Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver
Customer Review: Great for geocaching, astronomy!
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this unit after much research into different brands and, after settling on Garmin, different models. It's a great all-around GPS at a great price. It's my first, so I can't comment on the increased sensitivity of the HC chip, but I get plenty of coverage inside my house, and when I step outside the accuracy goes to about 9'. I would have liked the compass and altimeter of the Vista, but really don't have much need for them since I'm not an avid hiker, and didn't need to spend the extra money.
The Venture HC is great for geocaching. I took my family out on our first hunt last weekend, and although we only had about an hour to spare, we had a great time finding caches stashed around a park nearby. I can see this as a fun family activity on road trips as well. The Venture has built-in geocaching features that let you download waypoints directly from geocacher.com (using the free Garmin browser plugin), and even mark caches as found right on the GPS. The color screen is very readable in sunlight. Although the Venture HC doesn't have a proper compass, the "compass" page is very useful for closing in on the target.
The Venture HC is also great for amateur astronomers. My computerized telescope needs to know lat/long/time to accurately slew to and track objects in the sky. I can get coordinates on standard addresses on geocoder.us, but if I just want to set up at a dark site somewhere, a GPS is a must. Rather than pay $200 to get the GPS option on my scope, I can use this general purpose GPS and just plug the numbers into the telescope's controller, or even connect through my laptop. Although any GPS will give you the time and location, not all have as nice a backlit screen as this one, a good thing when you're out in the dark. The customizable color schemes (with automatic night mode) and the variable backlight intensity are also great for astronomy to keep stray light to a minimum.
If I'm disappointed with anything it is with the built-in base map. Again, because this is my first GPS I was somehow expecting more detail, not necessarily in terms of street names, but certainly with respect to canals, mountains, even major cross streets etc. The only features I've been able to distinguish are freeways, lakes and cities. There are many mountains where I live and none of them are shown on the map. More detailed topo maps are available, but cost anywhere from $80-$120. I'm not subtracting any stars for this, because I'm sure all basemaps are pretty much the same. And with 24MB of memory, there's room for decent quality maps.
Garmin updated the firmware for the Venture in February 2008, so one of the first things I did was download their free WebUpdater utility to automatically install updates. I had one scary moment when my GPS lost the USB connection in the middle of the process, and I was worried my unit would be disabled. But after turning it off and back on it came right back up and, after a second try, the new firmware was installed in about 5 minutes.
All in all, I'm very happy with the quality of this unit. It feels sturdy yet light weight, with a nice rubberized feel to it. It's also waterproof, so no trouble using it in the rain. The interface took a little getting used to, but after a while it becomes second nature. The Venture lets you customize almost every screen to your taste; for example, I wanted to have time, elevation and location on the same page for astronomy purposes, so I set one of the screens up to show all these fields. At $130, the price point was perfect: significantly lower than the next model up (sacrificing only the compass/altimeter and microSD slot), and not much higher than plain-vanilla black & white units without geocaching features.
I highly recommend it.
Customer Review: Fantastic GPSr for geocaching at the price
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this unit for geocaching in urban and near urban areas. Garmin has some cheaper units, but they're either in B&W (not a big deal) or has a serial interface. I highly recommend getting a unit with USB interface unless you're running Windows 95 on a really old machine. Not only is the transfer speed much faster, some new machines (and many laptops) no longer has a serial port.
Performance of the unit is very good. It even managed to get a lock in my house, something my Nuvi could not do. Do bear in mind that the position is updated once every second, and the "compass" is only accurate if you're moving for a few seconds in a straight line. This is true for all GPSr that does not have an electronic compass.
The unit is small and fits very well in my hands - much easier than holding a Nuvi which I was using before this arrived. With the black case, it looks vaguely enough like a cell phone that people will not give you a second look when you're out hunting for a cache.
Waypoint names are 14 characters long, and it only holds 500 waypoints. Geocaching feature in this unit mainly consists of the ability to mark a waypoint as "found", after which you're asked if you want to go to the next closest waypoint. Searching for a cache would, by default, filter out found caches. And you can view the calendar to see when you found which cache - useful if you are logging your finds after a few days out hunting without Internet access.
The main limitations of this unit is : very limited basemap, no sensor, no memory expansion capability. There are units that has those features, but none come close to the price of the Venture HC. If you want those features, go for a GPSMap 60CSx - at almost 3 times the price. Or spend even more and get a Colorado or Oregon for paperless caching.
If you want some free street maps, search for ibycus USA. It's very straightforward - install the Garmin software that comes with this unit, then download and install ibycus USA. You need to select the map set on the upper left corner of Mapsource. There's no topo information unfortunately, and it is not routable. By the way, this unit will not do routing no matter what mapset you're using.
The Venture HC (and probably all other Garmin GPSr that takes AA batteries) can be used with rechargable batteries, but the unit itself cannot recharge the battery (you'll need to remove the batteries for recharging). If plugged into a USB port, the Venture HC will draw power from USB, and not draw from the batteries. I use Sanyo Eneloop low self discharge batteries and I haven't had to recharge them after a week of use.
My unit came with firmware 2.7 - updating to the latest (2.8 as I write this) is fairly painless. User interface takes a few minutes to get used to, not difficult at all. Garmin also has an application to make screen captures off the GPSr, and to customize the startup splash screen. A device SDK is also available for application developers.
For a (relatively) low cost entry to geocaching, I highly recommend this unit, with a set of Eneloop NiMH and the protective case.
Oh, and just a note, if you have a Nuvi, search for Nuvi Paperless Geocaching. You'll need the application GSAK and a premium account with geocaching.com, but that will give you the ability to view cache descriptions, hints and logs, together with proximity alerts and driving instructions to the cache, at your fingertip.
