Garmin eTrex Venture HC High-Intensity Color Mapping Handheld GPS
From Garmin
GARMIN eTrex Venture HC Hand Held Receiver w/ Built in GPS Patch Antenna. New high sensitivity GPS receiver. 24 Mbyte of internal memory for storing detailed maps. WAAS enabled, 12 parallel channel GPS receiver. Built in GPS patch antenna. Display: 1.3 in W x 1.7 in H, 256 color, high resolution, transflective TFT /176 x 220 pixels. LED backlit display and keypad. Battery life: up to 32 hours typical use using two AA alkaline batteries.Includes a built in Americas autoroute basemap with automatic routing capabilities including highways, exits and tide data /USA only. 500 user waypoints with name and graphic symbol; 20 reversible routes, 50 points per route. Position formats include Lat/Lon, UTM, Loran TDs, Maidenhead, MGRS, user grid, and more. Audible alarms for anchor drag, arrival, off course and clock. Large numbers option for easy viewing, dual position display mode. Trip computer provides odometer, stopped time, moving average, overall average, total time, max speed and more. 10,000 point automatic track log; 20 saved tracks /500 points each/ let you retrace your path in both directions. Elevation computer /Summit HC/ provides current elevation, ascent/descent rate, minimum/maximum elevation, total ascent and descent, average and maximum ascent and descent rate. Built in celestial tables for best time to fish and hunt, plus sun and moon calculations. Fully compatible with MapSource products including BlueChart, City Navigator, U.S. TOPO 24K, U.S. TOPO and US Inland lakes. Waterproof, IEC 60529 IPX7, /Submersible 1 meter at 30 minutes
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Customer Reviews
Perfect
Simply very good....I got on time, the product works properly, I sent to Brazil and works fine...thank you....
Garmin eTrex Venture HC Makes the Trip
This was my first GPS purchase and i spent a lot of time being confused over the terminology and features of GPSr's. In researching a unit to buy, I also looked at what others who were not as confused as me were using. I finally settled on the Venture HC. I have to say I was not disappointed. I use my unit for geocaching and hiking. It took some time to learn to use the Venture partly because it was something new and the instructions were complicated and partly because I was new to GPS's and had to learn the terminology. Once I got the hang of using it, I was impressed with its accuracy. It carries light and is easy to operate.
Things I didn't like were that it always powers up with the screen dimmed. You must always brighten the screen to see it. I would have thought it would come on at a medium brightness. The unit also comes with a strap for carrying and the belt clip is optional. Since the Venture is designed for outdoor uses like hiking, etc., I would rather have had the belt clip as standard and the strap optional. Minor things I would like changed, but that's the only real problem I have with the Venture.
Terrific sensitivity, lots of features, typical (poor) user interface
The etrex Venture HC is an outstanding GPS. I could tell from my first week of using it that the Venture was sensitive and could get a signal in some difficult environments. However, I was really surprised at its performance on a recent trip to Washington, DC. My previous experience with GPSs in commercial aircraft led me to expect that I would probably have to hold the unit against the bottom of a window at exactly the right angle to have a hope of getting a lock. In contrast, the Etrex Venture HC locked onto its location within two minutes while I was sitting in an aisle seat of a Boeing 717. I was delighted. The unit had no difficulty keeping its lock onto the satellites for the entire trip (until time to power down all electronic devices).
At a more practical level, I loaded the locations of the Washington Metro stations from a (free) POI database before the trip. That turned out to be quite useful despite the fact that I only have the factory-installed base map so far.
The USB cable works well with the GPS, my tablet PC, and Microsoft Streets and Trips. I use the GpsGate software ($12.95) to convert the proprietary Garmin protocol to the open NMEA protocol so that a complete array of free and commercial software will work with the Garmin.
My main criticism is that the user interface takes a while to learn. The push buttons are black with nearly-invisible black identification symbols. The rocker key is very sensitive and appears quite fragile (time will tell). The sensitivity of the rocker key leads to many inadvertent button presses. Finally, the menu system has a maze-like logic similar to Jorge Luis Borges' "Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge." That is, the user interface is no better and no worse than that of most consumer technology.
All in all I am very pleased with this device.
