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I've heard that a few people now have the Oregon 300 and was wondering where they bought it at ? Im going hiking this next week and would like to get one along with the new 24k Topo's for Washington. REI and GPScity say 7/31 but would perfer to get it before then. Thanks

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It seems clear that there is an issue with the Oregon and WAAS!

 

Maybe ( A ) they simply don't show "D" when the unit is correcting the GPS signal using WAAS (the manual doesn't show specifics), or ( B ) WAAS isn't working at all on the 2.2/2.42 software.

 

Either way, it looks like a fix is needed.

 

I'm going to email Garmin and see what they have to say.

 

Thanks

Edited by jmedlock
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I've heard that a few people now have the Oregon 300 and was wondering where they bought it at ? Im going hiking this next week and would like to get one along with the new 24k Topo's for Washington. REI and GPScity say 7/31 but would perfer to get it before then. Thanks

 

I think the 400t is the only available model right now. GPSCity, REI, etc have it in stock.

 

GO$Rs

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It seems clear that there is an issue with the Oregon and WAAS!

 

Maybe ( A ) they simply don't show "D" when the unit is correcting the GPS signal using WAAS (the manual doesn't show specifics), or ( B ) WAAS isn't working at all on the 2.2/2.42 software.

 

Either way, it looks like a fix is needed.

 

I'm going to email Garmin and see what they have to say.

 

Thanks

 

WAAS is definitely broken on the Oregon. I brought the CO and OR up with WAAS in the same location. The CO picked up on 51 and after a few minutes locked on -- lots of little "D"s.

 

The OR showed 51 on the satellite screen, gray satellite in the sky view and a number at the bottom with no bar, not even a clear white bar. After about 2-3 minutes it jumped to 33, 34 and kept going -- these are both worse for me, but it still never locked on to any WAAS satellite.

 

GO$Rs

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It seems clear that there is an issue with the Oregon and WAAS!

 

Maybe ( A ) they simply don't show "D" when the unit is correcting the GPS signal using WAAS (the manual doesn't show specifics), or ( B ) WAAS isn't working at all on the 2.2/2.42 software.

 

Either way, it looks like a fix is needed.

 

I'm going to email Garmin and see what they have to say.

 

Thanks

 

WAAS is definitely broken on the Oregon. I brought the CO and OR up with WAAS in the same location. The CO picked up on 51 and after a few minutes locked on -- lots of little "D"s.

 

The OR showed 51 on the satellite screen, gray satellite in the sky view and a number at the bottom with no bar, not even a clear white bar. After about 2-3 minutes it jumped to 33, 34 and kept going -- these are both worse for me, but it still never locked on to any WAAS satellite.

 

GO$Rs

 

Thats unreal that waas isn't working. Didn't they test these out? I mean that is one of the most basic operations of the gps is to lock sats and lock on to the waas sats. I am guessing garmins beta testers must really suck if they cannot test the basics and leave it up to the consumer to figure things out for them. I want a salary from Garmin for testing their colorado this long. I think I will send them a bill. hahaha

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Thats unreal that waas isn't working. Didn't they test these out? I mean that is one of the most basic operations of the gps is to lock sats and lock on to the waas sats.
I think the same and it's not the 1st time that would happen from Garmin.

 

Maybe Garmin is not so wonderfull after all. Ok they have nice looking units, they are one of the most popular brand and they include what I think is the best Geocaching tools into their units for now.

 

We need competition! It looks like Garmin and Groundspeak sleep in the same bed, no?

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Since the Oregon has a patch antenna, like the Nuvis, and my nuvi 260W, I believe that WAAS is best with a stick antenna(quadrifiler), and not a patch. I have had maybe 15 GPS units since 1998, both with Patch and Stick Antennas, and I always had an easier time with the Stick Antennas, than the Patch antennas. I have not seen any nuvis with patch antennas, work with WAAS, and my 260W never had WAAS.

 

Technical paper on the Patch Antenna > http://waas.stanford.edu/~wwu/papers/gps/P...ggerIONAM02.pdf

 

These patch antennas are usually best for overhead, and tend to not receive well near the horizon. The Stick Antennas, when held vertical at about head height, usually pick up the sats near the horizon well, including those WAAS sats that are quite low.

