bikercr

Love my old Colorado 300. Zoom function stopped working a few days ago geocaching in some deep woods--very first malfunction in 4 years or so of usage. Tiny magnet in roller wheel must have stopped working or become dislodged. I called Garmin tech support. No waiting on hold. Very friendly tech guy sent out a new wheel for free, even though device was long off warranty. Popped it in yesterday: perfect, like a brand new unit. Thank you, Garmin!

Back light? Up here in NE it's cold and gets dark early. Batteries die fast with backlight usage. Trip Comp with big numbers allows navigation in low light without backlighting. Check it out--you'll like it.

Apologies for some misinformation. After further hiking yesterday, I discovered that 3D view only shows trails, dirt roads and streams that are a part of the Topo 2008 map--not saved tracks you are navigating. Sometimes the preexisting map features match up with the track. Then, it's all good.

Navigating to waypoint, especially when off-trail and bushwhacking: 1) Select Trip Computer page 2) Options-->Big Numbers 3) Options-->Change Data Fields 4) Top field: Distance to Destination 5) Middle field: Pointer 6) Bottom field: Time to Destination This is useful for quick-glance-checking of direction and progress--especially good in low light situations when map page not easily visible Navigating along a saved track: Use 3D view. It's a more visually accurate way of detecting whether you're right on or veering off from the track and gives a good sense of perspective and direction of travel. I've found this to be the most useful function for 3D view. Enjoy!

As a hiker, I don't put my main topo map on the card. I've had lockups in the field that required removal of the memory card. If you're out in the middle of nowhere with no map, you're basically screwed.

On 12/1/09, Garmin posted an update for USB drivers. This will speed up data transfers between device and computer: http://www8.garmin.com/support/agree.jsp?id=591

Yes to both. The CO is great for road navigation and the screen is gorgeous when cable powered. Get yourself a Ram windshield mount--around $30.

Same here. You can set up City Nav, etc. on a specific automotive profile which shows the map in automotive view and you can customize data shown at the bottom of the screen. It's highly readable and very easy to use. I bought a RAM mount for about $30 made specificallly for the Colorado. Suctions to your windshield and is fully adjustable to get just the right orientation.

I have the Colorado 300 without built in maps but use Topo 2008 along with my custom maps. If the "track" is actually a trail present on the map underlying your custom maps, try lowering the draw order to 49. This enables the underlying topo map to superimpose streets, trails, geocaches, elevation lines and other info on top of the custom maps. The final effect is excellent. I used my custom maps at 50 for several weeks, then just switched to 49 and like them a lot better. Now, an actual track that you select from your saved tracks will superimpose on the custom maps regardless of draw order. My presumption is that the "track" you're having a problem showing is not a saved track accessible from the 'Where To?' list. Also, I'm assuming that the transparent map covering up your track is a custom map. Is that correct?

Just an update on the Colorado 300 with upgrade from firmware v3.10 to v3.20. Using custom maps, v3.10 caused multiple crashes when attempting to navigate (Go To) both at the first "Go" button action and during navigation while on the map page. After upgrade to v3.20, when custom maps turned on, Go button crashes remain. But, rock solid once navigation starts--no crashes with any kind of Go-To including waypoints, geocaches and tracks. The Go button crashes are entirely avoidable by allowing the mapset to fully load in the screen's background before actioning 'Go' to start the navigation. If the Go button is selected immediately without letting the mapset fully load, screen almost always fades out and unit turns off. This behavior does not occur when using Tiopo 2008 alone with custom maps off. So, I can report that things are much improved with v3.20 and that custom map navigation crashes are fully avoidable.

This firmware update has serious problems: repeated crashes using custom maps well within the size limits whenever navigating. No navigation, no problem. Custom maps off, no problem. Custom maps on and navigating (to waypoint, track, etc.)-->crash. Crash sometimes takes a minute or two. Then, in the middle of a screen redraw, screen fades out and unit turns off. I did not have this problem before the upgrade. I have about 60 relatively small kmz files. I sent an e-mail to Garmin regarding the situation.

I presume you were using custom maps. Were they on a card or in built-in memory? I'll try reinstalling the firmware and see if that fixes the problem.

