Handheld GPS Reviews - Customer reviews - Garmin Etrex Venture HC GPS Receiver

Manufacturer: Garmin

List Price: $199.99
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Used Price: $129.99

Average Customer Rating: -

Product details

Offers (68)

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Spotlight customer reviews:

Name: Nathan Stodola
Location: New York, NY
Date: 2008-01-15
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Acceptable with upgrades
Comment: 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.

Name: Martin A Hogan
Location: San Francisco, CA.
Date: 2008-08-05
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Great Product But High Learning Curve
Comment: Garmin makes a great number of high quality handheld GPS devices. I particularly chose this one for hiking and remote camping uses. Specifically, I purchased a 2 GB mini memory card (SanDisk) and then the Garmin US TOPO 24K (National Parks East, for starts). I was able to pick specific quadrants from the US TOPO CD software and download it to my Garmin handheld through my PC (MAC also works). It worked perfectly. I will admit that the learning curve is high on this and I tend to get excited about electronic devices in general. This took taking the instruction manual and going step-by-step to learn all the functions available.

For starters, I simply went outside and turned it on. Within a minute I had several satellite acquisitions and was immediately shown where I was (in the world). The basic map included on the device is not that particularly detailed, so I purchased additional software data. You can read all about the functions that are installed on this unit here at Amazon. Some are marking a waypoint, finding a position, tracking, highway plans, a calendar, alarm clock, calculator, stopwatch, sun and moon schedules and various games. You also have access to its compass and a driving set-up that will tell you your speed, distance reaming (to your destination), estimated travel time, etc. If you were hiking and got lost, you would be able to backtrack your steps, as if you had left markers or `breadcrumbs'.

The unit itself is extremely well made and could survive several `drops' and is waterproof. The display (approximately 2" X 1.5") is plenty for view-ability. The screen actually changes from a bright daytime screen to a nighttime mode. Every function is verified by a slight "beep". Unfortunately, you do need to buy Garmin maps to download to the unit, as the one included is not very detailed and for additional data input, you really do need a mini memory card. But for the price and the number of functions, this is really a good value. Nothing beats a map and compass, but this is a great addition to any hiking that you may do. Also, for driving directions, the only thing lacking is the voice response. I highly recommend you research other Garmin models and all the accessories you might want to purchase for your personal use.

Name: C. T. Finkner
Location: Westminster, MD United States
Date: 2008-02-27
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Very impressed!
Comment: I tried other brand name GPS systems but this one is the best hands down. I primarily use the Venture HC to geocache with my family. The supplied USB cable makes it a breeze to simply download waypoints to the unit or upload data to the included MapSource software. I am impressed with the accuracy and I normally arrive within meters of my intended target. The menu is intuitive and easy to navigate. The battery life so far has been outstanding but I always take a back-up pair just in case. I am right handed and my only complaint would be the location of the rocker button. When I use the Venture with my right hand I cover most of the screen with my thumb reaching across the unit. Overall, I love the Venture HC and I would recommend it to any beginner or intermediate geocacher.

Name: The Modulator
Location: Lincoln, NE USA
Date: 2008-05-08
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Terrific sensitivity, lots of features, typical (poor) user interface
Comment: 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.

Name: F. Brewer
Location: CA
Date: 2008-01-22
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Advanced GPS
Comment: I bought the eTrex Venture on sale over christmas as an upgrade for some Geo-caching
with my kids. The new unit is very sensitive -- showed 7 locked sattelites while indoors-- on the ground floor of a large 2-story house and locked in about 15 seconds.
I especially liked he averaging mode for fixed waypoints -- allowing a high precision fix (down to about 15M 3-d) at my location after 15 minutes. The screen was easy to see in daylight (why I bought this model). I like the pointed stick and
most of the menu org.
Quibbles: Default backlight lifetime is far too short for a novice user of the interface, figuring out how to fix it generated a lot of issues for a child (10 year old) user. (First time -- he thought he had broken it...) Does not come with socketed sd port -- I know this is the market point for the $100 higher version -- but as a designer of electrical equipment, also know the 'real' cost. Given the choice, should have a GB built in...

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