+pggrand Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I want to go paperless and can get what I think is a good deal on a Garmin Colorado 400t, can anyone have one or know someone with one that can give me their opinion on this unit Quote Link to comment
+GeekBoy.from.Illinois Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I want to go paperless and can get what I think is a good deal on a Garmin Colorado 400t, can anyone have one or know someone with one that can give me their opinion on this unit On the plus side, it is a "next generation GPSr" from Garmin. It has a high resolution screen. It comes pre-loaded with the 1:100,000 Topo 2008 maps for North America with 3D data for shading. It has a little over 1GB free memory for you to load additional maps or other data onto the GPSr. It accepts standard SD cards, and can use SDHC cards (I have personally used a 16GB SDHC class 6 card in a Colorado 300). You can load geocaches and waypoints from GPX files. These files can be located in the internal memory or on the SD card. It supports the use of "Field Notes" for logging caches in the field for later upload to GC.com. It uses 2 'AA' batteries for battery power and can use Alkaline, NiMH, and I believe Lithium cells. You can play Wherigo cartridges. If you have a small hand, you may find the "Rock-n-Roller" ("R-n-R") difficult to use. Text entry using the "R-n-R" is cumbersome and very time consuming. You can't edit caches in the field, so if you are working on a multi-cache, you need to create a new waypoint and edit that for the additional stages (similar for the solutions to mystery caches solved in the field). Battery life is a bit shorter than with the 60CSx units which are often used for comparisons. Quote Link to comment
+solo63137 Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I've been using a Colorado 400t and a Garmin Nuvi... Nuvi for the Road getting to the area and the Colorado one I get outta the truck... So far I've been very happy with my Colorado... If I had to buy another I'd still go with the Colorado... Any caches I did not find were due to me not looking in the right spot not the GPSr, it led me to the right area I just did not see it... Quote Link to comment
+storm180 Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I have a colorado and I like it. It works really well for me. I fear that garmin is no longer making modifications to the firmware to make the colorado better. Seems like the oregon is getting all the attention. I'll be honest though there has been issues zeroing in on a cache and have found it frustrating and is the reason I carry my 60CSx as a backup. I am considering an upgrade to the new garmin oregon 5XX series for the 3 axis compass that I won't have to hold the gps level. Storm180 Quote Link to comment
+pggrand Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 Thank you these have all been helpful! pggrand Quote Link to comment
+Naval Research Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I've had a Colorado 400t since last November, and have been mostly happy with it. I had a few of the location error incidents early on, but I think that the software updates have dealt with the problems. One thing that's bugging me now is that the magnetic compass can get about 180 deg out of whack when I get close, but a recalibration takes care of it. This never happened when I first got the unit. The roll wheel probably seemed a good idea at the time to someone, but I never had a problem with the traditional Garmin joystick approach on my old GPS III and Rino. The process of entering more than just a few words of text can be an exercise in frustration. I too am concerned that Garmin is moving on to the Oregon as far as software updates. I think the main difference between the two is that you pay about $100 more for the touchscreen; not worth it to me. As far as your original question, though, paperless caching is da bomb... You will need to carry paper every once in a while for some of the caches with many graphical clues, but it is so nice to just take the Colo along in case you might get a chance to go hunting... Quote Link to comment
+storm180 Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 the magnetic compass can get about 180 deg out of whack when I get close, but a recalibration takes care of it. This never happened when I first got the unit. My friend just sent his colorado in for repairs because of this. They have confirmed it to be a hardware issue. I am assuming your talking about the pointer that shows where the caches is. My friends would go 180 after every cache and had to recalibrate after each one to fix it. They are replacing his unit. Quote Link to comment
+Naval Research Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 the magnetic compass can get about 180 deg out of whack when I get close, but a recalibration takes care of it. This never happened when I first got the unit. My friend just sent his colorado in for repairs because of this. They have confirmed it to be a hardware issue. I am assuming your talking about the pointer that shows where the caches is. My friends would go 180 after every cache and had to recalibrate after each one to fix it. They are replacing his unit. Storm, thanks - I think I may have seen another post by you on this subject? In any case, I had gotten a suggestion from Garmin to do a hard reset to see if that made any difference. It did not. And your post spurred me to re-engage to see if they'll replace mine. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment
+storm180 Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 yeh that was my post from last weekend. My friend was very frustrated and with his colorado. We did all the things garmin would have suggested in the field and it did not help. When I called them they asked me what I did and I explained everything and they said I did everything they would have told me to do. Then she confirmed there was issues like this on some colorados. Within like 5 minutes she had me a rma number and my replacement order ready. It was probably really helpful that I was running a colorado side by side and mine was no experiencing the issue proving that it was enviromental. Quote Link to comment