 

I had an eTrex Vista, and I have an eXplorist XL, both with Patch antennas, and from what I can remember, is that they had trouble with sats low in the sky, and had some trouble with WAAS.

 

I think it is probably better to just turn off WAAS, on the GPS units with patch antennas, like the Oregon, that is built like a nuvi, and also the eTrexes that are acting up. Would be interesting if turning off WAAS on the eTrex HC units, solves some of the problems, and also the Oregon. Any takers on this idea?

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I've had a Colorado for about 5 weeks now and have had problems with accuracy and the unit acting lethargic since I took it out of the box. I have updated the software every time I saw an update available. This remains the biggest problem with the Colorado to me. (I have had a 60CS and a 60CSx and REALLY miss my 60CSx... I GAVE it away thinking the Colorado was the latest and greatest and a natural progression to the 60CSx. NOT HARDLY!)

 

I just purchased the Oregon and have noticed similar issues that the Colorado has, however, I think the Oregon's issues are less "pronounced". More testing needed to really formulate a true opinion. The WAAS satelite issue is not as big an issue for those of us living on either the East coast or the West coast, since the WAAS satelites fly over these two coasts, which make them "higher" in the sky for us. It's mainly a problem for people further in the middle of the US that will experience WAAS issues with a patch antenna.

 

Living close to the coast, I've seen WAAS correction on my Oregon several times. (I haven't actually looked for it each time I've had it on, but have noticed it).

 

I'm SURE Garmin will correct the issues with it since it is an "expected" feature with all new GPSr's.

Edited by BetaMan
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Regarding the Oregon's display brightness/readability, if you go to the Oregon mini-site at:

 

Garmin Oregon Mini-Site

 

And then go to the Image Gallery, there is a shot of them using the Oregon out in the bright, direct sunlight (reminds me of the Sedona, AZ area). Anyway, the screen looks very readable in the picture. Is this what it really looks like in reality? I've seen the photos on g-o-cashers wiki site (and thanks for all the great work), but sometimes pictures dont do reality justice. I wonder if Garmin doctored the pictures on their min-site or what, because their photo and what I read here just doesn't jive......

 

Heh and do you like that....my first post in 6 years since joining :o

 

Edit: Here is a picture I can link to of the same shot, only a cropped version, from Garmin's blog:

 

oregon_touch.jpg

 

.

Edited by Decidion
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Regarding the Oregon's display brightness/readability, if you go to the Oregon mini-site at:

 

Garmin Oregon Mini-Site

 

And then go to the Image Gallery, there is a shot of them using the Oregon out in the bright, direct sunlight (reminds me of the Sedona, AZ area). Anyway, the screen looks very readable in the picture. Is this what it really looks like in reality? I've seen the photos on g-o-cashers wiki site (and thanks for all the great work), but sometimes pictures dont do reality justice. I wonder if Garmin doctored the pictures on their min-site or what, because their photo and what I read here just doesn't jive......

 

Heh and do you like that....my first post in 6 years since joining :o

.

 

Can you say photoshop. :lol: Mine looks nothing like that out during the day :lol:

 

They must has taken a pic of the screen at night and then photoshop it in.

Edited by teamdw
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I wonder if Garmin doctored the pictures on their min-site or what, because their photo and what I read here just doesn't jive......

Maybe they had shades strategically placed to get that shot, but I think it's more likely manipulated with software. In direct sun, on the Oregon you see the cloudy gray film of the touch screen layer over the LCD screen. Now that I think of it, maybe they removed the touch-screen layer to take that photo. (Not user removable!!!)

 

In any case, that "photo" is not an accurate representation of the Oregon's screen in bright sunlight. It's plenty usable if you shade it with your cupped hand, but there's definitely a tradeoff in visibility for both the high-resolution (less reflective pixels) screen and the touch-screen overlay (less light reaches the screen, and reflected light gets "trapped" between the layers).

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It's plenty usable if you shade it with your cupped hand,
I assume this is only true if the BL is at 100%?

