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I just bought a used Garmin Venture HC GPS...

Has anyone else used one of these or a gps in general... I am thinking about downloading the maps (GARMIN 0101077400 MAPSOURCE INLAND LAKES MAPS ON DVD - NORTH AMERICA - INLAND LAKE), but am hesitate, since they are more expensive than the gps...

I just got a new Garmin GPSmap 78 and had to buy the maps. They are a bit expensive but when we think about it, it is the main thing in a GPS !

I am looking forward to make my sailing territory larger by being able to make longer tacks, with the added confort of knowing more precisely when to make my turns.

I always used my sounder and the paper charts but there are places I was a little shy about sailing. More fun!

I'm playing around with mine -- small problem is I don't get satellite reception inside when I have the computer on....

Can you set alarms with your model --- for say you stray to shallows or an object?

Yes! There are lots of functions on this thing! More than I need!

the Venture HC has an anchor drift alarm... not sure if it has much more.

I have it for a couple rasons --

1) to make my travels (boat, bike, hike)

2) and to find locations --- I am thinking of creating a geocache

I bought the Garmin GPS 78 Bundle last year and have been happy with it. The bundle gives you the inland lakes for Canada and a mounting bracket and power cable. My only complaint is that the manual is too brief but the support is good. I e-mail questions rather than phone that way I get a written reply that I can go over till I have learned it.

I get the same sense for the Venture HC manual... but I have searching Youtube and those videos seem to be helpful.

Albeit, it is hard to take those videos with you on a drive or hike...