Do you like the text-entry method on the Colorado?

[+Manatee87]

For those of you who have, or have used, the Colorado, do you like the method of text entry where you spin the wheel to the character you want, and click?

 

Do you prefer it to the method on the older models where the characters are laid out in rows and columns, and you navigate the grid and click on the one you want?

 

So far, I'm finding I'm faster on the old system. I've been timing myself entering various words on both systems. It can be a loooong way around that wheel sometimes -- especially when going from uppercase to lowercase.

 

I see they still use a grid layout for choosing waypoint icons. There should be no reason they couldn't implement text entry that way too. Of course that wouldn't allow them to show off the spinny gadget and the twirling text. But I think it would be more practical.

 

I sure hope they're not putting off navigation functions in order to implement all this flashy stuff. It almost seems like they're trying to appeal to teenage girls who text each other on their phones.

 

So... anyone getting better results entering text with the wheel of fortune than the old way?

[yogazoo]

No. The wheel takes longer and is more cumbersom. However, I kind of like the shortcut menu to change screens, which, by the way they have an option to switch to the "page" system like the older units. I hope they eventually give us the option to input text the old way too. The Garmin firmware writers have alot of work to do.

 

Lets face it, these new units are very different from the older units. I think that Garmin will either get hot to write some decent firmware OR introduce something altogether different (another model) thats closer in functionality and user interface to the older models. The "teenage girls" analogy is sadly true. The target market seems to anyone BUT those who want a high end GPS with alot of functionality.

[+g-o-cashers]

For those of you who have, or have used, the Colorado, do you like the method of text entry where you spin the wheel to the character you want, and click?

 

Do you prefer it to the method on the older models where the characters are laid out in rows and columns, and you navigate the grid and click on the one you want?

 

So far, I'm finding I'm faster on the old system. I've been timing myself entering various words on both systems. It can be a loooong way around that wheel sometimes -- especially when going from uppercase to lowercase.

 

I see they still use a grid layout for choosing waypoint icons. There should be no reason they couldn't implement text entry that way too. Of course that wouldn't allow them to show off the spinny gadget and the twirling text. But I think it would be more practical.

 

I sure hope they're not putting off navigation functions in order to implement all this flashy stuff. It almost seems like they're trying to appeal to teenage girls who text each other on their phones.

 

So... anyone getting better results entering text with the wheel of fortune than the old way?

 

I would agree that in general that it probably takes longer because you have to scroll through so many numbers, symbols, upper and lower case letters all on in a single line -- it must be 70-80 characters. With a small change I think it would be much easier -- how about using a button to shift between character sets like most phones do (alpha, ALPHA, num, symbol)? That way you don't have such long strings of characters to scroll through. Some things could be made a little smarter like coordinate entry. If I can only enter an N or S then don't give me the option to pick 0-9.

 

Even though it takes longer to get to a particular character I find the action of the rock'n roller is much more "positive" than the squishy button on the 60 series. I seldom find I select the wrong character on the Colorado -- I frequently do on my 60cs.

 

GO$Rs

[+Marky]

Not having a previous Garmin to compare it to, I can only compare it to my Magellan eXplorist. Entering text via the wheel is much more of a pain than the key grid used on the eXplorist. I vote to have an option to add a text entry method that uses the wheel cursor keys.

 

--Marky

[+Manatee87]

I would agree that in general that it probably takes longer because you have to scroll through so many numbers, symbols, upper and lower case letters all on in a single line -- it must be 70-80 characters. With a small change I think it would be much easier -- how about using a button to shift between character sets like most phones do (alpha, ALPHA, num, symbol)? That way you don't have such long strings of characters to scroll through. Some things could be made a little smarter like coordinate entry. If I can only enter an N or S then don't give me the option to pick 0-9.

 

Even though it takes longer to get to a particular character I find the action of the rock'n roller is much more "positive" than the squishy button on the 60 series. I seldom find I select the wrong character on the Colorado -- I frequently do on my 60cs.

 

GO$Rs

Great idea -- using a button to shift. That could cut the text entry time about in half. Maybe we'll see that around 3.1.

[+nicolo]

Hate it,

[+RRLover]

Rocker :

Right = numbers

Left = symbols

Up = upper case

Down = lower case

 

Roller :

Rotate to highlight

Select = enter

 

Would that be too difficult to implement?

 

Norm

[gallet]

It's like they have made a pretty gui of the old non click stick eTrex where you had to use the side buttons to enter text by scrolling through the alphabet. Weird.

[+apersson850]

Rocker :

Right = numbers

Left = symbols

Up = upper case

Down = lower case

 

Roller :

Rotate to highlight

Select = enter

 

Would that be too difficult to implement?

 

Norm

With the current implementation, right and left is already occupied by supporting scrolling through the text line, so that you in an easy way can reach the position where you want to enter or change a letter. That's the thing that's better with this system.

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

No. The wheel takes longer and is more cumbersom. However, I kind of like the shortcut menu to change screens, which, by the way they have an option to switch to the "page" system like the older units.

 

How do you get to this option?

[+g-o-cashers]

No. The wheel takes longer and is more cumbersom. However, I kind of like the shortcut menu to change screens, which, by the way they have an option to switch to the "page" system like the older units.

