Garmin Legend or Venture

[Kray]

Thanks for reading this.

 

I have wanted a GPS for a long time. Now I have a good excuse to buy one. I have narrowed down the search to the garmin etrex legend and venture units. I now have 2 questions.

 

1. What is the citipoint database? Is it a street level map? (I plan to use my GPS for geocaching as well as driving)

 

2. I have found some "open box" deals where I can get the GPS unit without the CD and cable. What does the CD contain and is there any way to get that data for free? (the savings will only be $50)

 

If anyone happens to care the open box units are at the Bestbuy in Rockville MD. I think they had 2 etrex, 1 etrex venture and 1 etrex legend.

[rpvaughnjr]

I have the legend and it is great it has a built in base map that shows all highways and most roads. My wife and I use it along with ExpertGPS and MapBlast for driving directions and it works great. I was looking for the same thing as you, I wanted a GPS that I could use for backpacking and for driving and this was the best solution that I could find.

 

Hope this helps,

Ricky

[peter]

In response to Kray's questions:

1) No, the citypoint database of the Venture is not a map, but just a database of city locations. It'll be able to tell you the direction and distance to, e.g. Fargo, N.D., but it won't show you any highways or roads by which to get there.

2) You definitely will want to have the PC cable since it allows you to:

- upload new firmware features as Garmin makes them available

- maintain your waypoints, routes, tracks on your PC and up/download them to/from the GPSR

- work with various software packages to plan routes, plot tracklogs, etc.

 

The reference to a CD is puzzling since neither the Venture nor the Legend come with a CD.

 

Since you mention wanting to use it partly for driving, I'd recommend you get a GPSR like the Legend that supports highway and street maps. The basemap built into the unit gives you detail about equivalent to a good state highway map (all highways, many rural roads, the major streets in cities), while the downloadable optional MapSource maps add local streets and other details. MetroGuide is the most detailed for streets and business locations and lets you search for specific addresses and intersections.

 

BTW, if you do plan to get MetroGuide maps, the package deal of an eMap GPSR, 8 MB memory card, PC cable, and MG CD ROM is available as low as $215 making it quite a bit cheaper than a Legend plus the MG map.

[+Team Tecmage]

Tracy and I have a Legend. Like Peter, I am confused by the reference to a CD. The cable is a MUST. Tracy and I sometimes use the map on the Legend to navigate. When we were looking for units, she liked the Emap because of the map capability, while I liked the size of the Etrex. Okay, gadgets I love, and the Legend had the features we both wanted.

 

Richard

[Kray]

Sorry about the CD thing. The guy at best buy told me that the units still in the box came with a CD of some sort. I assumed it was some kind of map databae or companion software.

[+BrownMule & Jackrabbit]

None of the Etrex series comes with a CD of any type. The legend has the major roads in the firmware. The legend also allows you to upload more detailed maps from Garmins Mapsource CD's. I recommend the Garmin Mapsource TOPO simply because it has just about all the major highways plus the backroads and terrain. Yep, the Legend and Mapsource TOPO are my choices.

 

[+mrcpu]

I would definately NOT purchase it without the cable because you'll send the time and money getting the cable anyways.

 

Personally I didn't find any need for the basemap. I went with the Venture. I felt that the size and detail of the map would not be very usefull.

 

The venture has a "map" that displays all your tracks, routes and waypoints in a graphical view. The citypoint thing also shows up with all kinds of cities and towns showing up as points only.

 

I just didn't think the basemap was worth it.

 

Rob

Mobile Cache Command

[+Renegade Knight]

If you really plan on using it for driving around, and you live in a metropolitan area. Get the Garmin GPS V. It does address to address routing. If you can't afford it you need one that at least gives you good basemap information. The venture is an advance basic GPS. It only does 'points of interest' like resteraunts. Maybe that's all you want. I don't know much about the legend.

[+GatoRx]

My Legend has been great for caching and driving directions. I started out using just the basemap, but then got the Mapsource CD. The basemap is fine for highway/interstate use, but for any more detail you'll need Mapsource.

And as previous cachers have said, the cable is a must! Its not difficult to enter waypoints by hand, but it can get tedious and time-consuming real fast.

