Andrew and Debbie,

 

Welcome to Geocaching, and welcome to the list server! It’s too bad you already have your doctorate, Andrew; you could probably write a dozen dissertations just on what goes on here! J

 

I had generally good results with my Vista. The biggest problem I had was that the adhesive for the external gasket melted after a year or so of heavy use. I don’t think it was really designed for caching in the desert heat. (Come to think of it, neither am I.) But for casual use it’s probably fine. I suspect the prices have come way down with all of Garmin’s new models.

 

One other caution: You can’t really take advantage of the mapping capabilities of the Vista unless you spring for one or more of Garmin’s proprietary MapSource CDs. Those are hard to find with any significant discounting, and they ain’t no bargain, but they are the only thing that will work, as far as I know.

 

Steve

Team Tierra Buena