun low from the front or blocking the sunlight with your body, or cycle through shady places, you need the backlight however. Therefore I have backlight on around 50% all the time on for mtbiking. When hiking I don't need it.--Extremecarver 01:09, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
Battery capacity is great. For best performance either use lithium primary cells, or rechargable batteries like Eneloops. With 2000mAh Eneloops and backlight off, you can get around 30hours running time. With backlight set to 50% still around 12-13 hours. This is while showing maps and riding a mtb. If hiking or not showing maps (less CPU power for screen redraws), or having the map orientation to the north, running time will increase. Using lithium cells you should get over 40 hours, however at a hefty pricepoint for the lithium cells. For the environment and your cash pocket best use rechargeables.--Extremecarver 01:09, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
Garmin Etrex Vista Software Update
Power consumtion - I've made some measurements with my device: When running on batteries (3.0V) the eTrex consumes 70-80 mA without backlight and 100-140 mA with backlight. So a pair of batteries with true 2500 mAh should theoretically ensure about 30 hours of runtime. When running on USB (5.0V) the consumption drops to a little more than 40mA (no backlight). In both cases the consumtion rises 5-10% whith active compass. The energy required by the compass is dependent on the movement of the device: When there's no change in direction to be detected there's no consumption to recgnise. I wasn't able to recognise any influence on the consumption by the tracking-rate or during a routing-calculation. --Fröstel 14:11, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
Richard B 13:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
I've recently received a Vista HCx, and have thus-far found it to be excellent. Signal lock seems to occur pretty quickly. I've even got acceptable signal lock indoors. Seems to perform well in the car. Mine came with a USB cable, and a piece of software which is capable of taking tracks from the GPS unit and saving them as GPX (no gpsbabel seems to be required), as well as a bracket for attaching the unit to a bike. The unit will take up to a 2GB microSD card for extra storage - and these seem to be getting fairly cheap these days. Will do up to 10,000 trackpoints without the microSD card. Not tested capacity with the microSD card yet.
I can confirm that one can log an excess of 10000 trackpoints to the microSD cardStok 20:21, 21 April 2008 (UTC) One should be able to log up to 2048MB in a single run to the microSD card, more than enough even if on 1sec intervall, for best accuracy of tracklogs however set to Auto and Most or More, this way some trackpoints of bad quality (or while not moving) will be skipped --Extremecarver 00:54, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
I have a 4GB Micro-SDHC Card in my device and it works fine, will accept only 2048MB in gmapsupp.img however (this is due to file structure system used - you may use the rest of the space for tracklogs or other data). --Kickback 09:00, 5 August 2008 (UTC) - Did not work in mine. --Gypakk 12:30, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
To get most accurate trace results (precision about 2 meters), ensure to have this settings:
Tracks->Setup: Interval: Most Often (German: Tracks->Einstellung Intervall: Maximal)
Don't enable WAAS/EGNOS in Europe, if reception is good accuracy is well enough anyhow. If reception is bad (tree cover, etc.) enabling this leads to worse results. --Extremecarver 00:54, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
Due to the Antenna design device will operate best when held horizontal (like on a bike handlebar). When held vertical the reception is worse. This makes the Vista HCx the best mtb Garmin handheld, but less ideal when put into your jeans pocket or upright on your backpack.
