Garmin Etrex Venture HC Review – A Brilliant Portable GPS
This is a good unit I must admit. The Etrex Venture is the same exact unit as the Etrex Mariner (available only at West Marine), only difference is that the Mariner has some marine Navaids programmed into it that the Venture doesn’t.
Otherwise it is the same unit only the Mariner is 10 bucks more and is white instead of translucent green. And personally the green is much nicer, then again I am partial to green. [Please note that testing was done in Santa Cruz, California and that "your milage may vary"].
The Etrex Venture GPS unit has a parallel patch antenna that can pick up 12 satellites simultaneously with WAAS accuracy (where available). My main concern is that the antenna is a bit on the weenie side and this affects performance when not out in the open.
The Garmin Etrex Venture retails for about 168 USD and the Etrex Mariner retails for about 178 USD.These units both include the PC data cable that uses a Serial port connection (this accessory alone costs 28 USD if purchased separately).For it’s cost and the things that it offers, I consider the Etrex Venture a bargain when it comes to GPS units.
I must confess that sometimes I wonder about the accuracy of the unit, but I have found that if you turn the unit off for a few minutes and then turn it back on and let it sit in one place for a few minutes then it sometimes gets a better reading.Also, I don’t know why WAAS isn’t enabled when the unit is first activated, but make sure to turn it on once you get it!
It helps with accuracy after it has been locked on to a sat for a few minutes (this is represented by a “D” in the middle of that sat’s signal strength bar although the users guide doesn’t say what the “D” means). Granted, WAAS doesn’t necessarily make the reading that much more accurate when you don’t have continuous line-of-sight with sats 35 or 47 (the WAAS birds), but it does help narrow your search a bit for something like Geocaching. WAAS Sats are located low on the horizon so if you are in a valley or in some trees don’t count on WAAS to fine-tune your reading.
Also important to note is that the Altitude is derived from your position relative to the GPS satellites in space so it should not be taken literally.I have been on the top of coastal mountains before and had the Venture tell me that I was at 354 feet below sea level, yet other times it can be really accurate. Use your head when trying to figure out whether or not the number is right. Also remember that if the error reading is 20 feet, that the reading is not just around you but above you too
The screen on the Venture is beautiful! Garmin upped the resolution for this unit which made everything a bit better (160×288 pixels FSTN with 4 levels of greyscale and backlighting). All the graphics are clear, maps are sharper, text is easier to read even when it is small. There are five basic screens that the Venture can display (one at a time of course) that contain the basics for GPS navigation: Satellite; Map; Navigation; Trip Computer; and Main Menu.
Although it is only five screens (Magellan units typically have more), the amount of information displayed on each of those screens is immense and usually customizable. Especially notable is the Trip Computer screen where you have 8 customizable fields to display whatever info you want it to. The only disappointing thing is that you can only get a readout of your actual location from the Satellite screen, but this is just fine for Geocaching since you will primarily be using the Navigation and Map screens. The backlight is great on this unit as it is bright enough to use at night and be useful unlike some other GPS units that the Chef has examined.
As for comfort of use, I would have to rate the Garmin Etrex HC Venture a five out of five stars since it is so damn comfortable. It fits nicely in your hands, even if you have big hands.And is every asy to operate from your left hand even if you arn’t a lefty which is nice since it frees your right hand for other stuff. Overall I would have to say that one handed operation of the unit is one of the major pluses.And the navigation stick thing on the front of the Etrex is a good feature too. I don’t know how people ever entered data into other Etrex models without the NavStick (I just call it that for lack of a better term).With the NavStick, getting around the various areas and info screens of the Venture is no problem at all. Entering in waypoints is easy and quickly done.
This is an impartial review of the Garmin Etrex Venture HC Review. I was as honest as I could be about the various features of this unit. When I selected this GPS for my own personal use I picked the unit that I felt to be the best value for what I was willing to spend. I looked at all units in the sub-200 USD price range and felt the Venture to be a bargain considering everything that it offered.
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