I recently convinced myself that I had lost my trusty Garmin 60Csx. I was truly upset, but I cleverly leveraged the situation to purchase a fancier Garmin Oregon 550T. And, yes, I found the other unit in a 'hidden' pocket in a new pack I got at GSA in Portland. Sweet! Two units!
Why the Oregon 550T? Well, why not? It is pretty sweet. The 450T that I demo'd at REI had a weird matte-like touch screen that I didn't like; whereas the 550T screen was nice and smooth. The 550T also had a camera that could, obviously, geotag any photos that I would take with it. Trust me, I knew that the camera wouldn't be great, but suspected it could do in a pinch.
I was actually pretty skeptical about whether I would like this thing or not. I was fully prepared to exploit the REI '
Return
Every
Item' policy if I didn't enjoy it (no shame here, have been a member since 1985). Turns out however, that I like it and it quickly supplanted the 60Csx as my unit of choice.
My primary concern was the screen brightness issue that I had read about online. I am pretty concerned about this problem as it has resulted in my Panasonic Toughbook field computer sitting on a shelf for the last 2 or 3 years. The Toughbook, despite what Panasonic may tell you, doesn't work worth a crap in the sun...I map in the desert 90% of the time...you do the math.
Actually, the screen on the Oregon works fine in the sun if not a little better than it does in filtered light. The touchscreen is far more pleasant to work with than the horribly tired rocker panel approach of the 60Csx. My only continuing complaint is that neither device can recognize a systematic pattern in waypoint naming and thus eliminate the need for multiple character entry. Am I wrong here?
By far the best things about the Oregon are:
- Map detail. The shaded relief is particularly nice at 100k and larger. 24k base maps looks great as well...either the free ones or the paid ones (I have both, don't ask).
- Computer interface is smoother than the 60Csx. Behaves as expected when plugged into USB.
-
Custom map option is freakin' huge! With a little effort you can upload any map or image you want. Even uses kml....zowie! Learning curve is present.
- Forthcoming 'Birdseye' satellite data may very well be the best innovation yet for handheld mapping assistance (at least in the desert). Maybe I will quit breaking out my Blackberry with Google Maps when I am in cell range...
- The camera doesn't suck, but it is not good enough to supplant my preferred field camera(s).
- I dig the carabiner attachment.
- It feels good in your hand.
- Works pretty well at a window seat on a commercial airliner...as does the 60Csx (Great time passer. Now more fun with nice base map of US). Planes go fast.
Things I do not like as much:
- Why can't it recognize the systematic pattern in my waypoint naming and save me some time?
- Related Basecamp software has potential but needs work.
- This thing costs a lot! Try the Dakota or the lower numbered Oregon units to save some dough.
- The waypoint averaging is complicated and too involved for practical application. But I did learn about it on a handy new Garmin Blog: http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/outdoorrec/
- Battery life seems less than 60Csx. Interestingly, it comes with NiMh bats and a charger.
- No Garmin units seem to allow you to use GPS elevation in place of barometric altimeter to get profile data.
Overall, I do really like this unit and will soon test how well my feeble mind can handle the custom map options and report back. So far my experiments worked ok. I will also jump on the satellite imagery option the day it becomes available. Alas, note below that the camera is weak overall...but will do in a pinch. There are other ways to geotag your photos that take only a little more thought.
Here is a comparison of photos taken with my field Pentax (top) and the Oregon GPS (same time, same place):
