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 Trying to decide between colorado and oregon, Christmas coming up |
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  Sep 15 2009, 04:17 PM
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Newbie
Group: Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 15-September 09
From: Kasilof, Alaska
Member No.: 1620
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Hi all,
I'm a new member, found this sight when doing my extensive research between the Garmin Colorado 400t and the Oregon 400t (or even the 500 series). My hubby and I love doing caches and I would love to get him a new toy for Christmas. Trouble is, I'm a registered nurse, which makes me quite inexperienced with the tech stuff regarding GPS. Although I loved the GPS in my car when we lived "outside" (the lower 48), it doesn't work here in Alaska.
I am trying to figure out which is the best for the price. I like the Colorado, and think it may be a little more "rugged" when hiking in the Alaska wilderness, but the Oregon looks great and I like the idea of a touch screen, just a bit worried about dropping it and breaking screens. Also hear a bit of bad news about both with concerns of the screens being difficult to read. We do a lot of searching in heavily wooded areas, up mountains, through coves which are only obtainable by boat, etc. I want to make sure I get something rugged and dependable. When a bear is in the area, you want to be sure you can find your way back to the boat, car, etc!
Just wanted to know what experience owners have had, any problems with screen breakage on the oregon? I appreciate your opinions! Tamera
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Sep 15 2009, 08:51 PM
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Chum Extraordinaire
Group: Members
Posts: 909
Joined: 30-August 05
From: Euclid, OH
Member No.: 192
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I bought a Colorado 400t about six months ago. The main reason was the price. Best Buy had it on clearance. My previous machine was a Magellan Meridian.
I like the Colorado. there is a bit of learning involved. the sequence of press this button, turn the wheel, press the wheel, press this other button, can ge confusing. I like the ablility to download caches directly from GC to the unit. Previously, I was printing the page or writing the coords. I can now select the cache and follow the directions right to it.
There are a couple minor hitches. When I have the map page displayed and I am walking, the arrow doesn't always show my direction of travel. also, it is very complicated to delete a cache from memory while out in the field. If the unit is connected to a computer, it's easy.
I can read the screen in bright sunlight, but I have to turn up the backlight. This uses batteries. until recently, I have been using alkaline, but I just put lithium batteries.
I haven't dropped it yet.
I also like the feature that lets me transfer caches wirelessly from one colorado or oregon to mine.
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A dumb person knows nothing. A smart person knows alot. A sage knows some, and a fool knows everything.
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Sep 17 2009, 11:02 AM
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Chum Extraordinaire
Group: Members
Posts: 1066
Joined: 1-April 05
From: North Royalton, OH
Member No.: 56
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QUOTE(Knight2000 @ Sep 16 2009, 04:56 PM)  We also have a Oregon. The main feature I like is the paperless caching. If it wasn't for that, I really don't think I would use this unit. There are some less expensive units that do paperless caching.
Avoid Magellan at all costs. I love our Garmin Oregon! It rocks. Now that I am used to it I wouldn't be without it. As for Magellan, I don't agree that their units should be avoided at all costs as I know MANY cachers who swear by Magellan products. They find them to be well made and reliable. When choosing a GPS you have to really look them over and determine the features you want that meet your personal needs.
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Lord you can save me from the fire.
I'm Yours even if you don't.
Whatever comes I take this vow...
I will never bow!
*** Carry Me High by Rebecca St. James***
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Sep 17 2009, 04:29 PM
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WE CACHE
Group: Members
Posts: 551
Joined: 22-March 07
From: Norton, OH
Member No.: 1124
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QUOTE(SerenityNow - AM @ Sep 17 2009, 12:02 PM) As for Magellan, I don't agree that their units should be avoided at all costs as I know MANY cachers who swear by Magellan products. They find them to be well made and reliable. I should have specified. Magellan units are great units. I have at least 6 somewhere around here. The problem isn't the units. The problem is the customer service. Has anyone heard my horror story? I had a new MeriGold just a tad over 3 months old. It had a rare problem as those are reportedly rock solid units. The power button stuck very badly and it wasn't getting any better. I contacted their [Indian] customer service multiple times. (Just hard to understand.) In the end I was told that despite being well within the year warranty that this unit was no longer made or serviced. The result? They said that they were going to do nothing and I should have checked before I purchased this unit to make sure that they still made the unit. (I bought it new at a big box store.) They offered me a horrible discount on a new unit if I traded in my old one. Of course my topo maps wouldn't work so they expected me to buy new maps too.  Only after a BBB complaint did they make it right. At the time they had many complaints. On the Groundspeak forums I have heard nothing but horror stories and bad reports about Maggie's customer service. Conversely, I have heard not one bad thing about Garmin and their CS. In fact, I have heard of them fixing units at no charge despite being out of warranty. I beleive TTSpeedy had something like this happen too although I am not sure of the details. Is anyone aware of the horror story surrounding the Magellan Sportraks/Meridians/eXplorist? In '07 two WAAS sats were retired and replaced. Unless those GPSr units were used within a 3 month time period they lost the ability to "see" the new WAAS sats. What did Magellan do? Nothing. I talked to CS and they said the problem was hard wired in and their was nothing they could do. (No other GPSr manufacturers had this problem. ) In fact Maggie users were just stuck until early this year when geocachers qwert1515 and trainlove came out with the fix. (You have to alter your firmware.) How they did that is a mystery if you look into it. After they came out with the fix almost immediately Magellan released the fixed eXplorist firmware. (But it couldn't be done before.  ) I have "fixed" 3 Meridian units with this fix. It looks and finds the WAAS sats in the SW direction where before it constantly looked in the SE. I buy these units as they can be cheap if you watch for them and they are excellent units. This is why I would never recommend Magellan. Personal experience and many complaints by other cachers. Heck, I just saw this thread this past week from a die-hard Maggie. The straw that broke the camels back.
