jeepdelfuego

The metal clip will be damaged if you do not seat the memory chip correctly and then push the clip down. I did that on one of my Oregons, either the 200, the 300, or the 450, and the clip subsequently fell out a couple of time. I squeezed the end two ends together and put it back in and I never had the problem again. So, just be sure that you place the memory chip in correctly before sliding the little cover. I take out my memory chips 3-4 times a week to replace them with different chips, or to move the files around when I geocache outside of my normal area. I'm curious, is the clip different between the 450 and the 550? Based on the owners manual, they appear to be the same. On the 450 the clip stays in the unit, you slide the the clip out of the locked position and flip it up, insert the card into the tray, lower the clip and slide it back into the locked position. No, they are not the same. The clip on my 450T would come right out of the unit (I had to pay careful which way it went back it) The manual is very brief on lots of issues (I would expect more, paying that much for the GPS). Also, the manual does indeed differ. I believe it covers four different models. - WR I'm starting to think there was genuinely think there was something wrong with the unit. The clip would fall out at the drop of a hat, even after I unlocked, mounted the chip (which didn't really "plug in" but would sit in it's place until I tried to lock it in place" On both the 450T and the 550T there was no printing or indication on that little metal clip which way it should be mounted(I mentioned earlier about them coming out. With delicate parts such as these, I've learned not to try to "force" anything.

using your new phone you found ONE cache in the city and you're wowed? please do come back and let us know how it went after you go find some caches in deep woods with lots of tree cover and limited cell coverage I found a few more geocaches today. Ten to be exact on a rural road outside of town. I never lost my 3g signal. But, I was ready to cache without 3g because I loaded all of my pocket queries on the phone as a backup measure. I mostly used the compass because I knew that all of the caches were going to be on the same road. At the GZ's my Android (LG Ally) showed me anywhere from 3 - 21 ft from the cache which is what I usually get on my Garmin Oregon 450. So, overall, I am very satisfied. The compass wasn't that great though. Many times it wasn't pointing in the right direction when I would go in search of the next cache. I'm not sure if I have to calibrate it. Geocaching with this thing is still very new to me. The next time I go out, I plan to use both and give you guys a good idea of how an LG Ally running the Android operating system compares to my Oregon 450.

using your new phone you found ONE cache in the city and you're wowed? please do come back and let us know how it went after you go find some caches in deep woods with lots of tree cover and limited cell coverage I've found two or three caches with the Android. On the first two finds, I had my Garmin 450 with me and they were within 2-4 ft of each other. On the first hide, the LG Ally showed me 4ft away from the cache while the 450 showed me 6 ft away. As we all know, that is pretty much a statistical tie because the original hider's coordinates could have been off. Oh, and I didn't have to download any geocaches on the phone prior to departing. I wasn't wowed by just the one Geocache that I found. It was the whole experience. The phone was navigating perfectly and having the satellite imagery was too cool. It got me to the restaurant I wanted to go to and back to the train station. Plus, it was tracking perfectly the whole way and back on the train. I am planning to take it to the woods for a 4 mile hike very soon. I am hoping that the battery lasts that long and I plan to take my 450 along for the ride too. I do plan to compare how each one does. Though, I am sure the Android will hold up well. By the way, I don't work for Verizon or LG and I don't own any stock in either company. :-) I'm just a geek who loves new technology. I almost forgot, does anybody know the GPS chipset in an LG Ally?

This is an awesome story!

I agree. I am not throwing my Oregon 450 or Oregon 300 in the trash. My work takes me to many different schools and I use my Oregon 450 and City Navigator to get me to those locations. Over the last couple of days I haven't taken them with me which means that I have one less thing to carry around. My Geocaching has always been a spur of the moment thing. I go to a place and fire up the GPS to see if there is a geocache nearby. So, I was elated when I found out that my Oregon 450 could hold as much as 5000 geocaches vs the 2000 that an Oregon 300/200 can hold. This meant that I didn't have to run GSAK as much to load different areas into my GPS. With my new phone running the Android operating system, I don't even have to start up GSAK! But, just in case cell phone service is not available, I have loaded all 28 pocket queries that I run on a monthly basis on my Android as a backup. One pet peeve I have had with the Oregons is that they do not have a file manager. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to move your different pocket queries around from a backup directory to the /gpx directory to get around the 2000/5000 geocache limits? I got around this by taking the SD card out and popping it into my old Palm Centro to manipulate the files. From the beginning, I have always kept all of my pocket queries in a backup directory on the SD card because I never seem to be in the same area more than a day or so and it is a pain to have to start up the laptop to do this. Anyway, I am not suggesting that everyone dump their handheld GPSr's. But, in the near future, companies such as Garmin must be on the lookout for devices that could put their business model in peril because of a lack of motivation to innovate.