 

On a recent outing with a Nuvi 205W, I found the screen to be sunlight readable in the shade from my head and hat with the BL at 60%. Whereas, my color eTrex is very readable in shade or sun with no backlight.

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I personally would prefer a capacitive type touchscreen.

 

I was really hoping for Acoustical Pulse Recognition (APR).

In my opinion, its the best of all worlds.

http://www.elotouch.com/Technologies/Acous...ion/default.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#A...lse_recognition

It does not work well with very soft materials (Heavy gloves), but if you put something solid (pin, drop of glue) on the tip, it works again.

 

While resistive has its benefits, there is one for the manufacturer.

Resistive is the cheapest way to implement a touchscreen.

However, the reliability of resistive touchscreens is also the lowest.

 

For those interested, there is a great table comparing solutions on Elo's Website:

http://www.elotouch.com/Technologies/compare_all.asp

 

There is also some info on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#Resistive

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Regarding the Screenshot in post #310, It's definitely photoshopped. Follow the edge of the screen down to the bottom, and you will notice a nice couple of lines on the guy's finger where it's been modified. If traced out, it would complete the side and bottom of the screen of the Oregon.

 

Probably a screensave from an Oregon added to an actual photo. Wouldn't be too hard to do really.

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Regarding the Screenshot in post #310, It's definitely photoshopped. Follow the edge of the screen down to the bottom, and you will notice a nice couple of lines on the guy's finger where it's been modified. If traced out, it would complete the side and bottom of the screen of the Oregon.

 

Probably a screensave from an Oregon added to an actual photo. Wouldn't be too hard to do really.

 

Yes I agree.

 

What really gets me is that they are trying to advertise that this is what you will experience out in the field.

 

When in all actuality it looks nothing like that out in the field.

Edited by teamdw
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Regarding the Screenshot in post #310, It's definitely photoshopped. Follow the edge of the screen down to the bottom, and you will notice a nice couple of lines on the guy's finger where it's been modified. If traced out, it would complete the side and bottom of the screen of the Oregon.

 

Probably a screensave from an Oregon added to an actual photo. Wouldn't be too hard to do really.

 

Yes I agree.

 

What really gets me is that they are trying to advertise that this is what you will experience out in the field.

 

... <never mind>

Edited by nicolo
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Yes I agree.

 

What really gets me is that they are trying to advertise that this is what you will experience out in the field.

 

When in all actuality it looks nothing like that out in the field.

Is is allowed to make such an advertisement - or is it not correct :D

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Yes I agree.

 

What really gets me is that they are trying to advertise that this is what you will experience out in the field.

 

When in all actuality it looks nothing like that out in the field.

Is is allowed to make such an advertisement - or is it not correct :D

 

I think it is a bunch of BS.

 

Garmin should NOT be be making it out like the Oregon looks like that out in the day light.

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Yes I agree.

 

What really gets me is that they are trying to advertise that this is what you will experience out in the field.

 

When in all actuality it looks nothing like that out in the field.

Is is allowed to make such an advertisement - or is it not correct :D

 

I think it is a bunch of BS.

 

Garmin should NOT be be making it out like the Oregon looks like that out in the day light.

I think it is a bunch of BS.

 

Wendy's should NOT be be making it out like the Big Bacon Classic looks like their pictures when it comes out in the tin foil wrapping.

 

And don't even get me STARTED on those Cialis commercials.

Edited by nicolo
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How does everyone's unit perform in heavy tree cover?

 

My Oregon did well under heavy cover this weekend. I was following a stream bed under heavy canopy and there were no gaps in the track or significant detours from the expected track. I did not have another unit with me to compare, but I was very satisfied with the performance of the Oregon. I was in an area where my old Vista Cx would sometimes lose the signal. When I upgraded to a HCx the performance was dramatically better. All the units I've had with high-sensitivity receivers have performed consistantly well under heavy tree cover, whether they had a patch or quad helix antenna.

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I called Garmin today about the WAAS issue and the guy I talked to was able to reproduce the problem on his Oregon. He did say that they were not aware of the issue (he did go on hold for a few minutes to talk to a supervisor to see if there had been any issues reported, but none have). He claimed that they would submit this issue to engineering but that's what they always seem to say.

