Garmin 550 or 450T? The 550 is cheaper!

[tgfoyl1472]

So I was checking the price of the Garmin 450 ($399) which is not yet available at Amazon (I have a gift certificate) but then I saw the Garmin 550 at $429 and the 450T at $499.

 

Besides the obvious lack of Topo Map and camera on the 550 is there any other difference between the Oregon 550 versus the Oregon 450T? I'm inclined to get the 550 but I read on this forum that the 450 series may have a better screen readability?

 

Thanks

[+g-o-cashers]

550 and 450 have the same screen.

 

Only difference between 550 and 450t is the camera on the 550 and preinstalled topo maps and more internal memory on the 450t.

[tgfoyl1472]

Thanks for the reply. I think I am going to go with the 550. I have 24K Topo Maps on SD Card for the Pacific Northwest that I think are better than the 100K included topo maps. If as you said the screens are the same I might as well get a camera out of the deal for just $29 extra dollars compared to the 450

[+keehotee]

550 and 450 have the same screen.

 

Only difference between 550 and 450t is the camera on the 550 and preinstalled topo maps and more internal memory on the 450t.

 

Both units have 850Mb free memory......

Edited March 6, 2010 by keehotee

[+G & C]

I have no experience with the Oregon 450 or the 450t, but I did get an Oregon 550 recently, and I have to say that I am very, very happy with it. All of my reservations about a touch screen have been wiped out quickly, and the camera has surpassed my expectations. It gives you the option of saving your photos to either the GPS internal memory, or to the SD card that you have your maps on, so I put 4GB worth of maps on an 8GB card, and save them there. More than enough room for anything I'll ever use it for.

 

Anyway, just wanted to throw out there that I'm happy with the 550, and would recommend it to a friend. Good luck with your choice!

[+jackrock]

I am happy with the 550. Bought it to have the camera and it takes great photos. Now instead of a GPSr, camera, and PDA, I carry just the GPSr. I like that a lot. I also like that the photos are automatically geotagged.

[tgfoyl1472]

So I went to REI and played wit both and settled on the 450. My reason is that the 450 has these "custom" dashboards that combine like Compass with Altitude Profile in one page or Driving Computer with compass, or compass with Altitude Profile, etc.

 

They look like hybrid pages that combined two individual pages into one. This actually helps me have more visually available information for paragliding. I am not sure this is a software thing or something exclusive to the 450 series but the 550 did not have the hybrid screens as an option.

Edited March 6, 2010 by tgfoyl1472

[eaparks]

So I went to REI and played wit both and settled on the 450. My reason is that the 450 has these "custom" dashboards that combine like Compass with Altitude Profile in one page or Driving Computer with compass, or compass with Altitude Profile, etc.

 

They look like hybrid pages that combined two individual pages into one. This actually helps me have more visually available information for paragliding. I am not sure this is a software thing or something exclusive to the 450 series but the 550 did not have the hybrid screens as an option.

 

These "custom" dashboards were added to all the Oregons (not sure about the Oregon 200) with some of the recent software updates. The 550 you were looking at in the store just had an older version of software on it that had not been updated.

[+larryc43230]

So I went to REI and played wit both and settled on the 450. My reason is that the 450 has these "custom" dashboards that combine like Compass with Altitude Profile in one page or Driving Computer with compass, or compass with Altitude Profile, etc.

 

They look like hybrid pages that combined two individual pages into one. This actually helps me have more visually available information for paragliding. I am not sure this is a software thing or something exclusive to the 450 series but the 550 did not have the hybrid screens as an option.

I have a 550t and it has the custom dashboards. The custom dashboards are a feature added via a recent firmware update. I'm guessing that the 550 units at your REI outlet didn't have the latest firmware installed.

 

--Larry

[tgfoyl1472]

So out the window goes that "feature" Ok, back to the drawing board Good thing I haven't bought the GPS just yet