Customer Review: Excellent entry-level GPS for geocaching
Summary: 5 Stars
I have wanted a handheld GPS for some time to do geocaching and for having with me when hiking. The Venture HC is an excellent entry-level handheld GPS. It has a nice bright adjustable screen and lots of easy to use features. Features include a Geocache mode where you can easily upload to your Venture geocaches from geocaching dot com. It has a trip computer, remembers routes, and you can easily set waypoints and delete them.
It also has some other useful features, a basic calculator, calender, stopwatch, fishing feature (given your location and date it lists the best times for fishing) and a celestial calender with sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset.
It also, for a lefty has a neat feature. The joystick that you use quite a lot for selections and manuerving happens to be set-up for the left thumb. Living my entire life in a right-handed built world, I quite enjoyed this. Not to say for the 90% of people out there not left-handed that it will be hard to use, just pointed it out since it is so unusual (and nice for a lefty).
What it doesn't have is an SD card feature. I thought this was no big deal and for basic geocaching it isn't. However I downloaded some free Texas topo maps (quite cool just do a web search) and I could only download the topos for Central Texas in the 22 mb (avaiable storage). I knew that limitation coming in, but if you think you are going to want to have a lot of map layers you probably do not want this. It also doesn't have a compass feature for when you are standing still but this is not really a problem and should not be a deciding factor for you since as soon as you start moving you get your orientation.
For me the one thing to consider is do you hike/camp a lot OR do you think you would want to try geocaching. The cool thing about geocaching is that it is not just for state and national parks. There are a lot of caches right in urban areas. And it is something the whole family can do. So far I have mostly gone to ones around my house and I already have discovered a few parks I did not know existed. It is a great way not to get lost hiking but also to discover a lot of cool areas where you live. Just remember to use geocaching dot com since it is set up to easily upload geocaches right to your Garmin. Note 5 stars if no need for an SD card. Also I recommend the Garmin cover noted in the product listing. The Venture is sturdy but the cover is a nice snug fit and gives some added protection and a belt clip.
Customer Review: An outdoor GPS receiver as revolutionary as the original eTrex
Summary: 5 Stars
Before buying this new Venture HC, I had spent many hours trekking with several of the original eTrex models over the years. I think it's fair to say that while the concept of the original eTrex was great, the execution was frequently disappointing.
It disappoints no more. The Venture HC is the eTrex perfected. It remedies almost every shortcoming that plagued the original models. The new high-sensitivity receiver is amazingly effective. Countless times I've stood in wide open spaces cursing my old eTrex because it wouldn't acquire a single satellite. Last night I turned on the Venture HC on the bottom floor of my two story house, and it locked onto 8 satellites...through the roof and the upper floor! No more "need a clear view of the sky" messages. Amazing.
The old monochrome display has become color, and the user interface is now substantially more intuitive, while adding even more functionality. The cable, which was serial on previous models, has been upgraded to USB, another welcome improvement. The case is somewhat wider than before, but the design bears a strong resemblance to the original eTrex.
A basemap is included but it's just that - basic. It shows the largest highways, bodies of water, and has some limited capability to display highway exit services. If you need turn-by-turn street directions, an eTrex is not for you. This is a GPS receiver true to Garmin's outdoor GPS heritage.
Promised battery life (14 hours) is near the bottom of the range when compared to the existing eTrex models, but is still perfectly adequate and has posed no problems.
One weakness that remains is Garmin's waypoint manager PC software. It has the feel and functionality of a software product released circa 1994. Garmin could certainly develop a better PC interface. For $49 you can buy ExpertGPS from Topografix, or download the free version (EasyGPS)from their website. Either is far more functional than the Garmin OEM software.
Still, the software criticism is a quibble. The Venture HC itself is great. It is a market changing product that renders all previous eTrex models (and many competitors) obsolete. Finally, an affordable outdoor GPS receiver that I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Customer Review: Great intro unit for geocaching for the price!
Summary: 5 Stars
You wanna do geocaching? Get this. I bought this as my first unit, it was a toss between the eTrex H, the generic unit with no map and only an arrow, and then spending more money on this. I am glad I spent more money on the Venture HC, because I don't think the eTrex H would be useful at all on long hikes in the hills.
The Venture has an easy to see and read color screen and comes pre-installed with a basemap that is basically entirely useless. If you want to do any serious hill and hiking geocaching you need to get the topographic maps that Garmin offers. These are expensive, but are pretty much necessary when navigating terrain and trails with changes in elevation. I can recall several instances when I needed to check elevation levels to make sure I was on the right trail to get to the cache I was chasing.
The topographic maps that Garmin offers also have street data on them, but this device has no turn-by-turn and, but it's great to compare what is on my Garmin to what is in my car's GPS so that I can navigate easily to caches.
I only use this unit for geocaching, however I see no reason it wouldn't work great for regular hiking and out door activities. This is a good unit at a great price. Everything about it is pretty much golden.
Pros:
- Easy to use. I figured out how to use most functions without even reading the manual, but I am a bit of a geek.
- Easy to read the screen
- Battery life is great even on non-rechargables
- Very accurate! Usually if the geocache you're hunting has accurate coordinates, GZ on the unit will be exactly where the cache is. Make sure to turn on WAAS, as it seemed to be off by default.
- Unit is pretty much weather proof and has been banged around by me a fair bit and stays strong!
- Onboard memory is more than enough to have all the topographic maps for Southern California (LA County to SD county and everything in between) in it.
Cons:
- Base map is entirely useless.
- Draw time is a little slow, but nothing that could possibly hold you up.
- Only holds data for 500 geocaches, but, really, who needs more than that really?