 

I also ask him about the antenna in the unit. He claims it isn't a patch or a quad-helix and the performance is some where in between. He described it as an antenna that starts up near the top front of the unit over the screen, wraps over the top (under the Garmin logo) and down the back. I asked him how I should hold it and he claimed it works equally well vertically or horizontally, it just should not be flipped onto its side. He said it should be better than a patch but probably not as good as a quad-helix. No idea how accurate this information is but, thought I would pass it along.

 

I asked about the chipset OR and he wouldn't pass anything on about what he know (if anything).

 

He did indicate that he had seen the Colorado drift problem on his Colorado.

 

GO$Rs

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How does everyone's unit perform in heavy tree cover?

 

How about accuracy when finding a cache?

 

I hiked about 15 miles this weekend mostly under heavy tree cover and did 4-5 caches with my OR. For the most part it was pretty good. I find under heavy cover that that the map is slow to reorient if I'm moving slowly and changing directions (something I do a lot searching for caches). I do feel like the OR has more error than the 60csx and CO, although I still haven't seen big errors like the CO can have.

 

I guess if I were going hunting for micros in the dense woods I probably would pick the 60csx right now, but for 90% of what you'll be searching the OR is going to work fine.

 

GO$Rs

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I called Garmin today about the WAAS issue and the guy I talked to was able to reproduce the problem on his Oregon. He did say that they were not aware of the issue (he did go on hold for a few minutes to talk to a supervisor to see if there had been any issues reported, but none have). He claimed that they would submit this issue to engineering but that's what they always seem to say.

 

A few days ago, I sent Garmin an email with the starting message in this thread regarding WAAS (so the tech should have seen quite a number of replies). I heard back from them this morning asking about the highest satellite # I usually see (since #48 & #51 are the WAAS satellites).

 

I went outside in an open area and turned the unit on, and kept it on for about 40 minutes. I had it horizontal on a chair, so the screen was facing up towards the sky.

 

For about 30 minutes, it had an unusually awful EPE (200+ feet) and had me at 9500 feet (I was actually around 7500). The strongest satellites were grouped together, so that is probably why. After a while, it settled down to a 122 feet EPE and started to see satellite 48:

 

812.jpg

 

About 10 minutes later (a total of 40 minutes now), I saw the WAAS "D" show up to my amazement!

 

2090.jpg

 

"Wow, Garmin must have pushed the easy button....", I thought.

 

I usually hike in dense forest / mountains, and I've never seen the unit show the WAAS "D" until this morning when I intentionally left it out in the wide open for a very long time. Granted, the satellite constellation probably had a lot to do with the amount of time it took to acquire WAAS -- I had to get to work, so I'll try again this week.

 

I'm going to respond to the Garmin tech that emailed me, and send him the pictures with an explanation. At least now I know the unit will display "D", but it doesn't seem to be processing WAAS correctional data in forested terrain. I dunno.

 

So far I've only seen one significant location error on the Oregon -- that is much better than the Colorado -- but I'm still trying...

 

BTW,that was interesting info you go about the patch-quad-helix-combo antenna in the Oregon.

 

I'm already ready for a software update for the Oregon 400t.

 

Regards

Edited by jmedlock
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Hmmmm.

 

Tonight I also noticed mine behaved a little differently or I noticed something I had missed before. Similar to your screen shot above my OR found satellite 51 (the correct WAAS bird for my area) and displayed the white bar. However after a minute or two it dropped 51 and started cycling through other satellite numbers. I wonder if I left it outside if it would finally lock on -- I'll try before I got to bed!

 

BTW, if you power cycle now that you've had one successful lock does it come up quickly? I'm wondering if this is some sort of almanac building thing that takes a long time the first time and then works quickly thereafter.

 

GO$Rs

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Ya, I just went outside and powered it up, and it locked on to satellites extremely fast. I saw it try to lock onto #51, then it dropped it for a while, and then it picked it back up again and kept it locked. And, sure enough, the WAAS "D" appeared within 4 minutes of powering it up:

 

245.jpg

 

Note that this is in the same open area I used this morning.

