phlatlander

I have an Oregon 550 (purchased in Jan12) which replaced my problematic Etrex Legend. Touchscreen works well (better than my Nuvi 1350), lots of features and you can customize the display. I would recommend the 450/550. With the 550, don't expect a good camera. It is adequate and does geotag which is neat. Provided downloaded images are geotagged the Oregons (and others) will show map or city locations. I have all of the area and cities that we will be visiting in the fall on a Danube River cruise stored on my 550. I store all data on a 4gb sd micro; goecaches, a couple of hundred gpx locations, geotagged photos and at least 6 maps as well (NA, Mexico, Barbados, TalkyToaster England, most of Europe, and Northern Italy come to mind). The 550 is a bit of a battery pig however I use Sanyo Enerloops and a good LaCrosse charger. I get 4-5 hours from a set of Enerloops so I always carry a spare set. Regardless of whatever gps you choose I would STRONGLY recommend a screen protector.

Matter of fact I have updated that address on my Asus - thanks.

Thanks selcom_sn, you are correct.

OpenStreetMaps is actually the world. We are traveling to Hungary for a Danube cruise so on my Garmin Oregon 550 I have already installed maps of Hungary, most of Germany, Czech Republic, Northern Italy, most of Italy, all of England (from TalkyToaster), and city maps of Budapest and Prague. I also have all of Mexico, Cuba, Aruba and Barbados - all from OpenStreetMaps.

Your GPS will work in Europe and you can download quite acceptable maps from OpenStreetMaps

Here is a link to the GSAK macro forum that really explains how to make a Nuvi go paperless. GSAK macro forum link

I have used my Nuvi 1350 for geocaching. It is every bit as accurate as my Oregon 550 and using the correct macros, it is also paperless. However there are few caveats: - I have a premium membership with Geocaching.com so I can do pocket queries (i.e. lots of geocaches) - I use GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) and a couple of macros. - You will not have a compass/distance display but that is fine with me as I find Lat/Long info much more useful. It also helps if you are somewhat adept with a PC. On a Nuvi geocaches can be stored as POI, or waypoint or TourGuide files (all are .gpx format). You can even include photos in a POI so if you like. You can use GoogleEarth to locate the cache, PrtScreen to get an image. I have even modified some macros so the display print is larger and some fields are color coded. So yes it can be done but it does require some knowledge and effort on your part. Having said that, my Oregon 550 is much more adept at geocaching but hey, it doesn't speak street names on my way to the geocache. BTW, the video link gives a pretty good description of how to use a Nuvi.

Here a link to GPSCity (Calgary Alberta Canada) Good info and good prices too. I bought my Oregon 550 there in January. GPSCity comparison

Excellent book by the way! Depends on your definition of "ancient sailors". I would hazard the "ancient navigators" were pretty much aware the world was not flat.

I have Oregon 550 (purchased in Jan12) which replaced my problematic Etrex Legend. Touchscreen works well (better than my Nuvi 135), lots of features and you can customize the display. I would recommend the 450/550. I would also STRONGLY recommend a screen protector.

You've actually asked A non-trival question. By that I mean learning about gps mapping takes time and learning how your gps stores and displays maps also takes time and learning - but it is really worth it. You didn't say where in Europe you are going so I am going to assume England is on your itinerary. You also didn't say what you wanted to do with your GPS (eg. geocache, bike etc) so I would suggest for biking in England (or walking for that matter) you try talkytoaster (free) link: TalkyToaster For more complete (and free) maps of Europe countries and cities I recommend OpenStreetMaps link: OSM

Well, there goes my theory...

We are planning a trip to Europe in the fall and I have downloaded city maps of Prague and Budapest from OpenStreetMaps. These maps will display on my Nuvi 1350 and Oregon 550 (I plan to take the Oregon). I am wondering what the differences are between the CityXplorer and OpenStreetMap for use in either Prague or Budapest?

This is the 3rd time I've tried to answer this post. I am using a new Asus laptop and I guess my thumb keeps touching the keypad and poof - there goes my reply into that great bit bucket in the ether... I bought an Oregon 550 in January to replace my old and failing Etrex Legend and the 550 has been problem free. However, I store EVERYTHING on a 4gb micro card. Every time I upload geocaches or waypoints using GSAK, I afterwards go to the 550 and delete any and all files that have anything to do with geocaches. I also do not store any pois on the unit - sd card only! On the micro sd; maps of Canada, continental USA, Mexico, Barbados, England (Talkie Toaster), Northern and middle Italy, Eastern Spain, enough of Europe to cover from Budapest to Nuremburg to Prague, city maps of Budapest and Prague, a dozen geotagged photos of the area just mentioned (to check maps etc), 1500 or more geocaches, equal number uploaded as waypoints, and likely several hundred pois (red light camera locations, school zones in my city, bbq restaurants, pretty much the same poi files that I load into my Nuvi 1350). As with the Oregon, I use the Nuvi 2gb micro sd card for everything. I would add that the Nuvi is much more flaky and I have had to hard reset it several times. Main point? I recommend using the micro sd card. Which brings me to the only problem I have experienced with the Oregon. The little latch which holds the micro sd card in place is not great design and if you're not careful the card can become unseated. I found that inserting a small piece of folded over duct tape placed between the batteries and the card cover cured the problem. The camera is just adequate and I note that you already know that. Geotagging is neat and now I take and post pictures of many geocaches I find. I like the Oregon 550 although it's a bit of a battery pig. I have a good Lacrosse charger and several sets of Enerloops but I am going to get some higher powered NiMH batteries for our upcoming trip up the Danube.

