phlatlander

Several years ago (at least 7) I bought a LaCrosse charger and began using Eneloops in all our electonic devices; 2 gps, tv remotes, flashlights etc. Every couple of years I "refresh" the batteries as the charger has that function and the Eneloops perform like new batteries. BTW the "refresh" charge usually takes a couple of days as the charger performs multiple discharge/charge cycles.

Gitchee-Gummee is right on. 99.9% of the accuracy of a geocache position has to do with the cache owner not the gps device. For my geocaches use the average of three separate occasions to mark a spot with both my Samsung Note II and Oregon 550. These units are never more than .001 different and I know the accuracy of the Oregon. I also use GoogleEarth to check out the relative accuracy of the cache placement. GoogleEarth is usually ok unless you happen to be at the the intersection of tiles then ???. For geocaching I now use c:geo on my Note II - my Oregon 550 sits on the shelf. I have the same geocache data on my Nuvi 2595 so it displays the caches when I am enroute somewhere. I should mention I use GSAK to output TourGuide gpx files to the Nuvi and the Oregon, and simple gpx files to the Note II.

I have cached with (in order), Etrex Legend, Nuvi 1390 (worked quite well thank you!), and an Oregon 550. I now cache with a Samsung Galaxy Note II using the c:geo app. I only use the compass on occasion as this app displays both destination and current Lat/Long on the same page which the Oregon does not. c:geo app uses geocaching.com data and works well offline and the Oregon now is on the shelf most of the time...

Hankpixie offers good advice: "Try booting without the card then reinstall the card and boot up." If the unit still does not start normally then I would turn if off (remove the batteries if necessary), remove the card, then do a hard reset. When the unit is running, turn it off, insert the card and re-start.

I started with a Garmin Legend, then a Nuvi 1390 (and yes, it did very well), Oregon 550, Nuvi 2595, and now a Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android) with c:geo and I am a GSAK user. The GNote is every bit as accurate as the Oregon and I prefer the performance of the c:geo app as its compass page also displays the lat/long of the GC as well as my current position. This kind of page is available with the Colorado but not the Oregon. The Oregon does however store and display more GC logs than the c:geo app. Battery life? Hmm, I very seldom use internet access when I'm out and never for geocaching as c:geo does a great job off-line. Using GSAK, my Nuvi 2595 is always loaded with geocaches displayed as TourGuides. For a few hours of geocaching I simply use my laptop to find likely candidates and ensure they are on the GNote then off I go. When I am in the vicinity of the cache out I go with the Gnote in hand. I do not use any device to send a note other than my home laptop as I always write a note of a few sentences and I quite often include a picture. I figure that the effort it takes to place and maintain a cache rates more than a TFTC. All this to say that you can geocache with almost any gps device. At least once a season I manage to go caching with a friend who is an "expert" and he just needs to be in the vicinity and then he uses his geosense - amazing! In closing, I use lat/long to find a cache GZ. A compass is only good to get near (as in 100 feet or so) after that the inherent "bounce" when you simply point the device left or right is not worth the hassle and is not as effective as walking left/right to the GZ lat/long position. My 2¢.

If you are normally using Eneloops and if your charger can "refresh" then I suggest you try that. I noticed quite a change in performance when I refreshed my older Eneloops. I only use Eneloop 2000mAh & 2500mAh in my Oregon 550 and Canon camera.

If you scan the nuvi posts you will find that you can almost do paperless geocaching, complete with coloured and large text. I have used my Nuvi 1350 with GSAK with great results.

I recommend a hard reset. *** Caution - YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR SETTINGS *** Turn off the Oregon, press and hold the upper left corner of the screen and power the unit on. You will eventually be asked if you want to reset user data. If you answer "Yes" the unit will be master reset.

Don`t know much about an Oregon 400 but for comparison, GPScity (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is selling an Oregon 450 for $200 Cdn or £127.

Screen shot examples of the Barbados map from Openstreetmaps as displayed on an Oregon 550. Last fall using our O550, we found a restaurant at night, overcast, in Oldtown Prague using maps from Openstreetmaps.

