First trip with a Garmin eTrex Venture
Headed up to the Brecon Beacons on the weekend to walk across the Black Mountain from the east side heading west, then up onto the ridge above the reservoir and back. For those that don’t know the Black Mountain it’s a wide open space of upland – easy to get lost if the weather is bad or it gets dark. I took along my Garmin eTrex Venture HC Handheld GPS Navigator
Firstly the screen is clear and easy to read, and it fits nicely in the hand. It found my position very quickly (20-30 seconds) and didn’t have any problems maintaining it – though I didn’t go into any deep cover or woods.
The basemap that comes with this walkers gps is just that, basic. So I’ve used the mapsource map for this area which is highly detailed and easy to use. Well worth getting these maps.
The Garmin recorded my route perfectly and gave me figures for the time I’d been out, the distance I walked, my speed at different points and even the time I spent standing still!
