eTrex Legend HCx - unusable in overcast light conditions.

GezThulbourn

I got one for Christmas and it was put back in its box waiting to be returned on boxing day morning. Every other review I read waxes lyrical about how great they are: is mine not working or is the 'emporer not wearing any clothes'???

The key point is: can anybody actually read the screen without the backlight on? 'sunlight-readable display': maybe in Southern Californian summer but in dull and overcast Blighty bent over the bars I couldn't see a thing without turning the backlight button on. What a terrible terrible mistake for Garmin to make! I guess that makes the non-colour version a much better bet (presuming it has a higher contrast ratio - anybody got any input on that?). I'm blowed if I'm going to spend £200 on a GPS only to have to press a button on the side like the first generation of LED watches to make the screen visible! Is this my unit/eyes or does anybody else have the same problem?

As far as I'm concerned, from an all weather cyclists point of view this device is nothing more than worthless bling (expect on the odd sunny day). Anybody got any suggestions for alternative options?

woody-som

I have a basic etrex yellow, nothing fancy, just follow a pre ploted route, easy to view screen, and available for around £60-£70. I've used it in the very sunny summers, Ok this can be a bit of a problem with glare, but also used in the pouring rain, and that was fine.

andrew_s

Tried adjusting the tilt on the bars?

toontra

Surely the whole point of having to press a button to turn on the backlight is to preserve battery life. I have a Vista HCx and set the backlight to come on for 30 seconds at each route point. That's the only time that I actually need to see the screen - at junctions, roundabouts, etc. If I fancy a general look at the screen then I just dab the button.

To have the backlight on permanently would drastically reduce battery life, and for me one of the main reasons for getting the eTrex was the 25-hour ability (I can now do 300 miles on Audax routes on one charge).

cougie

I'd also try the tilt on the bars thing. Angle makes all the difference.

piedwagtail91

don't know about the later models but my vista c is readable without the backlight in almost all daylight conditions.

GezThulbourn

Mmmh, tried tweaking the angle, but not easy to do on a set of tribars - is kind of visible but kind of not. Was I expecting too much out of the device to think it would replace my £20 wired speedo which I can read clearly at any angle in any weather? I was intending to remove that and use the GPS alone since it has so much more useful info.
Looking at the screen with no backlight in sunlight is like looking at Ghost writing, I can't find any contrast setting and tried various colour 'themes'. It isn't helped by the glass covering which seems quite reflective, and therefore adds to the problem when the sun does come out.

For touring navigation pressing a button whilst moving along would probably be OK: but I would still find that incredibly annoying if I just want to know roughly how far to my next turn, and to generally be kept aware of where I am en route, how far I've come, what speed I'm doing, which way is North etc.

Moreover, if you like a bit of a sprint from time to time, want to put your head down and have a blast for an hour or so on a favourite route, then removing your hand from the bars to press the button to just see what speed you are doing probably isn't a good idea at speeds over 25mph. I know this is more the domain of the Edge, but I wanted a device you could use for training and navigation (unfortunately Edge is unable to do this since it has too short battery life and too little memory for touring).

Somebody I know has the old Edge (non-colour) and it works well with no backlight, I wonder if the new colour edge shares the same poor screen contrast ratio as this HCx.

Cheers, G

Cunobelin

If I am underestimating you her - ignore me.....

There is a facility to alter the contrast of the screen on the Etrex - a handy way of compensating for ambient light.

I presume there is a similar facility of the Hcx - Have you tried this?

bryanm

I've got one of these. Never had a problem with it, and never had to turn the backlight on when out riding or running.

ColinJ

I have a basic Etrex and that has a contrast adjustment, but surprisingly the Etrex Legend HCx doesn't appear to have one (I just downloaded the manual for it).

What it does have is 2 sets of 10 different colour schemes, one set for nighttime use and one for daytime. The device can be set to switch over at dusk and dawn (auto mode) or you can lock it to one or the other. Have you tried all 20 different variations?

GezThulbourn

Hey, thanks I'll check that out and post back: bizarre that there isn't any contrast control, maybe my device is stuck in night mode: it was all setup as US out of the box???

By the way, has anybody seen the deal to be had on the Edge at Halfords: 205 (no cadence) just £90 cf £149ish at Wiggle... ooo, maybe at that price you could have one of those AND an eTrex for touring ???

andrew_s

There's not still a screen protector on is there? There would normally be a thin plastic film on top of the screen so it doesn't have any scratches when it gets to you. These can be fairly reflective.

GezThulbourn

Good thought; I had kept that on in case I wanted to return it; certainly improved things, but the big thing was changing the colour scheme yesterday afternoon... to as close to black and white as possible! It's certainly readable now (but not if you're hanging over it on tribars): It would be good if you could set up your own colour schemes so you can go for maximum contrast (i.e. black and white). Still very unimpressed with the contrast ratio of the screen: hope they work on this in the future.
Thanks everybody for your input. Whilst digging around I found some excellent resources of free mapping information for Garmin devices: I'll try them out and if not already posted will drop them on the forum in a new post.

Wishing you all a great 2008's cycling, Gez.