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Oregon 450 or GPSMAP 62s


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I currently use a GPSMAP 60csx and am looking to upgrade to one of these two units.

 

From what I can see they both hold 5000 caches, and 2000 waypoints. Both are wireless in that they can communicate with other Garmin devices that have the same ability. Which one would you get? I can find the Oregon 450 for around $340 where as the GPSMAP 62s is $450. Why the higher price on the 62s, is that only because it is "NEW".

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i would assume that the 62 has better accuracy because it's got a better (quad helix) antenna, with the oregons "only" having ceramic antennas. i can't say how much of a difference it really makes out in the field though.

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So how would the accuracy of the 450 be compared 60csx?

I googled for "oregon 60csx comparison accuracy" and found this article :

 

http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=19442

 

Remember that is just one person's experience. I was somewhat surprised by his results though.

 

Anyway, for the OP, for measurable things, you're looking at a brighter screen for the 62s, and the convenience of a touchscreen, larger LCD, and much more pixels on the Oregon.

Edited by Chrysalides
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I also like the price of the Oregon compared to the 62s. I wish I was made of money but that isn't the case.

I expect the price of the 62s to drop a bit once it is more widely available.

 

Have you used an Oregon before? Some people feel the lack of screen brightness to be a deal breaker. When testing, make sure backlight is on at 100%, and if possible, set the screen background to plain white, for maximum brightness.

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The 60 has a better screen for reading. The Oregon had a "I don't need no WAAS" problem until the latest release and now seems go be fine.

 

Once you use the touchscreen interface on the Oregon all other issues recede to irrelevant.

 

I thought the 450 only held 2,000 caches and not 5,000. Maybe someone could verify the number.

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I also like the price of the Oregon compared to the 62s. I wish I was made of money but that isn't the case.

I expect the price of the 62s to drop a bit once it is more widely available.

 

Have you used an Oregon before? Some people feel the lack of screen brightness to be a deal breaker. When testing, make sure backlight is on at 100%, and if possible, set the screen background to plain white, for maximum brightness.

 

I have a buddy who has an Oregon and kinda used it a bit, I will be caching with him tomorrow and I will give it a try some more.

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The 60 has a better screen for reading. The Oregon had a "I don't need no WAAS" problem until the latest release and now seems go be fine.

 

Once you use the touchscreen interface on the Oregon all other issues recede to irrelevant.

 

I thought the 450 only held 2,000 caches and not 5,000. Maybe someone could verify the number.

 

I've read everywhere that it hold 5,000 caches and 2,000 waypoints. Garmin doesn't advertise the amount of caches it will hold. I kinda wish they did.

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I knew this was going to be a common question, so I've been trying to come up with reasons for going one way or the other. My post went up this morning...

 

http://gpstracklog.com/2010/07/garmin-gpsm...oregon-450.html

 

I'm sure I've left some things out though. I saw on another forum where someone said they like the 62s because of their aging eyes, that the text was easier to read.

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I knew this was going to be a common question, so I've been trying to come up with reasons for going one way or the other. My post went up this morning...

 

http://gpstracklog.com/2010/07/garmin-gpsm...oregon-450.html

 

I'm sure I've left some things out though. I saw on another forum where someone said they like the 62s because of their aging eyes, that the text was easier to read.

 

Good article, thanks for posting.

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The 60 has a better screen for reading. The Oregon had a "I don't need no WAAS" problem until the latest release and now seems go be fine.

 

Once you use the touchscreen interface on the Oregon all other issues recede to irrelevant.

 

I thought the 450 only held 2,000 caches and not 5,000. Maybe someone could verify the number.

 

That assumes one prefers touchscreens over buttons. I think you may be surprised by how many (and not just older generation) like the buttons. From discussion with Oregon 450 owners, if you put a screen protector on the touchscreen, it can also make it a bit more temperamental when pressing. They also said that the 60-series (and likely the 62) was still easier to read when moving in and out of sunlight/shade. It's a tough call between the two unless Wherigo is important to the cacher.

 

The current 62s is already $399 instead of the retail $449, so the price differential is decreasing.

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I had the same question. I am lucky enought to have a Cabela's right down the road from me and they have a 60 day return policy so i bought them both (on a credit card of course :laughing: ). I bought them both to try them out for a week and keep the one I like the best.

