Editorial Review

Garmin's eTrex Vista GPS receiver is smaller than its popular eMaps, but far more powerful. The Vista offers more memory, more features, and more convenience than any other GPS hardware in this price range.

Don't be fooled by the product's small screen. Although smaller than the display used in products like the eMap, it has a higher resolution, letting it show more information more crisply. Small text can be difficult to read from a distance, but there are "big number" options available to make important data like your speed easy to read.

It's this configurability that makes the eTrex Vista so special.

	 
Map page (shown with optional MapSource topo detail).

You can easily set it up to suit your needs, regardless of the situation. Menu choices are highlighted and confirmed with a small joystick near the top of the unit, providing an elegant interface for navigating a formidable amount of options. Our only complaint is that the joystick used to access all the product's features is offset to the left, making it nearly impossible to control using only your right hand. When the joystick is held in your left hand, however, every control is within easy reach of your left thumb, freeing your right hand to hold a flashlight, walking stick, lantern, or anything else.

This GPS unit's diminutive size and weight, not to mention its rugged design, make it an ideal hiking companion. It's waterproof in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes and is generously coated with shock-absorbing rubber. The barometric altimeter keeps a historical record of your ascents and descents, graphing elevation changes so you can easily track your progress.

	 
Elevation page

The ability to store waypoints, points of interest, routes, and other information means you can blaze your own trail and always find your way back to camp.

Best of all, 24 MB of internal memory makes it possible to store an enormous amount of data from Garmin's optional MapSource CDs, turning the eTrex Vista into an interactive road atlas. The memory isn't expandable, but 24 MB is enough to store street-level data for entire states in some cases.

A serial cable is included for transferring the maps from your PC to the GPS unit, but it's terribly slow. A USB connector, sold separately, transfers data in a fraction of the time.

The eTrex Vista was very accurate in testing, especially in a car on the open road. Accuracy diminished somewhat when the device was used in heavy tree cover or a dense urban area, but not enough that you're ever going to get lost or miss an exit. Used side-by-side with an eMap, the eTrex Vista kept up in update speed while displaying even more information on the moving map than the eMap did, cementing its position as perhaps the best all-around handheld GPS unit money can buy. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Small and light without sacrificing features
• 24 MB of integrated memory stores reams of detailed maps
• High-resolution screen displays sharp text legible even at extremely small sizes

Cons:

• Can't be used one-handed when held in the right hand
• Smaller display is hard to read from a distance, as when the device is placed on a dashboard

Features

• 12 Channel all-in-view tracking
• Compatible with most Bluetooth devices ¿ any with Serial Port Profile
• Small, sleek, and lightweight design easily fits in your hand
• Rechargeable embedded lithium-ion battery lasts for 6 hours of use

Reviews (5)

Easy to use with iPaq
I should have bought this a long time ago.I have had my iPaq for almost 1 year and finally bought this.Wow - it is so cool. Works very well with MS Pocket Streets.After seeing how this works, I can not imagine why anyone would pay $1000+ to buy a car with built in nav system.

A great Bluetooth GPS receiver!
This product delivers exactly what it's advertised to do.I'm a Mac person and found it to be compatible with all of the available software (Route 66 for example).The Bluetooth implementation likewise is very compatible with OS X.One thing to be careful about is to follow the serial port setup advice (see www.66.com support notes for a clean procedure to get it working).

Great Product - Terrible Support
As far as the product goes - this is incredible.Imagine something the size of a credit card and 1/4 inch thick being able to be tracked by a satellite.My Ipaq 2215 bonded quickly and effortlessly with this receiver - it was so easy to set up.

This was my first gps purchase, so obviously I had many questions.You have to register the product to ask a question via email and two weeks later - I still haven't received a reply to my questions.

Features

• Large 5 line by 30 character display
• Search for phrases; idiom/example sentence search
• Displays keyword, part of speech, English or Japanese equivalent, stress and accent marks, example sentences and idioms
• English to Japanese/Japanese to English dictionary (Romanized)
• Integrated thesaurus and spell checker

Reviews (13)

Not worth the money if a serious student
I would only recommend this dictionary to the occasional business traveler interested in using a few words but who has no intention of learning the Japanese language. A small paper dictionary would be just as effective at a fraction of the cost. [...]

Good for Beginers, but overpriced
When I first bought this dictionary in Japan, it really helped me a lot because I couldn't read chinese characters. I would carry it with me wherever I went as it was really small and light. It helped me a lot in conversation because I could search for a word fairly quickly and it also was a big help in learning Kanji. But it didn't take long for me to realise that the vocabulary of the dictionary is VERY limited. This became much more apparent as I became better at Japanese. I wouldn't really recommend this dictionary to anyone simply because it's overpriced. I would recommend a dictionary for Japanese people (without Roman characters) because for the same price you can get a really good one especially the Casio Dictionaries.

Cheaply Made
This should sell for $30.00 tops. That's the price of the other Seiko electronic translators. Because it's so expensive I was really upset when it stopped working after a few months. It didn't just break all at once it went out one key at a time. The problem is it uses a rubber pad with a magnetic strip to activate the chipset, but the metallic material was too thin and wore off quickly. Don't waste your money.

Features

• Provides you with instant access to 5000000 total translations to and from Spanish and English!

Reviews (14)

SO much better than a dictionary
Five years ago, I hesitated to buy this product because I thought it was extravagent - I had a dictionary, why would I need this?It is WONDERFUL.The dictionary is comprehensive and MUCH easier and faster to use than a book.Because of that, I constantly refer to it, both while reading and in class.The conjugation tool is extremely helpful.And it fits in your pocket.Great product and worth every penny.I am on-line today to buy a new one because I dropped it in a puddle and I can't live without it.

Great Dictionary, low batery life!
I have had my dictionary fora year and a 1/2 now. I love it, you can type in conjugated forms of words, and it automaticly translates it to the infinative. If you are a beginer in spanish this is extreemly helpfull to fast information.
Ever get too lazy to look up a word in the dictionary so you just don't bother? That doesn't happen any more now that i have this dictionary.
A major negitive is that the dictionary's bateries don't wear that long. I have had replace them a few times. If you don't replace it, the screen gets hard to see, and it says "warning bateries are low." This is very anoying because the bateries are the round expensive ones that are not common.
Overall, the dictionary itself has a lot of perks and good features. Beware that the flap on top, falls off easily.

Features

• Portable Power Plant with 16,000 mAh Storage
• Runs laptops, TVs, air pumps and cell phones
• Household AC & Vehicle DC Charge Cords Included
• Recharge in your house, car or using the Brunton Solaris
• Laptop not included

Asin: B000093IL3
Sales Rank: 19452