Garmin Oregon.....Thoughts/Reviews/Opinions?

The Oregon's battery life isn't bad if you keep the backlight off, but then the screen is pretty much only legible in direct sunlight. In most other conditions, you need to have the backlight on full, and even then it can sometimes be difficult to read -- and with the backlight on, the Oregon chews through batteries fairly quickly. When you plug it into external power, as on a motorcycle, the screen gets significantly brighter and legibility isn't a problem, but obviously this doesn't help you when you're hiking.

That said, you can set an interval after which the Oregon automatically turns off its backlight, so for hiking purposes you can always just use the backlight momentarily. In this case you ought to be able to get decent life out of a pair of AA's.

--mark

For those who are curious about the Oregon's legibility in direct sunlight, I got a pic while out for a ride yesterday:


If you're wondering why the background is solid blue, it's because I was on a causeway over a lake.

--mark

Thanks for the image.. How would you compare the screen readability compared to for instance SP2720/SP2820, 60CSX or 278c?

The idea of terrain shading is quite tempting to me when improvising and making ad-hoc routes as it should give a bit better overview when looking for where to go etc, but the coverage for Sweden (400t) is really poor so I think I'd go for the 200 or 300 given there's worldwide DEM built in.

Could you possibly post some more screenshots when zoomed out and when showing some more detail than the previous screenshot? I'm mainly interested in the screen readbility in sunlight (assuming external power) and in how well it renders detail using the terrain shading when zoomed out.

Many thanks..

nice pic Mark.

have you got any with the power cord yanked out of it?

I haven't used any of those units, so can't say. From what I've read, though, the 60CSx is a little brighter in direct sunlight because the reflective surface behind the LCD panel is a brighter shade of silver... but apparently the 60's backlight is dimmer than the Oregon's so once you get into shadows it's harder to read.

Which brings up...

I don't, but in direct sunlight it would be the same as the pic above. The screen is transflective, so in direct sunlight the reflective background behind the LCD panel reflects more light than the backlight is capable of putting out. Where the backlight comes into play is in shadows (including when the display is facing away from the sun) or on very overcast days. I haven't bothered to run it on the bike without external power plugged in, but with external power, the backlight is adequate. It's not as bright as a Zumo or something, but it's legible.

FYI, the built-in basemap has very little detail, especially as far as accurate terrain shading is concerned. You would want to install a topo map. Perhaps you can find some better ones of Sweden at GPSfiledepot.com or some similar site.

I don't have any screenshots that are really relevant to what you're asking, and as I said, the built-in basemap's terrain shading is fairly useless. But here is what a topo map, for example, looks like on the Oregon (as you zoom out the rendering quality stays the same, but detail decreases):


--mark

We have a topo map for Sweden which is ok when you are zoomed in but if you zoom out to let say, 5-10km, to get an overview, the topomap with height vectors doesn't work very well (too cluttered if it shows at all). What I'd like is to be able to have a "clean" CityNav like display but with the terrain shading underneath. I don't know how poor the worldwide DEM resolution is but if it's sufficent to give be a reasonable overview at 5-10km, that's fine for me. When zoomed in I'll use the swedish vector based topo map anyway.

For clarity, after reading several threads on this...

What can a 76csx do that the Oregon 300/400 series can't?? Besides float...

Me likey the Oregon 300... small unit, purty colours

I've heard discussion about it "handles tracks differently." I'm new to the GPS thing, can someone elaborate on that as well please, just a brief bare bones explanation is fine.

This oughta getcha started: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=348641&highlight=tracks+versus+routes

That link isn't exactly a brief bare bones explanation!

My understanding is that the 76 series, 60 series, and Oregon series handle tracks in more or less the same way. They can all record tracks, display tracks (in user-definable colors), and follow tracks.

Personally, I'm very happy with my Oregon 300. My only complaint about it is that it's a bit stupid about recalculating a route if I deviate from where it's told me to go. Sometimes it's fine, but sometimes it decides that some intersection that I've bypassed is crucial and tries to route me back to it before continuing on to the next via point. This is simply poorly-written software, and apparently the 60 series (and presumably the 76 series) has the same issue. Hopefully Garmin's developers will work out this bug in a software update eventually.

