This is nearly the perfect GPS. I previously owned the Garmin 12MAP.

The 12MAP is a much larger unit with a fixed (SMALL) amount of memory.

With the eTrex Venture Cx you can buy a microSD card and put as many

maps as your heart desires.

I do almost all of my hiking/backpacking in The Sierras. With the

Garmin TOPO and Garmin National Parks West I'm golden.

With the NP West maps you can AUTO-ROUTE the TRAILS! With 1 click I

can see how far it is to my destination AND a profile of the elevation.

The unit is very small and fits into my front pocket. I keep it on

all the time while hiking. When I get home I can upload the tracks

and bring up Google Earth and see EXACTLY where I was hiking.

(All this is built into MapSource from Garmin)

With the Garmin 12MAP I would only bring a GPS when I knew I was

going off-trail or during the early spring months when there is

still snow on the ground. Now I bring the eTrex on every backpack

trip. By the way, the National Parks Maps are 7.5 degree so they

are as good as any USGS map.

If you are thinking of getting the more expensive Legend or Vista

I don't think it is worth it IMO. You can get the elevation from

the main screen and you can get a compass reading by just walking

in straight line.

You may want to consider the high sensitivity receiver but getting

a lock on satellites has never really been a problem. It's too

bad that they don't have an Venture HCx.

Anyway, I hope I helped some. I love this device! And Garmin customer

service is incredible if you have any issues.

Just looked and really the Legend HCx is pretty much the Venture Cx with

high sensitive receiver. It has 25hrs or battery life compared to

32hrs for the Venture Cx. The price is almost the same. I would buy

the Legend HCx at this time if I was buying a new GPS unit.

Does what it's supposed to do. A bit complicated to set up, but once it is,

a great search and find device. Only drawbackMap is that the map cards are expensive.

This little wonder has been unbelievably easy to learn to use. It gets a great signal and, in my experience, has been accurate enough to get me within five feet of where I am going quite consistently. I wish it came with a few more roads loaded on it's default map so that I didn't feel the need to purchase the map files. I love it.

As a first time buyer of a personal GPS unit, I am very pleased with it. It has every feature I need, compass, distance, speed, elevation, etc. The mapping is really good, lasts a very long time with the 2 AA's. If I had to buy another unit, I would get the same one again. Geocaching, bike riding, walking, it is fun to have the tracking on as you criss-cross around the neighborhood either on foot or on bike. On the more physically challenging mountian biking routes, knowing the elevation changes is good as is all the configurable items in the trip computer (max speed, elapsed time, distance traveled, etc).

This is a great unit, the whole GPS thing is better than sliced bread. That said, the base maps with this unit suck. That may not be fair if you only use major highways or for hiking but I was very unimpressed. I had access to City Navigator v8 since I have the Garmin GPS 18 set up on my laptop (my first GPS) and used for major auto trips. I purchased a 2 GB microSD (they can be had for south of $25) and loaded the entire USA on about 83% so IMHO getting the more expensive eTrex with the (tiny) microSD Card and data cable is a waste (if you have a digital camera you probably have the needed data cable). Battery life is unbelievable about 30 hours on 2 AA and for $10 one can find a car plug. A small unit like this won't give you verbal directions, it does beep to let you know that "something" is up but to be honest in a car you can hardly hear it. I've not really used it outdoors much for other than to track just how far I walk (workout) and tried (found) a Geocache for grins. A $14 motorcycle mount works very well on my bike Sportster 883XL (stock handlebars) and you do NOT replace the back of the unit, just add the clip that comes with the eTrex. That "new" back that comes with the bike clip won't even fit a Cx unit due to the microSD card and it's not waterproof, toss it.

I don't need a GPS daily, if I'm going on a major car drive I'll set up my GPS 18. This unit the eTrex (Venture Cx) is my handy dandy quick grab and it's a compromise but can be used for the car, my bike or on foot. My wife and I recently had to go to a family thing in NC I'd never really been there, so this was my first real use of this unit and I was impressed. Prior to leaving using my computer (camera data cable) and my Garmin Mapsource I located the hotel, event location, and the house we needed to go to. I should have input the Airport (could have done it there but just didn't think about it) but the unit bailed me out (more on that later). It does take the unit a bit to "log on and lock" maybe a minute or two so it's not a big deal. Once locked on I lit up the hotel waypoint and the little unit took us there. I just held it (or handed it to my wife) and although a small screen it gave me the next turn, distance all the things a GPS is suppose to do. Later my wife found a restaurant and when I hit the find button with POI there it was and off we went, no muss no fuss. On another occassion we went out to another restaruant with a local who rode with us and took us in such away as only a local can. Dinner done we wanted to go back to our hotel and since his wife met us there we were going to be on our own, it was dark and we were clueless as to where we were. Not a problem, lit up the GPS and on our way, made a wrong turn at the start and missed a turn in a dark rural area but the unit just recalculated and took us on in. My wife who hates all these gadget but clearly does not want to be lost was impressed. On the way back to the Airport was a bit off only because I did not create a waypoint. Using the "find" button it kept finding the closest one which was not the one I wanted. Not a real problem, I got on the highway headed towards the right airport and about 10 miles out hit the find button, went to transport and there was a list of Car Rental places, even better. Found my rental office and the unit took me in the front gate. So I have to say this unit has the potential to be great but as I started out the base maps suck. It's not a perfect car/camp/bike GPS but it "can" do all those things well plus slip in your pocket. Since I already owned the map and could install it to the micrSD card that was a good thing, if I had to pay an extra $125 for a decent map, well that's another. I hope to return to Europe for a bit of an adventure but a decent map of Europe is like $225 from Garmin, nice to have but a bit steep for a few weeks travel. It's not quite as bad a buying printer for $30 then having to get ink for $300 someone should start a Map Library, seems if you can rent a movie why not a map. "Help Me Will Robinson"