 

I'm on vacation this week so they have been put through the paces. Now I'm not well versed with using a GPS and I'm sure I'm not using even half of the features some of you well seasoned cachers would use but I must say I really like the Oregon. It's really easy to use and navigate. I even had my wife logging caches as i drove to the next one. I love my wife but tech savy she is not so this was a testamate to how easy the interface was. We didnt notice to much of a differance on accuracy so that was a non-issue. they both put us right on the caches in the open field and got us really close in tree cover.

 

Due to the Oregon's touch screen, it can be a little tricky to read in bright sunlight until we figured out how to hold it. You will see there is a trick to reading it. What we do is tilt the unit forward and you will see there is a visual sweet spot. Bright sunlight doesnt even slow us down anymore so the srceen became another non-issue.

 

This is just my exsperience and I am a newbie but the Oregon 450 is the unit I'm putting my money on. Both are great units but the Oregon is so easy, why make a hobby complicated.

Edited by Dorothy_&_Tin_Man
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The touch screen works well on the Oregon but I found that using my daughters sylist from her DS to type my logs, was more accurate then my fat fingers. *Just a tip*
Ditto - sort of. My automotive nav is the same way. I just use the closed tip of whatever pen I'm using for logging to do the touch screen. Both have protectors, so even if the plastic could somehow scratch, it won't.
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I have never used topo maps and frankly wonder that if a person is not a big hiker are those kind of preloaded maps worthwhile? We are currently using a 76csx, and a Nuvi in the geo car. Thanks

 

Useful in a city as well if there are hills. You look at a cache and you can see if it is close to the top or bottom of a hill and that might influence where you want to park to approach the cache. As an example a cache could be at the top edge of a cliff. There may be a road close (horizontally) to it, but it is at the bottom of the cliff. You look at the topo and realize you need to park at the road on top of the hill, but farther away.

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(and not just older generation) like the buttons.

 

I agree the screen on the 60s is better but I think the touch screen is worth it and I am at the upper end of the demographic so not all older people prefer buttons.

 

Yes, I'm sure it works both ways. In my early 40s here with good vision and I prefer buttons to touchscreen most of the time. Still, I like the Oregon 450 (a local cacher generously lets others use it for a Wherigo) but am waiting for user reviews of the 62s (and perhaps a firmware update) before making a final decision.

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Useful in a city as well if there are hills. You look at a cache and you can see if it is close to the top or bottom of a hill and that might influence where you want to park to approach the cache. As an example a cache could be at the top edge of a cliff. There may be a road close (horizontally) to it, but it is at the bottom of the cliff. You look at the topo and realize you need to park at the road on top of the hill, but farther away.

So, having never used topo maps before, is the topo that comes with either of these units good enough to find the closest road in relation to the elevation or do you have to get specialty maps for that, and would either the Oregon 450/550 or the 62s/st be superior for that function?

thanks

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I have never used topo maps and frankly wonder that if a person is not a big hiker are those kind of preloaded maps worthwhile? We are currently using a 76csx, and a Nuvi in the geo car. Thanks

i find topo maps to be invaluable. not so much for elevation changes (there aren't much of them around here anyway), but for trails and wooded areas, swamps, wetlands, rivers, etc, as well as just roads. they simply give you a good idea about what the terrain looks like, and the best way for navigating to the cache.

 

that being said, you don't need the preloaded topo maps for that. i'm using the ibycus topo maps, which are totally free and very good quality.

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Where are you seeing it for $399?
I've already seen it at less than $400 in a number of spots. Then again, there's some shipping in some cases:

 

http://www.just4boats.com/ProductDetails.a...268&click=2

http://www.cascadegps.com/store/product.php?productid=7757

 

Oddly, the best prices seem to be showing up at a variety of marine outlets.

 

I just purchased my 450 Here for $345 w/free shipping. Only took four days to get. So far, I love it. Looking for turn-by-turn driving compatible FREE maps to use, but other than that it's everything I expected.

 

I have a 60csx so I didn't want to buy the 62 just yet. I may sell the 60 and get the 62 eventually though.

