I've waited long enough

9.4k · January 17, 2008

I've been waiting to get a new GPSr for the longest time. The 60 is popular, but it doesn't make any sense at all to put buttons below the screen - that just forces you to use it two handed or risk dropping it if you only use one hand. Maybe it's designed for people with small hands. I liked the 76 series for just that reason, it fits in my hand and has buttons I can use one handed, but it seemed more suited for people who wanted to mount the thing on a boat, not for hiking in the mountains. Now that the Colorado has come out, I finally decided to spend the money I had been saving for the 76. Bonus: I get $60 back from REI at the end of the year, so it's like getting it on sale.

I couldn't even wait to take it out of the box before getting a picture of it:

First thing I did was put a screen protector on it since the screens on my old Legend and the wife's eXplorist are scratched (thanks to her on both) :rolleyes:

That's all for now, gotta go play with it

January 17, 2008

Keep us informed.

1.3k · January 17, 2008

I am sooo jealous! Where did you get the screen protector? I looked at Sheildzone but didn't find one.

January 17, 2008

Cool.

A friend ordered that very model, but he says they don't ship until the 2nd week of Feb.

I don't know where he ordered from though.

I think he'll have to put it in a zip-loc bag when I see it, so I don't get slobber all over it.

I'm officially jealous of both of you.

9.4k · January 17, 2008

The screen protector is a generic one. I cut it to fit.

REI has them in stock now; other dealers are supposed to get them later this month or early next month. I could have waited to get one online, but the savings is about the same as I'll get back from REI, just at the end of the year instead of right away.

January 17, 2008

After seeing yours in the box I just could not stand it any longer. The price at Buy.com for the 400t was $509 yesterday and today it is $514 with free shipping, So I placed my order. :rolleyes:

2.6k · January 17, 2008

REI lists them as out of stock and told me they wouldn't have them until 1/30. I am SO jealous!

1.2k · January 17, 2008

REI lists them as out of stock and told me they wouldn't have them until 1/30. I am SO jealous!

I called the REI in Tempe, AZ - they have 6 in stock.

January 18, 2008

Thanks for the heads up. Just got off the phone with REI, I am on my way to the store right not to pic one up.

1.2k · January 18, 2008

REI lists them as out of stock and told me they wouldn't have them until 1/30. I am SO jealous!

I called the REI in Tempe, AZ - they have 6 in stock.

Only 5 now ... :rolleyes:

January 18, 2008

I am clueless as to how you got yours - I am a dealer and me nor any other dealer I know have received theirs.

In any case, glad you got one!

January 18, 2008

I am clueless as to how you got yours - I am a dealer and me nor any other dealer I know have received theirs.

In any case, glad you got one!

REI seems to have 2-3 week exclusive on the 400t...

January 18, 2008

I ordered my 400T online last Friday. I have a feeling it will be a few weeks at least before that one will ship.

I am excited though.

January 18, 2008

It's great to see that you got your 400t. Your photo of the 400t packaging made my heart beat faster! I have a 300 on order.

I understand that Garmin is not including a printed manual with the Colorado series. The manual included with the GPSr is on a CD.

It would be great if you could upload the 400t manual, so Colorado buyers have a chance to review the operating instructions prior to receiving their Colorado. Can you upload the PDF file?

Edited for content

Edited January 18, 2008 by Barrikady

9.4k · January 18, 2008

It's great to see that you got your 400t. Your photo of the 400t packaging made my heart beat faster! I have a 300 on order.

As you know, Garmin IS NOT including a printed manual with the Colorado series. The manual included with the GPSr is on a CD.

It would be great if you could upload the 400t manual, so Colorado buyers have a chance to review the operating instructions prior to receiving their Colorado. Can you upload the PDF file?

Actually, Garmin included a printed manual for the Colorado 400t in the box, but there was not a version on the CD. The CD only had Mapsource on it.

January 18, 2008

It's great to see that you got your 400t. Your photo of the 400t packaging made my heart beat faster! I have a 300 on order.

As you know, Garmin IS NOT including a printed manual with the Colorado series. The manual included with the GPSr is on a CD.

It would be great if you could upload the 400t manual, so Colorado buyers have a chance to review the operating instructions prior to receiving their Colorado. Can you upload the PDF file?

Actually, Garmin included a printed manual for the Colorado 400t in the box, but there was not a version on the CD. The CD only had Mapsource on it.

Excellent! Thanks for the update.

1.4k · January 18, 2008

I am clueless as to how you got yours - I am a dealer and me nor any other dealer I know have received theirs.

