eTrex Vista HCx newbie questions...

[clarkchrist]

Hi everyone,

I just got my first GPS, a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx. We do a fair amount of hiking and biking in the Northeast.  I have downloaded the Northeast parts 1-3 from this site and they are great topos.  I have been reading this site, and others, and have been getting things figured out.

Here are some questions:
1. I created a route in MapSource for an upcoming hike by using the route tool and dropping lots of little waypoints.  It's only a couple miles long but has about 100 waypoints.  It seems to clutter the topo on the screen.  Is it preferrable to just use a few waypoints at significant junctures along the way?

2.  If I only drop a couple waypoints, and then navigate to each one individually, will it interrupt the tracklog and make separate files?  What about if in the middle of a hike I decide to chase a geocache?

3. If I am hiking and stop for lunch, is there any reason to shut off the GPS?  I was wondering this because I would like the track to show one continuous loop & data, not two separate tracks for before/after lunch.

[Seldom]

Re. 2):
When I record tracks to the card, my 60CSX generates 1 tracklog per day.  These have a lot more data saved to them than tracklogs saved to internal memory, and are much handier if you are creating maps.  The downside is that they can't be accessed from the GPSr, only from your computer when the GPSr is in mass storage mode.

Re. 3):
If you have your HCx set to "Record by Distance"  and the distance is larger than a majority of errors (Say 5 yards or so) you can leave it on.  If your unit is set to "Automatic" or "Record by Time", you will build up the miles as errors occur.  You'll see a point cloud develop.  Set to "Record by Time" my 60CSX will log .6 miles in an hour while standing still.  Set to "Record By Distance" it may add 5 or 10 feet).

[Indrid Cold]

Here are some questions:
1. I created a route in MapSource for an upcoming hike by using the route tool and dropping lots of little waypoints.  It's only a couple miles long but has about 100 waypoints.  It seems to clutter the topo on the screen.  Is it preferrable to just use a few waypoints at significant junctures along the way?

I would use the track tool and then load the track to the unit. That way, you can use the trackback feature to navigate and it will give distances and times to destination... Track load this way can be up to 500 via points and won't clutter up your MapSource screen. There is a limit to points on routes also, and I think it is 50? Maybe someone else can jump in with the correct value.