You can easily display OSM maps on this device by getting a hold of a gmapsupp.img file (see OSM Map On Garmin) and copying it to a folder called garmin on the micro SD card Bruce mcadam 10:51, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
Beware of GPS-firmware (not device firmware) 2.60. There is a bug which probably derives from interference between static navigation and bad signal conditions leading to a status where the device shifts the track with a constant offset from 30 to 150meters, even if signal-conditions improve. cure is either powercycling or drive/run faster than 20(?)km/h for at lest a few seconds. Tracks with gps-firmware 2.50 may look more noisy and static navigation is a lot slower, but for mapping the tracks are a lot better. (better use 2.50 than 2.30) ---jha- 17:11, 22 September 2008 (UTC) --Extremecarver 00:54, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
Note that there is now a GPS-firmware 2.70 now available. Does this fix the bug? Richard B 09:06, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
Firmware 2.80 is now available. Apparently neither 2.70 nor 2.80 fix the bug. mike.fabian 16:15, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
Garmin Etrex Vista Cable
The drift bug happens usually only when being in a valley with tree cover - on some units more often, on some less. Which firmware and GPS-Firmware to choose for best results is not clear. I personally have sattled to 2.70/2.50 (2.70 GPS Firmware, 2.50 region M2 GPS-Firmware (for MTK chip). 2.80/2.80 does too much dead reckoning. Track quality looks really good, but sometimes goes of by 20-30m when 2.70/2.50 gets accuracy of 6-7m. 2.80/2.80 tracklogs are smoothed very heavily and have one BUG (if reception stops, it will continue going straight for around 2minutes, with 2.70 Firmware this does not happen, the GPS will continue displaying your position going forward, but not write it to the tracklog). 2.70/2.50 tracklogs have far less smoothing applied.--Extremecarver 00:54, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
How can you revert the software to 2.70/2.50? On the Garmin website, only the newest (2.80) is available. Also there doesn't seem to be a distinction between the two types of firmware you mention. User:jori 20:06 24 December UTC.
Well that's not that easy indeed. You can get the GPS-Firmware 2.70 from here http://www.gpsinformation.org/perry/ whereas the GPS-Software you may get from here (needs registration I think): http://www.naviboard.de/vb/showpost.php?p=250349&postcount=70 To downgrade you need to drop the files onto Garmin updater.exe or webupdater.exe in the filemanager of your choice.
Delete Waypoints Garmin Etrex Vista 2
The first link appears to be dead. Does anyone know where to get GPS firmware 2.50? I've tried 2.60 and 2.90 - both have drift issue. --One half 3544 15:16, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
GPS SW .rgns are available at http://gawisp.com/perry/chipset_firmware/Type_M/ --One half 3544 15:09, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
Accuracy reported to be 11ft when mounted on my bike handlebars. WARNING, do not use the save facility for tracklogs. Saved tracklogs cannot be uploaded to openstreetmap. --AntonyW 20:27, 30 September 2008 (UTC). Activate 'Save to SD Card' and get the tracks from the SD card instead. --Extremecarver 00:54, 4 November 2008 (UTC) Tracklogs were always usable with Linux. download with gpsbabel and convert to gpx format. --Drlizau 20:03, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
Review with pros and cons: http://ocroquette.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/personal-review-of-the-garmin-etrex-vista-hcx/
This unit is not really suitable as a cycle computer for bikes without suspension. I'm on my third one now. After about 12 months of use, they started to switch themselves off repeatedly during rides. I believe this was due to the severe vibration from the road surface. There is a possible DIY fix for this problem : http://www.takeadventure.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=327%3Avistahcsbadcontactissue&catid=11%3Agps&Itemid=25. Fortunately, Garmin have replaced the unit for free twice but I don't think I will get a fourth replacement. I've now bought an Edge for the bike and will use the eTrex for walking trips. AntonyW 12:17, 7 August 2010 (BST)
Questions
Sometimes, after a while of operation a 'D' appear in the satellite intensity bar. What does this mean ?
It means that your gps received correction information for that satellite from the egnos/waas system. --Mistvieh 22:58, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
Is it possible to use the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx as a GPS mouse? So that I can connect the device via USB to my netbook and run a navigation software like Navit? --kdkeller 04:08, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
No. --Zverik 10:56, 29 October 2010 (BST)
Yes with Linux, gpsd and navit --Drlizau 19:59, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
See USB Garmin on GNU/Linux for instructions --Kagee 20:45, 2 March 2011 (UTC)
Yes, with Google Earth at least on Mac OS X --Bot47 09:41, 21 July 2011 (BST)
Is there a way to make the unit recognize more than one map file in an SD card? Putting a gmapsupp.img in a Garmin directory is known to work. Can a gmapsup2.img or any other name be recognized, or do all maps need to be merged into a single gmapsupp.img file first? Since a single FAT32 file is limited to 4GB the latter would mean that any SD card bigger than 4GB is useless even if recognized.
Garmin Etrex Vista Manual
Only in newer Garmins, like Oregon/Colorado. In eTrexes you must join maps with Mapsource to produce a single gmapsupp.img. Unfortunately, Mapsource does not read .img --Zverik 10:56, 29 October 2010 (BST)
Garmin Etrex Vista Rei
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