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|  Average Rating: 4 out of 5 No. of Reviews: 5 RRP: £190 Year: 2004 Description: Unit includes:
eTrex Venture®
Database:
City Point Database
PC interface cable
Wrist strap
User's guide
Quick reference guide
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|  | | Posted: 17/06/04 | | 'FANTASTIC BIT OF KIT. WELL WORTH HAVING.' | | Strengths:
Fast lock-on to satellites. small, light, robust, easy to read and use. Battery life - I use 1800 nimh rechargeable batteries and have had 12 hours use with GPS indicating half battery life still left. Price – mine cost £96 brand new on eBay but I think that was lucky. | | Weaknesses:
Only gripe I have is that route navigation seems to always start with the 2nd waypoint. This happens even when the 1st waypoint on the route is between me and the 2nd and I’m still a couple hundred metres from the 1st. Now that I know this happens I can get around it by creating an extra 1st waypoint. Also, don’t give route waypoints names with 10 characters. The navigation screen only shows the first 9 characters. I was using full 10 characters with numbered suffix but fortunately my numbering system for waypoints increased by 10 therefore last character was always “0”. | | Overall:
Once I had decided to buy a GPS (and that took some time) I looked long and hard at what was available at the budget end of the market - budget being sub 180 notes. It came down to eTrex or GPS12. The GPS12 had great reviews but size and weight matters so I opted for an eTrex Venture. Now let me say this, you really shouldn’t pick the basic yellow eTrex when for a little extra you can get a Venture which has 20 routes, higher resolution screen, click stick, data cable, WAAS/EGNOS and a lovely green finish (you do get used to it). It makes no sense to buy the one route basic yellow job.
The menu system is very easy to get around and the click stick gets a lot of use. However, a GPS is a technical bit a kit and I spent quite a lot time making sure I could use it effectively before taking it on a hike. To get started and build up familiarity with the various screens and functions I plotted a route on my PC that would take me around my home town. This was a great training exercise as it meant I had to learn about GPS PC software and how to use the eTrex. For PC software I can highly recommend GPS Utility (or GPSU for short). I first started with Gartrip, which is good, but GPSU has a far better user interface. Next, for a bit of fun, I used it while on a coach trip to the Crimbo markets on the continent. I got the Lon/Lat coords of our hotel in Brussels using Microsoft MapPoint and managed to track our progress towards our destination across Belgium. The eTrex could hold a signal while travelling on a coach, although initial lock-on to the signal from within the coach could take a few minutes. I could amaze my fellow passengers with info about speed and distance to go (I bet they loved me).
Another great use while on this trip was being able to record the location of the coach on day strips. By just holding down the click stick the GPS creates a waypoint of current location that I could use to locate the coach at the end of the day if need be.
Next step was to use it on a hiking trip in the Dales. I plotted a few routes with GPSU then downloaded all to the device. Having the ability to store 20 routes meant I could have routes for each day, including alternatives should the weather dictate. I was a bit concerned about where I should stow the GPS while walking so as not to lose signal. In the end I put it in the side mesh pocket of my sack, secured by the lanyard. Although it was down by my waist it remained locked on to the satellites with no problems.
So what’s the best way to use it effectively? Well you could hold it in front of you all the time and follow the navigation arrow but this is tiring, means you miss the scenery, and requires you to be moving at a decent pace to get an accurate pointer bearing – stand still and the pointer could be off anywhere. Instead, make use of the bearing in degrees to the next destination. This is accurate when moving or standing still and will give you the exact compass bearing you need to travel. Just set your compass and off you go. Word of warning though – make sure you know what type of North Reference the eTtrex is set up to give. This can be True, Magnetic or Grid. I have mine set to magnetic so I don’t have to make a declination adjustment with the compass, but I must remember to apply it if I use the map.
Satellite tracking on the trip was impressive with 3 metres accuracy recorded in the open. This degraded to 15 metres in a lightly wooded area which still wasn’t bad. Once back home I could upload the tracklogs back into GPSU and see exactly where I had been and how well I’d followed the planned routes. Amazing!
And if you can’t be bothered with plotting routes and all that entails, you can just use the eTrex to give you your current position whenever you feel a bit lost or need confirmation of where you are. I’m sure lots of people have one just for that reason and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Don’t buy the Gilsson neoprene case because it is hell to get on and off, has a useless belt loop and makes it impossible to operate the click stick. Get the Garmin holster instead, it is 10 times better. And finally, although it’s been said before, GPS is no replacement for map and compass. I use my GPS to complement map and compass, not replace.
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| | | | Performance | | 100% | | Reliability | | 100% | | Value | | 80% |
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