60csx vs Colorado 300 vs Oregon 300

[+McShug]

Hi there one and all. First of all sorry if this has been covered before, I have done a quick search but not come up with a good answer.

 

I currently have a Venture and am looking to upgrade. There are a few things that the new unit MUST have:

 

a) Background maps down to footpath level

b ) Floating compass

c) Quick lock on to satelites

d) usb as Laptop does not have a serial port

e) It does not need to have turn by turn as I have tomtom

f) must be able to take .loc and .gpx files

 

budget is about £250 give or take a bit, but not to big a bit

 

I know that I have shortlisted just the Garmin units however, is there anything out there that I may have missed and should be considering.

 

I am also looking for a retailer in the south east that may have them on display to play with, as I would hate to get the wrong one.

Edited December 14, 2008 by McShug

[+sTeamTraen]

If it has to accept GPX files directly then you can scratch the 60csx from the list.

[+The Wombles]

Garmin mapping products don't have all footpaths and aren't as good as OS. The best is GB Topo Version 2 which shows some footpaths, but it's very hit and miss. I'm running this on an Oregon which I love in every other respect. I upgraded from a 60CSx and prefer the Oregon. I don't have experience of the Colorado.

[+iamasmith]

Hi there one and all. First of all sorry if this has been covered before, I have done a quick search but not come up with a good answer.

 

I currently have a Venture and am looking to upgrade. There are a few things that the new unit MUST have:

 

a) Background maps down to footpath level

b ) Floating compass

c) Quick lock on to satelites

d) usb as Laptop does not have a serial port

e) It does not need to have turn by turn as I have tomtom

f) must be able to take .loc and .gpx files

 

budget is about £250 give or take a bit, but not to big a bit

 

I know that I have shortlisted just the Garmin units however, is there anything out there that I may have missed and should be considering.

 

I am also looking for a retailer in the south east that may have them on display to play with, as I would hate to get the wrong one.

 

Well the comment about GPX files is subject to if you consider that it must take GPX files directly whilst in Storage Mode. That's the way the Oregan and Colorado work (if I have heard correctly).

 

I chose a 60CSx over the other units because of its ruggedness and the SIRF III chipset. I'm not sorry that I did. Visibility in all light conditions for the display is great which I have heard can be a problem for the others.

 

I use GPX files which you can readily import to Mapsource or in my case Roadtrip because I'm using a Mac and just recently MacCaching because its much more convenient to maintain cache waypoints that way.

 

The only downside is the uncertainty over future map upgrades. Garmin seem to be focussing on G2 versions of TOPO and Bluechart which are targetted at the Oregon, Colorado and the professional Marine products.

 

That said, TOPO isn't perfect but unless half of the UK falls away its still going to be accurate enough for Geocaching... just remember to research the footpaths first.

 

Another thing to consider, if you get into the teccie side of things is that www.openstreetmaps.org data can be transferred to units and this has far better footpaths than the Garmin TOPO products.. the trouble is that it is much too detailed to hold large areas.

 

Hope you are happy with your final choice,

 

-Andy

Edited December 14, 2008 by iamasmith

[+HazelS]

Hi Hugh...

 

I have been pondering a new GPS for a while, and have some money put aside, but I can't seem to make my mind up.

 

Firstly I thought I'd go for the Colorado, I liked the fact that it was quite rugged - I am clumsy - I fall over, I drop the GPS and I'm just not good at taking care of something that I use outdoors!

 

BUT I didn't like the Colorado wheel - it seemed to turn the "wrong" way for me, and I think it'd make sense to you if you're left handed, but I didn't get it!

 

So, then I started to think about the Oregon, and talkng to those that have them, they're dead happy with them, but one person DID say that they're always concious that they're "less rugged" than the Colorado, and that they felt a bit "fragile."

 

I thought long and hard about it - I like the fact that the Oregon is touch screen, but then I just thought - heck - that's just something else that can go wrong!!

 

So - I think I've decided upon the Colorado. I'm off to Washington DC in a couple of weeks and was consideing getting it over there, but the way the exchange rate is at the moment, there's little point, I think it works out a tenner or 20 quid cheaper than getting one here.

 

I bet I don't make a complete decision until the minute I buy one, but after talking to LOADS of people, I think it'll be the Colorado.

 

Then again, another reason not to go for the Oregon, in Mongoose's words:

"The Oregon just looked a bit girly!!"

 

Good luck, let us know what you decide on!!

[+sTeamTraen]

You'll get used to the way the Colorado's wheel works after a day or two.

[+M0zez]

Hi McShug

 

My experience is limited to the 60CSx and Colorado. This is what I like about them. I have been using the 60Csx for 18 months and the Colorado for six months. The 60Csx is excellent for wear and tear, mine has come out of my hand on more occasions than I can recall, sometimes pretty scary falls. The ruggedness of the camshell can take quite a beating, mine is worn in a number of places but still it feels like the unit can survive a good few more incidents.

