Got to play with the Colorado Today

[sanramonhunter]

Went to MacWorld today to play with the Colorado. Spent about 20 minutes with the units they had there. Two of the 4 units were some sort of pre-production model, they had “extra” screws that the other 2 didn’t. The representative told me that the screws were there to hold it together. Other than the extra screws the build quality was very nice. The rubberized battery cover and the overall shape felt good in the hand.

 

The unit takes a VERY long time to boot up. I'm not talking about acquiring signal I'm talking about time between pressing the power button and anything other than the Garmin logo being on the screen. I hope this long start-up is just because these are pre-production models. Unfortunately they didn't get a signal in the building. They didn't have any geocache data or City Navigator maps loaded so I couldn't check out those features. The thing was stuck in Kansas (default I'm sure) and I couldn't figure out how to scroll to a different area and look at the 3d of that area. I was stuck looking at the 3d view of Kansas, which is pretty 2d. The shading looked good, but I would have liked to see the 3d perspective of a canyon. Scrolling through the maps was fairly fast, quicker than on my 60csx. The drawing times were quicker as well.

 

The Rock-n-Roll wheel is not all that great. It will take some getting used to, but right now I prefer the layout of the 60csx. The very center is basically an enter key and around that is a d-pad to move cursor. The jog wheel is more comfortable to use than I imagined. Just about everything I did involved using the wheel. With no hard buttons you have to hit options (soft key) then scroll the wheel to perform many tasks that would be one button operations on the 60csx. To change the battery type for example you hit the option button (soft), then use the wheel to get to the setup icon, hit enter, then use the wheel to scroll down four menu choices, hit enter, then use the wheel to scroll between the battery choices, make selection and hit enter. Interesting to note that there are 3 battery settings on the Colorado, Alkaline, NiMh, and Lithium.

 

Entering numbers for a location is about the same speed as with the 60 series, but letters are a bit more time consuming using the wheel instead of a d-pad. The screen looks great and the brightness seemed adequate, but I would like to test it outside.

 

Tried to send a waypoint between two units but the sending unit just stated searching for receiving unit and vice versa on the sending unit. It wouldn't really let me do much with the Wherigo without a signal. But the little I did see looked interesting. I will hopefully be able to attend the Wherigo event in San Jose next month to try this out and get some outdoor time with the unit.

 

The new mounting scheme seems easier and more secure than on the 60csx. The mounts they had there were two parts. One part slid on the back of the Colorado and had a ball socket mount like the Nuvi’s. The other part was a suction cup with the Ball adaptor at the end. Seemed very usable and sturdy. I’m sure the bike mount is just the clip portion that slides into a bicycle bar mount.

 

All in all looks like a nice unit but I’m not liking the “Rock-n-Roll” portion all that much. Without getting a signal and having something to do other than scroll though the setup menus it’s hard to say how much I’ll like this unit.

[+apersson850]

Your impression of the jog wheel is the same as mine. At the first attempts, it felt if not awkward, so at least uncomfortable. After getting used to it, you don't want anything else.