Thanks for the tip. I just downloaded some free maps of Southern California, topo and street, onto my Android phone.

Well, I didn't have to pay an activation fee because I was upgrading from a Palm Centro phone. The phone line I use is on a family plan with 4 other phones. You do have to have a data plan with the new smartphones. Verizon charges $30 a month for the data plan. As I said in my earlier post, the data (unlimiited) plan is a non issue for me because I have to have it for work. So, for me it is almost as though I am Geocaching for free. I know that I have the cheapest Android phone at this time which is the LG Ally for $49. My wife has the HTC Incredible which cost $199. The prices I mentioned are contract prices. These phones retail for $300+ without a contract.

I'm not even a Android user, but do you really want to open up that can of worms again? While we're discussing morality, I'm wondering about the morality of locking out competition. Not that it applies here, but under under other business circumstances, it's called restraint of trade. The TOU itself represents such restraint whether agreed to by the user or not. Quickly defined, it's a contract that tends, or is designed, to eliminate or stifle competition, create a monopoly and otherwise hamper or obstruct the course of trade as it would be carried on if it were left to the control of natural economic forces. So while It may be legal for gc.com to do what it does, is it right? I'm wondering about the added question of the morality of paying Groundspeak their fee for their application, and then using something that a user perceives to be a better product for the purpose. How's that for an odd gray area? This post articulated my thoughts much better than I ever could. As for using the app whose name we are not supposed to mention here, I am going to fire it up as soon as I finish writing this and go find a Geocache with it.

yeah it does, check the "terrain" view (listed under "more" on the regular google maps page). it's not as detailed as proper topo maps though and doesn't have trails. well, they have some trails now, but coverage is nowhere near as good as with proper topo maps. all the maps i use on my oregon were free, save the birdseye subscription. and i'm quite happy with those maps, they have much more useful details than google has so far. I am going to have to figure out how to do a screenshot because the satellite imagery that I was viewing, on the train which was traveling at 84 Mph, was clear and crisp unlike what Birdseye shows me on my Oregon 450. Oh, and let's not talk about how many hours, or days, it would have taken me to download Birdseye imagery that would have covered the 100 mile trek that we took. But, that would be another thread. I'm not knocking Garmin products because I like the units I use. I am just trying to make sure that Garmin stays on its toes and comes out with better and cheaper products in the future. Look, I can basically do almost everything that my Garmin 450 does for much less. Price Comparison: Garmin Oregon 450 - $300 Garmin City Navigator map - $80 Garmin Top Maps - $80 (I guess you could get topo maps for free from GPSfiledepot.com) Garmin Birdseye - $30 (Plus, you should factor in the hours that it will take you to download anything) Total $490! LG Ally $49 Maps Free C:geo Free Total $49! Hmm, $490 vs $49. I think we know who wins this contest. I know some people will point out that you have to have a $29.99 data plan with Verizon. But, I would have the data plan regardless whether I geocached with my phone or not because I use it for work. So, that would be a mute point for me.

We went geocaching with our Androids yesterday. My wife got an HTC Incredible and I got the LG Ally. I think the units are very comparable except for the fact that my wife's Incredible seems a little faster. But, hers was $199 and mine was only $49. Anyway, I installed the official Geocaching application at $9 each. I wish I had tried C:Geo first because it seems to be a better app. Anyway, I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with the Android experience while geocaching. If these phones had a decent battery life and were rugged, I would trade in my Oregon 450 and my wife's 300. I definitely see the market for stand-alone GPS's dwindling over the next three years because of the Androids and the iPhones. First off, it was nice not having to pay a couple of hundred dollars for City Navigator, topo maps, and Birdseye imagery for these phones because Google supplies all of the terrain and satellite maps that I could ever need. I know that currently these maps won't work when you leave a 3G service area. So, there is a limitation there. But, the screen redraws seemed quicker than on our Oregons. Also, it was real nice logging my finds in real time. The Oregons have paperless geocaching, but I still have to plug the unit into a computer to log the finds. GARMIN: I HOPE YOU ARE LISTENING BECAUSE WHEN IT COMES TIME TO REPLACE MY OREGONS IN THE FUTURE, I MAY NOT BE REPLACING THEM WITH A STANDALONE GPS UNIT AND I'VE BEEN A LOYAL GARMIN CUSTOMER FOR YEARS! Garmin Units I have owned: E-trex Legend (blue) E-trex Legend HCx Oregon 200 (2) Oregon 300 Oregon 450 (My last Garmin purchase?)