REI seems to have 2-3 week exclusive on the 400t...

Yep, they mention that on their website. Exclusively at REI until Feb. 11th.

Patty

1.4k · January 18, 2008

OK, you've had plenty of time to play with it. What's the verdict?

1.3k · January 18, 2008

The Colorado’s operating system seems to be very similar to the nuvi series. The nuvi has an owner’s manual in the internal memory. Any chance the Colorado has one stashed in there?

January 18, 2008

... The nuvi has an owner's manual in the internal memory. Any chance the Colorado has one stashed in there?

There is a "text" folder on the screenshot shown in this thread. Maybe an owner's manual is stashed there.

January 18, 2008

... The nuvi has an owner's manual in the internal memory. Any chance the Colorado has one stashed in there?

There is a "text" folder on the screenshot shown in this thread. Maybe an owner's manual is stashed there.

I didn't see any obvious sign of a manual (like a pdf or anything) on the unit. That directory you mentioned has 15-20 files with a non-standard extension with names like English, German - so I was assuming localization data for different languages.

January 18, 2008

Great!

Could you make a big side by side picture with the explorist (on daylight without backlight)

January 18, 2008

With so much chatter about the new Colorado series, I'm surprised that no one has brought up the differences between the three models .

I've done a very simple comparison and all I see is that the 400C and 300 both will hold 1000 Waypoints and 1000 Geocaches, while the 400T will hold 1000 Waypoints. The price difference between the models which are from REI I don't understand . The 400T is 599.00 and it holds 1000 Waypoints, but not the 1000 Geocaches that the 300 holds @ 499.00 and then the 400C is @ 599.00 and holds 1000 Geocaches and the 1000 Waypoints. I suppose I have failed to do a very in depth comparison, but I could not find any real difference and some how I feel there must be . In doing just some very basic reading I'm not sure what the function of the 1000 Geocaches does in the 300/400 series, in as much as does the unit act as a pocket PC and store a basic cache page as you do for paperless caching?

I remain confused, any insight from a more learned Colorado owner?

Barefoot One and Wench

Edited January 18, 2008 by Barefoot One & Wench

24.7k · January 18, 2008

The screen protector is a generic one. I cut it to fit.

REI has them in stock now; other dealers are supposed to get them later this month or early next month. I could have waited to get one online, but the savings is about the same as I'll get back from REI, just at the end of the year instead of right away.

Hmmm.... I have an REI Rebate coming.

January 18, 2008

Did the 400T come with a Topo disc in the box? So you can load on your computer and view/make routes? If it does i'm ordering one today.

Thanks.

9.4k · January 18, 2008

... The nuvi has an owner's manual in the internal memory. Any chance the Colorado has one stashed in there?

There is a "text" folder on the screenshot shown in this thread. Maybe an owner's manual is stashed there.

I didn't see any obvious sign of a manual (like a pdf or anything) on the unit. That directory you mentioned has 15-20 files with a non-standard extension with names like English, German - so I was assuming localization data for different languages.

I agree. I looked through all of the folders on the unit and didn't find any soft of manual or even a help file. The closest there was was an xml file in the main directory, but that seems to be device settings or instructions for the device on how to display information.

9.4k · January 18, 2008

Great!

Could you make a big side by side picture with the explorist (on daylight without backlight)

No problem. Backlights on their lowest settings for these pictures. I set them to similar screens for each picture, of course each manufacturer has slightly different information on each screen, but this should be close enough. The only edit I made was to the Magellan map screen since it showed the intermediate stage of a multi I've been working on.

9.4k · January 18, 2008

With so much chatter about the new Colorado series, I'm surprised that no one has brought up the differences between the three models .

I've done a very simple comparison and all I see is that the 400C and 300 both will hold 1000 Waypoints and 1000 Geocaches, while the 400T will hold 1000 Waypoints. The price difference between the models which are from REI I don't understand . The 400T is 599.00 and it holds 1000 Waypoints, but not the 1000 Geocaches that the 300 holds @ 499.00 and then the 400C is @ 599.00 and holds 1000 Geocaches and the 1000 Waypoints. I suppose I have failed to do a very in depth comparison, but I could not find any real difference and some how I feel there must be . In doing just some very basic reading I'm not sure what the function of the 1000 Geocaches does in the 300/400 series, in as much as does the unit act as a pocket PC and store a basic cache page as you do for paperless caching?

I remain confused, any insight from a more learned Colorado owner?

