Bergsteiger78

Hey trad-guy, thanks for the answer, you made excellent points. Very interesting what you say about the SA degradation, if the satellite altitude is so precise nowadays, using a barometer can give you more troubles than satisfactions, calibrating it correctly can be pretty problematic, and more in this zones where I hung up, rarely you have a sign or are at a place where you know the altitude in order to calibrate it. So you are total right there. Thinking about it it's true that the Venture HC is a pretty complete option at a very tempting price, but for me battery life is really important, and more if you are away for 10 or 15 days without access to any power, the ammount of batteries could increase to unconfortable levels to carry and protect from the cold etc., in this sense the Venture HCx appears to be the best choice, it costs around 85 to 75 dollars more, but you have 25 hours of battery life, and more tracks and waypoints plus a SD memory slot, without the barometer and compass. It's true, a compass with a 5º degree accuracy is obsolete, if making a triangulation with my cartographic compass takes some time I can't imagine where could you end up using the gps's electronic compass, and more in a chart where you need something flat to use over the map. So I guess that the only use of this gps's electronic compass is to just know where the north is and walk... 5º is just to much for a precise location. About the barometer I'm not so sure if it's so obsolete, I will tell you my experience if I buy a gps with one, to know the atmospheric pressure can be useful even though you don't use it as an altimeter, mostly because of weather changes... but I'm guessing about the true practical use of this, will tell you if I gain some experience in the field. Kein Herr for me lol, I'm only a pal member of the Club Andinista de Mendoza, who loves the mountains around and loves to go to the Zone of the Cordón del Plata near the Aconcagua. By the way, if any of you is coming I would be glad to be of any help.

Aconcagua, but not till december 08!

Hi to all, a mountaineer from Mendoza Argentina. I read the site you mention Link prior to find this thread, I'm mountaineer and I'm also looking for a good and practical GPS, my doubt was with the Extrex Vista HCX against the Vista H... and I think I will preffer this HCX to the cheaper and more practical versions adviced at that site as the Vista H or the Legend. My reasons: While "traditionalmountaineering.org's" most important argument against the barometer and Electronic compass built-in in a gps is "battery life", I see that the Garmin HCX has a battery life of 25 hours, and the "recommended" Etrex H has only 17 hours, even with his harder-to-see greay LCD against the color and bigger LCD of the HCX. So no doubt, I preffer the fancy colors and bigger screen with a longer battery life, no doubt about this point. I understand that the electronic compass can be turned off if not used, so it wouldn't waste my batteries if I don't use it. No doubt about size and weight because both have the same weight and same case. At the mentioned site the writer makes another point that I fail to understand, may be the problem is my english as second language (really. not pun intended) the Site says: We did not need a compass on this adventure as the GPS pointer became active after just a few steps. I think to read in the Etrex Vista HCX specs that this compass is static, it doesn't need movement to work, so in this case another point against electronic compasses can be dismissed. I know that the price difference is a lot, but for people that can afford a Vista HCX I don't see any advantage adquiring a Vista H besides the bucks you are saving. So extra dollars aside, I preffer to have in the mountain a Vista HCX than a Vista H. That's my opinion. Any words?