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gpspassion
93402 Posts |
 Posted - 18 avr. 2008 : 21:33:11
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Welcome to the forums and thanks for the comparison, yes it seems it's going the other way around now, used to underestimate, now it overestimates, still, close enough.
Strange that your Vista HCx should acquire more quickly, I'm getting similar TTFF, provided I hold the 60Csx straight to place the helix antenna in the position it was intended, with both receivers laying flat, the patch antenna of the Vista wins. |
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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scotch whisky
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
Posted - 18 avr. 2008 : 23:17:29
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Hi,
I tend to hold my GPSs horizontal which of course favours the HCx.
The need to calibrate the compass and altitude of the CSx annoyed me so much that I purchased the Legend rather than the Vista.
As I use both exclusivly for hiking I find I now always use the Legend HCx.
Reasons:-
1. Smaller and lighter. Whan I pick up the 76CSx now it seems far to big for hiking.
2. No calibration required. I found the GPSMAP 76CSx altitude to be very inaccurate for the first 30 minutes unless calibrated. The compass was also more trouble than it was worth. Turning slowly in circles whilst calibrating is not my idea of fun but gives evreyone else watching a laugh.
3. The screen of the HCx is IMHO more legible and is not so blue. I can't say that I miss the bigger screen of the CSx at all.
4. I prefer the click stick to the very spongy buttons of the CSx.
5. The batteries last at least 5 hours longer in the HCx. This may of course be because the Legend does not have a barometer/compass.
With the latest software I can't see any reason for a hiker to prefer the 60/76 CSx over the Vista/Legend HCx.
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Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx - Etrex Legend HCx - Topo GB V2 - City Navigator Europe V10 |
Edited by - scotch whisky on 18 avr. 2008 23:43:58 |
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hmgps
France
438 Posts |
Posted - 13 juin 2008 : 11:48:48
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@ScotchWhisky
It is a pleasure to read your message. I have the Vista HCx, which is a excellent GPS but unfortunately cannot get the elevation without a calibration as the previous basic systems does.
Moreover Garmin doesn't give any details about the calculation method which take into account the pressure.
Can we hope this improvement in a new version ?
I have post a similar message here :
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=105295&whichpage=18 |
Edited by - hmgps on 13 juin 2008 12:06:50 |
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Sellador
USA
98 Posts |
Posted - 16 juin 2008 : 18:37:28
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quote:
I have the Vista HCx, which is a excellent GPS but unfortunately cannot get the elevation without a calibration as the previous basic systems does.
I don't understand the issue you are raising. Any pressure-based altimeter requires calibration on each use because weather affects the pressure readings. That's just physics and Garmin can't do much about that. The only other means to estimate elevation (with a GPSr) is via the GPS system itself and that is notoriously inaccurate. That's all that a system without an altimeter would have. What earlier system did you have that didn't require elevation calculation? My guess is that, if you had a system that didn't require calibration, it was just using GPS signals and was, therefore, not particularly accurate. |
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hmgps
France
438 Posts |
Posted - 16 juin 2008 : 19:25:25
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@Sellador
Ok, I am in complete agreement with you, except on your "the GPS system itself and that is notoriously inaccurate" :
Perhaps, the elevation is not precise with gps data (I have never noticed that since 2003 when I have bought my first basic etrex) but the accuracy is good, even it is not precise (My bicycle experience with pass).
Perhaps, we do not understand each other on the difference between accuracy (absolute elevation) and precision (Stability of measurement).
Now, the Vista HCx calculates always the elevation with the pression and at the final it could be bad when the weather changes.
I want only an option to avoid this correction when I am in a long trip without any altimeter reference |
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Sellador
USA
98 Posts |
Posted - 18 juin 2008 : 06:26:07
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| Okay, now I get where you're going with this. The pressure-based altimeter does have the problem of being susceptible to pressure changes from weather so I can see how that would be a problem for you on a long ride. So you want to turn it off and just use the GPS-based elevation. Good news, you can do that. From the elevation page, press menu>calibrate altimeter. When it asks, 'Do you know the correct elevation?', say no. Saying no turns off the pressure-based altimeter and uses only the GPS signals to calculate elevation. |
Edited by - Sellador on 18 juin 2008 06:26:57 |
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hmgps
France
438 Posts |
Posted - 18 juin 2008 : 21:37:21
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Yes, I have done that since I get the Vista HCx.
But the Vista takes then the new gps elevation and after continues to correct it with the pressure measurements, no way to prevent that... |
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MtnHermit
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - 20 juin 2008 : 16:31:00
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quote:
Originally posted by gpspassion
Interesting find, reminds of how the news about the 60Cx came out in 1995.
