Many people are asking which GPS is the best for hunting. The Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx is among the best GPS units for hunting for many reasons but here are the top seven.

1.  Long Battery Life – It is very important to have a GPS unit that has a long battery life to it when hunting in the outdoors. The Vista Hcx will run approximately 25 hours on 2 AA batteries. Remember to always carry extra batteries in your pack while hunting so you don’t get stuck in the middle of nowhere with out having replacements.

2.  Compact & Lightweight – When you are doing spot and stalk hunting you will appreciate having a GPS that is both compact and lightweight. The Vista Hcx is small enough to fit in your shirt pocket and only weighs 5.5 ounces.

3.  Waas-enabled & Electric Compass – It is extremely important to have a GPS that is Waas-enabled when hunting like the eTrex Vista Hcx is because it will locate your position quickly and precisely even when you are hunting in heavy cover or a deep canyon. The Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx is also equipped with an electric compass which will provide your bearing information even while you are sitting still in a tree stand or hunting blind.

4.  Hunt/Fish Calculator & Sun/Moon Information – The Vista HCX has a Hunt/Fish calculator which tells you the best times to hunt each day. It also provides you with sunrise and sunset times so you can plan your time hunting in the field better.

5.  256 Level Color – You will enjoy the 256 level color of the Vista HCX with it’s easy to read screen and great contrast that it brings to your topo maps while outdoors.

6.  Great Memory and MicroSD slot – You can record 1000 waypoints, 50 routes, and 20 tracks with the Garmin eTrex Vista HCX. It has a microSD slot where you can insert preloaded microSD cards with MapSource information about the area you are hunting.

7.  Water Proof – But the most important reason why the Garmin eTrex is among the best hunting GPS unit is because it is water proof. You don’t want to worry about damaging your GPS unit when you are out hunting and a rain shower or snow flurries start to fall.

These are just a few of the reasons why the Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx is the best GPS unit for hunting.

If you would like more information about the Best Hunting GPS units available and to receive some unadvertised specials on the Top GPS units just go to http://www.theultimategpsstore.com and sign up for our Hunting GPS review newsletter.

By: Rhonda Percell – Owner of The Ultimate GPS Store.com and Avid Hunter -I am an avid hunting and owner of The Ultimate GPS Store.com. I love helping hunters find the right GPS unit to fit their needs. I enjoy writing articles about GPS units that you can use for hunting.

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Article by graham

Anyone who loves the outdoors or is into the newish sport of geocaching is going to just love Garmin’s eTrex models which are tiny but built for adventure.

Five buttons are within easy reach of your fingertips and if, heaven forbid, you drop it into water it can take a small dunking as it’s IPX7 waterproof. You can store 500 waypoints in memory for easy retrieval and it has a TrackBack feature to reverse your track log and help you get back to your starting point. Neat!

There are eight different eTrex models – the eTrex, eTrex Camo, eTrex Summit, eTrex Venture, eTrex Legend, eTrex Vista, eTrex Legend C and the eTrex Vista C. What are the differences?

Well, when you get to the Summit level you get an electronic compass and barometric altimeter; the Legend, Vista, Legend C and Vista C all have built in basemaps; the Vista has an electronic compass as well as a Barometric Altimeter; the Legend C also has a colour display, auto-routing and is USB compatible. The Vista C has the lot!

Memory wise, you have to get to the Venture model and then you get 1MB, the Legend has 8MB, the Vista, Legend C and Vista C all have 24MB.

Battery life varies with each model with the Vista the lowest at 12 hours and the Legend C the longest with 36 hours. The rest hover around the 20 hour mark and all use two AA batteries.

These units, like most GPS units, are accurate to about 6 metres and this can vary of course depending on how many satellites they are picking up. Obstacles like bridges will vary your reception and performance greatly.

There are five buttons with two down the right hand side. One of these turns the unit on/off and controls the backlight while the other selects different pages. On the left hand side there are three other buttons. two of these and up and down buttons and the third is a select button which you use to select the option you have highlighted.

The eTrex also has a PC interface that means you can hook it up to your computer (cable is extra and costs around 30 quid) to download routes to the GPS unit.

There are detractors but not too many that I can find. In June 2008 Queensparker had this to say on a review site:

“This is my first GPS product and I hate it. It has lots of features that I don’t need. The three features that I do need; reliability, good battery life and clear mapping, it singularly fails to deliver. (Granted the last is partly down to the OS). Getting the maps onto it requires more passwords and registrations that you can shake a stick at. First time around, after I had spent hours struggling with it, it transpired that the machine was faulty and had to go back. They replaced it but forgot to tell me that this messes up all of those registrations etc. This was a present, otherwise it would be on e bay a.s.a.p. I guess that they are all like this. I am not going to try another. The one saving grace was they they do have possibly the best customer support that I have ever encountered after many years of gadget use.”