Maybe because of the bigger screen (bigger than and Oregon), the Montana does display Lat/Long coordinates for current position AND geocache position. I like that feature much better than a compass or bearing distance.

I bought my 1st GPS, a Garmin Legend, back in 2005 and started off using re-chargable Alkalines - bad idea. About the same time I bought a Minolta A100 camera off EBay and it came with (used) Nimh batteries. I decided NiMH was the way to go and based up Steve's Digicams reviews, I purchased a LaCrosse BC900 charger and eventually settled upon Sanyo Enerloops low discharge batteries. My camera(s), remotes, everything I own that uses AA or AAA is powered by NiMH, even the electronic bug swatters (look like a big ping pong racquet). And this brings me to the subject. The batteries in the picture date to at least 2005 and for at least 3 years I have been only using them at the cottage for the bug swatters. This means they are only charged several times in the summer and then lie idle for at least 8 months, likely the least efficient way to use rechargeable batteries. A couple of weeks ago I retrieved them and used my city (LaCrosse) charger in the "refresh" mode. It took 4 1/2 days (yes, DAYS) until all four batteries show "full". Yesterday I put the Titanium AA's into my Oregon 550 and they lasted 12 hrs before red low indicator, and 13.5 hours before the unit went blank. This performance is at least 4-5 hrs more than I get with Enerloops, mind you, the Titaniums are higher capacity. Next I'll try the Sanyo 1850s. Tried the Sanyo 1850s, a little over 5hrs before 1 green bar, just before the red bar warning. All this to say that if you use an good charger, NiMH batteries will last a long, long time making them an sensible economical choice.

duplicate posting - sorry.

Well, the screen on my old Etrex Legend was becoming problematic so in Jan '12 a friend lent me an Oregon 450 for a couple of weeks. I liked the features (paperless geocaching, touchscreen, geotagging etc). There was a pretty good deal on at GPSCity Calgary at the end of Feb for an Oregon 550 so that was my choice. I like the unit even though the camera is not very good, best described as simply acceptable. I quite like the concept of geotagged pictures and have planned a major tour of Eastern Europe in the fall. For this I plan to use GoogleEarth images that I have geotagged. Geotagging is a feature of the other Oregons as well. In my experience the 550 is a bit of a battery hog but I use only Sanyo Eneloop NiMH batteries in my gps, digital camera, and tv remote, and I have a quality LaCrosse BC900 charger so I survive quite nicely. Maps can be obtained from OpenStreetMaps. Bit of a learning curve but well worth the effort. Although I live in Canada and have complete North America maps, I alse store maps of various countries in Europe, all of the UK, and city maps of Budpest and Prague. I store everything; maps, geocaches, and hundreds of POIs on the micro sd card. I would recommend a 4gb or bigger. Finally, regardless of which gps you purchase, buy and install a screen protector - worth every penny! Cheers from the Canadian Flatlands

press SETUP scroll down to UNITS press UNITS press DISTANCE/SPEED press (your preference) cheers from the Canadian flatlands

I recently replaced my old Garmin Legend (joystick) with an Oregon 550. Although I did not expect to, I now prefer the touchscreen and it worked ok to at least -8C. I forgot to add - buy and install a screen protector for whatever gps you choose! I have a Nuvi 1350 with several screen scratches so the 1st thing I did with my 550 was install a ZAGG invisibleSHIELD - worth every penny!

Here is a link to an excellent map source. Be patient to learn how to select the map tiles you want and you can download a .img file that will work in your Garmin. I have an Oregon 550 and the micro sd card contains at least 8 maps (Canada, continental USA, Mexico, Barbados, England, etc) http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

To cure this problem, I use a small piece of folded over duct tape (folded over so it's not sticky), ensure the micro is inserted correctly, place the tape over the micro, and then insert the batteries. When I remove/replace the batteries I do it one at a time so as to leave the tape in place. Since I started to this, end of problems.

Geocaching is a big community/hobby and whatever "finding device" you use is OK. Heck, the other day I used Google Earth + streetview and walked up to the key location! Personally I use a Nuvi 1350 and a new Orgeon 550 while my daughter-in-law uses and iPhone. Sometimes accuracy is in the eye of the beholder. She is much better at finding than I am. I like the technology of geocaching and want to be as accurate as is possible. She likes the hunt.

You might want to read this posting. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=186151&st=0&p=4929173&hl=nuvi%201350&fromsearch=1entry4929173"]http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=186151&st=0&p=4929173&hl=nuvi%201350&fromsearch=1entry4929173

answering a different post...