campingfarmer

Just an update on my Oregon 400t. I've been caching with it now for about three weeks and have had no issues whatever with the unit. Have now found seventy caches with it and the Oregon has been very accurate in getting me to ground zero quickly. The touchscreen is great, very fast to get around with. I have no problem with reading the screen in the bright sunlight at all. I'm running background light at about 30%. The screen readability is not an issue. I've only used the unit for geocaching which is why I bought it. This is the sixth gps that I've owned and it is by far the most easy and usable unit that I've owned.

It sounds as if you owned a Colorado but then returned it after a short while ...? If so, keep in mind that your experience with the Colorado was with an older firmware version so some of your comparisons may be unfair/incorrect/outdated unless you compared the Oregon with current Colorado firmware. However, your comments about your touch-screen and brightness experience are good, thanks. I had the Colorado for about two weeks. I did have all the updates except the one that just came out. When I saw the Oregon was released I decided to return the Colorado. I had purchased it through Amazon and with there 30 day no questions asked full refund return shipment paid I thought why not. I really have nothing against the Colorado but when I saw touchscreen in the description I wanted it.

I just went outside playing around with the Oregon and the 76 double checking on the readability of the screen in bright sunlight. I still say I have no problem in seeing the screen. The Oregon is nearly as easy to read as the 76 laying side by side in my hand. You do have to tilt it just right to get the two looking the same. If I slowly roll my hand the view on the Oregon will completely dull out but makes no difference on the 76. I feel the "dull" issue relates back to the touch screen texture. It's simply a dull texture that the screen is made of. I took my street pilot out in the sun and that also has to be tilted just right in the bright sun to see the screen. If I lay the Oregon and 76 side by side powered off in the house the dull texture of the screen on the Oregon is very noticeable. This "dullness" just doesn't give me a problem in reading the screen. I also faced away from the sun and with the sun coming over my back shining directly into the screen there was no glare and the smaller print such as the cache descriptions and logs were very easy to read. Again I had to get the angle just right. Some might think having to get the angle just right will be a big pain but I had no problem finding the right angle nearly instantly. I hope this all makes some sense. It's hard to explain without actually seeing the unit. It's a pricey little toy but as of now I'm extremely pleased with the Oregon. Now if I could only figure out why I can't get my field notes to upload?

We had a chance to go out and do some caching with the Oregon gps yesterday afternoon. I'm really impressed with the unit and the touch screen works great. I didn't have the Colorado long enough to really get to know it but in my opinion the touch screen is much better. I do like touch screens so that might make a difference. For those familiar with the nuvi's and street pilots the screen has the same feel as those units. I had no problem seeing the screen in the bright sunlight. I think it's brighter then the Colorado, similar to the my 76cxs. Hold the angle just right without the backlight on and I thought it was very easy to read. I didn't put a screen protector on it yet which might dim it a little. The Oregon appears to have a little better satellite accuracy then the Colorado. I was running from sixteen to twenty feet most of the time in the open and a light tree cover. When under dense tree cover it showed the same distance to the cache as my wife's etrex legend hcx The batteries also last much longer on the Oregon then the Colorado. On the Colorado the battery bar would show half gone after a half hour and way dead in about a hour and a half. With the Oregon I had it on for about three hours yesterday and have been messing with it some today and the battery bars still show way full. I was using some cheap alkaline batteries in both units. The only problem I've had is I can't get the found cache file field notes to upload to the geocache web site. I had the same problem with the Colorado. Thought it might be a Vista problem but also tried it on my XP machine and it won't work there either. I've got everything set right according to instructions but I must be missing something being I had the problem with both units. In summary I'm very pleased with the Oregon. The touch screen is just great. I can do basically everything with my thumb and once I get the sequence figured out I think it will be much faster then the wheel

I really like the looks of the coordinates and text entry screens. This will be much easier.

What is the best paint to use to spray on plastic. What I've been using seems to chip off over time