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Who loves their Colorado?


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Okay,

I've read on this site, I'm new to anything having to do with a GPS.

My wife ordered me a 400T and it is coming via Brown tomorrow.

 

Now, after reading recent posts and the Colorado faq wiki page, I'm just wondering if anyone could give me some positive feedback as well.

What I gather from what I've read is that the beta software resolves some of the deal breaker issues that made the unit unreliable at any level, but someone who is familiar with other devices (vista, map 60, ect.) are still disappointed with the loss of some really nice features.

 

What am in for as a new user? Would someone with no experience with these other features find themselves intuitively wishing they existed?

 

Thanks

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I love mine.

 

I have owned a Vista, 60CS and a 60CSx.

 

There might be some things that you wish the GPS did but all of them have.

 

When I had a Vista I wished it would hold longer waypoint name and comments. The 60 series added that but I lost the Alarm Clock from the Vista. Still liked the 60 series.

 

When I had the 60CS I wished it had better sensitivity. The 60CSx got that right.

 

When I had the 60CSx I wished it would hold more caching information. I even had an elaborate code system and used several bits of software to add POI's to the GPS to add that information. Now the Colorado does it without any manipulation.

 

Do I miss a feature or two? Yes. Do I regret the purchase? No way.

 

The Colorado stands as the nicest GPS I have ever owned.

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Okay,

I've read on this site, I'm new to anything having to do with a GPS.

My wife ordered me a 400T and it is coming via Brown tomorrow.

 

Now, after reading recent posts and the Colorado faq wiki page, I'm just wondering if anyone could give me some positive feedback as well.

What I gather from what I've read is that the beta software resolves some of the deal breaker issues that made the unit unreliable at any level, but someone who is familiar with other devices (vista, map 60, ect.) are still disappointed with the loss of some really nice features.

 

What am in for as a new user? Would someone with no experience with these other features find themselves intuitively wishing they existed?

 

Thanks

I have a love hate relationship with my 400t. My having both the 400t and 60CSx is probably almost the best of both worlds. If only there was one machine had the combined ability of both. My feeling is that the Colorado has the capability of attaining this goal. Hopefully subsequent firmware upgrades will accomplish this.

All we can do at this point is make our complaints and suggestions known to Garmin, keep our fingers crossed and wait......

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I have had a 76c, 60CS, 60CSx, and now the 400t.

 

Definitely the 400t is the best caching GPSr that I have ever had. Before the 400t, I used to use Cachemate to hold the all-important cache information but was forever leaving my PDA/phone in my Jeep, making it a frustrating arrangement. Before the 400t, on big caching days I used to carry around a notebook, keeping track of what cache I found ( or did not find ) and when. Then I had to log them all, poring over the logbook and GSAK to lookup and log my caches. What a pain!

 

Now that I can't help BUT carry the device that holds the cache information I am one happy camper. Throw in field notes and those big caching days, dreading all the logging, are now a joy.

 

I am lucky and have had no hardware problems that others have had - I have never had to return my device ( I bought mine early, in mid-January ... don't know if that made a difference ).

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As you will notice in most of the above statements the unit is great for "Geocaching". If you're into hiking, data recording/logging, and rugged outdoor use, you may be dissapointed a bit. But since all you will know is the 400t you'll never know what your missing. I have a 300 and I'm still on the fence, mostly because I have owned the previous units and use mine only about 10% of the time for geocaching.

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I love my 400T. I love mine for snowmobiling, geocaching, fishing, and in the fall will take it out hunting. Having all of the Topo maps preloaded for the entire US is nice. I just loaded City Navigator and now it works a lot like my Nuvi. I really like being able to have the different profiles with setting based on the activity. My unit has been a solid performer. I got mine the beginning of March. I am very impressed with this unit. The rock and roller fits perfect in my hand for one hand operation. I have not owned a 60csx but my friend does. I own a etrex legend for the past 7 years. I still think the legend works good for most things with the topos loaded for where your going to be. However, the Colorado just blows the legend away. The color screen is nice and large and being able to have the logs, notes, discriptions, and hints for geocaching is amazing. The other important feature for me is Macintosh support. I can do everything on the Mac with this unit. As you can tell I like mine and would not trade it for any GPS.

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I got my husband the 400t for his birthday at the end of March. Before, we used a 60cs. We LOVE our Colorado. It is so awesome. No more cachemate on the PDA, just one thing to carry. The screen is so bright and clear. It does everything we need it to do. Routing with City Navigator is great. Geocaching is awesome on it with the description hints!

 

Go get one, you will love it!

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As you will notice in most of the above statements the unit is great for "Geocaching". If you're into hiking, data recording/logging, and rugged outdoor use, you may be dissapointed a bit.

 

It is also better for car navigation than any of the handhelds.

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For geocaching, it could only be better if it would display the graphics, etc... in the cache description. I wish it had the SIRF GPS chipset, but if a frog had wings...

