donc30

I sometimes have trouble getting my computer to ecognize my Venture HC also. Try connecting while the computer is still on the desktop page. If that doesn't work try rebooting with the Venture plugged in.

You might enjoy looking at the owner's manual: http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/eTrexLegend...wnersManual.pdf

It will be on the satellite page. I don't think that there is any GPS at any price that does not give this information.

I had to have somebody show me on my Venture HC. The manual doesn't.

I have a premium membership (as Mr. Jello) so I'll take a good look at it. Like you, I have used my Nuvi 200 for geocaching before I got the Venture HC. Now I have the best of both worlds. Nuvi gets me to the parking place, etc....

I looked at this but don't you have to pay a monthly fee of some kind?

I posted this on a previous thread but it might be helpful: All of the Nuvi series are great street finders and work pretty well for geocaching. You could get a Nuvi 200 or 260 for now and maybe later get a mapping unit. To use a Nuvi effectively for geocaching you need to carry a compass and match coordinates when you get close. You can enter coordinates by hand or through a USB cable connected to your computer. They have an off-road and pedestrian setting that will give you a line to follow and it gets you pretty close. Then you match your coordinates with the desired ones and move accordingly. A mapping GPSr is easier to follow and will show the terrain features. Also it is weatherproof, more rugged, smaller and more readable in sunlight. They store more information for each cache, too. I am pretty much a newbie myself so I can relate to your question.

You could get a Nuvi 200 and a Venture HC and still stay under $300. For your trail GPSr try to get one with the "H" designation to get your monie's worth. I spent time overseas too (52-53) and I hope that you don't get as lonesome as I did.

If I can assume that street finding (autorouting) would be the primary use then the Garmin Nuvi 200 is selling at $160 or less and will do both (if you go to WalMart and buy a $3 compass.) Don't bang it around or get it wet or run the batteries more than 4 hours, though. Once you get to the parking place you can put it in off-road and pedestrian mode and it shows a line to the geocache. You might want to match coordinates when you get close and that is when you need to know which way is north. If autorouting is secondary then I'll let some else take over about the mapping units.

I posted this on a previous thread but it might be helpful: All of the Nuvi series are great street finders and work pretty well for geocaching. You could get a Nuvi 200 or 260 for now and maybe later get a mapping unit. To use a Nuvi effectively for geocaching you need to carry a compass and match coordinates when you get close. You can enter coordinates by hand or through a USB cable connected to your computer. They have an off-road and pedestrian setting that will give you a line to follow and it gets you pretty close. Then you match your coordinates with the desired ones and move accordingly. A mapping GPSr is easier to follow and will show the terrain features. Also it is weatherproof, more rugged, smaller and more readable in sunlight. They store more information for each cache, too. I am pretty much a newbie myself so I can relate to your question. My buddy has a 72 which is for fishing, I guess, and it works out pretty well.

On the Nuvi 200 (cheap) you can enter by hand or by computer very easily. I really doubt if ther is any GPSr out there at any reasonable price that can't be used this way.

Venture HC

While making your decisions you might want to consider two separate units. One for street finding and road travel with voice commands and another for the trail. I use a Nuvi 200 ($160) and a Venture HC ($140). On my motorcycle I put the Nuvi in my jacket pocket and listen to the voice. The Nuvi has a strong voice output. The Venture HC is adequate for my purposes but you might want something better. You will get more and maybe better suggestions but for $300 this package is pretty functional.

No satellite page on the NUvi 200, just the bars in the upper left corner. You can also get coordinates by tapping the car icon on the map page. That gives you altitude also. You cannot get a moving reading of coordinates. You must refresh each time after you move. The last number of the coordinates will change about every three or four steps. Also you need a compass to tell ypu which direction to move in to change coordinates. It gets pretty easy after a couple of times.

