More detailed Oregon 450 vs 450t comparison questions.

[lalittle]

Since the 450t uses internal memory for the topo maps, does this mean that it would offer the potential for more birdseye imagery since none of the card would be needed for the topo maps (i.e. as compared to the 450, which would need to use the card for the topo maps)?

 

Is it true that the Oregons cannot access more than 8GB of micro SD card memory (i.e. that while 16GB cards may "work" in the unit, the Oregon will only see and utilize 8GB of space). I've seen people reporting using 16GB cards, but according to Garmin, 8GB will simply not be used by the unit. I "thought" I saw people reporting using 16GB cards to store more birdseye imagery, but I can't find those reports now, and Garmin says that this is not possible.

 

Regarding the micro SD cards, are class 6 cards okay now? I saw some early reports that these were not recommended, but others reports say that they work fine. Does anyone know what speed the Oregon 450 actually accesses the card at?

 

Do I understand correctly that I can have both topo and city nav maps loaded onto an Oregon, but I can only "access" one or the other at any given time. Is there a way to see the extra street detail of the city nav maps AND still see the topo map trails at the same time?

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

[+Red90]

I use a 16 GB card and have around 12 GB of data and it all works. Individual files cannot be larger than 4 GB.

[+Triple Crown]

Since the 450t uses internal memory for the topo maps, does this mean that it would offer the potential for more birdseye imagery since none of the card would be needed for the topo maps (i.e. as compared to the 450, which would need to use the card for the topo maps)?

 

Is it true that the Oregons cannot access more than 8GB of micro SD card memory (i.e. that while 16GB cards may "work" in the unit, the Oregon will only see and utilize 8GB of space). I've seen people reporting using 16GB cards, but according to Garmin, 8GB will simply not be used by the unit. I "thought" I saw people reporting using 16GB cards to store more birdseye imagery, but I can't find those reports now, and Garmin says that this is not possible.

 

Regarding the micro SD cards, are class 6 cards okay now? I saw some early reports that these were not recommended, but others reports say that they work fine. Does anyone know what speed the Oregon 450 actually accesses the card at?

 

Do I understand correctly that I can have both topo and city nav maps loaded onto an Oregon, but I can only "access" one or the other at any given time. Is there a way to see the extra street detail of the city nav maps AND still see the topo map trails at the same time?

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

 

The 450T has a larger internal memory than the 450, but the 450 still has 850MB internal. The City Navigator takes about 1.2 GB for all of the US & Canada. I have City Nav and California Topo (2.1 GB) on my 4GB memory card and most of San Diego county on my internal memory with BirdsEye imagery.

 

You can have both topo and city navigator maps displayed at the same time, I have them both displayed on my 'Geocaching Profile' but only the City Navigator on my 'Automotive Profile' so it's less cluttered when I'm driving.

 

I have used class 2 and class 4 cards and see no performance difference, I suspect that with class 6 you'll just be paying a premium for performance your Oregon can't use.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Triple Crown

[lalittle]

Thanks for the replies.

 

It's really frustrating that the information I get directly from Garmin tech support completely contradicts the information coming from users (i.e. the two posts above.)

 

For example, Red90 reports using 12 gigs of his 16GB card, but when I asked Garmin this specific question, they told me flat out that the Oregon units could NOT access more than 8GB of a card -- that the unit would only be able to see 8 of the gigs. I made sure to clarify this with regard to birdseye images, photos, and the 4gb file size limit, and they confirmed that "8 of the 16 gigs would be wasted." They even put me on hold and checked with a supervisor on this. I brought up that I had seen reports from users saying they had used more than 8 gigs on 16gb cards, but they told me that the users who said this were simply mistaken.

 

Red90 -- just to clarify, are you saying that the 12 gigs of data on your card was stored by/for the Oregon unit? In other words, can you verify that all of the data on the card is accessible by the Oregon?

 

Triple responded above that you can have both city nav and topo maps displayed at the same time. Once again, Garmin specifically said that this was not possible -- that you'd have to select one or the other, but that you could not see the road info from the city nav map if you were currently viewing the topo map.

