Sorry probably been covered a million times but couldnt find it myself.

Im looking at getting an outdoor GPS unit and Im stuck between these 3…

Garmin Vista HCX
Garmin Legend HCX
Garmin Dakota 10

Anyone got any recomendations ? Does the compass on the Vista make much difference ?

I've just got myself a Legend Hcx which is a nice bit of kit and quite resonable if ordered from Amazon. The Vista has the Compass and barometer but is quite a bit more expensive.

Compass is really useful on a GPS if you want to "follow" it.

Without the compass, the GPS can't tell which way you are facing unless you're moving steadily, so it can't give you a meaningful direction arrow.

This gets annoying when you stop at a junction to check where you want to go!

Try the Garmin 305 with topomap (fair) but the other bell and whistles you get are fabulous

Satmap every time

Garmim Legend here and the B&W screen is fine for me. no bells, no wistles.

Its about 6 years old, still works and cost me £85 😀

I used my Dakota 20 for the first time today, and I'm made up with it. Perfect size for the stem, nice and clear, and easy to follow a route on.

The magnetic compass will shorten your battery life and the ones without it work fine so long as you are moving (even a couple of feet). You will get GPS altitude on the ones without the barometer and whilst not as accurate it won't really make much difference. The Dakota has the advantage of being able to run OS GB discoverer raster maps but the lack of a micro SD slot on the dakota 10 would be a bit limiting (some of the GB discoverer maps will be bigger than the internal memory on the dakota 10). I would go for the Legend HCx or the Dakota 20 depending on budget. Or the vista if its a similar price to the legend.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do?cID=145&compareProduct=30925&compareProduct=30926&compareProduct=8701&compareProduct=8703