Garmin Auto nav kit: includes vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, dashboard disk Review

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(More customer reviews)Works as expected, but the strange orientation of the micro USB cable (should be straight down out of the Oregon, or toward the back, NOT toward the front) is puzzling.

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Product Description:
Snap your GPS unit into this automotive mount for easy viewing and recharging while you drive; Garmin Auto Nav Kit For Oregon Series - Model 010-10851-10 Gps Hh Accessories

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Garmin Colorado 300 Bilingual Handheld GPS Unit with North American Maps Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used this GPS on hikes with navigational requirements and just general testing. These are my conclusions after a few calls to Garmin Support and searching GPS forums. The good news is that it is well constructed, has many features. If you buy the city, topo, and marine mapping, you can probably do it all. It has a fairly basic ease of operation (after you get the settings customized). The bad news is that the manual is way too general and if you want to do basic custom setups, you might have to call Tech Support but the unit is so new that even they don't always know the answers (do not e-mail them questions, call instead. Much better support). That's were the GPS forums can come in handy. The problems I have encountered is first and foremost how difficult it can be to view the screen outside (especially topo detail) unless you have the sun shining directly on it. The backlight under low light conditions (shade, early morning hours) outside will not help. The altimeter does not seem to be the most accurate at times and when you have the unit turned off, drive to a new location, turn it on, the altitude can sometimes still read your last location until you recalibrate it. Even with it set to auto calibrate and full satellite bars. NMHI rechargeable batteries do not work well with this unit if you value the backlight. There is a bug in their firmware (hopefully they will get it fixed soon) that will turn the backlight off permanently after a very short time and in some cases, that I have been reading, completely shut the unit off even when the batteries have a full charge. Some people have had problems with the current time not updating even after the GPS has locked into satellites and have been told to return the unit for an exchange, but mine has worked fine. The manual tells you how to access settings but gives no detail as to what the settings mean, leaving you to experiment, dig, accidentally find what you want, or call tech support for even basic things as transferring archived (saved) tracks to your PC, transferring topo map detail, or deleting archived tracks. Some of the things I have mentioned are bugs that will hopefully get resolved with firmware updates but right now, I can only moderately recommend this GPS. It has taken me a lot of time playing with this unit, experimenting, calling tech support, and reading blogs to operate it to my satisfaction (minus the bugs).

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Product Description:
The Colorado 300 features a built-in worldwide basemap with shaded relief for incredibly enhanced map presentation on the unit. Optional detailed maps can also be loaded using the SD card slot or the 384 megabytes of internal memory built into the Colorado 300.

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Garmin Hard Carrying Case for Colorado Handheld GPS Units Review

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(More customer reviews)I have not always been happy with Garmin's cases for their GPS receivers.The case that they made for my 60CSx was awful.This case for the new Colorado unit is a completely different story.

What I like about it is that you have two different mounting options.One is to use the removable carabiner (or "D" ring) to clip onto your belt, belt loop, bag strap, etc.The other is a velcro strap that allows you to hook it on your belt without having to practically take your belt off (as you do with a simple sewn closed loop).Both secure the case well, however I prefer the velcro loop since the carabiner looks a little too mountain-climby for me when I am geocaching in an urban setting.

The case is closed with a standard clip that allows for one-hand operation.The front of the case drops open giving the user access to the GPSr.I was worried at first that when you open the case the unit might fall out.This seems to be a real possibility in my tests, but you have to be at an awkward angle for it to happen (which is very likely when mountaineering, geocaching, rock climbing or even hiking ). Also, you can close the case without the groves being lined up and hence off-set.I have to believe that this would compromise the water-resistance of the case.

Overall I really like this Garmin case.It is a well thought out accessory for the Colorado GPSr.It will certainly protect your investment and look pretty cool while doing it.

Garmin Colorado 400t Handheld GPS Unit with US Topographic Preloaded Maps

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Product Description:
GARMIN 010-10850-10 Hard Carrying Case. Protect your Colorado from scuffs and scrapes while carrying it in style with this hard neoprene carrying case.

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Garmin Colorado 400i Portable GPS System with Preloaded U.S. Inland Lake Maps Review

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(More customer reviews)First, the pictures above are a collage from all the various base maps. This unit can not show the 3D images and has little detail.

First impressions after one day of use. The screen is good and the back-light makes it very readable at night. Fine without the back-light in the day. The menu wheel/push button/rockers are easy to use, After a few minutes of use. It's just a case of pressing one of the menu buttons and selecting the appropriate item. Normally the wheel is the zoom control.

