Connecting Garmin etrex Venture to PC

[PROW_NINJA]

Hi all, work recently gave me an etrex venture to use. It looks like a pretty basic model and probably discontinued (not C or HC). However, it is brand new and the box included a data (serial) cable. Of course my laptop has no serial ports so I haven't attempted to connect.

 

Despite the basic nature of the GPS unit it is absolutely fine in he field for my needs. My only niggle is the real pain and hours taken to input way points in order to create routes. Mmh, maybe this is where the data cable comes in. I've purchased a USB to serial adaptor RS232 and downloaded the necessary driver.

 

Now what? Do I need to download further software? I've searched the Garmin site but although it talks about software updates I've not seen anything I can see is obviously what I require. I've seen mapsource but is this something I need to buy? What are my options?

 

Thanks in advance

[jmundinger]

Hi all, work recently gave me an etrex venture to use. It looks like a pretty basic model and probably discontinued (not C or HC). However, it is brand new and the box included a data (serial) cable. Of course my laptop has no serial ports so I haven't attempted to connect.

 

Despite the basic nature of the GPS unit it is absolutely fine in he field for my needs. My only niggle is the real pain and hours taken to input way points in order to create routes. Mmh, maybe this is where the data cable comes in. I've purchased a USB to serial adaptor RS232 and downloaded the necessary driver.

 

Now what? Do I need to download further software? I've searched the Garmin site but although it talks about software updates I've not seen anything I can see is obviously what I require. I've seen mapsource but is this something I need to buy? What are my options?

 

Thanks in advance

 

If that has the cable that connects to a serial port, it might work with a serial/usb adapter. I no longer have my old eTrex, which also used the serial cable, so I have never tried it. Others have reported mixed results - apparently some adapters work better than others.

 

One piece of free software that will work is easyGPS. You could also try the option of loading a cache directly to the gps. That step will look for and then install the Garmin app for that purpose - but I don't know whether it works with the older units.

[PROW_NINJA]

Many thanks. Easy GPS took about a minute to install and another few seconds to upload everything in my gps. Have had a quick play creating new way points and exporting them to the etrex. Now need to master creating routes.

 

Thanks again

[GermanSailor]

Now what? Do I need to download further software? I've searched the Garmin site but although it talks about software updates I've not seen anything I can see is obviously what I require. I've seen mapsource but is this something I need to buy? What are my options?

After you got the USB-Serial adapter running, which can be tricky, the first thing should be the webupdater. Than get the garmin communicator, so you can download geocaches directly from the website.

 

GermanSailor

[skyetracker]

Hi,

 

I have had a frustrating and troubled afternoon trying to connect my loved, but old Garmin eTrax Venture to my PC. I have the RS232 adapter and I have installed the Garmin communicator and the drivers and installed the adapter itself. All the web sites want to send data to the GPS but none seem to be able to see it. I keep getting the Device Not Found messages. I am now suspecting my adapter to be the culprit. Is anybody able to tell me what brand of adapter they used and works. I would be very grateful.

Ever hopeful

Skyetracker.

[PROW_NINJA]

Hi Skyetracker. I've emailed you. Garmin gave me the steps to get things going.

[+sktqch]

prow ninja, how about emailing the instructions to me also? I have an old etrex and a cable and a usb/serial adapter and would like to know how to do this myself. Them dang little rubber buttons are giving me carpal tunnel syndrome.

Stan

[PROW_NINJA]

My problem was that my laptop was not seeing my gps. I kept getting messages saying that there was an error and problems with com ports. I was also trying to connect to an older version of mapsource.

 

From Garmin

 

Please go to the MapSource short cut for the program (i.e. the icon on my desktop)

 

Right click on the short cut, and left click on PROPERTIES.

Click on the tab COMPATIBILITY.

At the bottom of this Compatibility window you will see the option for (Run this program as the Administrator), click on the box to check this option.

Click on APPLY and then close the Properties window.

Now the program will open each time without the error message

 

With Mapsource closed, please click on the following link and update Mapsource to the current version of 6.15.11 http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209 make sure you click on the second download which is 60.03MB in size. Run that to the computer.

 

skyetracker also had similar probs but solved it himself using advanced installation settings rather than using the installation wizard.

 

Hope that helps

[+sktqch]

Tnx...I'll give that a try.

Stan