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why not the colorado?


seadad9903

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Is there some reason the CO is not a prime choice? Both for geocaching and for general navigation? It seems like everyone leans towards the PN-series or the OR, with a few who have a CO as well.

 

Is there something about the CO that turns people off, or is it a case of a unit competing with the whizz-bang grab of the OR's touch screen?

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Is there some reason the CO is not a prime choice? Both for geocaching and for general navigation? It seems like everyone leans towards the PN-series or the OR, with a few who have a CO as well.

 

Is there something about the CO that turns people off, or is it a case of a unit competing with the whizz-bang grab of the OR's touch screen?

 

Only having played with the Colorado, I can only speak for it but it IS buggy once in a while. It's a good unit. I just wish it had no bugs.

Touch screen? Psh~

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I love my Colorado and if I lost it, or it were damaged, I would have been tempted to upgrade to an Oregon when replacing it...

 

Until a geocaching friend of mine did exactly that. His Colorado was lost, with no sign of returning...instead of replacing it with another Colorado, he upgraded to an Oregon. He's getting used to the changes in the user interface, and we do like the touchscreen for input of comments and waypoints...but other than those two advantages, I like my Colorado better.

 

So, if given the choice today...I would buy another Colorado.

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I love my Colorado. :D I haven't had any issues with it.

 

I have only had mine for just over a month, but with all the topos and CN I think its great. Its never been buggy for me with the newest updates applied. I was lucky enough that the latest 3.0 update came out like 2week after I bought it, so its been great as my first paperless unit, totally different on how I cache now. The only thing I can see better on the Oregon is if you need to enter info or type info in, the wheel is a pain for that, otherwise for everything else I prefer the wheel.

 

The other reason you might see this is that the Colorado is discontinued so they are getting harder to get, but if you can find one you can get a great deal, I only paid $270 for mine brand new on clearance at Best Buy.

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I only have one complaint about the Colorado. It's not really water tight. I've had a few of them before switching to the Oregon and the big problem has been the lack of water integrity. In other words they leak in wet weather. Be sure and keep it in a ziplok bag if it's wet out there...

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Is there some reason the CO is not a prime choice? Both for geocaching and for general navigation? It seems like everyone leans towards the PN-series or the OR, with a few who have a CO as well.

 

Is there something about the CO that turns people off, or is it a case of a unit competing with the whizz-bang grab of the OR's touch screen?

I got one for very cheap at REI. Is that an oxymoron or what? Anyway, I have kept up with the updates and have had no problems with it. From what I have read it did need to get the bugs out but the updates seem to have corrected them. It is accurate and gets strong signals in bad places. Love it.

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.... I can only speak for it but it IS buggy once in a while.....

 

It is not buggy at all. All bugs were removed over a year ago......

 

I prefer it over the Oregon myself.

 

Have you not had the issue when the pointer arrow decides to not rotate to the direction you are traveling?

Have you not experienced issues when shutting the unit off with an active route going?

 

Those two drive me bonkers sometimes.

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The colorado is a very good unit with a couple of little flaws, some rubber seal problems which allowed water ingress, this has mostly been sorted now and was only really a problem in the earlier models,

Also they freeze up quite a lot although i believe this has been sorted by Firmware updates.

Other wise a good solid unit BUT

the Oregon is much nicer to use, around the same price and easier in the field.

mostly due to the touch screen over the rocknrollerwheel

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I got my Colorado over a year ago now and It's been great, mine doesn't seem to leak, it's been dunked a couple times while fishing and it's never shut off with an active route. When I first got it, it shut off a couple of times by itself but that seems to have been cured by using a different brand of sdhc card. Mine does have the pointer that goes wonky on occasion but it doesn't really bother me when it does it.

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I love my Colorado. :smile: I haven't had any issues with it.

 

I have only had mine for just over a month, but with all the topos and CN I think its great. Its never been buggy for me with the newest updates applied. I was lucky enough that the latest 3.0 update came out like 2week after I bought it, so its been great as my first paperless unit, totally different on how I cache now. The only thing I can see better on the Oregon is if you need to enter info or type info in, the wheel is a pain for that, otherwise for everything else I prefer the wheel.

 

The other reason you might see this is that the Colorado is discontinued so they are getting harder to get, but if you can find one you can get a great deal, I only paid $270 for mine brand new on clearance at Best Buy.

 

The discontinuation of the Colorado is news to me. Has this been confirmed by Garmin?

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The other reason you might see this is that the Colorado is discontinued so they are getting harder to get, but if you can find one you can get a great deal, I only paid $270 for mine brand new on clearance at Best Buy.

The discontinuation of the Colorado is news to me. Has this been confirmed by Garmin?

It's still shown as a current model on the Garmin website. And I asked a customer service rep when I was on the phone with Garmin a few months ago...I'm pretty sure it's just a rumor.

