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| Garmin eTrex Venture HC High-Intensity Color Mapping Handheld GPS | 
 enlarge | Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $199.99
Buy New: $125.00 (On sale from $129.89)
You Save: $74.99 (37%)
New (73) Used (3)
Avg. Customer Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 295
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: 10
Batteries: 2
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 176x220
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 1.2 x 2 x 4.4
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: eTrex Venture HC
Model: eTrex Venture HC
UPC: 753759072872
EAN: 0753759072872
ASIN: B000PDR230
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Happy Again March 20, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
We had gone Geocaching last year and then wondered if we were going again. Rather than have the Garmin we had sit around while we made up our mind we sold it. Decided earlier this year that we really did like the idea of the electronic treasure hunt we decided to purchase another GPS. We bought a Magellan Explorist 500. After using it for a short time we were very unhappy with it. Sold it and bought the Garmin again. The Garmin is far more user friendly. You can download the coordinates directly from Geocache.com without having to use another program. Also find that the Garmin seems more accurate. Very happy that we went back and bought the Garmin.
 great reception but wish base map was better March 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
i just got it today and tried it out in the middle of my brick home, still got signal on 10 satellites! i do wish the base map was detailed with more rivers and secondary roads. but for the price and major functions i would recommend it.
Garmin Venture HC March 13, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love this GPS handheld! Take note though, in the picture provided from Garmin, you see a topo map, this is an add on to the product (about $80) called "Garmin Map Source-United States Topo" for the US, other countries are available also.
That being said, this is an excellent product! I use it primarily for geocaching. It is an upgrade from my Garmin Gecko. It seems much more accurate as to the location of the cache. I usually end up right on top of it, as a matter of fact. You turn it on and it almost instantly locates satellites and gives you your location, even indoors. I've yet to lose reception in a canyon or deep forest, and I've used it a lot!
My Only regret is that i didn't get the next model up, with the removable SD card, that would have been handy!
This is a good deal for good product!
Best value for money March 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the ideal model. It is cheap enough but it has the better chip and the reception is great. Any cheaper would be a mistake because the color is an excellent feature. The next higher model is overkill because you do not want to spend $ 200 plus when you can get a car model GPS for $ 150. You cannot go wrong with this model.
Great for geocaching, astronomy! March 10, 2008
31 out of 33 found this review helpful
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.
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