 

Now I carry one gizmo, a few batteries and a cleaning cloth for the screen. Beats the crap out of printing each cache description and carrying a wad of folded papers in a sweaty hip pocket. I can switch to automotive mode and route the roads to the cache, then switch to geocaching mode and find the cache, log the find, then select the next nearest cache. It would only be easier if someone would find the caches for you.

 

The automotive routing is as good as the low-end auto GPSr units. Beeper could be quite a bit louder and a 3-axis compass would allow you to use the compass with the GPSr positioned properly for in-car viewing.

 

Garmin has a few more bugs to work out and a few features to add, but other than that its a solid unit. Hopefully they learned their lesson about releasing a product too soon.

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I love mine! I have used it to find over 200 caches already. On a marathon 70 in on day it worked perfectly! I like my 60CSx but I like this way more! It has been through some rugged trips as well. It went boating with me one day and got wet. I forgot it was clipped to my belt and drug it up the side of a cement wall that I climbed but it is still working great!! I also use it for routing while driving and I am more than happy with every thing it does. I say go for it!!!

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I am not a geocacher, I use it for hiking, biking and tracking (even in trains)

It is my first mapping GPS (before: GEKO 301).

 

I like it! (Maps: TOPO Suisse 1.1 and City Navigator NT Europe)

 

Most bothering for me (waiting for fixes)

- Topo Maps with DEM hard to read in certain situations display / colors too dark

( a small black path in a dark green forest is almost not visible,

the brown grade elevation is mistaken as a path on a green background)

- Position failures may occure

That issue is discussed in several places

Example: I had a differencs of 90 Meters (GPS Accuracy shown 9m),

after rebooting the Colorado the position was immediatly correct within the accuracy)

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I love mine as well. It is a great GPSr especially for geocaching. The paperless feature is fantanstic. There have been a few issues along the way but Garmin has been good at coming out with updates. I think you can't go wrong getting a Colorado.

Edited by minnesotabrad
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I know this is primarily a geocaching forum, but for the few of us that are mostly here for the GPS knowledge....

 

If not geocaching, and I can get a 60csx for much cheaper, is there any reason at all to go the colorado way? Sounds like other than some geocaching stuff, you are losing a lot of features and paying more to do it ?

 

I love mine as well. It is a great GPSr especially for geocaching. The paperless feature is fantanstic. There have been a few issues along the way but Garmin has been good at coming out with updates. I think you can't go wrong getting a Colorado.

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Losing features? Depends how you look at it... I personally gained a lot of features by going with the Colorado.

 

If you're not that into Geocaching you can save your money and get whatever you want for your needs (which you didn't specify).

 

Lot's of options out there... I like the Colorado because I've made it useful in almost every outdoors aspect I enjoy. Hunting, fishing, geocaching, camping, driving and biking. The heart rate monitor (wireless) works awesome and once I find a cadence sensor for a good price I'll get that as well. I've loaded the entire City Navigator onto the unit itself along with Inland Lakes on the SD card. The display is incredible, features I actually use and it's so simple to operate.

 

Kind of rambled there... Anyway, you can get by with any basic unit, just depends on your needs.

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I have had my 400t for about 2 weeks now. Prior to this my only other experience was using a friends Vista. He is now jealous as the 400t does all the things he complained about on his Vista, e.g. full discriptions, hints, auto-logging back at the PC. I am getting ready to go on a 3-state caching mission, if it works as well over the next week as it did the last two in the North Georiga mountains I will be a happy camper.

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Losing features? Depends how you look at it... I personally gained a lot of features by going with the Colorado.

 

If you're not that into Geocaching you can save your money and get whatever you want for your needs (which you didn't specify).

 

Lot's of options out there... I like the Colorado because I've made it useful in almost every outdoors aspect I enjoy. Hunting, fishing, geocaching, camping, driving and biking. The heart rate monitor (wireless) works awesome and once I find a cadence sensor for a good price I'll get that as well. I've loaded the entire City Navigator onto the unit itself along with Inland Lakes on the SD card. The display is incredible, features I actually use and it's so simple to operate.

 

Kind of rambled there... Anyway, you can get by with any basic unit, just depends on your needs.

 

I really appreciate the time everyone has taken to state their experience with the CO.

 

I'm a lot more confident in the purchase and understand the picture a lot more than before. I will be using the CO for caching primarily for the next few years, as my boys are still pretty young and I can't take them to deep into the woods yet, but I've grown up and avid hiker, camper, and anything else that can be done in the mountains, desert, lakes, and ocean, so as the years go by it I will come to rely upon it more often for these field tasks as well.

 

XopherN71, thanks for commenting on the heart rate monitor, my wife and I have recently gotten into running and biking and we've been needing a second monitor, so I'm glad to hear that you are satisfied with the CO performance.

