Garmin Venture HC a Good Choice In the Woods?

[+GrnXnham]

We are looking for a 5th GPSr. We have four but we need another GPSr. We have two eTrex legends that we use only for riding. Then I use the 60Cx for autorouting and getting a good signal in the woods. My wife currently uses the older 60C. It constantly loses signal in the woods and she complains a lot about it. I was thinking of replacing the 60C with the Venture HC for better signal in the woods.

 

We don't need autorouting on her GPS. Nor is the limited memory really an issue and I really don't want a compass. We just want a good signal in the woods. My only concern about this unit is the complaints I've seen on this forum with "wandering" with similar units like the Vista HC (or is it the Vista HCx?) I didn't know if this was also a complaint with the Venture HC. I tried doing a search here but haven't really found a lot of good reviews of this specific unit. And it's a cheap unit as well so it looks good.

 

For people who own this unit as well as at least one other unit:

 

1) Is the Venture HC accurate with respect to it's odometer and speedometer when walking in the woods compared to other units or does it also have problems with this depending on which firmware you are using like the Vista?

 

2) Does it lead you right to a cache in the dense forest or does it wander all over the place compared to other units? With my 60Cx, the arrow fairly consistently stays locked on to the cache while walking towards it. With the older 60C, the arrow bounces around. First, the cache is in front of you, then it's behind you. Finally, you just lose signal all together. How is the HC when it comes to this?

 

Thanks

Edited October 31, 2008 by GrnXnham

[+Kohavis]

I have the Venture HC and I can't give you a comparison to other units since this is my first. I can tell you that there is a slight bug with the unit software version 2.7 that is fixed with 2.8. It shows as a distance error - the odometer (trip computer) shows the total distance about 10 - 15% higher than the autotrack total.

 

If you run Web Updater and update to 2.8 it solves the problem nicely. I took a hike two days ago with the new software installed. The two are now in almost perfect agreement.

 

As for the heavy tree cover performance, I don't have any complaints. A considerable percentage of my finds are in heavy tree cover and it doesn't seem to mind. It usually takes me to within 20 feet or so of the hide in the heaviest cover. That number drops to about 10 feet with a clear view of the sky.

 

There again, that is dependent on the hider's accuracy when he recorded the coordinates. Your accuracy will usually be no better than his when he hid it ...unless you have a rare error that exactly counteracts his error when he hid it. That's why waypoint averaging is so important when hiding (a feature the Venture HC has, by the way). I usually let it run continuously until the error is down to 7 feet or so. That may be 20 or 30 measurements. Then I save it. That at least doesn't add additional error to someone who is searching for the cache.

[+StarBrand]

I know it holds a signal quite well under heavy tree canopy. Much better then the non-"H" etrex models but not quite as good as my Garmin Colorado or a friends 60CSx. For the money it really is an excellent unit.

 

The updates seem to have corrected the odometer weirdness and are comparable to my other units.