[Martin Clan]

I bought a Venture in January and went out geocaching 10 minutes after we bought it, and noticed right away that it lost reception quite easily. We live in WA. where there are a lot of trees, and we constantly lost reception (even under very minimal tree coverage) I really started to dislike the Venture, several people told me to try the Legend so we went and exchaged the Venture for the Legend (I thought for sure there wouldn't be much difference...BOY was I wrong!) we went directly back to a multi cache we had been unable to do before and with the Legend we NEVER lost reception even under thick tree coverage. So my vote is for the Legend

[Martin Clan]

I bought a Venture in January and went out geocaching 10 minutes after we bought it, and noticed right away that it lost reception quite easily. We live in WA. where there are a lot of trees, and we constantly lost reception (even under very minimal tree coverage) I really started to dislike the Venture, several people told me to try the Legend so we went and exchaged the Venture for the Legend (I thought for sure there wouldn't be much difference...BOY was I wrong!) we went directly back to a multi cache we had been unable to do before and with the Legend we NEVER lost reception even under thick tree coverage. So my vote is for the Legend

[+RAD Dad]

I have a legend, I like it quite a bit. I do lose signal from time to time in heavy tree cover, but not a big deal. So far as mapping goes, I got the Roads and Recreation CD, I can fit most of the I-5 corridor from Eugene Oregon to Vancover BC in the 8 megs available and then some. While it won't do address to address and auto routing, it still has most of the smaller roads (both the Roads and Recreation and the Metroguide are missing a lot of newer (built within 5 years) streets in my area, despite the claim of Garmin that they have updated them. The Metroguide has a whole bunch of other info that you can't weed out when uploading maps, such as addresses, business, and so on and because of that it takes a huge amount of memory just to load one major metropolitan city.

 

ummmm....not sure what to say here....so ummm, well errrr, uhhhh, well I guess that's it.

[EMCtwo]

I'd go for the discounted legend you found. As others here have mentioned, there is no CD included in the retail package so you are out nothing there and if you check out the website: www.pfranc.com you can order a PC cable for somewhere between $15-$20 if I remember correctly. You can also just order the connector from this site and make the cable yourself with parts from RadioShack or some other local electronic parts supplier. In all you wouldn't save a ton of money, but you would still have a little extra cash in your pockets to go and buy some cache trinkets or something Before you buy though, you may want to carefully check the condition of the used unit to ensure there is nothing wrong with it to begin with.

 

Just my opinion

[EMCtwo]

I'd go for the discounted legend you found. As others here have mentioned, there is no CD included in the retail package so you are out nothing there and if you check out the website: www.pfranc.com you can order a PC cable for somewhere between $15-$20 if I remember correctly. You can also just order the connector from this site and make the cable yourself with parts from RadioShack or some other local electronic parts supplier. In all you wouldn't save a ton of money, but you would still have a little extra cash in your pockets to go and buy some cache trinkets or something Before you buy though, you may want to carefully check the condition of the used unit to ensure there is nothing wrong with it to begin with.

 

Just my opinion

[rgerman95]

Just my $0.02:

 

Got the Legend last year and am pleased with it. Haven't gotten into using the CD's yet...plan on doing that soon.

[rgerman95]

Just my $0.02:

 

Got the Legend last year and am pleased with it. Haven't gotten into using the CD's yet...plan on doing that soon.

[+phantom4099]

Hay RAD dad can I send a screen shot of mapsend S&D (sorry its magellan). I am trying to figure out when alot of the data was made, so I was hoping you could tell me if it is older than garmins maps or if it is newer.

 

sincerely,

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

[peter]

quote:

---

Originally posted by phantom4099:

Hay RAD dad can I send a screen shot of mapsend S&D (sorry its magellan). I am trying to figure out when alot of the data was made, so I was hoping you could tell me if it is older than garmins maps or if it is newer.

---

 

It's easy to compare against the Garmin maps by using the MapViewer on their website in the Cartography section. Be sure to click on "More Detail" and zoom way in to get all the available street detail. My impression from some spot checks is that Magellan's maps fall between Garmin's R&R and their MG-USA, but I haven't had much opportunity to check MapSend - it'd be nice if Magellan offered something equivalent to the MapViewer.

 

Let us know which areas you checked and your conclusions.

[NoLuckAmongUs]

I don't know what the price from Best Buy is for the open box legend, but I just did a search on Yahoo! shopping and found a brand new one with the cable and lanyard for 203.95, plus shipping. I just received my Magellan Meridian the other day, bought it online for about $70 cheaper than any store. I may never go to Best Buy again!

 

Signed,

 

ex best buy junkie =)