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I have never used topo maps and frankly wonder that if a person is not a big hiker are those kind of preloaded maps worthwhile? We are currently using a 76csx, and a Nuvi in the geo car. Thanks

i find topo maps to be invaluable. not so much for elevation changes (there aren't much of them around here anyway), but for trails and wooded areas, swamps, wetlands, rivers, etc, as well as just roads. they simply give you a good idea about what the terrain looks like, and the best way for navigating to the cache.

 

that being said, you don't need the preloaded topo maps for that. i'm using the ibycus topo maps, which are totally free and very good quality.

 

Extremely good. However, they don't come with the benefit of shaded relief like the Garmin maps do. Backroad Mapbooks (in Canada) also have (extremely detailed) shaded relief and are well worth the money.

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The 60 has a better screen for reading. The Oregon had a "I don't need no WAAS" problem until the latest release and now seems go be fine.

 

Once you use the touchscreen interface on the Oregon all other issues recede to irrelevant.

 

I thought the 450 only held 2,000 caches and not 5,000. Maybe someone could verify the number.

 

The geocaching specs on both units are the same. Each can hold 2000 waypoints in addition to 5000 geocaches.

 

Rich's post is a good summary of the differences and I believe for most people it will come down to two things

 

- Improved screen readability of the 62 vs. larger/high resolution display of 450

- Touchscreen of the 450 vs. buttons of the 62

 

So far in my testing the reception of the 62/78 has been better under tree cover but not significant enough in most situations to sway a buying decision. The other two factors above will drive the decision (along with price) for most people.

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Glad to. I hesitated posting the link here, because I try to keep the self-promotion to a minimum, but it seemed particularly relevant! ;-)

 

To be honest if you would have posted and didn't take credit for the link, I wouldn't have made the connection between you and the person who wrote the article.

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I was impatient and slightly fed up with my GPSMap60C, particularly since my face turned bright green while seeing what a friend's Colorado could do in the way of paperless geocaching. I was planning the trip to GW8 and wanted a new GPSr before the trip (oh, the suffering I would have endured with the limitations of the GPSMap60C!)

 

I bought my Oregon 450 (note: not the 't') as soon as I could, back in May. I've since found 289 caches and it's been quite the decent unit. Great reception in the woods (and we have woods here, Coastal Redwoods) and quite rugged (it's already fallen off the car onto the road once, D'oh!)

 

Yes, it can be a challenge reading the display in certain lighting.

 

I absolutely love the touch screen and would never go back to buttons - navigation of the unit is quick. If your finger tip is too clumsy, simply use anything scribe-like to touch the screen with, I usually retract the tip from my pen and use it, very gently to fine-tune navigation. Being able to highlight cache markers on the map, read the entry and decided go or not go and return to the map is very wonderful.

 

The Oregon 450 works well on NiMH cells. I do have some NiZN cells, but they seem to be pooping out already and at the extra cost do not appear to be worth it. My NiMH cells are over a year old and going strong as I rotate sets for longer trips, like driving to Washington from California and back.

 

Display readability can be improved by changing a few color settings or hit the power button and ramp up the backlight a bit.

 

I'm using the full California TOPO maps from GPSFileDepot. No street names, but I'm getting use to it. Highly detailed, including logging roads!

 

Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

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old thread, but i'm in the market again and googled the "vs units" and came back to here.

 

i have the 62s, but don't care for the build quality so am now looking at the oregon 450.

 

i guess i should have jumped on it when they had the $50credit a while back, i debated, but held out for the squeaky 62s, and am now regretting it.

 

hopefully they have another rebate or price drop on the oregons, this time i won't hesitate.

 

great thread and info on here.

 

thanks guys

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old thread, but i'm in the market again and googled the "vs units" and came back to here.

 

i have the 62s, but don't care for the build quality so am now looking at the oregon 450.

 

i guess i should have jumped on it when they had the $50credit a while back, i debated, but held out for the squeaky 62s, and am now regretting it.

 

hopefully they have another rebate or price drop on the oregons, this time i won't hesitate.

 

great thread and info on here.

 

thanks guys

 

I saw someone posted the REI had it on sale for $349.

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old thread, but i'm in the market again and googled the "vs units" and came back to here.

 

i have the 62s, but don't care for the build quality so am now looking at the oregon 450.

 

i guess i should have jumped on it when they had the $50credit a while back, i debated, but held out for the squeaky 62s, and am now regretting it.

