Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

Bought the bundle to address one of the major complaints--cost of mapware--and couldn't be happier. The Topo 2008 is okay, certainly a major improvement on the base map. The software has a nice little tutorial that makes uploading maps to the device a breeze. On first boot, acquired and locked on satelites within 30 seconds and I was on my way. As a full-functioning GPS mapping device, it took me about an hour to sort through all the features to set it up for my needs. After customizing the data screens, I found myself trying to decide if this is a tool or a toy. It's just a hoot to use, and highly recommended.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

Works well, fun to use, great for safety. Nice color screen at an affordable price.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

The Garmin Venture HC is an excellent GPS unit for the price. It's very small, about the size of a large cellphone. It feels durable, and has a nice rubberized grip on the outer edges to keep it from slipping out of your hands when wet or cold. Seems relatively water resistant, I've never submerged it, but I've never worried about using it in the rain or wet conditions. I've used this unit in 100F+ temps, down to near freezing, and I've never had a problem. It's reasonably fast at updating, and seems to be accurate to within 10-15 ft. which is good enough for my uses.

As far as usage goes, the controls are a bit on the complicated side, but once you figure them out it works pretty well. The menus and screens are very configurable. It comes with more features than I was expecting for a unit of this price... I particularly like the odometer/trip screen. It has some geocaching features built in, but I've never used it so I can't really comment on how well it works.

The included base map is pretty sparse (to be expected), so I picked up Topo 2008. Not cheap, but definitely worth it. The maps are very detailed, and pretty easy to read on the unit's screen. When I first got the unit, my main worry was it not having expandable memory. But even with only 24MB of built in memory, I was able to store a few dozen maps on the unit with space to spare. If you're familiar with the National Geographic topo maps, each map is about the same size and detail. You won't be able to store the whole US, but I was able to easily store a good portion of the colorado rockies, so I was pretty happy about that. The Topo 2008 software allows you to swap out the maps as needed between trips.

My main gripe is with the software used to put topo maps onto the unit. If you run Windows, the included software isn't too bad. But for us Mac users, Garmin makes us jump through lots of hoops to manage the topo maps and put them on the gps. After several hours of headaches, I finally ended up installing Windows XP on boot camp, just to run the MapSource app. Hopefully Garmin will finally finish their Mac software suite, but in the mean time this setup will do.

All in all, though, this is a very nice GPS unit.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

This little guy is terrific! I have taken it into the backwoods on my mountain bike for a total of 3,000 hard vibrating miles in the time that I have owned this device and it has held up without problems! Driven across the USA with it mounted on the dash of my Element, and it is fantastic for finding our way there too. You can use a simple 5.0 volt USB output to operate this device. I am using a Griffen adapter for the iPod to run mine in the car. This allows you to keep the backlight on the unit on full time.. Nice!

Once in a blue moon the Venture HC will shut itself off when operating in high temperatures, above 90F, that is my only complaint with the hardware. Garmin's software is good on the PC side in XP, but Garmin has made no effort to cater to other OS until recently. There is a first version "Garmin Road Trip" for the Mac that is goofy at best, watch for upgrades there.

I have the full Topo maps for the US 2008 version loaded on the PC, and can pull map sectors to be copied onto the Garmin for a specific area. For not having a SD card, it holds quite a few maps at a time. I have loaded the Rockies from Montana's border south through the Wasatch of northern Utah down to I-70 and it all can be loaded at once. The complete Topo maps for the US are big, about 2.60 Gig, so it is not all going to fit at once, but the management of maps in XP is great!

Overall this GPS is accurate in general to 10 feet, and is intuitive to operate once you find the display combinations that "you" want to see and customize them for your needs. In bright sunlight, the maps are easy to read, and the backlight has lots of steps of brightness. Color is good, but for some folks, the display size is a bit small for in the car applications.

I give this a 5 star rating for the device, and give Garmin a 3 star rating for their software attempts in other OS platforms.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

This device is a WONDERFUL improvement in the eTrex lineup. The HC chipset shows remarkable improvements in reception. It's no longer a big deal to power up/down the device in between marking waypoints on long trips because satellite acquiring is ridiculously fast compared to previous models. In fact, I can actually say that powering up and down now actually DOES save battery life, where with previous models it was a moot point, and used to shorten battery life.

The Topo 2008 maps are plenty accurate. If you need more accuracy, a paper topo is better anyways. The unit allows you to select the level of detail shown, which is great. Be aware that turning on the highest detail levels all the time can make redrawing the screen a chore (very slow). While the memory is somewhat limited, it's plenty to hold topo maps for a long hiking trip. I live near Seattle, and I currently have maps loaded for almost all of Western Washington (about 75%), so I don't even have to think about loading up new topo maps for hikes that are within day-hike range.

I have used it off-road in my '05 Scion xB (or on road) for forest service roads a lot with the builtin waypoint warnings, and it's great. It's not very well suited though for actually driving with it as a vehicle GPS.

There's a little trick you can do with this device to save battery life. Get a standard USB car adapter. I use one from Phillips that has a nice adapter set that also works with my mini-usb devices, and has a variable-length USB cable in it (the way this particular system works, you can also use the included usb cable with the cig. lighter adapter); it then powers from your vehicle instead of the batteries.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

We've tested in several situations in preparation for extended outing in the fall. Performed great and was easy to use on the trail. Combined it with Mapsource Topo and very pleased with the results. We've been able to both plan hikes, and then review after. Accurate and easy to read. For our needs, couldn't get any better.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

I wanted to use this for a few months before posting a review. I use this for hiking and geocaching and have found it to be nearly perfect. I would not use it for vehicle travel as there are other GPS units designed for that purpose that would be better. I have found it to be very fast to lock on to satellites, even indoors. It holds the signal well in heavy tree cover and even with thunder clouds overhead. I was out today in heavy cover with thunder and lightening storms overhead, the GPS got me out in good time although there were a couple of times I felt I needed to pause to let the GPS catch up to me. I use this with Garmin TOPO US 24K WEST with 1:24,000 scale and I find it has wonderful detail. I would not change anything about this GPS, I love it. The only thing I might change is to upgrade to the eTrex Vista HCx only so that I can have the micro SD Card capability in order to store more map data. This is the only reason I give it a 4 instead of a 5. All things considered, this is a great little GPS unit.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

This is a great gps for geocaching and hiking the trails. It is also a reasonable price for what you get. I do recommend that you get the Garmin topo maps to go with it.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

The good:

1. This product handles the basics very well. It gets great satellite reception, even under heavy tree cover in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It has decent battery life, it's rugged, and it will enable you to find your way home.

2. It uses standard AA batteries.

3. Inexpensive compared to other products.

The bad:

1. The software on the GPS device is not intuitive, nor is the software that you load onto your personal computer.

2. The processor is slow. It takes forever for the images to load when you change the zoom setting or scroll to a different location. Kind of reminds me of the days of internet dial up - the page will load eventually, but you get really annoyed while waiting.

3. It comes with a tiny amount of memory, and you can't add more. It has enough memory to store topo maps for about one New England state.

4. It doesn't track your altitude. If you want to plot changes in altitude, you need to purchase a different model.

Overall:

Think of this device as more of a survival tool than a "fun" gadget.

Comments about Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver:

This product does not get signal in the Okinawan houses. Note: the hoses on base are concrete so it isn't the products fault. FAST on and off but it takes a while to link with the satellites. Easy to use but the routable maps seem to need some tweaking. Good product overall and I recommend it.