I definitely agree with this poster. The Dakota 20 is a very nice unit, but the resolution is just not there. The screen looks grainy. I think the 450 is a great unit. I really don't understand why people like the retro 62s.

I just updated my Oregon 450 and everything went well. I did have the 3.74 beta on my unit.

what??????

The 200 also accepts memory cards. Here's the comparison on Garmin's site (link) I have both and I prefer the 450 because of the 5000 geocache limit vs the 200's 2000 geocache limit, the compass, and the wireless transfer. Oh, and the screen is a little brighter in direct sunlight.

Most of our family thinks that we are a bunch of nut jobs.

I can't say I've ever had an app take more than a couple minutes to authorize. I'd cancel it and retry. (I'd check the bank to see if I was charged too and make sure I won't be charged twice if the first one went through for some reason.) CC The transaction ended taking up 18 hours to authorize!

There should be a statute of limitations on resurrecting a thread! Just kidding. I love maps too. I've been fascinated since way back when people navigated with a Thomas Guide. How long ago was that? My GPSr has City Navigator NT, Topo 2008, Ibycus, marine maps, custom maps, and since recently, BirdsEyes satellite imagery.

Geocaching.com Android App, Authorizing? I purchased it a few hours ago and it is still authorizing. What does that mean. I have money in the bank to cover the $9.99 purchase. I am dying to try it out.

Just got the replacement today. This unit looks brand new! The unit I sent them had a perfect screen, although the body was very dinged up. All I can say is that GARMIN customer service is AWESOME!

Yo. Delfuego. Knock it off the dissin' of my Tricorder. Your lousy Garmin can't tell the oxygen content of the atmosphere on an M Class planet while at the same time detecting the nearby presence of di-lithium crystals with an EPE of 1 foot! That's Wii-tarded! Just kidding! One of my nicknames is Mr. Gadget because I either own, have used, or sold just about every technological tool known to man for the past twenty years. I even reverse polish notate with the old HP graphic calulators! Back to the original OP's question...Buy an Oregon 450! Disclaimer: I do not own any Garmin stock, sell Garmin equipment, or work for said company. I am just another Wii-tarded gun-ho Garmin Oregon user.

Let us know how it all went. -Good Luck

I am getting my wife an HTC Incredible this week and I am dying to use it for geocaching. The paperless geocaching and on-the-fly logging I am assuming will be great. The HTC Incredible will have huge shoes to fill because my wife and I own three Oregon models. I'll let you guys know how it is fares against my standalone units pretty soon.

If I went out geocaching in an urban setting with a 62(s), I would feel like one of those guys who takes a metal detector out to the beach. I think the Oregon is a much more discreet looking device. I own an Oregon 200, Oregon 300, and an Oregon 450. I absolutely love my 450 because the screen is a bit brighter than the other ones in direct sunlight. It's too long of a story to tell you why I bought the 450, but I was just happy with the 200 & 300. I even use them on the handlebar of my mountain bike and the dashboard of my Jeep. I must naturally know how to hold them in direct sunlight because I have never had any issues and I live in a part of Southern California which gets direct sunlight the majority of the year. As for my background with GPS units, I've owned an Original "blue" Etrex Legend, Legend HCx, Oregon 200, Pioneer DVD AVIC-1, Some Nuvi model that talked, Dakota 10, Oregon 300, and now an Oregon 450. I really think that your purchase of the GPS will boil down to aesthetics and touchscreen. Now comes my biased opinion: Come on, do you really want to walk around with a gadget that WILL tell the whole world that you are a geek because it looks like something out of the old Star Trek TV shows?

The 450 does not have a camera either.

I use the same GSAK macro and it also has the ability to graphically place an attribute icon next to the geocache icon on the map screen. For example, I see icons denoting travel bugs, unavailable, or micros next to the geocache icon. It's very handy! It does this by creating POI's for the attributes I choose to display on my Oregon 450 and Oregon 300. You can access the macro here: GarminExport