E-Trex Venture?

“I'm finally thinking seriously about getting a GPS unit,right now the venture seems to be the best fit to my needs, but I don't know anyone who has one yet,, anyone have some experience with the model?”

“I've got a regular old E-trez bottom-of-the-line model. lol... the yellow one.

Works pretty well. I can see it would be nice to have more memory and to be able to download maps, etc.

This one does fairly to middlin' well under tree cover. I've lost the signal when geocaching, but when it's happened it seems most everyone else also has lost the signal due to heavy tree cover.

Maybe you want to get the new RINO unit from Garmin, which includes FSR radio?? They're coming out soon.”

“The Venture is a good choice.

I don't know about a gps and a frs radio combo. Transmitting radios and gps units are the two worst battery gobbling devices ever invented. I would have to own stock in Duracell first.”

“I bought a Venture last December and it's served me just fine except for a few times in very heavy woods. I've even used it on an airplane a couple of times and observed my speed and altitude. It's a nice unit for the money.”

“I've had a Venture for about a year. Seems OK, like packrat I sometimes have trouble in heavy woods, but I'm learning that that may be GPS units in general, and not specific to the Venture.

I'm no GPS expert by any stretch, only use mine for play, no serious geo-caching, etc. I'm one of those archaic types that still likes map & compass navigation, but wanted to play w a GPS to see what additional info they could offer.

I'm glad I have it, & would buy a Venture again, it's a fun toy.”

“Thanks for the help, folks,, I think the RINO would eat batteries, plus I'm not into all in one units, though the find feature it offers is promising, allowing other users of that unit to "see " where other users are within range, that should help find strayed folks and hopefully prevent a few hunting accidents too. I really just want it as a backup , I'm a map and compass type too, but sometimes I've been coming across mismarked trails, and it would be good to have something to reference your position more accurately. I realize heavy cover interferes and expect it, but that is GPS all around, not just the unit, though now I have a new decision, the legend has a $50 rebate now, so do I go with that instead? brings the price within $30 for 8 meg download space,, expensive toys, I know, but the topo map download would be nice,, let you know when I do get it and how it works though.”