+solo63137 Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 I too am concerned that Garmin is moving on to the Oregon as far as software updates. I think the main difference between the two is that you pay about $100 more for the touchscreen; not worth it to me. Same here... I really like my Colorado... Maybe if a bunch of us start calling Garmin on this, they'll get back at it and pick it up... Quote Link to comment
+g-o-cashers Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 yeh that was my post from last weekend. My friend was very frustrated and with his colorado. We did all the things garmin would have suggested in the field and it did not help. When I called them they asked me what I did and I explained everything and they said I did everything they would have told me to do. Then she confirmed there was issues like this on some colorados. Within like 5 minutes she had me a rma number and my replacement order ready. It was probably really helpful that I was running a colorado side by side and mine was no experiencing the issue proving that it was enviromental. This is the second or third report of this that I've heard. The last was from a user in Portugal who took a CO with the same symptoms to a local Garmin office. Garmin tested his CO and did confirm that there was in fact an issue with the hardware (compass) and gave him a new unit. If you are seeing this issue I would push Garmin for a replacement. GO$Rs Quote Link to comment
+storm180 Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Garmin should really recall the colorado series and trade people up to the oregons. I mean seriously, the colorado was jus a big beta test to perfect the oregon. Quite a few colorados seems to have had issues with hardware and water seepage. I couldn't get the details on the arrow flipping 180 degrees whether it was problem in all the colorados or just certain production batch. They were more than willing to replace it though. I do give garmin customer service 2 thumbs up. Quote Link to comment
+HedgeMage Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Garmin should really recall the colorado series and trade people up to the oregons. I mean seriously, the colorado was jus a big beta test to perfect the oregon. Quite a few colorados seems to have had issues with hardware and water seepage. I couldn't get the details on the arrow flipping 180 degrees whether it was problem in all the colorados or just certain production batch. They were more than willing to replace it though. I do give garmin customer service 2 thumbs up. I wholeheartedly disagree. I bought a newer Colorado, with which I've had no issues, with waterproofing or anything else. I do NOT want a touchscreen GPS for the trail, and the Colorado's interface, especially the wheel, makes it easy enough for my 6yo to use! I hope that Garmin will continue the Colorado line. --Susan Quote Link to comment
+storm180 Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Garmin should really recall the colorado series and trade people up to the oregons. I mean seriously, the colorado was jus a big beta test to perfect the oregon. Quite a few colorados seems to have had issues with hardware and water seepage. I couldn't get the details on the arrow flipping 180 degrees whether it was problem in all the colorados or just certain production batch. They were more than willing to replace it though. I do give garmin customer service 2 thumbs up. I wholeheartedly disagree. I bought a newer Colorado, with which I've had no issues, with waterproofing or anything else. I do NOT want a touchscreen GPS for the trail, and the Colorado's interface, especially the wheel, makes it easy enough for my 6yo to use! I hope that Garmin will continue the Colorado line. --Susan My personal colorado I have not had issues with either except in the beginning with it going off track which was fixed with fitmware. I have really no complaints except there are a lot of features that I like that they did on the oregon which they could easily do for the colorado via firmware. As for the roller controller I would rather have a touch screen to enter notes than the roller but thats about it. Storm180 Quote Link to comment
+Naval Research Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) I hope that Garmin will continue the Colorado line. --Susan My personal colorado I have not had issues with either except in the beginning with it going off track which was fixed with fitmware. I have really no complaints except there are a lot of features that I like that they did on the oregon which they could easily do for the colorado via firmware. As for the roller controller I would rather have a touch screen to enter notes than the roller but thats about it. Storm180 Perhaps this is a good answer to pggrands original question - we all like the Colorado. It's a darn good value since (IMHO) the touch screen probably doesn't add $100 worth to it. You get paperless caching and, if you get the 400t or others like it, you get some nice maps preloaded. I must point out that I don't own an Oregon, so I may be totally blowing off some really important Oregon benefits that I don't know about. In my experience with two Garmin Nuvi's, the touch screen on those don't even come close to the user interface on my iPhone, so I admit I'm assuming the Oregon will act more like the Nuvi. Dan Edited May 31, 2009 by Naval Research Quote Link to comment
