Problems with using Etrex Venture Cx

Ferge · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 04, 2006 Posts: 1

Last few years I have been using the Garmin etrex's in their various guises but recently have been becoming more annoyed at their limitations (or is it the lack of expertise on my part?...probably).

I use the etrex for mapping cycling routes in the countryside and in the past did this using memory map. By drawing the track on the memory map like an overlay and exporting it to my gps. But this is tedious so recently I decided to use Mapsource R&R just to mark points to create a route, without realising it I over ran some kind of limit so when i exported it to the gps it complained and split the route up. To be honest this way of planing a ride was just as time consuming.

Subsequently trying to read the route on the go was a bit of a nightmare as the etrex insisted on defaulting to 800ft zoom at each point I'd marked. So no matter how many times I reset the zoom to 300ft it would just as quickly reset back to 800ft...........How do I stop this?

Is there a quicker way of marking out an on-road cycling route without having to follow each bend of the road but just note the turnings, etc? I noticed there is a setting "follow road" but it wouldn't allow me to choose this option.

Curiously when I'd finished the event and just wanted to get from my currently on road position to a local town I tried to use the "Find" and "Navigate to" options. But for some weird reason the routing line on the screen bore no relation to my current road position and seemed to be starting me off from another location ???

The lack of real time route planning, user unfriendly menus, useless Garmin manual and the above aggravations had me swearing I would search out a better alternative, even an android phone!!

Incidentally if i go abroad with the etrex what do I need to do as when I previously went to France the etrex had me as travelling along in nearby fields as opposed to the road where I actually was!

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