Calibrating the compass and altimeter was easy. And easy to find. All the setup seemed easy.

The geocaching works well with the built in compass.

I checked the navigation marks on Lake Winnipesaukee in NH. They seemed right, from memory, but the map detail is inadequate to be certain. They certainly don't show the whole picture, they miss shoal detail which is absolutely essential if anyone were going to trust this as their main navigation.

In general the built in map is poor. It has little detail, few roads, few geographical features. Not enough detail in the lakes to know for sure that you are looking at the right islands.

The supplied CD shows even less detail than the preloaded base map. Useless. It's just a questionable tool for managing trips and waypoints, it says. They really should have supplied a better map with a $600 GPS. I expect they hope to rip-off the early adopters and then include the topo maps as a package later.

The geocaching site allows you to transfer direct to the connected GPS, including the descriptions if you paid the subscription to the site. Useful. But it would be a lot more useful if the map was any good.

All in all, good product badly let down by bad maps. If the maps had been any use I'd have given it 4 or 5 stars. But what's the use of a GPS that can't tell you where the there you are at is on a map?

While the GPS is made in Taiwan the case and all else that I ordered with it, all Garmin, are made in China.

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Product Description:
With the state-of-the-art 3D elevation perspective and preloaded topographic map data of the U.S., the rugged Colorado 400t is the perfect companion for your outdoor adventures. It gives you all the tools you need for serious climbing, hiking or hunting.

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Garmin Colorado 400t Handheld GPS Unit with U.S. Topographic Preloaded Maps Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not one of those extreme high-end geocachers. I just love a walk in the woods. However, I want to find the cache when I go to look for it. Last year I upgraded from a Garmin Explorer to a 60CSX and was in love. Unfortunately that got stolen. I've saved my money and now have the Colorado 400t. It's everything my 60CSX was and more. The new rocker control is a lot easier to use than the controls on the 60CSX or the Explorer. The accuracy is fantastic. With the City maps plugged in the road navigation is wonderful. This really is the best GPS unit I've used for hiking & caching. I'm really impressed with the ability to swap between profiles, using the Automotive until I hit the trail and then switching back to the Geocaching mode. Start up time & satellite acquisition are good. They're now supporting SD instead of the mini-SD cards and that's a good choice on Garmin's part. A lot of the new interfaces are improved over the old ones plus, like the old ones they're customizable.
Like everyone else, the fact that only one cache at a time is visible is a pain, but all the other features quickly wash that away. I haven't found the maps to be inaccurate, but then I mainly use it for off-road hiking and the hills, mountains & streams are pretty solidly in place, even in Massachusetts. It is a little dim in bright sunlight.
Despite these small shortcomings, this is a wonderful GPS unit. I intend to get years of use (and hang on to it more tightly).

UPDATE: Garmin released a software patch that fixed the problem with displaying multiple cache's. That's one less of the few and small negatives to worry about. I'm still loving this GPS unit.

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Product Description:
With the state-of-the-art 3D elevation perspective and preloaded topographic map data of the U.S., the rugged Colorado 400t is the perfect companion for your outdoor adventures. It gives you all the tools you need for serious climbing, hiking or hunting.

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Garmin Oregon 400T 3-Inch Touchscreen Handheld GPS Unit with Preloaded Topographic Maps Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a lengthy review, but at $462 and after seeing some of the "user induced" complaints, I believe a good review is essential.

I also own a Garmin Etrex Vista and by far, the Oregon 400t is the most versatile, customizable, and flexible handheld GPS I have seen. I had the opportunity to compare the Oregon and the Colorado side-by-side at an REI store and found the ease of use and touch pad of the Oregon too much to pass up. The touch pad makes it extremely user friendly. In addition, the order of the choices on each of the 4 main pages can be arranged in any order desired and in a number of different profiles such as recreational, geocaching, and automotive for ultimate flexibility. There are so many different ways to display information to the user that the choices seem endless. The Oregon is to GPS receivers what the iPhone and the Blackberry are to smartphones. A good review from 2008 can be found at: http://gpsinformation.info/penrod/oregon/oregon.html. I was sold after seeing how to deal with the daylight viewing issues people talk about and what the other 95% positive things that have been said by professional reviewers about the Garmin 400t.Like most things sold these days, the manual could be the quick guide so don't expect every little detail to be explained. It would be nice if manuals said and explained everything. I'd like to know why I'd want to make one choice over another (like the difference between the Garmin Spanner and serial interfaces) since those two appear to be the same with the Spanner choice asking if you want to go to Mass Storage rather than automatically doing so,for example. Links in this review greatly fill in gaps in the manual and you'll be happier utilizing those resources!

