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Recommend an upgrade


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I've been caching since February with my eTrex Vista C and have used it to find over 100 caches now. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to practice with it and decide whether or not I liked geocaching.

 

Now, I'm looking to buy a better unit that has more features, but I don't know what to pick.

 

I'd really like to have a unit that

- is waterproof

- has replaceable batteries and decent battery life

- has a good sized color screen

- can display satellite photos of the area I'm in (my etrex can't do this)

- has expandable memory (my etrex can't do this)

 

Not necessary, but I'd also like

- Wherigo capabilities

- capability for paperless geocaching

 

So, can you recommend a unit for me?

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What's your budget?

 

My list of touch-screen favorites by price:

 

Oregon 550 (with camera, SD slot, 5000 geocaches with hints, description, etc..)

Oregon 450 (no camera, SD slot, 5000 geocaches with hints, description, etc...) - a new model with better screen

Oregon 300 (no camera, SD slot, 2000 geocaches, with hints, description, etc...)

Dakota 20 (no camera, SD slot, 2000, geocaches, with hints, description, etc...) like a baby Oregon

Oregon 200 (no camera, SD slot, 2000 geocaches, with hints, description, etc...)

Dakota 10 (no camera, No SD slot, 2000 geocaches, with hints, description, etc...)like a baby Oregon

 

T-models of the Oregons have topo maps pre-loaded. But, you can find free topo maps at GPSfiledepot.com.

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My vote would be for the Orgeon 450; $299 after rebate.

 

Garmin has a $50 mail-in rebate until June 20 on the Oregon 550s, 450s, and Dakotas in case you didn't know. The rebate is only good if bought from an "authorized Gamin dealer". Amazon and ebay don't qualify.

Edited by eaparks
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I've been caching since February with my eTrex Vista C and have used it to find over 100 caches now. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to practice with it and decide whether or not I liked geocaching.

 

Now, I'm looking to buy a better unit that has more features, but I don't know what to pick.

 

I'd really like to have a unit that

- is waterproof

- has replaceable batteries and decent battery life

- has a good sized color screen

- can display satellite photos of the area I'm in (my etrex can't do this)

- has expandable memory (my etrex can't do this)

 

Not necessary, but I'd also like

- Wherigo capabilities

- capability for paperless geocaching

 

So, can you recommend a unit for me?

 

I would recommend the PN-40, but based on your criteria, I think the battery life is a wee bit lacking, and the screen is on the smallish side. Both issues are not that big of a deal though and easily workable from my experience.

 

Just throwing another option out there for you. :)

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Another thumbs up for the Oregon. I've had mine for a week now and am very pleased with it. No problems/ bugs that I have found. We have done two wherigos, and look forward to more. There are also Wherigo cartridges you can download and play anywhere.

 

I bought the 550T. I know the maps are available for free but I'm not a very tech savvy person and didn't want to mess with the download and transfer. Couldn't be happier with the maps. I'm also finding the camera feature to come in handy, one big advantage is that it's a WATERPROOF camera and it's always right there. The pictures are also tagged with the coordinates (lat/long) and stored as waypoints. Here's a picture.

008-1.jpg The coordinates should be available in properties.

Another trail pic a little less soggy.

007-1.jpg

Edited by bobandrobin
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+1 on the Oregon 450 (don't bother with the 450T at the extra cost - other maps are available at no cost). It's a major step up from your existing unit in all respects. You'll likely enjoy the MUCH greater cache count, paperless caching features and the improved touch screen.

 

Recent firmware upgrades to this series have improved its behavior a great deal. Look around here for the Oregon beta thread and give this new code a try.

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The 550 is a great unit, but Garmin improved the screen significantly with the 450, which was introduced later. Also, with all the free maps at http://gpsfiledepot.com, there's no need to get a t model. If you're going to spend up to $450-500, I'd get an Oregon 450, City Navigator and a car kit.

 

You should atleast tell people to check gpsfiledepot first to see if they have what they need before recommending it as the end-all-be-all source of topo maps.

 

I personally found the map selection horrible for California. A lot of individual maps for specific areas and one state wide topo. I tried the statewide topo and its far worse than the ones Garmin sells. No labels for anything. Just blank points and contour lines.

 

Bottom line, check gpsfiledepot first before deciding not to buy the maps from Garmin

Edited by Tahoe Skier5000
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I looked at the Oregon 450 and I like what I see.

 

Still checking into the other units mentioned.

 

Thanks for all the tips so far!

 

As for maps, I checked out the gpsfiledepot site and found a link to some other program (G Rasta or something like that) where I can use Google Maps to make my own. That's worth investigating as well.

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My vote would be for the Orgeon 450; $299 after rebate.

 

Garmin has a $50 mail-in rebate until June 20 on the Oregon 550s, 450s, and Dakotas in case you didn't know. The rebate is only good if bought from an "authorized Gamin dealer". Amazon and ebay don't qualify.

 

Where did you find the 450 for that price? The garmin site says $399 retail.

Edited by ipodguy
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