 

How do you get to this option?

 

Shortcuts->Setup->Shortcuts->Options->Use Page Loop.

 

I tried this but didn't like it because the loop is one way (there's no back button only forward).

 

GO$Rs

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

No. The wheel takes longer and is more cumbersom. However, I kind of like the shortcut menu to change screens, which, by the way they have an option to switch to the "page" system like the older units.

 

How do you get to this option?

 

Shortcuts->Setup->Shortcuts->Options->Use Page Loop.

 

I tried this but didn't like it because the loop is one way (there's no back button only forward).

 

GO$Rs

 

Thanks. So once you do that, how do you advance from page to page?

[+g-o-cashers]

No. The wheel takes longer and is more cumbersom. However, I kind of like the shortcut menu to change screens, which, by the way they have an option to switch to the "page" system like the older units.

 

How do you get to this option?

 

Shortcuts->Setup->Shortcuts->Options->Use Page Loop.

 

I tried this but didn't like it because the loop is one way (there's no back button only forward).

 

GO$Rs

 

Thanks. So once you do that, how do you advance from page to page?

 

The right soft key is now labeled "Page" instead of "Shortcut". Just select it and you'll move forward one page in the list of Shortcuts you've setup for that profile.

 

GO$Rs

[+Manatee87]

Shortcuts->Setup->Shortcuts->Options->Use Page Loop.

 

I tried this but didn't like it because the loop is one way (there's no back button only forward).

 

GO$Rs

Same here. I put my Map and Setup screens next to each other in my profiles, but what I'd really like would be to go back and forth between them in Page Loop mode. Yeah, I know I could create a Profile with just those two pages, but I want the option of continuing to other screens in one direction or the other.

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

No. The wheel takes longer and is more cumbersom. However, I kind of like the shortcut menu to change screens, which, by the way they have an option to switch to the "page" system like the older units.

 

How do you get to this option?

 

Shortcuts->Setup->Shortcuts->Options->Use Page Loop.

 

I tried this but didn't like it because the loop is one way (there's no back button only forward).

 

GO$Rs

 

Thanks. So once you do that, how do you advance from page to page?

 

The right soft key is now labeled "Page" instead of "Shortcut". Just select it and you'll move forward one page in the list of Shortcuts you've setup for that profile.

 

GO$Rs

 

Cool. Now we just need a back button.

 

I do find the Shortcuts menu a bit of a pain. The rock n roller seems like it makes the unit impractical for biking, one of the primary ways I use a GPS. Guess I'll just have to get an Edge 605 or 705 for that.

[+Manatee87]

Cool. Now we just need a back button.

 

I do find the Shortcuts menu a bit of a pain. The rock n roller seems like it makes the unit impractical for biking, one of the primary ways I use a GPS. Guess I'll just have to get an Edge 605 or 705 for that.

I have the 305, but I really like to have a map and a display of what roads are coming up -- so I ride with the 305 and a Vista on the bars. If the Colorado ever gets sorted out, it should just about replace both since it supports my existing heart rate sender and cadence sender from the 305. The one thing I like on the 305 that the other "outdoor" units don't have is the display of "% Grade". It's not very accurate, but it's interesting to see roughly how steep a climb is.

[+jtrump]

Rocker :

Right = numbers

Left = symbols

Up = upper case

Down = lower case

 

Roller :

Rotate to highlight

Select = enter

 

Would that be too difficult to implement?

 

Norm

With the current implementation, right and left is already occupied by supporting scrolling through the text line, so that you in an easy way can reach the position where you want to enter or change a letter. That's the thing that's better with this system.

 

So here's my idea with using the Up and Down buttons to switch between input types, while keeping left and right for changing positions. This was just a quick photoshop, so hopefully Garmin could make it better. The idea is that the input types (Upper Case, Lower Case, Symbol/Number) would vertically "rotate" around being the selected type. Also, all three types would rotate with the roller wheel so that if I go to lower case "i" and decide I want upper case "I", all I have to do is push up.

 

[teamdw]

Rocker :

Right = numbers

Left = symbols

Up = upper case

Down = lower case

 

Roller :

Rotate to highlight

Select = enter

 

Would that be too difficult to implement?

 

Norm

With the current implementation, right and left is already occupied by supporting scrolling through the text line, so that you in an easy way can reach the position where you want to enter or change a letter. That's the thing that's better with this system.

 

So here's my idea with using the Up and Down buttons to switch between input types, while keeping left and right for changing positions. This was just a quick photoshop, so hopefully Garmin could make it better. The idea is that the input types (Upper Case, Lower Case, Symbol/Number) would vertically "rotate" around being the selected type. Also, all three types would rotate with the roller wheel so that if I go to lower case "i" and decide I want upper case "I", all I have to do is push up.

 

 

That is a great idea! I am going to take your picture with me to the meat and great and show Garmin and hope they might be able to do something like it in a software update.

[Barrikady]

The right soft key is now labeled "Page" instead of "Shortcut". Just select it and you'll move forward one page in the list of Shortcuts you've setup for that profile.

 

GO$Rs

 

Ooh, I like that! Thanks