I wonder why Garmin no longer mention that they are using SiRF chipsets. That fooled us for the 2xx when we thought they had switched to MTK. Based on the current performance problems of the MTK chipset in pedestrian mode, they can't be using it on the eTrex series. That leaves SiRF, NemeriX or uBlox, we shall see...
Interesting comment, clearly you knew in May 07 that the MTK chipset had a defect. Making it unsuitable for handheld use, slow speed. Yet Garmin did use the MTK and a year later it's still having problems. Would seem that cost and satellite sensitivity were more important to Garmin. Or worse, Garmin didn't know what you knew?
Surely not 1995 above? Was the SiRF chip available in 1995? Was microSD available in 1995? I have only been a GPS user since 2007, so I can't be certain when the 60Cx came out. |
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gpspassion
93402 Posts |
Posted - 28 juin 2008 : 16:18:13
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That would be 2005 obviously, good catch nonetheless!
As for the MKT vI chipset having a low speed issue, everyone who'd used on foot knew that, just search the forums. It's been fixed since v2.60 though, better late than never. |
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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AlunS
Ireland
25 Posts |
Posted - 11 août 2008 : 14:14:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Sellador
So you want to turn it off and just use the GPS-based elevation. Good news, you can do that. From the elevation page, press menu>calibrate altimeter. When it asks, 'Do you know the correct elevation?', say no. Saying no turns off the pressure-based altimeter and uses only the GPS signals to calculate elevation.
No it doesn't. It uses the GPS derived elevation at that point in time to calibrate the pressure-based altimeter. You also have the option of manually entering a known elevation, or a known sea level pressure as well. After that auto-calibration will continually use the GPS elevation to correct the pressure-based altimeter. The only way to get the pure GPS-based elevation is from the main menu on the Satellite page. |
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resco
138 Posts |
Posted - 29 août 2008 : 13:05:38
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| SW is now 2.70 (io 2.60) for legend and Vista Hcx |
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MacFlash
USA
38 Posts |
Posted - 30 août 2008 : 19:02:15
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| I have read through the 10 pages here and noticed that the assumption is that the etrex series has a Mediatek chipset based on the start up splash screen. I can't read enough German to know if the references have anything more factual than that. Has anyone noticed that the Mediatek copyright has disappeared from the startup page. Often spurious software copyright notices get transferred from one version of the software to the next. Also if you look at the diagnostics page of the HCx series is says the software is bravoII.(Hold down click stick while starting) Has anybody actually taken apart an etrex HCx and seen what chip is inside? Is it possible that it is the Garmin Bravo and not the Meiatek chip? |
Marc |
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gpspassion
93402 Posts |
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g.o.cashers
71 Posts |
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louchem
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 13 nov. 2008 : 03:49:28
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Just wanted to chime in here with my experiences with a recently purchased Venture HC. When I got the unit one of the first things I did was load up WebUpdater and download the latest software updates. When I did that I was able to download the latest system software at the time, but when it came to try and download "additional updates" (i.e. chipset software updates) I was getting an error connecting to the Garmin server. This has been going on since I received the unit in late October. Here is an example of what I see when I run WebUpdater
First it shows that it has connected to the Garmin server and found that I already have the latest system software version
Then after I click "Next" to try and find "additional updates" I get this error
To make a long story short, I've tried corresponding with Garmin to solve this problem but once I get to software support they are very unhelpful. While trying to figure out what was going on with my unit I've stumbled across a couple of interesting observations.
First, when I load up the software version screen on my unit I see the system software version as well as my unit ID but the GPS SW version is nowhere to be found.
The other intersting thing is that if I run diagnostics at startup my unit shows that it is Bravo version 3.
There has been a bit of a discussion on the Groundspeak forums about all of this and I've found a couple other recent Venture HC owners who have the same problem as I do and also are showing Bravo version 3. I have no idea what chipset or which version of the GPS SW I have in my device.
This is my first hand-held GPS after owning an auto GPS for a couple of years. I really have no frame of reference for determining how well this unit might be working in comparison to others. So far it seems to work well with a quick intial lock after a cold start and staying locked even inside the house. I've taken it out on one hike and it did a great job keeping good reception in the woods and the track log turned out very nice. The only thing I have noticed is that it seems to have trouble locking onto the WAAS satellite even with a clear view of the sky. But, even without the WAAS adjustments I am getting accuracies of 10-13ft in the open and 20-25ft in dense tree cover.
Anyway, if anyone has any information on the possibility of Garmin switching the chipset on this device from the older Mediatek I'd love to hear it. I have my own personal feeling that they did make a change and they are trying to keep the cat in the bag...at least for now. |
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[TOPIC] eTrex series H w/MTK chip - SW3.40/FW2.90