 

-phaedrus

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I too only use my GPS for geocaching about 10% of the time. I use it primarily for hiking, mountaineering, driving, and some geocaching. I had a 60csx (which I lost climbing Mt Adams last winter), and I don't find that I miss anything on my 60csx. My 400t does everything my 60csx did. I have not had many of the problems that others have. My 400t has never locked up, the clock is always correct, I have tested it underwater for 10 minutes with no problem, have never had the position error problem, and the battery lasts about the same amount of time as my 60csx. Now maybe I just didn't use any of these features that others are missing from the 60csx, but I don't miss mine at all. The screen is bigger and I have had no problem seeing it in any light conditions if it is tilted correctly, the maps are better looking, the rocknroller is much better than the 60csx button, and of course the paperless caching is much better.

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If not geocaching, and I can get a 60csx for much cheaper, is there any reason at all to go the colorado way? Sounds like other than some geocaching stuff, you are losing a lot of features and paying more to do it ?

 

The 60csx should be an easy decision for those who demand high mapping performance:

- Sirf chipset proven and more accurate (as of now) than MediaTek chipset

- Waypoint averaging

- Longer battery life

 

What makes it a tough choice are the superior aspects of the CO:

- Way better ergonomics (thumb wheel at top)

- Bigger, high-res screen

- Arguably better menu interface

- Arguably Better road navigation

- 3D View

- Etc.

 

The CO is the future (it hasn't quite arrived). The 60csx is still the present, but it's been around several years and will likely be soon replaced by a full-featured CO or an entirely new model.

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I've had my CO for a week. It's nice. Never had another GPS before, so don't have anything to compare with. I like the DEM maps. Screen is big, and graphics good. It also has profiles for different modes. I added an aviation mode that I use for flying, not too bad. Geocaching is fun with this model.

 

Street navigation is good, it also recalculates detours fast. Loaded Speed camera POI for South Africa, although there is no proximity warnings, the signs do show up on the map!! The screen is a bit dark indoors, and you need to use the backlighting, which can be a bit harsh on the batteries.

 

Got DC cable for car, so saves batteries, You have to have Firmware 2.51 for this to work though.

 

I am really happy with the GPS

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Taking my second 400T back. It is not accurate. I really want this unit to work, but I can't get within 50 ft. of a Geocache and it can't resolve itself any further. It says within 10 feet and then reverses itself and says go 30 ft. the other way.

 

Compass is off.

 

I would like to feedback as to what kind of accuracy to expect with Geocaching. I had a 60scx for a few months and found a few caches. We tried finding 3 easy ones today and couldn't find any.

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Taking my second 400T back. It is not accurate. I really want this unit to work, but I can't get within 50 ft. of a Geocache and it can't resolve itself any further. It says within 10 feet and then reverses itself and says go 30 ft. the other way.

 

Compass is off.

 

I would like to feedback as to what kind of accuracy to expect with Geocaching. I had a 60scx for a few months and found a few caches. We tried finding 3 easy ones today and couldn't find any.

 

I feel your pain, same issues here. As far off as 100 feet sometimes. I have read on other posts that this is an issue with the chipset that is being used, and sometimes if you reboot the unit when you get near a cache, it will be more accurate for awhile.

Edited by GeoFevre
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I do NOT like the Colorado 400t, it "jumps" around hard to use for Geocaching. Can'T get my to load and unload cache info to/from computer. Also, suppose to get 1 month Preimun Mebership and didn't. I am NOT pleased with Garmin, little or no help. I like the CSX 60 for caching, easy to use.

Edited by mutt&bob
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Here the link to the Colorado position error thread. The easiest way to verify you are seeing this problem is power cycle the unit and see if when it relocks you end up getting a significantly different location reading (ie. 200'-700'). I've verified this against "known good" waypoints. It's a little harder to do this against a geocache unless you know the coordinates are good or have another unit (i.e. 60csx) to compare against.

 

I've submitted the issue to Garmin this week with photos and a bunch of data around the circumstances. I know other CO owners have reported the issue to Garmin as well and that eTrex HCx owners (which have the same MediaTek chipset) are seeing the exact same issue.

 

I would encourage everyone who sees this issue to report it directly to Garmin because it makes the GPS almost useless for geocaching. I'm hoping that this is something that is specific to certain units but I'm seeing a lot of complaints about it here and on other message boards. For some reason it seems to have become much worse for me in the past two to three weeks, my theory is that the leaves are coming on here making the signal conditions worse in the woods, these types of conditions seem to be what cause the CO to get into this funk. If you use the CO in the clear you probably won't see the issue.

 

GO$Rs

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I've had no issues with mine, despite the bad press. I love it, its easy to use, understand and work with. I love that I can use the USB to power it in the Jeep, so I can use the same charger as comes with my phones. I love USB power!

Edited by Polarbz
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i had a magellan 1500 and its probably the worst gps for canadian, now i got a colorado 300, its probably the best gps out there today, simple, great customer service and a lot of fun, i just started that geocache stuff and pretty amazing what it can do.

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