The benefit to the 400t over the 300 is the internal memory. As found at: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Product+Information#toc7, the 400 has 4GB of memory (the Topo2008 takes up 2.7GB) leaving a lot of free memory to save waypoints, tracks, pics for personal and geocaching use, and additional maps. The 300 has 850 MB left and as anyone using a handheld GPS knows, maps take up HUGE amounts of memory - you can never have enough.

Choices on the setup button offer options for the system and display that can extend battery life (such as choosing a backlight timeout period and battery save option if desired). Under setup>display, there is even a screen capture choice that saves a file you can print out or email whatever is displayed on the screen - cool!

As with digital cameras, mp3 players, printers, etc., you need some sort of software program on your computer, such as a Garmin Mapsource product, and then you can (contrary to a Feb 14th review) download waypoints, tracks, and routes (I uploaded 42 waypoints, 2 routes, and 16 tracks used by E Trex Vista to the Oregon so you absolutely can upload and download data!!!).

Batteries - unless one reviewer selected the "stays on" option for backlighting, bad batteries are the only thing that can explain really poor battery life. Per the "garminoregon.wikispaces.com" web site, I'm using version 2.85beta and together with Powerex 2700mAh batteries, have gotten around 20 hours of battery life (battery type needs to be specified in system settings). It was a Garmin rep. I spoke with at a local REI that told me a university field tested high capacity NIMH batteries and that is the way to go for the Oregon. Condition batteries first and consider the Maha MH-C9000 charger which conditions the batteries - they have truly impressed me over previous Energizer and Sanyo AA NIMH batteries I've tried. In comparison, with the same 30 second backlight period and Energizer batteries, I saw only one full day - near the rated 16 hour time worth before the repeated low batt. warnings. This is in real use geocaching two days for most of the day, hooking the Oregon to a laptop and reviewing/downloading waypoints and tracks, and over 3 hours a third day downloading 648 MB of Roads & Recreation maps to the Kingston 4 GB micro SDHC card (also from Amazon.com) I added. I purchased the 4 GB card to also, one day, load City Navigator NT onto it. You need a high capacity reader or you have to transfer data via the USB cable connected to the Oregon otherwise - above 2GB is considered high capacity I found out.

I followed tips and suggestions on http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/message/list/home which is one of the most useful web sites out there with extremely useful and helpful information exclusively for the Oregon. It can greatly simplify the learning curve with something that can do as much as the Oregon can.

Read about the software updates and stay as current as reasonable, backup the data from the Oregon on a hard drive, register the GPS with Garmin and you'll truly appreciate the investment as much as it is possible.

As with any relatively new item, bug fixes in the firmware will begin to resolve functionality issues as is the case and already in progress. Utilize the resources of"garminoregon.wikispaces.com" and the value of the Garmin Oregon 400t will be clear.

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Product Description:
Get in touch with your wild side with Oregon 400t. This next-generation handheld features a rugged, touchscreen along with preloaded topographic maps, 3-D map view, a high-sensitivity receiver, barometric altimeter, electronic compass, microSD™ card slot, picture viewer and more. Even exchange tracks, waypoints, routes and geocaches wirelessly between similar units.

Touch and Go
Oregon 400t leads the way with a tough, 3-inch diagonal, sunlight-readable, color, touchscreen display. Its easy-to-use interface means you?ll spend more time enjoying the outdoors and less time searching for information. Both durable and waterproof, Oregon 400t is built to withstand the elements. Bumps, dust, dirt, humidity and water are no match for this rugged navigator.

Explore Backcountry in 3-D
Oregon's preloaded U.S. topographic maps, 3-D map view and a built-in worldwide basemap with shaded relief give you all the tools for serious climbing or hiking. Map detail includes national, state and local parks and forests, along with terrain contours, elevation information, trails, rivers, lakes and points of interest. Just in case you're wondering how steep that hill really is, Oregon's 3-D map view helps you visualize your surroundings- giving you a better perspective of the elevation.

Share Wirelessly
With Oregon 400t you can share your waypoints, tracks, routes and geocaches wirelessly with other Oregon and Colorado users. Now you can send your favorite hike to your friend to enjoy or the location of a cache to find. Sharing data is easy. Just touch "send" to transfer your information to similar units.

Find Fun
Oregon 400t supports Geocaching.com GPX files for downloading geocaches and details straight to your unit. No more manually entering coordinates and paper print outs! Simply upload the GPX file to your unit and start hunting for caches. Show off photos of your excursions with Oregon's picture viewer. Slim

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