Garmin eTrex Venture Handheld GPS

The GPS fulfills both of these needs. It is very easy to use and very well engineered.

It has some features that I don't need, such as fishing info, but the less expensive model looks less sophisticated, based on my examination of the users' manual.

Also, the WAAS capability is not available on the less expensive model (although I haven't been able to get to WAAS satelites).


Good for the Price   August 28, 2002
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This isn't a bad little unit. I have actually managed to pick up satellites in my apartment, upstairs, next to the window, with the blinds down. It works fine in my convertible with the top up... I bought this for a bit of geocaching... so I didn't want to spend a lot. For ($$$) you get a PC cable included ($$$), 1mb of memory, and WAAS enabled reception (for <3 meter accuracy) It's worth it. The only thing that you may want to look at in comparison to this model is the Magellan Sport Trak Map.

This unit though, is light, accurate, and reliable.


Good choice for entry level GPS   June 20, 2002
 16 out of 20 found this review helpful

Garmin eTrex Venture is a good entry level choice for genreal purpose. It is not too pricy and is very easy to use. Good reception outdoor. The battery life is sufficient and it came with many good features such as recording tracks and sunrise sunset time as well as area calculation. It is also very accurate in terms of plotting your location and calculating your heading and speed. The only down side is poor reception when inside the car. You have to point it close to the window and possibly have to row it down if you have dark sunscreen. Or you have to sit in front seat and place the unit right under the windshield. The memory is also quite limited with 1MB. However, if your main purpose is not for driving navigation, I highly recommand this unit because its easy to use and fair price.


A little wonder   May 22, 2002
 7 out of 13 found this review helpful

This GPS is a little wonder, it tracks your position very accurately, and you a have a lot of fun using it. Nevertheless, There are two things that I don't like at all:

1.- I live in Mexico City, and this kind of electronics are very hard to find here, and if you find them, you must pay a lot of money. I was looking for an affordable GPS for a long time. I knew a friend was going for a vacation trip to the USA and I told him to buy me one. Garmin should look forward to enlarge its distributors around the world. I know a lot of people here in Mexico who wants to buy this kind of things. Or Amazon should be able to export this GPS devices as well.

2.- In the etrex venture you have so little space to download mapsource data.... and besides in the Map source data CD's you only find Points of interest of the USA.

But talking about the venture itself. It's a great GPS, as I said is a little wonder. If you are interested in one of this you should choose Garmin. Each one of the etrex GPS devices is a Little wonder, you have a lot of fun using them and it cold be helpful if you're lost, no matter where you are this GPS will tell you where the next town or city is.... very recommendable