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etrex Venture Cx - does it output NMEA0183 or Garmin text etc?


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I have read through the manual on the Venture Cx (the manual seems to have a few gaps in it) and I cant see if the unit can provide a live feed of NMEA data (or Garmin text or binary) through the USB to a PC?

 

Does anybody know if its possible?

 

Thank you.

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I have read through the manual on the Venture Cx (the manual seems to have a few gaps in it) and I cant see if the unit can provide a live feed of NMEA data (or Garmin text or binary) through the USB to a PC?

 

Does anybody know if its possible?

 

Thank you.

 

Sort of.

 

You need to use Garmin's free "Spanner" utility to convert the Garmin feed to NMEA. Look on their website. GPSGate will also work, but it is not free.

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Thanks for the reply. When you say you need to use the Spanner utility to convert the Garmin feed to NMEA. How do I get the Garmin feed going? I've tried connecting to the computer via USB and the only option available to me is to use the GPSr as a mass storage device. There is no option to change the feed from mass storage to a "Garmin feed". I'd be pleased if I could get a Garmin feed!

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I have tried Garmin Spanner and it wont work with the Venture Cx. I'll try GPSgate

 

spanner works great with my gps18,60cx, legendC and vista CX, so I see no reason it wouldn't work with your venture CX. is it possible you don't have the USB driver installed for your venture cx? it also could be the software you are trying to interface with, have you checked the settings in your map software?

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Thats very interesting. I did install the driver. And I updated the firmware of the Venture Cx to 2.70.

 

I am able to send maps to the GPSr with IMG2GPS and EasyGPS found the Unit. Also I can use the unit in Mass Storage mode. How can you know if the driver is really installed properly? When I have the unit pluged it appears in the Device Manager as Garmin GPS...so I presume it is installed ok.

 

It came in to my mind that maybe garmin decided to stop it working with either the firmware update or a spanner software update. What version of spanner do you have?

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Spanner is very easy to use. spanner will see your connected gps, and you select the com port or prots you want to output to. then all you need to to is setup the software you are trying to interface with.

 

I guess you need to me more specific in what isn't working with spanner for you or what software you are trying to use spanner with, you will probably get more helpful responses.

 

spannerlu4.th.jpg

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Just to expand a bit on what happens when I try to use Spanner with my VentureCX.In spanner I click on the Find GPS button and then I get this "error" message (if you could call it that):

 

"Some devices were found; however, none have the necessary capabilities. Please make sure your device is connected to the computer and turned on, then try again. You may also need to set the interface on your GPS to 'Garmin' or 'Host'."

 

The GPSr is plugged in to the PC, in the Interface menu the GPSr says it is connected (USB GARMIN DAta Format)

 

One other quirk I noticed is when I plug my GPSr in to the usb port, Windows XP makes the usual "ping" noise and the GPSr stays the same.

If I unplug the GPSr and then plug it back in again the GPSr back light will automatically come on and stay on until removed from the PC! You'd think the GPSr back light would come on the first time (if it is meant to come on when attached to a PC)

 

The version of spanner I am using is 2.1.0

On the device manager the GPSr shows up as GARMIN Devices\Garmin USB GPS

It says the driver Version is 2.2.1.0

Driver date 08/03/2007

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edited by passdump
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I'm afraid you may find that the explanation is all too simple: the colour eTrex models do not produce real-time positional output at all, which is why it's not mentioned in the manual and why you are getting a message about device capability. There is of course no serial interface, and the USB interface is used only to upload or download static material like mapsets. Using Spanner will achieve nothing, and you cannot use the device with nRoute. This is one of the many reasons why, when upgrading from my Vista, I chose the 60CSx. The Vista has real-time output over its serial interface using either Garmin or NMEA protocol, and doesn't have USB at all. The 60CSx has both interfaces, with Garmin-only on the USB interface and Garmin or NMEA on the serial interface. Spanner will convert Garmin on the USB interface to NMEA on one OR MORE virtual serial interfaces, so you can if you wish drive multiple NMEA applications simultaneously.

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Thats intriguing. On this post http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=2531403 a guy

was trying the same thing but couldnt get the Venture Cx to work with Spanner but said he could get it to work with GPSgate. I presume if he did get it to work with GPSgate then the VentureCX does produce real-time positional output of some kind?

