Garmin eTrex Venture

[+RobertM]

Hi,

 

I'm new to Geocaching. I just bought the Garmin eTrex Venture. Anyone else have this GPS? Is it any good? It seems to work okay but standing on my apartment balcony I get North pointing in different directions all the time even when picking up about 7 satellites. Is this normal? Does it work better when out in the open and actually looking for caches?

 

Robert

[+briansnat]

Venture is a fine unit. I have the Legend and really like it. You won't get an accurate bearing while standing on your balcony because you aren't moving. The Venture doesn't have a magnetic compass, so for your directional arrow to work you must be moving. The brisker your pace, the better.

 

"Life is a daring adventure, or it is nothing" - Helen Keller

[+CYBret]

I use a Venture too, you'll have lots of luck with it.

 

To get the compass to point true, you really need to be out in the open and walking a bit farther than you can on a balcony. Take it out in the yard or parking lot and walk around with it for a while, you'll get the hang of it.

 

Bret

 

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again."

Mt. 13:44

[+RobertM]

Thanks for this info! I'm really green at this. At least I now know I didn't buy a piece of rubbish. :-)

 

Rob

[+Desert_Warrior]

quote:

---

Originally posted by RobertM:

Hi,

 

I'm new to Geocaching. I just bought the Garmin eTrex Venture. Anyone else have this GPS?

Robert

---

 

Howdy,

 

I started out with a basic E-Trex (yellow), but within months I switched to a Venture. So far, the longest hike I have used it on was 7 miles. I am quite happy with it.

 

Some will tell you it doesn't work well under trees. I don't know, there are not many trees in El Paso.

 

Enjoy it. Good luck.

 

Mike. KD9KC.

El Paso, Texas.

 

Seventeen minutes after her FIRST call for help, police officers arrived to find Ronyale White dead.

 

Prohibiting self defense is the ultimate crime. Police carry guns to protect themselves. What protects YOU ???

[HJS]

I also own an etrex venture and I am quite satisfied with its performance.

A word of advice. Do not rely solely on the compass on your GPS.. When I get close in to a cache I use a regular compass to keep my bearing to the cache. The GPS compass doesn't update well if you're moving slow or in circles.

[+JBird77]

I bought my Venture about 4 or 5 months ago, absolutly LOVE it! I thought about getting the next model up, Vista, but couldn't justify the feature set. I just used it this weekend to moderate to heavy tree cover and was suprised at the reception, keeping 30 ft accuracy nearly the entire time with no clear shot of the sky visable. I agree with the previous note that getting near the cache is frustrating and not to rely on the heading, I use the map view to make sure I'm in the right general direction. Have a blast. JBird 77

[+RobertM]

Thanks for info re GPS.

 

I'm very new to this and don't know much about GPSes. Good to hear your points of view.

 

Rob

[+gojira357]

I'm also new to the game, and the Venture is the only GPS I've had experience with, other than occasional use of my geocaching partner's Garmin III+. Venture is a nice compact model with easy to use screens, waterproof enough for swims to shore, but don't rely on it to lead you with dead accuracy to microcaches. A good accuracy for me here in Phoenix, AZ is 20 to 30 feet, whereas my friend's G-III+ with its external antenna routinely gets 15 feet of accuracy or better. Venture will get you very near the cache; its up to your experience to get you to the it.

[+embra]

I upgraded my Venture to the 2.34 firmware from the Garmin site last week; it includes a WAAS tweak. I was able to get to 7 foot accuracy with a clear sky and wide horizon.

 

Of course, when I get under that tree cover I'm, well, in the woods

 

max

Just visiting this planet

[+embra]

I upgraded my Venture to the 2.34 firmware from the Garmin site last week; it includes a WAAS tweak. I was able to get to 7 foot accuracy with a clear sky and wide horizon.

 

Of course, when I get under that tree cover I'm, well, in the woods

 

max

Just visiting this planet

[+RobertM]

I used my new Venture under some thickish tree cover yesterday and was really amazed that it was working. I bought this GPS not really knowing much about them and it's turned out good so far.

[HMF4]

I upgraded my basic etrex within 2 days to Venture

and it works great! Unless you're going to plop down serious money on really good mapping unit, you can't beat it.

 

good luck!