Updated the Colorado 300 from v3.02 beta to 3.10. On my first hike with custom maps turned on (along with Topo 2008,) unit repeatedly crashed. This happened only when navigating--either along a track or to a waypoint. Sometime the crash occurred immediately before the first screen draw. Without navigation, no crashes. At times, the crashes happened after a few minutes of navigation--apparently during screen redraws. It always happens the same way: the screen fades out in an interlaced pattern and the unit turns off. When restarted, navigation is off--not kept in memory as would be normal. This appears to be a video memory problem--my best guess. Crashes also happened with Topo 2008 off and only the custom maps selected. No crashes with custom maps turned off and Topo 2008 on. I've got about 60 small custom map segments on the SD card--not main memory, covering a 3 or 4 aquare mile area. These maps worked perfectly fine before with the 3.02 beta software during all sorts of navigation, geocaching and tracking. In spite of this problem, I want to thank Garmin for continuing to support the Colorado line. I get the feeling they're not dropping the Colorado any time soon, in spite of previous predictions on this and other forums. On the Garmin website, the Colorado 300 lists for $499 while the Oregon 300 dropped to $399---? more evidence that the Colorado is here to stay (for awhile).

this sounds like a real advantage. i am curious -- can this be done with the free maps from gpsfiledepot, and can this be done with the delorme maps and PN series? Using Mapsource--a part of the DVD, you can view all your free maps that work with Garmin. Geocaches appear on the PC-based maps and you can right click anywhere to find near caches via automatic hook-up to geocaching.com. I think paying extra for a unit with built-in maps that can't be viewed on your PC or laptop is a ripoff. It's so easy to install whatever part of the DVD map you want directly onto your unit's memory or its SD card. You don't have to have the entire US topo map in your handheld (unless you're doing a really, really long hike).

Topo 2008 on DVD "plays" on your PC--a very big advantage over the 400 series. The 400 maps only show on the unit's small screen. With the DVD and MapSource, you can plan trips and view your tracks on a large map on your PC's monitor. Save the cash and buy the DVD.

I own both the Colorado 300 and the GPSMAP 60CSx. The 60 was the first GPS unit I ever owned and got me into geocaching and heavy duty hiking/bushwhacking. It's a fantastic unit but yesterday's techonology and form factor. The Colorado is far superior for geocaching, specifically designed for this, with complete descriptions of each cache, optional hints, even logs from Geocaching.com if you download from there. It's got much more memory than the 60, a bigger screen and higher resolution with intense colors and great contrast. I find the Colorado screen visibility excellent in bright light and in dusk with the backlight working. In shade, such as during the day when in deep woods, visibiility is worse but still quite readable. I've set up a profile for high visibility that turns off map shading. This renders the map easily readable in all light levels. The 60 with the SiRf III chip (the older ones, like mine) are the gold standard in GPS accuracy and sensitivity--that is, until the Colorado firmware updates brought it up to the level of the 60 and, at times, even more accurate. The Colorado and the 60 both have quad helix antennas that pull in signal much better in deep woods and difficult conditions than the antenna in the Oregon. Lastly, the design of the Colorady is ingenious. It can be operated fully with one thumb leaving the other hand completely free. It comes with a heavy duty caribiner clip that makes it easy to attach and remove the unit from a beltloop or backpack. The case is a work of art--brushed aluminum, rubberized composite back, and clear glass screen--sleek and compact. It exudes a feeling of quality. The 60 is bulky and cumbersome in comparison, at times requiring two hands to operate its confusing array of front buttons. It only accepts micro SD chips--very delicate and prone to disconnecting at odd moments. Good luck!