Barefoot One and Wench

The 400t holds 1000 waypoints and 1000 caches. Actually, you can put more caches in that that as far as I know so far. You just upload a GPX file to the GPX folder and you're all set. I Put in 800 or so caches yesterday just to get started. Now I've had time to download several more PQs, so I put in over 4000 caches. This only uses about 20MB of the internal memory and I still have over 1GB free! The downside right now is that geocaches don't appear on the map screen. Garmin is aware of this and are working on the problem for their first firmware update. I hope it is released by spring. For now, I have the closest 1000 caches to home also entered as waypoints. That will get me by for now, but when I drive to Denver I may need to make those waypoints instead. Transfer speed is rather quick (especially compared to an eXplorist, a Legend, my Palm m505, or my smartphone. Not only do you get the cache name and rating, but the full cache descriptions and the last 5 logs right on the GPSr. This comes right out of the GPX file, so if you have more logs stored in GSAK those will show up as well.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Team GPSaxophone

9.4k · January 18, 2008

Did the 400T come with a Topo disc in the box? So you can load on your computer and view/make routes? If it does i'm ordering one today.

Thanks.

The CD is titled "Trip & Waypoint Manager" but is really "Mapsource - Trip & Waypoint Manager" (v4.0). The topo maps for the USA were preloaded on the GPSr.

3.8k · January 18, 2008

The CD is titled "Trip & Waypoint Manager" but is really "Mapsource - Trip & Waypoint Manager" (v4.0). The topo maps for the USA were preloaded on the GPSr.

This seems to be the business model they use now and is the same as the automotive units. Wouldn't this mean that with no backup disk of the maps you're screwed for the costs of the maps if you loose the unit?

1.8k · January 18, 2008

Wouldn't this mean that with no backup disk of the maps you're screwed for the costs of the maps if you loose the unit?

And, you also won't have the maps to load on the PC for viewing and trip planning, right?

January 18, 2008

The topo maps for the USA were preloaded on the GPSr.

Wouldn't this mean that with no backup disk of the maps you're screwed for the costs of the maps if you loose the unit?

Apparently so. An option you may want to consider is ordering the Colorado 300 and install Topo 2008 from a purchased DVD. Of course you can also use the Topo 2008 DVD to map routes on your Mac or Windows computer using Garmin's Mapsource software. You can't do that with a 400t. BTW, the topo map that is preinstalled on the 400t is the same as the Topo 2008 DVD.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Barrikady

January 18, 2008

I have not tired it, but MapSource has a Maps check box on the Transfer > Receive from Device dialog. So it looks like the maps could be transferred from the GPS to your PC.

Perry

6.4k · January 18, 2008

The downside right now is that geocaches don't appear on the map screen. Garmin is aware of this and are working on the problem for their first firmware update. I hope it is released by spring. For now, I have the closest 1000 caches to home also entered as waypoints.

Put them in as custom POIs as well as Geocaches and then as many as you want will show up on the map.

9.4k · January 18, 2008

The downside right now is that geocaches don't appear on the map screen. Garmin is aware of this and are working on the problem for their first firmware update. I hope it is released by spring. For now, I have the closest 1000 caches to home also entered as waypoints.

Put them in as custom POIs as well as Geocaches and then as many as you want will show up on the map.

Um...isn't that what I said I did?

1.2k · January 18, 2008

The downside right now is that geocaches don't appear on the map screen. Garmin is aware of this and are working on the problem for their first firmware update. I hope it is released by spring. For now, I have the closest 1000 caches to home also entered as waypoints.

Put them in as custom POIs as well as Geocaches and then as many as you want will show up on the map.

Um...isn't that what I said I did?

You said waypoints, Red90 said POIs. Two different things, storage-wise.

I tried the POI method, using a GSAK macro that Red90 pointed me to that splits out a GSAK db into CSV files, one for each cache type. With corresponding bitmap images for the cache types, I loaded them up in my 400t and they showed up nicely on the screen ...

Edited January 18, 2008 by nicolo

January 19, 2008

Is it me, or did anyone else notice the screenshot with the compass images on both devices - seems they are pointing in different directions - which one is correct? If any.

9.4k · January 19, 2008

Is it me, or did anyone else notice the screenshot with the compass images on both devices - seems they are pointing in different directions - which one is correct? If any.

The Magellan points north by default until you start moving.

January 19, 2008

Ah!

Well, its good to know that the Colorado uses a magnetic North versus GPS detection for its compass.

January 19, 2008

Is it me, or did anyone else notice the screenshot with the compass images on both devices - seems they are pointing in different directions - which one is correct? If any.

