Others say...

"Lots of features in a small, inexpensive package"
I like to hike and backpack, and a friend recently turned me on to geocaching. After a lot of research, and I mean A LOT, I decided to go with the Vista hCX because it seemed to do everything in a small compact unit. The unit is pretty rugged, apparently waterproof (although I don't want to find out) and has a great color screen.

First the user interface has a TON of features but it's not terribly intuitive. I have to say I'm pretty quick to learn technology like this, and I didn't have much trouble learning how to do all of the things I want to do with this. The only complaint with the unit itself is that the screen is kind of small, but honestly what can you expect in a little handheld? I would say the screen works great considering the small size, and I really shouldn't complain since I wanted something small.

The basemap is useless. I would recommend purchasing the Topo maps for this, which I did. The Topo maps have a lot of detail including lakes and streams. The unit seems to know exactly where I am at all times with considerable accuracy, but I have to say I feel the Topo map is a little off. There were times where I was hiking along the shore of a lake, and the unit said I was walking in the lake. Although the unit itself is really accurate, where I was hiking (Jefferson Park, Mt. Jefferson Oregon) the map itself seemed to be off by about 20 feet. However, when I got home and downloaded my tracks to the computer and looked at it on Google Earth, the track looked perfectly accurate. Actually that's one of the coolest features of this unit, the fact that you can look at your tracks on Google Earth - it is a lot of fun to do that after a long hike.

The City Navigator maps are pretty incredible too. I never expected a little unit like this to know where all of the restaurants, ATMs, grocery stores, banks, etc are, AND it gives turn-by-turn directions. I'm very impressed that this unit can do that.

Overall I recommend this unit. There are very few flaws, the biggest being that some people might find it difficult to use, but believe me it's not THAT bad. Like I said I have found out how to use it and customize it the way I want, but it's not terribly intuitive. If you are in need of a handheld unit, I say the current market price of $230 is well worth it.

"The UI makes a good GPS painful to use"
If all you want is a GPS, sure it works fine, even with reasonably heavy tree cover. I've only seen one glaring track error, on a recent ride out and back along a shoreline trail, where two miles of one leg is shown a few hundred yards out into the lake.

However, the UI is non-sensical and the "get started guide" useless. I don't get why Garmin supposedly has a reputation for good UI.

Take the back-light button: who in their right minds makes a back-light button bring up the back-light UI and not the back-light?

The clock is even funnier. You'd think a GPS would know where it is, and thus the time zone, but no, on the Idaho Panhandle twenty miles west of the Montana border the clock will be off not one, but two full hours.

By the way, the top right button is the primary button you're supposed to use, and you'll just have to circle through 8 UI screens to go back and forth between the two screens you want.

Finally, the MapSource Topo software is well past useless: it can't even provide driving directions to trail heads for the small fraction of logging roads it knows about (only some of which actually exist.)

When you're in the woods you'll really wish the topo lines were distinguishable on screen from fire roads and you could toggle between a zoomed in and a zoomed out version of the map.

The good news is I have yet to be eaten by a grizzly bear or any of the theoretically endangered wolves who've taken to howling at all hours of the night just up the hill from my house.

"Tested in Patagonia"
I bought to use in my adventure in Patagonia (trekings in Toores del Paine and El Chalten) with my girlfriend, and it survives all weathers (and help us survive too!).

"Recevied with problem on the ON/OFF switch"
I recevied the device in good packing kondtion but, when i switch it on and switch it back off i can not restart the device back antel i renstall the battery again. is there and way i can send you back the device for repair or replecment?

please advice

"Great backpacking GPS"
I love this GPS. When I bought it new, it did everything I wanted it to. There's no weather information but I figure I am outside I can see what the weather is. The accuracy is typically 5-7ft when in open terrain and anywhere from 6-14ft when in semi-dense trees. I use this GPS for skiing, biking, 4wheeling, and backpacking. Get some rechargable batteries like the energizer 2200mAhr AA, they will last a good 24+ hours with the backlight off and with tracking on. The newer units have some slight improvement but not enought to spend the extra money. I love the expandable memory for additional maps. I really can't say enought great things about this GPS. I wouldn't suggest this as a car use GPS for turn by turn directions as the screen is very small for that use.