Garmin Oregon 550 Series

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3259

Lostby7 wrote:

Frizz wrote:

Wow, you are braver than me to take your Oregon into the water! I'm impressed.

Ditto.

Well, it's rated IPX7, which supposedly gives you protection against "accidental immersion in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes." It's been completely dry inside after those...ahem, "accidental" immersions. I wouldn't take it SCUBA diving!

WGA Member Joined: 2008-09-10 Posts: 232

Glad to hear it can do that but I still don't think I'm brave enough to try!!

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:37 am

More updates came out (again) last night for the Garmin Oregon series. I really like this update as the unit now shows the cache type icon on the list of closest caches along with the cache names....very cool. (And in case you missed it in a previous update, ECs are now shown with the correct Icon).

They keep tweeking the little things and boy do those little changes add up nicely. This is edging ever closer to a perfect 10 on the way cool GPS scale.

Changes made from version 2.71 to 2.81:

* Added date/time to Elevation Plot page when plot future is active.
* Added display of icons to the lists in Where To? > Waypoints and the Geocaching application.
* Added phone numbers when available to POI review pages.
* Fixed issue where vehicle position would switch between actual and on-road locations.

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3259

I wish the wherigo player would be updated to something that doesn't freeze.

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:06 am

gotta run wrote:

I wish the wherigo player would be updated to something that doesn't freeze.

Agreed but I doubt they will be making many (any?) changes to that part of the programming. Confused

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3259

Yeah, I think they're dependent on what they get from the wherigo folks on that.

WGA Member Joined: 2008-09-10 Posts: 232

I have yet to try the Wherigo on either of our units. Am anxious to try it thou!!

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:08 pm

really thinking of getting a 550 for a Christmas gift for my self (although it will be a couple of days late) is it worth the extra $100 for the topo maps, or are the base maps decent enough for navigation in the woods?

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:25 pm

sweetlife wrote:

really thinking of getting a 550 for a Christmas gift for my self (although it will be a couple of days late) is it worth the extra $100 for the topo maps, or are the base maps decent enough for navigation in the woods?

I don't have TOPO maps and I have never used them. So long as you have the tracklog on and aren't deep in the backwoods (and if you were you should really have more than just a GPS to be your guide), you should be fine without it...but then again if you do get the TOPO you can also add the city maps on the SD card and toggle back and forth...but then you are looking an another $100 on top of the TOPO.

I guess if you do lots of hiking in the deeps woods it might be worth it.

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:47 pm

Most of our caching is non urban caching, the 550 will not be used for routing as our Nuvi works great for that. wanting to upgrade for the Maps and paperless we are currently using a GPS72 and never had maps on a handheld yet

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:49 pm

The good news is that you can always add the maps later. My guess is that you will find the base maps to be approximately the same value as "no maps". But, if you don't need a map at all...

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:51 am

I was wondering if anyone had tried making custom maps for their oregon? check out the info here, looks pretty amazing.

http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/cache/offonce/us/onthetrail/custommaps#fragment-2

or

http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2009/11/garmin-makes-custom-maps-free-and-easy.html

I seen this screenshot on another forum and was wondering if garmin has added this compass/map combo option for navigation? I still use a 60Cx & always switch between the two, having both on one would be very nice!

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3259

sweetlife wrote:

really thinking of getting a 550 for a Christmas gift for my self (although it will be a couple of days late) is it worth the extra $100 for the topo maps, or are the base maps decent enough for navigation in the woods?

Our 400t came with topo maps and we found the level of detail unnecessary for caching.

When we bought the 550 we also bought city navigator maps for auto routing purposes. We have likewise added CN to the 440t and we now use those maps for everything on both units and never toggle back to the topo maps.

So my recommendation would be to buy the 550 as is, then decide if you need another map.

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 9:45 am

hogrod wrote:

I was wondering if anyone had tried making custom maps for their oregon? check out the info here, looks pretty amazing.

I still use a 60Cx & always switch between the two, having both on one would be very nice!

On the Oregon, youcan customize the data fields on the map screen. Ilike to use the "pointer" as one data field, and the "distance to end" on the other data field. The pointer works like a minii compass.

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 1:21 pm

Lostby7 wrote:

More updates came out (again) last night for the Garmin Oregon series. I really like this update as the unit now shows the cache type icon on the list of closest caches along with the cache names....very cool.

Thanks for the alert to this update, it makes the Oregon just about perfect in my book.