--mark

when you're using city nav on the oregon, can you search for a specific address directly on the unit and have it generate a route for you??

reason I ask is that I was playing with a 300 the other day, and went to the "where to" tab and it didn't have an "address" tab like my Nuvi does...

maybe a tab appears when you use city nav??

Yes, When using the - where to button - you can search for a specific address.

Update:

Went out for a longish ride on my XR650L on Saturday and began having issues with the power connection to the Oregon. The vibration seemed to break the connection every so often for just the slightest moment -- but enough time so that the Oregon kept telling me a USB cable was detected and asking if I wanted to go to mass storage mode. Very annoying. I ended up unplugging it and running on battery power with the backlight off (which, incidentally, worked fine in direct sunlight, and was still just barely legible in shadows).

When I got home I tried plugging the Oregon into my computer for power (with a different cable) but could not reproduce this intermittent power-loss issue. I think the problem is in the plug on the Powerlet-USB cord, not in the Oregon itself.

It would also help to get the adapter that converts the cable to a power-only one so the Oregon doesn't ask if mass storage mode is desired. This way even if power is interrupted momentarily, the unit shouldn't put up dialog boxes requiring user input.

--mark

With the imminent release of the Oregon 550, did you have any success with this problem?

Still happeneing/ Find a way to resolve it?

I fixed the problem by cutting off the MiniUSB plug on the end of the Powerlet cable and splicing on one from a known-good MiniUSB cable. It works fine now and has survived heat, dust, mud, and heavy rain without issue.

Other people, I've heard, have bought the Garmin car power cable for the Oregon (it's different from the Colorado one, FYI) and spliced a Powerlet plug on in place of the cigarette-lighter plug, while retaining the step-down electronics built into the cigarette-lighter plug.

--mark

Excellent - thanks for that mate.

Got an Oregon 550 on pre-order at the moment - will be fiddling around with it in a few weeks time. Might be forced to PM you when the time comes for installation tips.

Supposedly the back light on the new 550 and 550t are brighter than in previous models.... coupled with the nuclear power plant ill be rigging her up to that is a Yamaha WR250R, I shouldn't have any problems with screen visibility.

I note in your earlier posts that the visibility issue on the Oregon isn't all that bad when wired up to a bike... which is good because that was nearly a deal breaker for me.

Thanks again, and if you have any more pointers, Id be interested to hear them!

Screen legibility has not been an issue for me at all as long as the Oregon is plugged in. On a sunny day it does fine unplugged with the backlight turned off too.

I've got to say that I've been very happy with the Oregon. It's exceeded my expectations.

--mark

Cheers!

It was your comments like this in a different thread (The Colorado thread) that persuaded me in the end.

Its very bright over here in Western Australia... we get heaps of sun all year round and the weight of reviews roundly condemned the screen brightness. However it appears as if the majority of those condemning the screen were using the Oregon on purely battery power.

From the photos you've posted in another thread, and based on the above comment, it looks like this problem is ameliorated somewhat by running direct from vehicle power.

Also the 550 has (supposedly) a better back light.

i bought the 200 after loosing my 60cs off the bike.

i find its a huge improvement. I mainly ride desert's so its just popping in a waypoint and straight lining. So i don't use much of the routing side of things.

I run it off recharegable batteries and have no real complaints about the screen.
The battery connections are a lot better than the 60cs and don't rattle loose with the vibes from the bike.

I didnt bother with the 300 or 400 as topo maps arent available for the areas i ride and i dont think id use any of the other feature.

the adding waypoints is simple, due to the on screen keyboard. All works with gloves on.

all in all. i'm very happy.

K

I have the 400t and love it. I use Energizer Rechargeable 2500mAh NiMH batterys. They last @ 5.5 hours at full backlight. That gets me 11 hours before I need to use the charger. I use the Energizer quick charger and have full battery in 15min.

Oregon 400T user also. It's been great. Wired the Garmin plug for the Oregon into the bike's power. Mounted unit using RAM components. Their holder for the unit is awesome...nice and tight, no slipping or rattling. Not an off-roader but it's been through two huge downpours on the road without issue.