Oregon 400t vs. 300 and paperless geocaching

[+SamSpade47]

Just as an example of another configuration:

 

400t

4G Internal Memory

4G uSD Card

 

Here's what's on the internal memory:

 

~2.7G gmapprom.img TopoUSA on internal Memory

As GeekBoy stated above, it's different from the TopoUSA DVD Maps.

 

~278M gmapsupp.img various maps: 24k Washington (from GPSFileDepot), NWTrails (transparent trail overlay), SnoRanger (ski resorts trail maps), some Ibycus (Topo Maps of BC Canada)

 

~800M Free

 

This is what is on the uSD

CN NT 2009

 

~1.1G gmapsupp.img CN NT 2009 Routable street maps for US and Canads

 

~2M GPX Files (insignificant really)

 

~2.9G Free space.

 

 

I've found that this setup works nicely for several reasons:

 

1. You can set and forget the Topo US and City Nav... the 100k Garmin Topo obviously aren't as good as the 24k maps, but they are there for the whole country, no matter where you land. I get to Hawaii, Alaska, Montana, and Colorado occasionally. Also, with City Nav installed on the uSD card, again it's always there no matter where you go.

 

2. If you have other maps that you change occasionally (that are realatively smaller), it's much faster to update just the small imgsupp.img file on the internal memory. Minutes vs. Hours...

 

As for the screen brightness, I can't really address that because I've not used any other units recently (as my previous GSP was a Garmin III Plus) other than I haven't had any issues seeing the screen. All you have to do is tilt in around a bit. Granted if you have it on a bicycle bar mount or something you are kind of limited.

 

Someone mentioned that there is not option for putting the 400t Topo on your computer... There is a way. It's kind of a hack, but do-able. See this discussion.

 

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/8166106

 

It's easy for me to spend another $100 of your money, but I say go with the 400t and not be limited to the 1G internal memory, nor not being able to get the whole TopoUS on your unit...

 

Just my 2cents.

 

Sam

[+Highland Hounds]

...It's easy for me to spend another $100 of your money, but I say go with the 400t and not be limited to the 1G internal memory, nor not being able to get the whole TopoUS on your unit...

 

Just my 2cents.

 

Sam

 

Understand where you are coming from there. What I am looking at is going with the 300 & 24K West DVD (WA, OR, CA, NV). I spend 99.9% of my time in OR/CA and would like higher detail maps of where I am at. I do have the old Garmin Topo of the whole US that I can upload if necessary although it is lacking the shaded relief feature. If I traveled further and more often I could see the benefit of having the whole US topo loaded with 100K maps for sure, but in my case I don't think it is applicable.

 

I really appreciate everyone going back and forth with the pros and cons of each and their own personal preferences, it has allowed me to make a fairly educated decision on what I need to do. Before I started I was unclear on quite a few issues but have them all resolved at this point. Thanks again!