I recently put a Dunlop E3 pon the back of my Venture. The front still has the 404. I rode it through two rain storms and the bike did very well. I also have First Gear heated gloves with a controller. They worked fine with the stock 12v outlet.
Jim
I have left my choke on a couple of times for fairly short distances and have noticed no problems at all.
I get 42-45 mpg riding solo and 39-42 tandem.
I have a 2000 Venture MM that I just replaced the OEM Dunlop 404 on. I elected to buy the Elite 3. I have about 500 miles on the new tire and have found that the handling is much better at both low and high speed than it was on the other one.