 

As an aside I reinstalled Spanner and tried it again...no success.

I reinstalled the driver for my Venture Cx...no success.

After both these attempts I still get the same “error” message from Spanner.

 

I also tried using XP’s Safe Mode but I got nowhere with that. Spanner wouldn’t start for me in Safe Mode.

 

I am going to start a new topic asking has anyone run Spanner specifically with a Venture CX or Legend Cx to try get some clarification.

 

New topic here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=163037

Edited by passdump
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The USB interface is used only to upload or download static material like mapsets. Using Spanner will achieve nothing, and you cannot use the device with nRoute.

Spanner will convert Garmin on the USB interface to NMEA on one OR MORE virtual serial interfaces, so you can if you wish drive multiple NMEA applications simultaneously.

 

strange I use my legendC with Nroute all the time, and have used it with spanner too. spanner converts the garmin format over USB to NMEA output, It shouldn't matter if it's a 60csx, gps18. or a venture CX.

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Just to expand a bit on what happens when I try to use Spanner with my VentureCX.In spanner I click on the Find GPS button and then I get this "error" message (if you could call it that):

 

it's strange that spanner doesn't list your gps without having to use the find gps button in spanner. all my gpsr show up in the drop down list right below that find GPS button without any user interaction. once I had a gps not show up, and clicking the find GPS button did nothing for me(similar to what you are experiencing).

 

here's a question for ya, do you have mapsource? can you see your gpsr in mapsource? if you don't have mapsource another option is to download garmin custom POI loader, and see if it can see your gpsr. this won't solve your spanner problems, but let you know if your gps is working properly with garmin software.

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here's a question for ya, do you have mapsource? can you see your gpsr in mapsource? if you don't have mapsource another option is to download garmin custom POI loader, and see if it can see your gpsr. this won't solve your spanner problems, but let you know if your gps is working properly with garmin software.

 

No I don't have Mapsource or POI loader. I am gonna get POI loader. Unfortunately I don't have broadband so I'll have to wait until I can get my laptop to a WiFi hotspot. But its a good way of checking if the venture Cx driver is ok. Thanks.

 

Hogrod, just to clarfiy, you have used Spanner with vista CX using a USB port? I am just wondering how that squares up with what R_S said re:"the colour eTrex models do not produce real-time positional output at all"

 

Isn't the Vista Cx an etrex colour model? So if R_S is correct it shouldn't work with Spanner, yeah? or am I over looking something?

Edited by passdump
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I just remembered, I had Garmin’s xImage program so I installed that and it finds my Venture Cx no problem. Can take a screen shot. I tried Spanner straight after and it’s no go. Just the same error. So it looks like it’s not a driver problem.

 

If what R_S says is correct then the Venture Cx can’t possibly work with spanner (or GPSgate?) Yet the comments left by others here and elsewhere on this forum lead me to believe that there is some way of getting live data from the Venture Cx.

 

This gets more and more puzzling... but whats life without some fun and games!

 

As always, all input is welcome.

Edited by passdump
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I'm afraid you may find that the explanation is all too simple: the colour eTrex models do not produce real-time positional output at all........

 

Yes, they do produce real time data, just not in NMEA format.

my venture cx works in realtime with nroute or with streets & trips when I use GPS Gate.

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I'd be delighted to be proved wrong! It's a long time since I checked this out, and I may have identified this as a problem with the eTrex C models rather than the Cx models, and misremembered which it applied to.

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Just for what its worth re: Spanner, I tried a different USB port on my computer. No improvement.

 

I also tried installing the Venture Cx driver, Garmin Spanner and xImage on a different computer and the results are the exact same as on the first: Spanner doesn’t find the GPSr, xImage does.

 

As quite a few people believe that Spanner should work with the Venture Cx and having covered most of the driver-not-installed angles and having discounted the faulty computer option I can only assume that Garmin either deliberately or indirectly has disabled the use of Spanner with the Venture Cx either through a firmware update to the GPSr or through a software update to Spanner. Bummer!

 

Actually, wait a minuite. I retract that bit about Garmin disabling Spanner use with the Venture Cx. I just read this

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=2865051

 

At least GPSgate should work

Edited by passdump
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