 

I have GB topo V2 and EU Navigator, the topo maps are 1:50,000 in detail and do not have every path (Ordnance Survey have maps at 1:25,000), 1:50,000 maps have in our experience worked for the better, in cases where the map did not have the detail for the area we were in, sometimes our wrong decisions on which route to take has made for some good fun.

 

For the Colorado I can only manage a couple of good points, Integrated Groundspeak functions and Shaded relief maps. on the negative bulky, non rugged, BATTERY LIFE, very slow operating i.e. maps took ages to change when zooming or refreshing. I stopped using the Colorado after a couple of months occasionally taking it out in the hope it will just click with me, it doesn't so I have switched back to the 60CSx which still works as good as the day I got it. Anyone interested in the Colorado going cheap PM me [].

 

Good luck choosing your next model, it can be a difficult decision giving the amount of time you will be spending with it.

 

Anyone interested in the Colorado going cheap PM me [].

[+Pharisee]

I use a 60CSx with Topo V2. I was out caching on Saturday, up to my *rse in mud and it rained continuously. The 60Csx was clipped to my rucksack shoulder strap and was very wet indeed. It was dropped in the mud on at least two occasions and said mud then washed off in a puddle with absolutely no ill affect. Try doing THAT with your 'all singing, all dancing' fancy mobile 'phones

 

I've never used a Colorado or Oregon so I'm not about to knock them but they'd have to be pretty d.amn good to make me think of retiring the 60.

[+mongoose39uk]

Looked at both the Oregon and the Colorado. I wen't for the Colorado not just because the Oregon looked more girly. It was the touch screen on the Oregon that put me off.

 

You relly need to update the firmware on the Colorado as soon as you get it, otherwise it would be pretty naff.

 

Battery life: you need to make sure it is set up for the batteries you have in it. Then its pretty good.

 

Upside, being able to load a GPX file and just go is ace, all the cache details are straight there. Road navigation is ok, though you only get bleeps instead of Jane talking to you . Topo2 may be missing a few paths but it has not been a problem so far. Loaded 54 caches in a few seconds yesterday and went for and found 33 just the gps with me no printouts, no pda etc. Logging is made easy you just connect the Colorado to the puter and upload a file to here. That gives you the caches of you have done in the order you did them, just click a link and it takes you to the logging page for each cache. You can put field notes in as you find the cache so you can make a note of any TB drops etc.

 

Downside, brightness on the screen is not great and the dial does seem to go the wrong way. You need to learn a whole different way of navigating around the GPS and some of the features are from updates to the firmware so not well documented.

 

Overall though I am very happy with it. I am quite clumsy and have dropped it a few times with no damage.

 

Some excellent resources here

[+Madyokel]

Well folks I'll add my 2p.

I think the "Girly" thought is that the Oregon has no Buttons, wheels or a big pointy out ariel thingy..

maybe the orange ad literature adds to this.. Anyway after consideration (And having run PDA with full MMap for the last year after smashing Legend) I'm now running a Oregon 400.. After initially having to callibrate the screen and get used to the device I can say I am more than happy with the GPS.. The touch screen seems robust and the device in general seems well made. The Oregon has a different receiver to the Collorado so I cannot compare the units untill Robin (HarrogateHunters) and I give them a trip to compare them.. But my 400 is showing full coverage indoors!

Mapping is fast and the screen responsive and very intuitive from a cachers point of view.

 

The downsides for me would be the same for all of the units mentioned.

I run Memmory Map on my PDA with Lordelphs Icons all 10,000 unfound caches in my PQ list.

I can do without MM and the Icons but the 1000 limit on stored caches is a real pain and would be the same with a Collorado or a CS.. The units can accept GPX files which is great so if you had the option to choose which file you loaded (As I do with Sonar on the PDA).. This is my only real problem with it..

I'm Happy anyway as I can cache again in the rain..

[+Happy Humphrey]

The 60csx can easily store summary details of 10,000 geocaches (including hints etc) and display them on a detailed map with contours. I've just loaded a Legend HCx with cache details for 1900 caches in a few seconds. It might not show them in the best format, but it's quite adequate.

[+Madyokel]

I have not really pushed the Oregon to see how many it can take.. It seems to baulk some way between 1000-1500 which will be the same for the Collorado I guess.. If it had the ability to choose which file you wanted to load there whould be no problem.. Today I did one cache nearly 100 miles from home.. As I knew where I was going I loaded the file.. .. I always have the Mio as backup I suppose.