I wanted a GPS unit that would serve equally well for use in navigation for driving and recreational use, plus it had to be tuff, portable and affordable. Well this sweet little unit does it all - I am amazed by it. I bought a dash mount and power cord and even though the screen is smallish it still does the job very well. I like that Garmin does not give you a worthless memory card - I bought a 512kb microSD that is more than adequate. I also like that Garmin gives you the flexibility to load your own maps. Now my BIG complaint with Garmin is they rip you off for the map software. I bought the City Navigator (North America)and it was well over $100. It works well and I am happy with it - it just costs too much! Since you can load it on to 2 GPS units, find a friend and both of you can use it and split the cost. Don't spend your money on a GPS unit you will soon regret because of what it can't do, and don't spend more than you need for extras you won't need and can't figure out. I highly recommend this sweet little unit!

I bought this GPS as a back up when flying on 172 Cessnas (equiped w Garmins 430). Every time has been great! I got the optional case and I clip it to the sunshades. You can download ALL the US airports to it from the internet for free (it's a text file, and you can load it to the unit using the basic garmin map software, 19.95). The unit works perfect and the altitude readings are quite accurate. It even has a Direct To (called Go To)!!! My favorite fuction is the track recording, which makes a path of all your fliight and later download it to the PC with date and actually see on the map where you have been flying that day (worried you have been flying into class B airspace that day? jaja). I trully recomend it. One note, the unit does not work on commercial airliners, guess is to much aluminium around...

You cant ask for more at this price, and its got all the features you really need, and leaves out what you dont. (like baro pressure...who cares!)

Note, to use the handle bar mount you MUST use the supplied clip that comes with the unit. The battery cover that comes witht he handle bar mount will not fit, and thats why they include the clip/adapter.

I needed the Garmin eTrex for a train trip I was taking. It follows the train along its path and you can tell at all times where you are on the trip. I found the unit to work extremely well. It takes a few minutes for it to set up, by finding satellites. If you are in a rural area or big city where there is no reception or reception is blocked by large buildings it will come up with satellite lost. It automatically will refind the satellite when it can. It has night time mode which makes it easier to read in the dark. I also used it while walking and in the car. It can tell you how fast the car is going or the train for that matter. If you need a handheld device to pinpoint your location I highly recommend this product. It uses two AA batteries. The battery life is long. I had mine on 24 hours and did not need to replace the battery. It has many other features I did not have a chance to test out, but I am sure they work just fine.

I read every review I could find on this product before buying it. I guess I should have heeded the "doesn't work well in canyons or in heavily forested areas" ones. Most of my hiking is around the Pacific NorthWest. Somehow I thought that I was only hiking in not-so-heavily forested areas. Apparently I was wrong. Even on the top of a smallish mountain, the highest point for miles around, I didn't get a strong enough signal for the GPS to locate me. I could see that it was getting a signal from about 6 satellites, but they weren't strong enough to do anything with.

So if you hike in the forest, don't expect this to be able to keep track of your location. My electronic breadcrumb trail was non-existent.

Also, Garmin's products are among the LEAST Macintosh-friendly GPS units out there.

Otherwise, everything else worked as advertised. But if I buy another GPS unit, it would probably be the 60Cx which has the better receiver.

The other problem I had was that the first unit that I bought (directly from Amazon, not some other retailer or used seller) had been opened and used. It was covered with pocket lint, was missing the screen-protector sticker, and the screen was covered in fingerprints. I also ordered the memory card that Amazon suggested I buy. Bad idea! It told me to buy a MiniSD card, but it should have been a MICROSD card. That's entirely my fault for not double-checking, but still, Amazon shouldn't have suggested it. That card was direct from Amazon and was supposed to be new, but had been cut open and used.

Luckily, Amazon customer service sent me a replacement for both immediately! I was happy about that, but not so happy when I opened the new shipment and realized that the Venture they sent me was even MORE used than the first one! The memory card had also been used.