 

I am confused about one thing: tonight my unit showed a lock on #51 (and #51 was in the screen shot behind #4). But my screen shot from this morning does not show #48 or #51, but it does show the WAAS "D" (I think it was picking up #48). Maybe this is a display bug; from this morning:

 

2090.jpg

 

So far I haven't seen WAAS while in the forest. So maybe it is user error, and I haven't left the unit on long enough in good conditions to build an almanac? I dunno...

 

Finally, what is with the crazy file naming for the SCRN shots?! I've had 812, 245, 2090, blah blah blah.... Maybe this is in a Wiki.

 

Regards

Edited by jmedlock
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So after letting mine sit outside for an hour it finally picked up "D"'s too, and similar to you I didn't see any WAAS satellite locked either. I power cycled and saw 51 go white bar, then after about 2 minutes it dropped all together, came back a few seconds later (still white bar), and then D's started showing up on a few of the satellites. Finally about 4-5 minutes after I turned on the unit 51 locked (solid green) but still only some of the other satellites had D's, not all. I didn't notice any change in EPE when it seemed to be working.

 

GO$Rs

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I'm going to buy an Oregon 200 which doesn't have a barometric altimeter.

 

Do you know if this model displays elevation plot like the Oregon 300 or 400t?..or is it any chance to view the track profile like Etrex Legend CX or similar models without barometric altimeter.

 

Thanks in advance

Edited by xcyrus
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Do you know if this model displays elevation plot like the Oregon 300 or 400t?..or is it any chance to view the track profile like Etrex Legend CX or similar models without barometric altimeter.
I think you're mistaken, the eTrex w/o an altimeter will NOT display an altitude log profile.

 

It's inherent for non-altimeter GPS units to be unable produce a log because the instantaneous satellite geometry is too variable. Simply take your Legend and watch the altitude, it will vary +/- 30' sitting on a solid surface.

 

Given the modest price difference, 200/300, seems a waste to buy a Oregon 200.

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You should see a GPS based elevation on the satellite screen of the 200. I haven't confirmed this myself but I can't see why they would remove it.

 

As far as getting GPS elevation in tracklogs, it is hard to say. The CO, 60csx and probably the OR (I haven't tested it yet) use the Barometer mode to determine where the elevation comes from that gets put in the tracklog. You might be able to set the barometer mode to Fixed Elevation and get the GPS elevation to show up in the tracklog. See this FAQ in the CO wiki. I'm not sure if the eTrex works the same way or not.

 

As MtnHermit said this isn't a very accurate altitude reading depending on satellite conditions. My sense is that the OR's GPS elevation isn't as accurate as the CO and 60csx, probably goes along with the antenna and possible chipset differences.

 

GO$Rs

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Thanks for replies.

 

In my country ( Romania ) local map is a topographic map that include roads,urban area etc..... and I can see a route or a saved track with profile in my Legend HCX ( like elevation plot in GPSr with altimeter ) . This profile is based on a topographic data on map...not on GPS reading.

 

For example : on Etrex Legend HCX go to saved tracks - menu - profile - and will show you the track with elevation profile. ( if you have a topo map )

 

I'm wondering if the Oregon 200 have this feature.

Edited by xcyrus
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So after letting mine sit outside for an hour it finally picked up "D"'s too, and similar to you I didn't see any WAAS satellite locked either. I power cycled and saw 51 go white bar, then after about 2 minutes it dropped all together, came back a few seconds later (still white bar), and then D's started showing up on a few of the satellites. Finally about 4-5 minutes after I turned on the unit 51 locked (solid green) but still only some of the other satellites had D's, not all. I didn't notice any change in EPE when it seemed to be working.

 

GO$Rs

It is normal (although perhaps a little bit unusual) for Ds to appear on only some satellites. The D indicates that that particular satellite is being corrected. Depending on atmospheric conditions in the zone between you and any particular satellite, it may or may not need correction. This is normal for WAAS.