[+Pharisee]

I've never felt the need to load more than a days caching's worth of caches on my 60CSx so it rarely has more than a few dozen waypoints loaded. My Palm PDA (a Garmin iQue 3600) with CacheMate has the full UK database of 35000(ish) caches and I always carry a short lead that connects the two together. Wherever I am, I can sort out the local caches on the PDA and download them to the 60CSx in a few minutes. I have a separate phone, too . You just can't beat 'horses for courses'. A PDA to hold the data, a GPSr to find the caches and a phone to talk to yer mates. Each one does it's job superbly.

[+Madyokel]

Mmm I tried Cachemate (which I bought) with a 20K+ file and it took forever to load..

Was I doing something wrong?

[+Pharisee]

Mmm I tried Cachemate (which I bought) with a 20K+ file and it took forever to load..

Was I doing something wrong?

 

I update mine from GSAK. The .PDB file is over 170Mb. It takes a few minutes to 'HotSync' it to the SD card but certainly not 'forever'. As I said earlier, it's a Palm operating system, not Windows, which I've been told is nowhere near as good but as I've never used it, I can't comment

[+Stuey]

Mmm I tried Cachemate (which I bought) with a 20K+ file and it took forever to load..

Was I doing something wrong?

 

I update mine from GSAK. The .PDB file is over 170Mb. It takes a few minutes to 'HotSync' it to the SD card but certainly not 'forever'. As I said earlier, it's a Palm operating system, not Windows, which I've been told is nowhere near as good but as I've never used it, I can't comment

 

There's a GSAK macro called cachemateppc.gsk which creates the DB file for the Pocket PC version of cachemate very quickly. All you then do is copy that one single file to the cachemate databases folder on the PDA using ActiveSync.

[+Madyokel]

Cheers for that Stuey.. I gave up on mine trying to load all the GPX files up (I have about 30 of them) something that condenses it for ppc will be great

Cheers

[+iamasmith]

...

a) Background maps down to footpath level

...

 

Footpaths, I was woefully disappointed with Garmins coverage and all they could say was 'That was how the O/S data looked when we made the product :S'

 

Check this out.

 

http://www.ukgeocachers.co.uk/garminoverlays/index.php

 

I now use the FREE contour version on seperate MicroSD card and have all the footpaths in the Surrey and London areas that I'm mostly caching.

 

I now only swap to the TOPO GB card if I'm really showing no detail... there are still a few holes in some parts of the country but Garmin are really going to have to step up their game with TOPO GB when this thing fills in those holes (like adding the Tide stations would be nice).

 

-Andy

[+AuntieWeasel]

Ugh. Well, that answers my question. Sandy Claws brought me the topo card for Christmas, and I was severely bummed that it didn't include much in the way of footpaths. (I was astonished, however, that it DID include turn-by-turn driving directions to POI's! Topo products usually don't do that).

 

My caching buddy in the States used a 60CSx and I use a Colorado. Both are excellent units. I love my Colorado, but it has a couple of distinct disadvantages. The main one is that the compass is "hoppy" in close to the goal. Get within 60' and you might as well put it away. I've heard similar complaints from other Colorado owners, one of whom sent her unit back.

 

The 60CS is a steadier unit -- although I gather it was hoppy when the first in that line was released. It took time to work the kinks out with firmware revisions, and I suspect the same will be true of the Colorado.

[+iamasmith]

Ugh. Well, that answers my question. Sandy Claws brought me the topo card for Christmas, and I was severely bummed that it didn't include much in the way of footpaths. (I was astonished, however, that it DID include turn-by-turn driving directions to POI's! Topo products usually don't do that).

 

My caching buddy in the States used a 60CSx and I use a Colorado. Both are excellent units. I love my Colorado, but it has a couple of distinct disadvantages. The main one is that the compass is "hoppy" in close to the goal. Get within 60' and you might as well put it away. I've heard similar complaints from other Colorado owners, one of whom sent her unit back.

 

The 60CS is a steadier unit -- although I gather it was hoppy when the first in that line was released. It took time to work the kinks out with firmware revisions, and I suspect the same will be true of the Colorado.

 

Yeah, the TOPO GB has 2005 NavTec roads on it... a little out of date but useable in most cases.

 

heh, btw: I have sprung for an Oregon 300 as well, couldn't resist the lure of the 3D maps and paperless caching but I WILL be keeping my 60CSx.

 

-Andy

[+macroderma]

Hi there one and all. First of all sorry if this has been covered before, I have done a quick search but not come up with a good answer.

 

I currently have a Venture and am looking to upgrade. There are a few things that the new unit MUST have:

 

a) Background maps down to footpath level

b ) Floating compass

c) Quick lock on to satelites

d) usb as Laptop does not have a serial port

e) It does not need to have turn by turn as I have tomtom

f) must be able to take .loc and .gpx files

 

budget is about £250 give or take a bit, but not to big a bit

 

I know that I have shortlisted just the Garmin units however, is there anything out there that I may have missed and should be considering.

