PN-20/40 vs touch screen interface

[+peto_geo]

I was thinking while mountain biking the other day how one would scroll through the screens on an Oregon while moving. I was on my bike and going through a rather smooth section of trail and had no problem operating my PN-20 pages (while in my RAM mount) with the large buttons facing up. No need to stop or slow down to quickly change from map screen to trip screen to compass screen. Sure, it could be dangerous taking your eyes off the trail but every trail has some easy/smooth spots I've been on. I'm sure you can have some of this information on one screen (map/speed/bearing) but you are only limited to a certain number of information boxes. Just a passing thought!

 

I also could easily hit the find button and the nearest caches would pop up (heavily cache populated park we were in) and easily routed to. All while on the move. I always ride with a group and I would hate to have them stop everytime I wanted to see how far/how high/how long/speed/ etc. we went. Also, when exploring new trails I seem to get most the questions on the terrain (USGS quads in the 20). Again, probably no big deal to most but it just came to my attention while out riding. Sure, you can always stop!

[+embra]

Those are good observations. I think where a touchscreen shines is for text entry. And the Oregon looks to take advantage of real estate for display purposes, rather than buttons that would otherwise diminish screen size. Otherwise, buttons do have their advantages.