I just received a new back for my Colo 300 from Garmin--no charge. It has a more positive seal that presses against the flat part of the protrusion into which the SD card is inserted. You have to remove the old black grommet from around the protrusion so the new orange seal can make a strong contact and the back clamp can be closed without forcing it. As for my Colorado 300, I really like it. The large color screen is excellent and usually very readable in all kinds of light. In certain low light situations, I switch to map shading off (using Topo 2008) and saved this is as a custom profile I called "Hi-Viz Geocaching". The Rock and Roller wheel is, in my opinion, one of the best aspect of the device--esp in the cold wearing gloves. It enables totally one-handed operation for every setting and adjustment. I think that might not be practical with the touchscreen models where you need one hand to hold the unit and one to manipulate the screen. My gripes: Can't easily turn the electronic compass on and off--requires a complicated sequence of steps. The auto-compass setting doesn't shut off the compass until you're going over 10 miles an hour--worthless for hiking. The backlight can't be adjusted to turn off under 15 seconds--unnecessary battery drain when you just want to glance at the screen for a few seconds. Screen redraws are slow and blocky when scanning across the map with your cursor. Multpile tracks can't be shown on the map at the same time. But all of these problems are minor and don't detract from the overall quality and usefulness of the device.

Installed the 3.02 beta upgrade on my Colorado 300. Created a custom map of the Holyoke Range State Park trails (Western MA)--a short distance from my house. The raw trail map was on the State park website. Took my first hike with it today. A few observations... Excellent resolution down to 500 ft and quite acceptible at 300. Set the priority to 50 when creating the map using Google Earth so the map obscures most of the features of Topo 2008 underneath. Not sure how a lower number would display--whether the trails would show but with elevation markings still visible from Topo 2008. Would be nice to see more of the terrain rather than the flat, featureless surface of the fairly crude trail map. But, it's still very cool. I do a fair amount of bushwhacking, so the trail map will come in handy when I need a quick way out. Just hiking on the trails, I had a better feel for where I was at each moment and much finer sense of where to turn with nearby intersecting trails showing all at once on the screen. No need to set the map on "north up": "track up" worked fine and screen redraws were just as fast as with the custom map off. The new purple current track line was much easier to see on the black and white trail map than would the prior thin black track line--IMHO.

Wow, thanks! That worked like a charm. My own kmz file must have been defective in some way. Wonder what went wrong. I followed all the steps for map creation to the T. One more question--isn't there supposed to be some setting in setup>maps>"map information"? That doesn't appear in my unit--only the option to check or uncheck "Custom Map" in the choose maps option while viewing a map. Thanks again!

Despite an apparently successful install, my kmz file in \garmin\CustomMaps in either main or card, or in \garmin alone, won't show up anywhere--on the map or in the select maps list. Also, there's no setup>maps>map information. Reinstalls haven't done anything (including hard reset, redownloads, etc.). Any solutions? What do you think, g-o-cashers? One more thing--although I downloaded the 3.02 beta update off the Colorado page, when I start the install program it says: "Welcome to the Dakota software update. This program will guide you through updating your Oregon software." Yet, the program box state: "This update contains Colorado System Software update 3.02 beta". Is this just a typo, or is the download completely screwy?

There won't be an option under Setup>Maps for custom maps. While you're viewing the Map, press the Left button for Options, highlight Select Map, hit Enter (the Center button on the R'n'R wheel) and you'll see a list of available maps...check the ones you want to use, uncheck the ones you don't want to use. I may have misunderstood before. Now the kmz map I created and installed doesn't show up. I have it in \garmin\CustomMaps on the SD card. I had to create that directory. It wasn't created by the install. If I put the map in the main memory, still doesn't show. From Garmin website: Once saved to the device, the Garmin Custom Map will appear as part of the map. By default, Garmin Custom Maps are enabled on the device, but can be disabled under the Map Setup menu (select Map Information).

Yes, works fine. Are you following Garmin's instructions? I followed the instructions precisely. I even did a hard reset and started over. There's no option listed under setup-->maps to enable or disable custom maps. When I reinstall the update, nothing happens--probably because the install programs see the upgrade already in there.

Have you been able to get this to work on a Colo 300? The update was successful (according to "Software Version") on mine but changed nothing. No option to enable custom maps and no way to view kmz file. I've tried to overwrite/reinstall but no go.

Thanks, g-o-cashers. I checked and they didn't get auto-archived.

I did record miles of tracks but stupidly erased them before a hike back at home. I didn't think about viewing them on Google Earth, only thinking that Mapsource would be pretty useless. The Paris cityXplorer map is GPSr-based only. Next trip, for sure...