These pictures are screen snaps of TalkyToaster UK map on my Gramin Oregon 550 (8gb usd card) and demonstrate the detail available. I loaded this map onto our friend's Garmin Nuvi (8gb usd card) and they used it with great success to drive around both England and Ireland in May 2013. Location of the Hilton Hotel near the airport in Dublin, Ireland Lichfield, England

These pictures are screen snaps of TalkyToaster UK map on my Oregon 550 (8gb usd card) and demonstrate the detail available. I loaded this map onto our friend's Nuvi and they used it with great success to drive around both England and Ireland in May 2013. Location of the Hilton Hotel near the airport in Dublin, Ireland Lichfield, England

Another vote for www.talkytoaster.co.uk for the UK and OpenStreetMaps for the UK & Europe. Last fall we went on a Danube river cruise from Budapest to Prague via Nuremburg and I loaded Europe map segments from OpenStreetMaps trip on my Oregon550 (8gb usd). The maps worked so well we found a little restaurant in Old Town Prague, at night under overcast skies. Our friends were impressed! As an aside, friends here in Canada went to England & Ireland last month and I had downloaded the entire UK from OpenstreetMaps onto their Nuvi255w sd card. They used the device for driving in both England & Ireland were very pleased with the detail.

Haven't had that problem with my 550 but have you tried a "hard reset"? If you have a uSD card, remove it before doing a hard reset. Turn off the Oregon, press and hold the upper left corner of the screen and power the unit on. You will eventually be asked if you want to reset user data. If you answer "Yes" the unit will be master reset. Set up the Oregon the way you want it and cycle it on and off a few times to see if the hared reset "cured" your problem - good luck.

bump

An amateur photographer from a travel forum has a good idea for owner identification of a camera or any digital device including a gps. He suggested a small jpg with sufficient contact information in case you lost or "lost" your device. I have added this ident jpg to all my SD and uSD cards and for my two cameras and two gps. Last year while walking a well known forest trail I came across a Jessop battery and SD card. Turns out these items were from a Canon point & shoot and there were a couple of hundred vacation photos from both Canada and the UK but no way to identify the owner. I posted my find on FaceBook and also added to the facebook camera find page but so far no takers.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words (or less): Turn on your Oregon Press compass press the little rectangle in bottom right and you can select various dashboards. My Oregon is generally set on Recreational Small Fields as I am comfortable using lat/long to navigate to a Geocache. left image - compass recreational dashboord - large data fields, cannot change fields right image -compass recreational dashboord - small data fields, you can modify all 4 fields to whatever you want. press the little rectangle in bottom right and you can select various dashboards and data fields. left image - opening screen right image - scroll down the opening screen left image - Geocaching Nearest dashboard, fixed data fields right image - Geocaching Active dashboard, fixed data fields

Well, I don't have a Nuvi500, but I use a combination of a Nuvi1350 and an Oregon550. I have geocached just with the Nuvi as I am quite comfortable using lat/long, meaning I don't use the compass of the O550 very often. On the Nuvi, using GSAK, I load geocaches as waypoints (so they show up on the map) and then process the same geocaches as TourGuides and load them as well for complete info. Image 1 & 2 are the waypoint files, they display only basic info. The next 5 images show the same waypoint as a TourGuide geocache with complete information (same info as displayed on my O550)

I run Eneloop 2000s in my O550 and get 7-9 hours, screen bright on for a minute. Have never tried the battery save mode as I always carry a spare set of white Eneloops. It is my opinion (never accurately measured) that the black Eneloops last 2-3 hours longer than the white ones. As an aside, I run EVERY AA or AAA powered remote, camera, flashlight, you name it, with white eneloops - should have bought shares...

I replaced an Etrex Legend with a O550 and I much prefer the touch screen to the toggle. Works to at least -18c. To each his own.

Link to the GPScity (Calgary) website: gps comarison

Oregon550 here. Download Poiloader from garmin. It processes .GPX files into .gpi files for your Etrex. If you run into difficulties state your problems on this forum, lots of help.

Likely someone else will reply regarding profiles. In general only use the Geocaching when you are actually caching. My unit is ether in the automotive or recreational profile. Re maps: A search of this forum will find many postings regarding maps. Lots of good reading and accurate information here: wiki information I have an Oregon 550 and an 8gb micro sd card. I put EVERYTHING on the sd card and have loaded and used several maps at the same time; Canada, USA, Mexico, UK, Europe from Budapest to Prague via Nuremburg. I downloaded all my extra maps from OpenStreetMaps. There is a bit of learning curve at OSM but well worth the effort.

Whoops, then $200 for a 450t is a great price.

Still $199.95 cdn at GPScity.ca (Calgary AB CA)