All of the Nuvi series are great street finders and work pretty well for geocaching. You could get a Nuvi 200 or 260 for now and maybe later get a mapping unit. To use a Nuvi effectively for geocaching you need to carry a compass and match coordinates when you get close. You can enter coordinates by hand or through a USB cable connected to your computer. They have an off-road and pedestrian setting that will give you a line to follow and it gets you pretty close. Then you match your coordinates with the desired ones and move accordingly. A mapping GPSr is easier to follow and will show the terrain features. Also it is weatherproof, more rugged, smaller and more readable in sunlight. They store more information for each cache, too. I am pretty much a newbie myself so I can relate to your question.

I have a Garmin cable that powers my Nuvi from a wall socket directly and it was $12 or so. It has the adapters for sockets in other countries. Of course it charges while powering and the unit is usable while connected, not like the USB cable.

I posted this on a previous thread but it might be helpful: All of the Nuvi series are great street finders and work pretty well for geocaching. You could get a Nuvi 200 or 260 for now and maybe later get a mapping unit. To use a Nuvi effectively for geocaching you need to carry a compass and match coordinates when you get close. You can enter coordinates by hand or through a USB cable connected to your computer. They have an off-road and pedestrian setting that will give you a line to follow and it gets you pretty close. Then you match your coordinates with the desired ones and move accordingly. A mapping GPSr is easier to follow and will show the terrain features. Also it is weatherproof, more rugged, smaller and more readable in sunlight. They store more information for each cache, too. I am pretty much a newbie myself so I can relate to your question.

I use my Nuvi 200 to get to the site and park and then I use my Venture HC to go to the cache. If you can afford to do something like this you would have a perfect arrangement.

All of the Nuvi series are great street finders and work pretty well for geocaching. You could get a Nuvi 200 or 260 for now and maybe later get a mapping unit. To use a Nuvi effectively for geocaching you need to carry a compass and match coordinates when you get close. You can enter coordinates by hand or through a USB cable connected to your computer. They have an off-road and pedestrian setting that will give you a line to follow and it gets you pretty close. Then you match your coordinates with the desired ones and move accordingly. A mapping GPSr is easier to follow and will show the terrain features. Also it is weatherproof, more rugged, smaller and more readable in sunlight. They store more information for each cache, too. I am pretty much a newbie myself so I can relate to your question.

On the satellite page look at "location" and it will tell you how accurate the readings will be with whatever satellites have been acquired. On my HC it will vary from 50 feet to 3 feet.

I worked with IIReds info and here is the actual protocol: “Wrench”, Settings, System, GPS Simulator ON, OK, Back, Where To, Address of your start point, Do not press “GO”, Show Map, Set Loc, Go, Do not simulate driving, Menu, Where To, Enter destination, Go, Touch “GPS is Off” and keep getting your routing. Whew!

I know there is a better way but I forgot it. Meanwhile you can "fudge" it by entering your end point in the regular way and then enter your start point as a "via" point. Then you can ignore the first part (where you travel to the start point) by tapping forward and just use the via point to your end point. The right way involves a "set loc" command but I can't remember how to get it or how to use it. Sorry.

I set my Nuvi 200 at maximum volume and put it in my jacket pocket. It tells me what I need to know. A Nuvi screen is a total washout in daylight. I know that I digressed from the title of the thread but I thought that someone might be interested.

I don't see a Venture CX on the Garmin website but I do have the Venture HC. It included a USB cable and a neck lanyard, both of which I use. The worst thing about it is the manual. It doesn't tell you the protocol for entering coordinates or backtracking. I had to ask for help on both. With the USB cable you can download geocaches directly so there is no need to hand enter the coordinates. The compass and pointer don't work unless you are in motion. A couple of steps is all that it takes. It has a lot of featues that I'm not interested in but evidently someone is. For the money I have to say that I am very pleased with it. It isn't a street finder like a Nuvi so don't plan on using it for that.

On my Nuvi I was told how to do this but I forgot so I cheat. I pick one of the places (the farthest one) as my destination and the other place as a via point. Then I either ignore the part about going from where I am to the via point or actually run the Nuvi forward to the via point and go from there. Crude and rude but I can remember this.