Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $116.00 You Save: $53.99 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $112.93 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver
Digital camera Review: :)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a nice basic gps. I use it for geocaching and I love it. I was worried about the color screen draining the batteries but I've had the same batteries in it for a month and they aren't even on their last bar yet. It's good if you're looking for something basic and inexpensive.Digital camera Review: A Classic Geocaching GPS
Summary: 4 Stars
Bought this GPSr for geocaching. It has worked largely excellently. I wanted one that was water resistant and rugged. I have found 700+ caches with this thing and it keeps going strong. Garmins interface nicely with the geocaching website, easily downloading cords.
Cons: The first time I filled the memory I was surprised. There is no indication that you are running out of memory. But suddenly I was in the field with missing cords. Also, its flaky about batteries. When the meter shows that batteries are half down, the GPRr will begin to spontaneously crash. Hit the wrong button, and crash. Kinda of annoying in the field and it means swapping out batteries a bunch.
This thing has been solid. They accuracy seems to be as good as fancy more expensive GPRr. It has been very reliable. The backlight makes a nice visible screen in low visibility settings. I really have seen no reason to move up to a more expensive GPSr. This is a good choice.
Digital camera Review: A Tad Disappointed but it is worth the money
Summary: 4 Stars
I have an expensive Nuvi for my road travels but I needed a handheld for my offroad fun so I settled on the Etrex Venture mainly because of its price. It fit comfortably in my hand and the control locations could not be better. Unfortunately learning those controls is a lot harder than it should be. You can use the instruction book as a loose guide but Garmin really needs to create a better interface. I was also disappointed in the built in map. It is better than nothing, but barely and since there is no micro SD slot the map choices are limited with DVD and CD-ROM, and they aren't cheap. In retrospect I think I would have paid the additional $70 or so for the HCx so that I could have the SD slot.
In conclusion, you get what you pay for. Had I been paying attention I would have squeezed my wallet a bit and opted for the HC's big brother. Nonetheless I am going to stick with it, at least until I master the learning curve, and I did find a DVD that contains the necessary map data at several of the GPS sites. I don't recommend buying direct from Garmin as they are about $40 higher than anyone else. Amazon has a fairly decent choice at reasonable prices, but they didn't have the one I wanted.
Digital camera Review: A-OK
Summary: 4 Stars
A good handheld GPS for a very fair price. I haven't used it much, but it loads up quickly and the screen is color. The screen auto dims quickly in order to conserve battery power (not a problem for me, but if you are a hard core handheld GPS user, you may want to shop around).Digital camera Review: Acceptable with upgrades
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had this unit for about a month now, and it's been working fairly well. It seems to be able to get satellites readings pretty easily and accurately. It can even acquire a signal in an jet plane, and it's pretty fun being able to tell what towns you're flying over and how fast the plane is moving. The display is really nice. It can operate with a backlight of varying brightnesses or without, depending on the light level and your concern of battery life. The included software isn't bad. All and all product is basically as described, EXCEPT...
-the "detailed base map" that the Amazon product description talks about is bull. There's only a dozen or 2 roads listed in all of Manhattan. (Other US cities have similar detail.) If you want to do anything interesting, except know the exact coordinates of different points you load, you've got to upgrade the map.
PS - "Beast Hunt", one of the included games on the unit, is more fun than I'd like to admit.