admo1972

I am having the same problem. The map that shows the caches won't fully load. Map only flls half the space for it, and the black "loading map..." box stays in the middle. Mac 10.6.2, using Safari and Firefox don't work. Somehow, Google Chrome does load the map properly, so those having trouble, try chrome.

Puzzle master moozehead2020 hit the big #400 at Cape May County Sites Tour - WCG (GC1H0VG). Great job, Ed!

So I was heading out to do a cache this afternoon, and turned the unit on while driving on my way. At a red light, I brought up the closest caches and none of the cache names looked familiar. Once I arrived at parking, I looked closer. Brought up the map page, and the arrow was flying SW over New Jersey at a very rapid pace. Checked the trip computer screen, and the reported speed was over 930 miles per hour. Checked the satellite screen, and accuracy was reported at 90 feet, and elevation at lower than -4000 feet. So I enabled screenshots and wated to take a pic of these screens, but that seemed to solve the problem. As soon as I took a screenshot of the sat screen, all seemed normal. I was where I was, moving at a speed of 0, and the cache was near by. Very, very strange. This is with the official release 3.10 software.

I haven't yet put on 3.10, still using the 3.01 beta, but the WAAS issue I've been finding is that it rarely gets a lock. My B&W Vista gets a WAAS lock and keeps it almost always. The Oregon rarely.

Right now, the newest release is a non-beta firmware. You can just use the web updater to get it. If/when they release another beta firmware, I'd wait a bit to see if others have had any problems. Once you feel comfortable installing it, you can find it at garmin.com, then mouse-over the support button and click on "Updates & Downloads". Then click on "Additional Software". Right now it just links to the web updater, but this is the place any betas will be.

How do you know if you have a WAAS lock? I had my Oregon from some time now and I just figured that you have waas if the bars on the screen are white instead of green (you have one white bar in your picture to check what I mean). No, the white bar I believe is when the GPS doesn't have a complete lock on that particular satellite. You will know if you have a WAAS lock if some of the green bars have the letter "D" on them, as seen in this pic:

Just noticed that PTBilly and his PT Cruiser hit the big 1,500 at HHH-RS Henry Hudson Highway Rest Stop. Way to go!

Essentially, the 300 is a 400t w/o maps. It also has less built in memory, so if you want to add all the maps a 400t has, you simply have to buy a microSD card (4GB is popular, and not too expensive). I got the 300, added free topo maps to it from gpsfiledepot.com, and am loving it! There are other alternatives for paperless, but I am not too up on teh offerings from Magellen and others.

Good Review, well written/user friendly; thanks. Is the backlight on in those photos? I find that in sunlight, the screen is many times easier to read with the backlight completely off. Plus, adding a background that is solid white rather than those silly wallpapers garmin includes helps a lot too.

I've been using 3.01 on a Oregon 300 for a few days, and haven't really seen much of a difference between 2.98, which is a good thing I guess. Two Wherigo caches I did kept crashing the unit at several zones, a problem that has affected others at those same caches in the past. One possible minor bug may exist in projecting a waypoint. Yesterday at a cache, I needed to project a waypoint 55 feet at 220 degrees. I entered the degrees and distance, but then the unit read 5 degrees and 55 feet. But it was still pointing at 220. I tried again with a new waypoint. Again, it said 5 degrees even though the arrow pointed towards 220. A third time it read it correctly. weird.

The maps vary. I put on the NJ Topo maps, and they are 1:24,000. As for how many, I am not up on those details, but it depends on your GPSr. The amount of memory you have is one factor. Also, there is usually a limit as to the number of map segments that can be placed.

It's usually not a problem, since I generally know if a cache is ahead of me or behind me, but I still find it annoying that the head of the compass arrow is so tiny, that a glance at the arrow while walking can't discern which way the arrow is pointing. Anyone else notice this? Or is it just me?

I had the same unit as you, and had similar problems. Doing that super master reset solved the "can't find any satellites" issue, and fixed the time as well. For a while anyway.

Congrats. I just recently got my Oregon 300 and love it. Check out gpsfiledepot.com. They have free topo maps you can put on the oregon. So far I put on maps for New Jersey, that are much more detailed than the maps preinstalled on the 400t. (24K versus 100K). So that would be a great place to start. I see you are in Seattle, and they have topo for all of Washington, as well as tons of others. Looks like you are well covered with High Quality free maps. Looks like they also have some topo for the UK, but there may be other sites that have better ones for Europe. Enjoy!

I have the Oregon 300, and have now done a handful of caches with it (about 30). I've found that it doesn't seem to get a WAAS lock as well and my old B&W eTrex Vista. It's reported accuracy seems to be on par what my Vista would say (10 feet or better in the open, 20 to 30 feet under tree cover). The big however is, even when it is reporting accuracy of 20 to 30 feet, it more often than not directs me right to the cache. These would be caches that are known to have really tight coordinates, so I think that the actual accuracy of the unit is better than it reports at any moment. Basically, when my vista said I was just a few feet from a cache, and the accuracy was 30 feet, the cache would often be within 30 to 40 feet away. With the Oregon, when it says I am a few feet from the cache, and it is saying its accuracy is 30 feet, often the actual container is within 10 feet. And it having the cache descriptions, logs, and hint right there is just amazing, as good as I had hoped. Another added benefit is having the correct cache icon right on the map. It is as close to a perfect unit as I can imagine.