The Garmin eTrex is one of the world’s most popular GPS receivers as evidenced by all the good reviews you see on the internet. Of course, you don’t always have to hand hold the eTrex. You can purchase an automotive bracket with suction cup for your windscreen or you can even buy handlebar mounting brackets to use the unit on your bicycle or a marine mount for your boat. For walking, it fits neatly into your hand.

About the Author

The Garmin eTrex Shop has more details about these marvellous little GPS units including current listings of new and used models you can buy from Amazon or eBay.

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Article by Buck Smith

For a relatively inexpensive, dependable, and accurate handheld GPS, you are going to love the Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver. In this article we will cover both the good and bad features of the Garmin eTrex Venture GPS. Also, you will probably want to take a little time and look at the many reviews written by happy owners by clicking on the Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver link.

Good features of the Garmin eTrex Venture HC

One of the really great features of this Garmin eTrex Handheld GPS is the high-sensitivity chip. This allows excellent satellite connection even when you are in heavily forested areas. The GPS case is well built, waterproof, and tough enough to withstand the occasional drop to the ground, although dropping the unit is not recommended.

The color display is crisp andeasy to read even in bright sunlight and the screen is large enough for easy viewing. The screen has both a daytime mode and a nighttime mode.

The Garmin eTrex Venture HC base map includes rivers, lakes, highways, cities, railroads, and other features with sufficient detail for most hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, and other outdoor activities. However, if you are looking for a detailed highway map then this is the wrong product.

Geocaching enthusiasts will love the fact that the eTrex Venture HC has geochaching features already built into the system. You can go to geocacher.com to download waypoints directly from their website.

Not so good features of the eTrex Venture HC

Many people are disappointed that the base map included does not have more extensive detail. However you can buy and download more detailed maps if necessary.

Another issue for some people is that Garmin estimates that the effective battery life is up to 14 hours. If you are going to be in the field for several days you’ll want to take along extra AA batteries.

I hope that the above information is helpful if you are researching the Garmin eTrex Handheld GPS. If you cannot find one locally, you can buy one online and save quite a bit of money and get free shipping. You can do more research by clicking on this Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver link.

About the Author

Loves hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, reading, and writing

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If you liked Garmin Legend Cx, you will like eTrex Venture Cx as well. Garmin has given you all the same benefits of Legend, but taken off the extra stuff from it. You will get the same great software and hardware that comes with Venture Cx, but you will not get the USB cable, MicroSD card, bike clip and Trip and Waypoint software.

But that’s actually a good thing- it is more affordable now. By making it all simple, it will be perfect for the one who is using GPS for the first time, or one who does not want a lot of extras and fuss. This device is ready to use right out of its box, so you don’t have to mess around with computer or disks.

But if you think you are being cut back on power, you are wrong- Venture Cx has features and power where you really want them. You have a full color brilliant TFT display along with 32 hours of battery life. It uses 2 AA batteries and gives you the maximum battery power you can get from them. All these cool features make Venture Cx a trusty companion for the next outdoor adventure or boating excursion.

It does come with a memory card slot and if you want some maps, you can get Garmin preprogrammed cards that offer nautical charts, city streets and topographic maps. This device is compatible with almost all MapSource products from Garmin, including City Navigator, BlueChart, U.S. Topo and U.S. Topo 24k. It also has a routable basemap of the country and allows for turn-by-turn automated directions with elective City Navigator preprogrammed cards. These will help you navigate safely to the place you want.

You will get an integrated journey computer that provides readings for overall average, moving average, stopped time, odometer, max speed, total time among others.

And just like the other eTrex devices, its controls are mainly located on the sides, so it can be operated using just one hand. It has a new rocker switch on the front that makes data inputting easier. It also allows you to easily pan the map or scroll through menus.

And if you want your Venture Cx to be integrated with your computer, all you need is a USB cable. This would allow you to load maps and charts on the optional memory card. This is really easy and takes hardly a couple of minutes.

Plus you can share the navigation data using plotters and repeaters, and autopilots working on NMEA protocols, using a dedicated serial port. Its case is water proof and complies with IEC 60529 IPX7 standard. You can dip it for 30 minutes in water 1m deep and it would still work.

You get inbuilt celestial tables to find the best time to hunt and fish. It will also calculate sun and moon movements. For a simple and basic GPS device, the eTrex Venture Cx offers you a lot. It has dual mode display and a number of options for easy viewing.

When you purchase the device, it comes with the basic unit, along with a wrist strap, basemap, owner’s manual and a quick reference guide.

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