 

I notice that the satellite screen has room for 14 bars (and at least one screen shot in this thread shows all 14 in use). This indicates that the receiver has more than 12 channels. I wonder if they attempt to optimize the use of screen real estate by not showing locked WAAS birds? Seems kind of dumb when there is room to show it, but maybe a good idea when there is not.

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For example : on Etrex Legend HCX go to saved tracks - menu - profile - and will show you the track with elevation profile. ( if you have a topo map )

 

I'm wondering if the Oregon 200 have this feature.

 

Since the Oregon 200 does not exist yet, it would be impossible for anyone to answer your question.

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For example : on Etrex Legend HCX go to saved tracks - menu - profile - and will show you the track with elevation profile. ( if you have a topo map )

 

I'm wondering if the Oregon 200 have this feature.

 

Since the Oregon 200 does not exist yet, it would be impossible for anyone to answer your question.

 

Now is available, look here :

 

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-200-Touchscre...p/dp/B001B19XLE

 

...and many stores.

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For example : on Etrex Legend HCX go to saved tracks - menu - profile - and will show you the track with elevation profile. ( if you have a topo map )

Please review your Legend path. I tried this on my Venture Cx and from "Saved Tracks" pressing Menu said "No Options".

 

Thanks

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Is this Oregon 200 image a lie?

 

I assume this is 100% BL. Is it ever this good?

 

Inside with 100% BL it is almost this good. If it is dark it's too bright with the backlight up at 100%, I have to turn it down to about 50% driving at night. The problem is outside on a bright day either in direct or indirect sunlight.

 

GO$Rs

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Please review your Legend path. I tried this on my Venture Cx and from "Saved Tracks" pressing Menu said "No Options".

 

Thanks

 

The path is correct , it says "no option" on saved tracks or routes, because :

 

- you don't have a map with elevation data ( topo ) - it won't show you the profile if you have City Navigator

- your CX must be updated ( only units updated after July 2007 will have this feature )

 

The profile of the track/route is based on a map data, not by the GPS reading.

 

Good luck

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For example : on Etrex Legend HCX go to saved tracks - menu - profile - and will show you the track with elevation profile. ( if you have a topo map )

 

I'm wondering if the Oregon 200 have this feature.

 

Since the Oregon 200 does not exist yet, it would be impossible for anyone to answer your question.

I have one sitting right next to me........ from gpsnow.com

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- you don't have a map with elevation data ( topo ) - it won't show you the profile if you have City Navigator

- your CX must be updated ( only units updated after July 2007 will have this feature )

 

The profile of the track/route is based on a map data, not by the GPS reading.

I have v2.90 dated 2-19-08, but I suspect you mean DEM data, not contours. DEM data would require Topo 2008. I have Above the Timber's Topos. While their maps are derived from USGS elevation data, that data is not embedded in the file/maps.

 

Does that explain things? Perhaps you could post a screenshot of what you're seeing?

 

Thanks

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I am having a problem figuring out how I should proceed to get the actual geocache info into the unit. GSAK doesn't seem to work (even with the Colorado macro) and it does not pick up through MapSource. I guess I have to go cache by cache to use the web tool to get the info in. YUCK. I spoke to Garmin today and it is likely that the next update will include a fix to allow you to chose mode when connected to the PC so its not automatically in data storage mode. He did say that there is nothing showing for a new update any time in the very near future.

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I am having a problem figuring out how I should proceed to get the actual geocache info into the unit. GSAK doesn't seem to work (even with the Colorado macro) and it does not pick up through MapSource. I guess I have to go cache by cache to use the web tool to get the info in. YUCK. I spoke to Garmin today and it is likely that the next update will include a fix to allow you to chose mode when connected to the PC so its not automatically in data storage mode. He did say that there is nothing showing for a new update any time in the very near future.

 

If you are taking it OUT of data storage mode, then that's why it isn't working for you. You WANT mass storage mode. Spanner mode isn't for transferring caches.

 

GSAK works fine with the Oregon & Colorado. You don't even need to use the macro. Just export as GPX and drag your GPX file into the GPX folder on the drive. (which you will see in windows explorer/ My Computer, or the finder)

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