 

I have no reason to doubt what the users are telling me here, but this would have to mean that the information coming from Garmin is totally incorrect.

 

I just don't know what to think here. Is Garmin tech support really this horrible when it comes to knowledge of their own products?

 

Thanks again for the feedback here,

 

Larry

 

PS. I've noticed that some class 6 cards are not that much more expensive than class 4 cards, which is why it seemed prudent to just get class 6 cards if there were no problems associated with using them on an Oregon.

[lalittle]

Assuming I understand correctly that the map segment limit applies to all maps on the Oregon regardless of whether or not they're checked/displayed, am I correct that another advantage of the "t" model would be that since the "t" model only uses around 429 map segments for the entire US topo map, you'd have a lot more map segments available for other maps to be loaded onto the unit, like 24K topo or city nav maps?

 

Thanks again,

 

Larry

[+Red90]

Red90 -- just to clarify, are you saying that the 12 gigs of data on your card was stored by/for the Oregon unit? In other words, can you verify that all of the data on the card is accessible by the Oregon?

 

It is a Colorado 300, but I assume the Oregons work the same. All the data is for the GPS and as far as I can tell it is all there and useable. Of course, you have to be a bit strange to need it.... I have all of Canada in three different map products and a bunch of Birdseye. Getting a lot of Birdseye take some effort as you can only get 300 MB at a time.

[+Triple Crown]

 

Triple responded above that you can have both city nav and topo maps displayed at the same time. Once again, Garmin specifically said that this was not possible -- that you'd have to select one or the other, but that you could not see the road info from the city nav map if you were currently viewing the topo map.

 

 

Just to clarify, I have the Garmin City Navigator NT street maps and Garmin BirdsEye imagery plus the free California 24K Topo's from GPSFileDepot.com

 

I can display each map type separately or any combination of them. Having all 3 is just too cluttered most of the time.

 

I have 4 main profiles I use. 2 are set up with Off Road routing (for geocaching) 2 use On Road for time routing (for driving)

 

1- Geocaching Topo which shows me City Navigator and 24k topos

2 - Geocaching BirdsEye shows City Nav (for street names) and aerial imagery -- great downtown or to see which fork in the trail to take.

3 - Automotive Topo uses City Nav for routing and topo to get an idea of terrain. Pretty uncluttered, my main driving profile.

4 - Automotive BirdsEye uses City Nav and aerial imagery, useful for driving slowly through industrial parks or neighborhoods while looking for the best access to a trail.

 

In my opinion the topos along with the aerial imagery are usually too cluttered to be useful.

 

I can send you screenshots if you'd like, but I don't know how to post them.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Triple Crown

[+coggins]

Triple responded above that you can have both city nav and topo maps displayed at the same time. Once again, Garmin specifically said that this was not possible -- that you'd have to select one or the other, but that you could not see the road info from the city nav map if you were currently viewing the topo map.

 

I have no reason to doubt what the users are telling me here, but this would have to mean that the information coming from Garmin is totally incorrect.

 

I just don't know what to think here. Is Garmin tech support really this horrible when it comes to knowledge of their own products?

The California TOPO Triple is using is not a GARMIN product and they do not comment on products that are not theirs. With this particular map, the contour lines are in a transparent layer and can be loaded with Garmin's City Navigator maps and both can be displayed at the same time as the contour maps do not have a background to cover over the CN roadmaps. As such, you can see both mapsets at the same time. Red90 has an excellent trailmap that performs in a similar fashion.

[+jotne]

Oregon units could NOT access more than 8GB of a card

 

If a unit do work with 4GB SD, then 8GB, 16GB and 32GB card will always work on all types of units.

 

If the card is larger than 2GB, it must e a SDHC card. But if you need larger then 32GB cards, they must be SDXD that do support up to 2TB. To support SDXD, you need a different type of hardware. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital

 

PS, Its ha huge different in what is "supported" and what "may work"

Edited May 7, 2010 by jotne