Garmin Oregon 550t

[+Scubasonic]

I'm considering this unit and was wondering if anyone has any real time Geocaching time into this unit and how they like it Pros and Cons please.

 

ScubaSonic

[+g-o-cashers]

You can find couple of my reviews here:

 

http://www.gpsfix.net/tag/oregon-550/

[+grateful cacher]

I love it. The camera is a plus since I record all my caches. One drawback is that you can only store your GPX data on the internal memory of the unit, not on the microSD card. That hasn't been a problem yet, but with the 300 I had you could store them in both places and it worked well. I have also had this problem once, and I don't know if it is Garmin problem or what is going on. I did a pocket query for an area I was going into. Downloaded, installed everything looked fine. But when I went to select a geocache to review it, the data screen came up blank and locked the unit up. I had to hold the on/off button down for several seconds to get it to turn off. I know it was this one PQ that I did that caused it, as it had worked fine for others, and for single ones in that same area. Battery life is good, but I would carry a spare set or two since the camera does cause a little shorter life.

[+fegan]

One drawback is that you can only store your GPX data on the internal memory of the unit, not on the microSD card. That hasn't been a problem yet, but with the 300 I had you could store them in both places and it worked well.

 

Are you creating a \Garmin\GPX folder on the SD card?

 

I don't own an Oregon...I have a Colorado...so I'm trying to understand if they've really taken a feature away, or if the newer Oregon is following the behaviour of recent software updates and perhaps you have an older Oregon 300 that hasn't had the software updated.

 

I know early versions of the Colorado software read GPX files that were anywhere on the card. Later software has limited reading GPX files from the \Garmin\GPX folder. I wish I could remember when this change was implemented.

 

I've had GPX files on both the internal memory and SD card of my Colorado 400t for months now.

 

Although, I don't see a huge benefit of having GPX files on the external memory because they really don't use a lot of space. I can have 2,000 geocaches on my GPS and use less than 200MB of memory.

[+g-o-cashers]

GPX files do not load from the 550t SD card right now. Garmin is aware of the issue and has indicated that it will be fixed.

[+QuesterMark]

I'm considering this unit and was wondering if anyone has any real time Geocaching time into this unit and how they like it Pros and Cons please.

 

ScubaSonic

 

What I like about my Oregon 550

 

What I would change about my 550

 

(I just added a couple of lines today!)

Edited August 18, 2009 by 0ccam

[+1bertoc]

Use when powered: Whenever I plug the 550 into a power source, whether a computer, a dumb car adapter, a smarter car adapter (that will charge a mobile phone), or a smart AC to USB adatper (like my iPhone came with) it goes into disk mode. To get it OUT of disk mode, you have to hold down the power button and then let go and it restarts under external power. That's a pain. I want it to work like the 60Cx does, where you have to put it into disk mode. Or better, have disk mode not interfere with the GPS functionality.

 

You must configure it the right way:

 

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Power#toc9

[+grateful cacher]

I'm considering this unit and was wondering if anyone has any real time Geocaching time into this unit and how they like it Pros and Cons please.

 

ScubaSonic

 

What I like about my Oregon 550

 

What I would change about my 550

 

(I just added a couple of lines today!)

 

I'm using the Garmin car adaptor for my Oregon 550t, and when I plug mine in in the car, it turns on, just like normal. No storage mode, nothing, just turns on, ready to cache. When I remove it from the adaptor, it detects it, and asks if I want to turn off or transfer to battery power. Worked that way out of the box.

Edited August 18, 2009 by ivhs72

[+fegan]

I'm using the Garmin car adaptor for my Oregon 550t, and when I plug mine in in the car, it turns on, just like normal. No storage mode, nothing, just turns on, ready to cache. When I remove it from the adaptor, it detects it, and asks if I want to turn off or transfer to battery power. Worked that way out of the box.

 

Yes, the more expensive Garmin auto adapter is wired differently than a generic USB auto adapter and doesn't require any modifications of the GPS settings to work properly and does not prompt the user for Mass Storage mode when you connect.

 

I have used the Garmin auto adatper (from my Nuvi) with my Colorado...I have also used my Motorola cell phone auto adapter by setting the Colorado's USB interface for Garmin Spanner mode.

[+g-o-cashers]

Gory details on the power adapters and how they behave is documented here:

 

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/power#toc9

[+grateful cacher]

I picked up the Garmin auto adaptor off of Amazon for about $14 give or take a few cents. It was much better than the Garmin site price. Added bonus is that it works with my Blackberry Curve.

 

 

I'm using the Garmin car adaptor for my Oregon 550t, and when I plug mine in in the car, it turns on, just like normal. No storage mode, nothing, just turns on, ready to cache. When I remove it from the adaptor, it detects it, and asks if I want to turn off or transfer to battery power. Worked that way out of the box.

 

Yes, the more expensive Garmin auto adapter is wired differently than a generic USB auto adapter and doesn't require any modifications of the GPS settings to work properly and does not prompt the user for Mass Storage mode when you connect.

 

I have used the Garmin auto adatper (from my Nuvi) with my Colorado...I have also used my Motorola cell phone auto adapter by setting the Colorado's USB interface for Garmin Spanner mode.

[+grateful cacher]

GPX files do not load from the 550t SD card right now. Garmin is aware of the issue and has indicated that it will be fixed.

 

Any idea when this might be happening?

 

Rich

[+g-o-cashers]

No I don't. But if you look at previous product releases Garmin is overdue for their first update on the 550t and Dakota. Usually within 2-4 weeks of product release they'll make a new software drop with the first round of fixes. I think the difference with the Dakota and 550t is that they have been very stable first releases so Garmin is probably holding off as long as they can.

[+QuesterMark]

 

I'm using the Garmin car adaptor for my Oregon 550t, and when I plug mine in in the car, it turns on, just like normal. No storage mode, nothing, just turns on, ready to cache. When I remove it from the adaptor, it detects it, and asks if I want to turn off or transfer to battery power. Worked that way out of the box.

 

OK, so the actual Garmin adapter gets past that issue. Thanks for the info! I'll probably end up getting a Garmin adapter, but I have to still consider that a minus.

[+QuesterMark]

Use when powered: Whenever I plug the 550 into a power source, whether a computer, a dumb car adapter, a smarter car adapter (that will charge a mobile phone), or a smart AC to USB adatper (like my iPhone came with) it goes into disk mode. To get it OUT of disk mode, you have to hold down the power button and then let go and it restarts under external power. That's a pain. I want it to work like the 60Cx does, where you have to put it into disk mode. Or better, have disk mode not interfere with the GPS functionality.

 

You must configure it the right way:

 

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Power#toc9

 

OK, this may be my mistake. I thought I'd configured it for Spanner, but when I checked after reading your post it wasn't. Or is that also a profile thing? Maybe I just configured it in the wrong profile. I'll check that.

 

Note that I still haven't tested in the car...but until now when I connected to a computer I didn't get the prompt on the GPS.

 

Now I know what to expect and what to check.

 

Thanks for the link!

[+g-o-cashers]

The Spanner setting (like most settings) is a per profile setting.