+GeekBoy.from.Illinois Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Perhaps this is a good answer to pggrands original question - we all like the Colorado. It's a darn good value since (IMHO) the touch screen probably doesn't add $100 worth to it. You get paperless caching and, if you get the 400t or others like it, you get some nice maps preloaded. I must point out that I don't own an Oregon, so I may be totally blowing off some really important Oregon benefits that I don't know about. In my experience with two Garmin Nuvi's, the touch screen on those don't even come close to the user interface on my iPhone, so I admit I'm assuming the Oregon will act more like the Nuvi. I owned and used a Colorado 300 for about a year (I was an early adopter). When the Oregon came out, I was very disappointed at the attention that Garmin gave to the Oregon line ignoring all the issues that we Colorado owners had been reporting. I was seeing several of these issues being fixed for the Oregon line, but not for the Colorado line. In October of last year, I had a chance to take my Colorado 300 caching with a group of Oregon owners. I even had the opportunity to "use" one of their Oregon units for a while (but not while caching). In December, I had an opportunity to pick-up a "used" Oregon 400t. The owner had gotten their Oregon and then had to return it to Garmin for repairs. In the mean time, they bought a Delorme PN-40 and were selling their Oregon setup. For a couple months I kept the Colorado and took it out along side the Oregon. I found several things that were quite different between the two lines that I didn't expect. Some of the things I thought were better with the Colorado, others the Oregon did better. In some cases neither method was bad (or good) they were just different. The one thing about the Oregon that has troubled me from the beginning is the issue with WAAS. Until the most recent beta updates for the Oregon line, WAAS was unusable. When WAAS was enabled, the GPSr would "drift" a couple hundred feet off course in a very short time. Now with the most recent update (beta v2.98) WAAS is at least usable now, even though it is very slow to acquire the differential corrections (and in some cases it is easily lost). I've been using this beta for 2 weeks now and have not seen a single WAAS drift issue, so I am hopeful that this issue will soon be resolved... Quote Link to comment
+HedgeMage Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 ...I was very disappointed at the attention that Garmin gave to the Oregon line ignoring all the issues that we Colorado owners had been reporting... I think you have hit the nail on the head here, GeekBoy. The Colorado is a *great* platform with a lot of potential. What it needs is more attention from its makers to continue to evolve. --Susan Quote Link to comment
+solo63137 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I really like my Colorado 400t... I don't think I really want a touch screen, except maybe for entering long text strings like notes... That or if they could make a half screen keyboard pop up and you could use a combo of the roller and the 4 way rocker to navigate around... I'd like it to be easier to enter a new Way point or cache while in the field and easier to add a second, third, fourth and so on Cords to a Multi-part cache... Quote Link to comment
+JoesBar Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 this is from a Magellan guy. I changed from a Meridan to a Colorado 400t about three months ago. I found 1k caches with my Magellen. It worked for me. I have three issues with my Colorado. 1) I am concerned that there has been no firmware updates since Dec. 2008. the Oregon was updated recently. Maybe Garmin is happy with the Colorado. 2) I cannot delete found caches from the colorado. Why not? 3) I'd like one screen, or a part of a screen, with the coordinates in a large font. My eyes are not what they were when I was 20. I've read lots about Magellan not having customer service. Yet I bought a Garmin and it's lacking. Where is the great Garmin customer service everyone talks about? Quote Link to comment
+Team Veverca Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 this is from a Magellan guy. I changed from a Meridan to a Colorado 400t about three months ago. I found 1k caches with my Magellen. It worked for me. Man i hope that i won't have similar problems. I'm going from a Meridian to an Oregon. Quote Link to comment
+searchjaunt Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Hi, My friend has one and it is very nice indeed if you go for a all in one solution. I stick for the moment to my 60 CX and a PDA (see also http://searchjaunt.idizaai.be/geoscout/) for paperless caching. I find the latter a bit more flexible. Eddy Quote Link to comment
Dosido Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I'm wearing my rose colored glasses, and am waiting for the CO to get a 3.0 firmware update that will be released at the same time the forthcoming Oregon 3.0 update hits the road Quote Link to comment
+solo63137 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I have three issues with my Colorado. 1) I am concerned that there has been no firmware updates since Dec. 2008. the Oregon was updated recently. Maybe Garmin is happy with the Colorado. 2) I cannot delete found caches from the colorado. Why not? 3) I'd like one screen, or a part of a screen, with the coordinates in a large font. My eyes are not what they were when I was 20. I've read lots about Magellan not having customer service. Yet I bought a Garmin and it's lacking. Where is the great Garmin customer service everyone talks about? 1. Agree, sorta ... If there is a documented bug that you or others are seeing, I'd like to see another update... 2. You have to connect it to your PCs USB port and go in that way and remove them... 3. Agreeed, same with alot of GPSrs... Admitedly, I've not had to call Garmin many times, but the 3 or 4 times I've called them, they have been 100% spot on.... Could not ask for more... Just what I have experienced, Milage may vary... Quote Link to comment
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