geek gifts - garmin etrex venture hc

best sellers spy gear pocket pc mp3 players hardware gps ipod speakers logic3 iStation PSP playstation 3 xbox 360

Gadgets

Pets Eye View Camera
Ever wonder what your pet does when you're gone? All will be revealed

Tape Express
Convert all your old mix-tape cassettes to MP3 with the Ion Tape Express

Canon EOS 500D
It's the fifth generation of Canon's entry level DLSR

iKaraoke for iPod
Turn your ipod into a karaoke machine

Asus eee PC701
In a joint venture with Intel, hardware manufacturer Asus has announced the 'eee' ultraportable laptop

SanDisk Sansa e270
The e270 is a surprise hit although not as elegant as the iPod nano, it's a good 6GB player full of features

Western Digital My Book 250GB Drive
Small, elegant, and very easy to use. Just plug it in and you're ready.

Toys

Meet the Hexbugs
These stylish microrobotics bug will be a talking point for all your friends and family.

Bop It Extreme 2
Move to the groove and compete to the beat!

Cube World
Each cube contains a little LCD man who lives inside. There are different characters to collect, each one does different things.

20 Questions
This little ball of electronics will attempt to guess what you are thinking -- impressive stuff.

Commodore 64 TV Games
Based on the classic 80s home computer, the C64 offers 30 built-in games.

NSECT Remote control Robot
N.S.E.C.T. is the latest and wackiest creation from R/C experts Tyco.

GPS

Garmin Nuvi 300
The nuvi 300 is a GPS navigator and digital entertainment system, all in one.

Garmin eTrex Venture HC Handheld GPS Navigator

List Price: £169.99
Our Price: £127.48
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

Average Customer Rating:

Batteries Included: 1
Binding: Electronics
Brand: Garmin
Display Size: 2.1
EAN: 0753759072889
Label: Garmin
Manufacturer: Garmin
Model: 010-00632-01
Publisher: Garmin
Release Date: 2007-09-13
Studio: Garmin

Accessories
Garmin NiMH Cells, AA, 4-pack Garmin Marine mount Garmin Large Diameter Rail Mount Adaptor (25-30mm) Garmin Carabiner stretch holster Garmin Belt clip

Related Items
Garmin - Case for Etrex Series GPS GPS for Walkers: An Introduction to GPS and Digital Maps (Pathfinder) Garmin eTrex Handlebar Mount Bracket Garmin TOPO Great Britain DVD Maps GPS the Easy Way (2nd Edition)

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Check the memory
Comment: We bought this to replace an earlier model that we managed to drop down an inaccessible cliff in Devon. However it turned out to have much less memory built in than our old model. All we could load was around 7 maps which is no where near enough for us. Sent it back and ordered A eTrex Legend HCx which has a slot for a micro SD card. with a 2 GB card we can now load a vast number of maps. Given that the price is not much more it is worth considering paying the extra. Just for the record any garmin gps system the has a small "x" after he code will accept a micro SD card.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Garmin etrex venture hc gps
Comment: A good 'Starter' gps unit. The only real negative i have about this unit is the 24MB internal memory. It gets used up pretty quickly once you start putting maps and waypoints on. If it had a SD card slot if would be perfect for me. The rocker switch is a bit of a niggle if its in your pocket as it can be pressed fairly easily. Apart from that, the button system is easy enough even for an oaf like me to operate with one hand and the colour screen is nice to read. The backlight is adjustable to ease eyes and batteries. With decent batteries i have somewhere around 14 hours usage. I have used batteries bought from pound shops as well and those generally last around 4ish hours. Satelite reception from cold start is pretty quick outside and accuracy is good in my experience. Like i said, a good starter for the price.

Customer Rating:

Summary: How do you follow a good act?
Comment: The eTrex Venture HC takes the place of my much-travelled 11yr-old Garmin GPS12 - a hard act to follow. I need a gps just to give location and time/distance info and to store waypoints, tracks and routes. I don't need a more complex mapbase gps unit; however, the eTrex does interface happily with MemoryMap and GPS Utility, giving very useful PC mapping. It holds satellite signals better than the GPS12 in our summer/autumn woods, though I have yet to try it in really wet conditions. Its two AA batteries seem to last at least as long as the GPS12's four and it is a smaller and lighter unit. On the down side, the Owner's Manual is far from comprehensive; web forums were often more helpful in getting me started. Also rather annoying is that navigation/info pages only cycle one way with the PAGE/QUIT button, while with the GPS12 you can access pages forwards and backwards with separate buttons. Overall a more advanced unit, in a smaller package, and comparatively cheaper than the GPS12 was. Some obvious improvements, like the colour screen, the option for longer waypoint names, more symbols, and character selection by cursor rather than cycling. Should be good.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Fantastic Product
Comment: This is really the best GPS I have ever used. It has a moderate amount of space for maps (20mb - about half of the UK with a topo) and is easy to use as well as unbelievably accurate.

Only thing that may dissapoint you is it's size (it's really quite small) or how long it takes for the screen to refresh (about a second) but as far as I am aware most GPS' take this long.

Fantastic GPS!

Customer Rating:

Summary: A big let down
Comment: I bought this and looked forward to trying it out. Having to fork out another 120 plus pounds for the maps after spending so much on a GPS annoyed me a bit. Lets face it the technology has been around a bit now and should be cheaper. After failed attempts at finding anything useful on the Garmin website (Which can I say is pathetic) I decided not to even attempt to set this up myself and phoned Garmin directly. They were very apologetic and helpful. My map was set up immediately.
Lets face it a GPS is only as good as the maps and the maps are poor. I bought this for using while I am walking in the Scottish hills. What I wanted was a map that would tell me where I was and the names of surrounding hills. What I got was far short. Garmin obviously feel less is more. Why clutter their maps with too many details.
It does have some good features, the battery life is long enough for a full day walking. But I found the accuracy or lack of it a little frightening.
So even if there are no technical problems with your Garmin you are still left with the feeling that it really really wasn't worth the money or the effort.