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Sep 17 2009, 05:10 PM
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WE CACHE
Group: Members
Posts: 551
Joined: 22-March 07
From: Norton, OH
Member No.: 1124
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QUOTE(SerenityNow @ Sep 17 2009, 05:51 PM) Knightee - you gotta stay out of those groundspeak forums . Just a bunch of cry baby cacher-wanna-bes over there! I have to admit. Sometimes you need a thick skin. I have learned so much on there though and sometimes I am even able to give back to others as others have helped me. Besides, I have gotten some great ideas for caches there! If anyone searches our caches they usually find out that they are just a little out of the box in one way or another. Usually memorable in a good way.  (Unless y'all r lyin'! LoL.) I've even had a chance to share some of my crazy ideas and weird caches. I am limited so if I can't cache I can at least talk about it. 
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Sep 17 2009, 08:17 PM
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Rock'em Sock'em Robot Champion
Group: Members
Posts: 1997
Joined: 6-August 05
From: Historic Bedford, Ohio
Member No.: 169
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As a former Magellan eXplorist 500 user I must chime in an say, I loved my eXplorist, for the money about $200 new a few years back, they were the ultimate in geocaching. They offered a almost paperless system, you could view part of a clue, diff and terrain along with when the cache was last found. The color maps displayed geocaching icons and maintained a time and date stamped found it list. They were ahead of garmin, in the geocaching world in my opinion. Reading the groundspeak forum, you use your GPS to geocache then guess what your gonna wear the joy stick cover off and your gonna put some serious wear on that or any unit for that matter. SN is right nothin but a bunch of crybabies who have nothing positive to say about anything or anyone for that matter. Don't forget, or maybe you should be aware that, it was Magellan not Garmin who donated 20 eXplorist 100s and three eXplorist 500 to the Greater Cleveland Council Boy Scouts of America so that scouts could learn about GPS and geocaching and they also donated units to the Serenity Now and Finding Fraggle Rock annual events. They also hosted geocaching contests in local areas, they were really great at one time. I have since upgraded to a Garmin Oregon and I must agree they are the best, when it comes to geocaching. here is a great wiki site: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Everything you ever did or did not want to know about the oregon can be found here. From what I understand the magellan people are focusing everything on automotive gps units, they only care about that, so as far as geocaching I think they missed the boat. They were on the right track with the eXplorist but they never really continued on with anything. yea yea I know the Triton, sorry but I never cared too much for it. Garmin however jumped on the geocaching boat with both feet, and we are enjoying the results with the oregon. The short of it is, if you are really gonna stay with geocaching then you will eventually end up owning oregon, or Colorado,
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Sep 20 2009, 10:06 PM
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Diamond Member
Group: Members
Posts: 1177
Joined: 22-July 06
From: Bedford Ohio
Member No.: 447
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I love my Oregon. I was a former Magellan user. I had a sport track pro and an explorist 500 before looking into the colorado. After playing with one at Best Buy I found the rocker wheel very hard to use. I played with a Oregon a few weeks later and despite having a slightly dimmer screen than the Colorado, I went for one last spring when they offered a $50 rebate and I bought it online through Amazon.
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Those who wander are not always lost... sometimes they'er caching --------------------------------------- "If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?" - Steven Wright. First LAST of 2010! |
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Sep 30 2009, 01:09 PM
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Newbie
Group: Members
Posts: 5
Joined: 29-September 09
From: Brunswick, Ohio
Member No.: 1629
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QUOTE(RAGAR-Rich @ Sep 30 2009, 12:41 PM) QUOTE(HeliGeek @ Sep 30 2009, 07:08 AM) ......bought an Oregon 300....... drawbacks for me are the dim screen....... Are you sure you have the brightness set all the way up? Yes, but I apologize for being a bit less-than-specific. The brightness is okay, as long as the unit is not in direct, bright sunlight. In this case, it gets washed out and is a bit hard to read. Since a lot of the caches we've done so far have been urban caches, it was a noticeable issue. On the ones we've done under tree cover or in a bit of shade, the screen was easily readable.
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That's way too nutty for me. Not too many more forums about anything I know about. Angie and I used to be regulars on a set of forums for eBay sellers but we stopped selling when eBay kept creeping up their fees. 