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The other reason you might see this is that the Colorado is discontinued so they are getting harder to get, but if you can find one you can get a great deal, I only paid $270 for mine brand new on clearance at Best Buy.

The discontinuation of the Colorado is news to me. Has this been confirmed by Garmin?

It's still shown as a current model on the Garmin website. And I asked a customer service rep when I was on the phone with Garmin a few months ago...I'm pretty sure it's just a rumor.

 

I certainly hope it is just a rumor, that is just what I heard and its harder to find them at stores at least around here, its all Oregon and Dakota. I own one and recommend them so I wouldnt mind being wrong on that one.

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I love my Colorado. Like you I am new to this. Just my two cents worth...you can run your self into the ground reading the reviews here. Find one in this class of GPSr that YOU like and I'd bet you won't go wrong.

 

After having it for a while now...if I had to buy another. To me the touch screen on the Oregon is not all good, not as you would think especially if you are a iPhone owner...it will frustrate you.

 

I love the R&R wheel. It's easy to navigate from one feature to another and the whole paperless thing works great.

 

By the way ABES of Maine (which I hate) and where I bought mine has the ColoradoT on ebay for like 315 shipped if I remember right.

Edited by mike-ski
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I am also in the love it camp...

Has any one figured out how to input locations while in the field?

 

Mark a waypoint? Press the Enter button (center button on the RnR wheel).

Add a geocache? Wireless from another Colorado/Oregon...unless you have a laptop with you.

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Another Colorado fan here. I bought mine around June last year and initially had some drift issues, which seem to have been sorted with firmware updates. I'm particularly liking HotFix for quick startups.

 

Coming from a 76CSx (which I still have) I do find the user interface to be a bit clunky by comparison, and entering text using the R&R wheel is very slow compared to using the arrows on the 76. But it's a good robust unit (I've never dropped it in water) and I LOVE the paperless caching.

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Still like my CO, although I also have a PN-40 which I like better for caching (more stable near GZ). Also less noisy tracks.

 

I believe there is a replacement back available for those who have units which leak around the SD card seal. No idea whether or not it addresses the issue of the battery compartment seal coming loose. I assume (but don't know for sure) that newer units ship with the newer back. Personally, I just carry a baggy.

 

The RnR is an acquired taste. It's good for zooming (although I tend to zoom accidentally when clipping/unclipping the unit on my belt) and selecting options. But it is absolutely the worst design known to man for entering text.

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Still like my CO, although I also have a PN-40 which I like better for caching (more stable near GZ). Also less noisy tracks.

 

I believe there is a replacement back available for those who have units which leak around the SD card seal. No idea whether or not it addresses the issue of the battery compartment seal coming loose. I assume (but don't know for sure) that newer units ship with the newer back. Personally, I just carry a baggy.

 

The RnR is an acquired taste. It's good for zooming (although I tend to zoom accidentally when clipping/unclipping the unit on my belt) and selecting options. But it is absolutely the worst design known to man for entering text.

I just received a new back for my Colo 300 from Garmin--no charge. It has a more positive seal that presses against the flat part of the protrusion into which the SD card is inserted. You have to remove the old black grommet from around the protrusion so the new orange seal can make a strong contact and the back clamp can be closed without forcing it.

 

As for my Colorado 300, I really like it. The large color screen is excellent and usually very readable in all kinds of light. In certain low light situations, I switch to map shading off (using Topo 2008) and saved this is as a custom profile I called "Hi-Viz Geocaching". The Rock and Roller wheel is, in my opinion, one of the best aspect of the device--esp in the cold wearing gloves. It enables totally one-handed operation for every setting and adjustment. I think that might not be practical with the touchscreen models where you need one hand to hold the unit and one to manipulate the screen.

 

My gripes:

Can't easily turn the electronic compass on and off--requires a complicated sequence of steps. The auto-compass setting doesn't shut off the compass until you're going over 10 miles an hour--worthless for hiking. The backlight can't be adjusted to turn off under 15 seconds--unnecessary battery drain when you just want to glance at the screen for a few seconds. Screen redraws are slow and blocky when scanning across the map with your cursor. Multpile tracks can't be shown on the map at the same time.

 

But all of these problems are minor and don't detract from the overall quality and usefulness of the device.

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Thanks for the comments. i ended up getting an oregon 400t, it was in stock in the store i usually shop at:) no problems with it so far. i am getting a delorme pn-40 in a few days (they had to order it) so i can do a comparison on both. i figure i can either keep both, or sell one if need be.

 

a note for future users of the oregon that have an iphone/ipod touch...the touchscreen is exactly like a palm touchscreen. a thin film over the main touch receptor screen. it takes slightly more pressure than an apple device. not a problem for that i have seen, i used to have a palm treo. so far the only issue i have had with it is that with out the backlight in darker areas (indoors, in a car at night, etc) it is difficult to read. but that is easy to deal with.

 

seadad9903

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