How good are the Oregon 400t maps?

[+MisterBen]

I'm looking to upgrade from an older eTrex to an Orgeon, largely for paperless geocaching and to have a better map screen. In the UK the Oregon 300 is out now, and the 400t is not yet. The only difference is that the 400t has a European topographic basemap.

 

Do you think it would be worth paying the extra for, and waiting longer for the 400t? Are the maps likely to be useful enough for navigation based on equivalent maps on other models, or would I still want to buy better maps for the areas I'm caching and cycling in? How does the detail of the preloaded maps compare to the Topo maps you buy separately?

[+g-o-cashers]

Not sure if you have seen this but it gives some details on the European map coverage for the 400t: http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/topo/or..._map_popup.html .

 

GO$Rs

[+MisterBen]

Thanks, but I'm looking dfor some more detail about the level of detail.

 

I guess what I'm asking is how would Oregon 400t + preloaded map compare with Oregon 300 + topo map.

Edited September 2, 2008 by MisterBen

[+g-o-cashers]

With the European 400t I'm not sure because I'm not sure what the equivalent set of non-preloaded Topo maps would be. In the US Garmin sells Topo 2008 DVD which is almost exactly the same set of maps as what comes preloaded on the US Oregon 400t. I guess in your case you would like to know if the Topo that comes preloaded on the Oregon 400t Europe includes Garmin's Topo Great Britain V2?

 

I'd be interested in that answer too!

 

GO$Rs

[+MisterBen]

I guess in your case you would like to know if the Topo that comes preloaded on the Oregon 400t Europe includes Garmin's Topo Great Britain V2?

 

Yes, that's about what it comes down to!

[+flarbear]

Also the built-in memory amounts are different. In the US the 400t has all of the Topo preloaded and still has over 1GB free. The 300 only comes with a total of 850MB which means you can't load all of Topo on it. Plus, the 1GB free on the 400t is enough (was enough on my CO 400t and should also be on my new OR 400t) to load the whole NA City Navigator maps onto it with room to spare. I'm not sure the 300's 850MB would be enough for the City maps, much less on top of the Topo and with room to spare.

 

Of course, if you get a cheap microSD card then this is mostly moot, but I have both Topo and City in their entirety loaded and I haven't even started using any space on a removable...

[+MisterBen]

I spoke to someone at Garmin about this. The preloaded maps are not as detailed as e.g. Topo Great Britain; there is less contour information and not as many tracks and footpaths included. I think for me there is no point in getting the 400t, as if I want maps I would want better maps so also need to buy the Topo Great Britain (although I may hold off on buying that and give the OSM maps a try but that's another story). I personally think it would only be worth buying the 400t over the 300 if using it in other countries quite frequently. The memory difference doesn't matter much given the cost of flash memory at the moment.