 

I am also looking for a retailer in the south east that may have them on display to play with, as I would hate to get the wrong one.

If you are considering a 60CSx you may wish to consider a 76Csx, recently they were selling cheaper. The innards are identical, form factor is different (more like a TV remote control) but it is designed to float (I think it is aimed more at the marine market) rather than just be waterproof

 

I use one and am very happy with it

[+The MucKees]

Hi,

I'm in the market for an upgrade to and I've been looking at the USA forums to get their slant.

It seem the 60CSx is most popular but many users are going over to the Oregon 300.

Those lucky enough to have both (I think Wallmart let you take it home, use it and return it within 30 days, no questions asked, lucky gits) seem to prefer the Oregon and word is that's the way Garmin are going with with their future GPS units.

There's a pic on this web link of the Oregon with the new OS maps on screen.

 

http://www.gpstraining.co.uk/GPSSpecialOffers.html

 

This pic and having read lots, and I mean lots, of forum posts means I'll be buying the Oregon 300 with the OS map of my local area (when all the maps become available)

[+Gushoneybun]

Hi,

I'm in the market for an upgrade to and I've been looking at the USA forums to get their slant.

It seem the 60CSx is most popular but many users are going over to the Oregon 300.

Those lucky enough to have both (I think Wallmart let you take it home, use it and return it within 30 days, no questions asked, lucky gits) seem to prefer the Oregon and word is that's the way Garmin are going with with their future GPS units.

There's a pic on this web link of the Oregon with the new OS maps on screen.

 

http://www.gpstraining.co.uk/GPSSpecialOffers.html

 

This pic and having read lots, and I mean lots, of forum posts means I'll be buying the Oregon 300 with the OS map of my local area (when all the maps become available)

 

 

There are these images on the GPS Forum, they look blurry to me and the poster is not impressed. I think I will stick with the free maps posted by Talkytoaster.

[+Von-Horst]

 

There are these images on the GPS Forum, they look blurry to me and the poster is not impressed. I think I will stick with the free maps posted by Talkytoaster.

 

To be fair, the picture are blown up to at least twice actual their size on the screen of the unit, so I'm not sure how much weight to give them - Is there anyone who has actually got the OS maps installed on an Oregon/Colorado who can comment?

 

Mike

[+Ecky]

Reading all your helpful comments and experiences, I am actually thinking that the Oregon 300 is the right one for me.

I used the etrex for years, but the enter button is now broken. I had ordered a 60SCx, but after reading the manual, it will go back.

I just have one question, how do you folks protect your Oregon 300? The carrier case I can find is a hard one and doesn't have a view window. Just adding the screen shield doesn't seem to be too adequate.

Thanks for any help.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Whoa! OS maps for Colorado?! That's exactly what I wanted when I got Garmin's topo card. Foo.

 

From the link, it looks like they're using a program called Quo for the downloadable maps. Anyone have experience with this program/service?

[+Pharisee]

I had ordered a 60SCx, but after reading the manual, it will go back.

 

Why...? Did the manual tell you it was broken or something?

[+talkytoaster]

From the link, it looks like they're using a program called Quo for the downloadable maps. Anyone have experience with this program/service?

No, the OS maps on the Garmin are Garmin OSI maps on an SD/MicroSD card; Quo is like MemoryMap and only runs on Windows PCs and Windows Mobile PDAs/Smartphones.

 

Hope this helps?

 

Regards,

Martin

[+Ecky]

I had ordered a 60SCx, but after reading the manual, it will go back.

 

Why...? Did the manual tell you it was broken or something?

 

No, but it doesn't quite do what I expected it to do. I initially thought it would be the right one as it is rugged and further up in this threat someone said it can "summary details of geocaches (including hints)". However, that is not straight forward, it looks like they have to be POI via GSAK (which I have as premium member, paid for). I just don't have the patience to fiddle with all the option etc. I just want it straight forward.

 

Anyway, it just doesn't seem to be the right one for me.

[+Happy Humphrey]

I had ordered a 60SCx, but after reading the manual, it will go back.

 

Why...? Did the manual tell you it was broken or something?

 

No, but it doesn't quite do what I expected it to do. I initially thought it would be the right one as it is rugged and further up in this threat someone said it can "summary details of geocaches (including hints)". However, that is not straight forward, it looks like they have to be POI via GSAK (which I have as premium member, paid for). I just don't have the patience to fiddle with all the option etc. I just want it straight forward.

 

Anyway, it just doesn't seem to be the right one for me.

Yes, it is POI by GSAK as you say, but it's basically one button press once you've set up some simple options. I'm not trying to change your decision as you're obviously set against the CSx, but just to clarify that it is straightforward (in case others are put off).