It looks like they are sitting on carpet, so they are probably inside and without lock onto the satellites.

How detailed is the basemap as far as streets are concerned? Only major interstates? Busy city streets?

9.4k · January 19, 2008

Is it me, or did anyone else notice the screenshot with the compass images on both devices - seems they are pointing in different directions - which one is correct? If any.

It looks like they are sitting on carpet, so they are probably inside and without lock onto the satellites.

How detailed is the basemap as far as streets are concerned? Only major interstates? Busy city streets?

They are both on carpet just inside the sliding glass door from our deck. Both units have good signals, but you can tell the Colorado has better accuracy at the moment (18' compared to 50-something for the Magellan).

The basemap has all of the streets in my neighborhood, which is an upgrade from the older Mapsource maps on my Legend. I assume it has most neighborhoods across the US, but may not have some that are only a few years old (based on other mapping software I've used where this is usually the case)

January 19, 2008

I had at 400t on pre-order @ GPS City - but got the email from REI today, called a couple local stores - and found one in Berkeley. A rush-hour drive later, I had my shiny new toy, a good month before expected. Best of all - with my REI dividend, it wasn't even THAT much more than mail order (about $4... BEFORE tax ;-).

Now then, if I could just figure out how to push data to it...

9.4k · January 19, 2008

The downside right now is that geocaches don't appear on the map screen. Garmin is aware of this and are working on the problem for their first firmware update. I hope it is released by spring. For now, I have the closest 1000 caches to home also entered as waypoints.

Put them in as custom POIs as well as Geocaches and then as many as you want will show up on the map.

Um...isn't that what I said I did?

You said waypoints, Red90 said POIs. Two different things, storage-wise.

I tried the POI method, using a GSAK macro that Red90 pointed me to that splits out a GSAK db into CSV files, one for each cache type. With corresponding bitmap images for the cache types, I loaded them up in my 400t and they showed up nicely on the screen ...

Waypoints and POIs are the same to me since I've been using an eXplorist for the last year. Anyway, I loaded the GPX file into mapsource and sent them to the unit that way. I just downloaded the custom POI loader from Garmin's site so maybe I'll make my own icons. :drama:

Garmin's website seems very behind on the Colorado...I tried to register my unit but the site said the serial number was invalid. The Colorado is not listed in any of their categories for support questions either.

5.7k · January 19, 2008

I've never had a Garmin, and this Garmin is different than others. How do I get POIs or Waypoints to it (from GSAK)?

--Marky

January 19, 2008

Thank's for side by side picture with the explorist :drama:

9.4k · January 19, 2008

I've never had a Garmin, and this Garmin is different than others. How do I get POIs or Waypoints to it (from GSAK)?

--Marky

To get geocaches to it, you can export a GPX file from GSAK then copy/paste it to the GPX directory on the Colorado (the file system is treated like a removable USB drive).

To get waypoints to it (or are they POI's?) Open mapsource, load your gpx file (or whatever file type you have that it supports) and send the waypoints to your GPS.

1.4k · January 19, 2008

Now I've had time to download several more PQs, so I put in over 4000 caches. This only uses about 20MB of the internal memory and I still have over 1GB free!

Whoa--the 400t has more than 1GB of internal memory??

The Garmin site still just says "yes" on the "Internal memory" line of the specs. Very helpful. :-)

Patty

January 19, 2008

So, I've dumped GPX files onto the unit (I pushed my entire GSAK NotFound database from the Bay Area <-> Tahoe: ~11K caches) - and the unit continued to function, albeit... S-L-O-W-L-Y.

So, I pared it down to just a "close" filter - e.g., < 1000 caches, similar to the waypoint dataset size I would typically push to my 60CSx. The unit seems a bit more responsive, but still sluggish. Of course, caches show up under "Geocaching", but not as waypoints, on the map.

The only way I've been able to get waypoints to the unit is using Garmin's MapSource - but this has limitations. For starters, the caches are named by their GC waypoint ID, rather than the 'SmartName'. Also, as noted, I'm having trouble getting them (the waypoints) to show on various zoom levels (e.g. all).

Despite these troubles - so far, so good!

January 19, 2008

Whoa--the 400t has more than 1GB of internal memory??

The Garmin site still just says "yes" on the "Internal memory" line of the specs. Very helpful. :-)

It has 4GB and just under 3GB is used by the topo maps - so a little over 1GB internal memory free.

January 19, 2008

I wonder if the colorado 300 will have 4gb free because there is no topo?

I've waited long enough

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