I just replaced my Vista (the same you a have). I've had some issues with it in the past. You may want to perform a master reset by doing the following: Power up the unit, and while it is starting up, hold down the page button and the enter button (the stick). It shoudl give you a warning that you will lose data, so if that is fine with you, hit okay. If you still have issues, do the super master reset: while starting up, hold down page, find and enter. There will be no warning, just keep holding until it restarts. This fixed a host of problems I had with the vista, for a while anyway. I still liked that unit, but the Oregon 300 just spoils me.

I think what Abaddon78 meant is that the hints are not transferred to the Oregon. Then answer to that question is that they are. You you first bring up a cache listing on the Oregon, you see the description and logs, but no hints. However, once you hit the "Go", button as if you are going to navigate to that cache, the hints will be available. Go back to the main menu, then click Geocaches, then hints.

I think g-o-cashers got it. The hint is only visible once you are actually navigating to a cache, not choosing the cache from the list of caches. On the Colorado and Oregon, when you first select a geocache to find, it shows the description and logs, but no hints. You then need to hit "go", as if you are going to actually hunt for the cache. Then, on the main menu, you select "geocaches", and from there you can click hint.

I've been very happy with the accuracy. It seems on average to do about the best my etrex vista would do on its best days. Waypoint averaging is not available on the latest "official" firmware release (2.8, I believe), but there are newer beta releases (2.98) that have it as well as a few other functions. I haven't used the waypoint averaging function yet, but it is there, and this beta firmware seems great and have had no problems.

I am loving my Oregon 300. I put the free NJ topo maps from gpsfiledepot. Had my first big outing yesterday with it. I am loving the fact that I can read the description and logs right on it, it helped a lot! Plus the being able to mark them as found, as some notes, and have that sync up with website helped me enormously as to what caches I found, in what order, and remembering a bit about each one. I'm going to use fieldnotes more, even if it is just a word or two to jog my memory as to which cache was which. The only thing that bugs me is that when I select a cache to go to, and hit go, it brings me to the map screen. I'd rather it bring me to the compass screen. As to the screen, it was as sunny as it can get, and I turned the backlight off and it was quite readable

I got the 300 (about to be delivered sometime today) and I got a 4GB card. Last night I downloaded free "New Jersey Topo" maps from gpsfiledepot, and got the maps successfully installed into RoadTrip (the mac equivalent of MapSource). The maps are very detailed, and seem to be more detailed than what is included with the 400t. The free topo maps I downloaded seem to be 1:24,000, while the 400t maps are 1:100,000. I think the "major" shortcomings of the free ones is that they don't have the gradual shading that the 2008 topo maps have, and probably don't have the DEM data (can't use the flashy 3d view mode with them). But, the maps are about 4x more detailed, so it seems to be a win win for the free ones. I'm looking forward to seeing how they work on the 300.

I'm using a 4GB microSD card (class 2) because the Garmins don't seem to like the class 4 or 6 as much, but there's no lag in map drawing or cache loading. I have an Oregon 300 with CityNav for all of the US & Canada plus 24K topo (GPSfiledepot.com) for all of CA and 100K Garmin topo for the WA, OR, AZ, NM, TX, UT, CO and NV and it takes up 3.5 GB Also look at the Sanyo eneloops. The ones I use are rated for 2000 mAh and I really like them. My card is indeed 4GB (not 2). Still in the package, as my Oregon will arrive in a day or two. I ended up getting some Kodak batteries (2400mah) and a charger. They weren't too expensive, but I'll look into the eneloops (the kodak ones may permanently live in my theater room where it will charge remote batteries).

I currently use a Garmin eTrex Vista, the old one with the monochrome screen. A Mio C230 is my car gps that gets me places. I will be receiving in the mail in a day or two my new Garmin Oregon 300. Can't wait!

I just ordered the Oregon 300, and bought a 2GB memory card to load some free topo maps onto. The last piece of the puzzle is rechargeable batteries. I think I saw in the specs for the 300 that it recommends rechargeable batteries that are greater than 2,500 mAh (or whatever the acronym is, can't remember). Just peeked at a few rechargeable batteries and packs at target, and they vary from 800 to 2,450. Any recommendations on rechargable batteries? Is what I am seeing at the store fine, or should I look a but on the internet to get something more ideal?

I'd also through the 60CSx into the mix. Essentually, the 76csx and the 60csx are the same unit, so between those two, I'd choose the one that you like the look of more, as they are very different ergonomically. The 76 floats, the 60 doesn't. the 60 is definately the more popular one, but those that have the 76 seem to really really prefer the button layout. The 60cx is essentially the same as the 60csx, except it doesn't have a barometer or electronic compass. What the electronic compass is able to do is point in the direction of a waypoint (most likely a cache) while you are standing still. Without it, you need to be moving relatively straight and quickly for the unit to know what direction you are facing. I find the electronic indispensable, but others seem to prefer having to move, or use a combination of an actual compass and using the bearing given by the GPS.