 

hopefully they have another rebate or price drop on the oregons, this time i won't hesitate.

 

great thread and info on here.

 

thanks guys

 

I saw someone posted the REI had it on sale for $349.

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I currently use a GPSMAP 60csx and am looking to upgrade to one of these two units.

 

From what I can see they both hold 5000 caches, and 2000 waypoints. Both are wireless in that they can communicate with other Garmin devices that have the same ability. Which one would you get? I can find the Oregon 450 for around $340 where as the GPSMAP 62s is $450. Why the higher price on the 62s, is that only because it is "NEW".

I replaced my 60Cs with the 62S and as of today Im sorry I did. I cannot get maps to show and so far Garmin hasnt helped solved that issue. Unlike the 60 series I cannot modify cache coords to go to the next stage of a multi. I have to generate a new waypoint by using "mark" Individual caches from a query cannot be deleted. You have to connect to the computer and delete the entire query. I havent learned how to navigate the various fields very well yet compared to the 60 series but that will come with time. MY OPINION! Stick with the 60Csx. I would had I known what I do now.

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I replaced my 60Cs with the 62S and as of today Im sorry I did. I cannot get maps to show and so far Garmin hasnt helped solved that issue. Unlike the 60 series I cannot modify cache coords to go to the next stage of a multi. I have to generate a new waypoint by using "mark" Individual caches from a query cannot be deleted. You have to connect to the computer and delete the entire query. I havent learned how to navigate the various fields very well yet compared to the 60 series but that will come with time. MY OPINION! Stick with the 60Csx. I would had I known what I do now.

 

Maps:

You should ask here. I'm sure we can solve your problem.

 

Multis:

The new firmware addresses that issue.

 

Deleting:

Found caches disappear from the search, so what is the problem. This system prevents accidental deletion. Most people prefer it this way.

 

Learning....

It takes time. There is a huge amount of new features on these units and it takes time to learn them. For caching these are leaps and bounds better than the old units. Give it time, learn how to use it and you will see.

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I bought the Oregon 450 about a month ago at REI in New Jersey for $349. I'm very pleased with the unit. I have found 15 caches so far. That is a small sample size, but it has been dead on even in heavy woods. I'm not able to compare it to the 62s though. Paperless Geocaching is the way to go and the 450 achieves that also. I'm a very difficult person to please...I have no regrets with this purchase.

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I tried the Oregon 450 in bright sunlight and could not see the screen very well at all even with maximum backlight. That was the main showstopper for me. I also found the reception not as good as the 60csx, and frequently lost signal when I put the unit in my pocket.

 

For these two reasons I do not recommend an Oregon 450 for you.

Edited by gpscybr
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I tried the Oregon 450 in bright sunlight and could not see the screen very well at all even with maximum backlight. That was the main showstopper for me. I also found the reception not as good as the 60csx, and frequently lost signal when I put the unit in my pocket.

 

For these two reasons I do not recommend an Oregon 450 for you.

 

I agree about the screen. If the screen brightness of the Oregon bothers you as it does a lot of people, I'd recommend the 62 series, which does not have this problem.

 

Larry

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I had purchased a 60csx in June. Right after I bought it I heard about the 62 series coming out so I returned it right away. I had every intention of buing a 62s when it came out. But then Cabelas had the 450t for a great price and also had a $20 off coupon. It was on backorder but I was willing to wait. I bought it just to try it out with every intention of returning it within 60 days to buy a 62s if it came out. Everything I thought would be a reason to return the 450t and get the 62s turned out not to be, at least for me. I find the readabilty in bright sunlight to be quite acceptable. I can read it just fine. I thought I would like buttons better than touchscreen. But, I've gotten used to the touchscreen and really enjoy using it. The 62s is probably more accurate, but how much more? I find my 450t to be more than accurate enough for the geocaching I've done with it. Works great in the woods.

 

I did go back and compare a 62s side by side with a 450. I think the buttons would still be nice but comparing the screens I'd much rather have the Oregon's slightly bigger, prettier screen. Also, I really like the size of the 450 compared to the 62.

 

If I hadn't gotten such an great price on a 450t I probably would have ended up owning a 62s right now and have been extremely happy with it. I bought the 450t on speculation and it has really impressed me. I can't justify returning it and spending more money to buy a 62s. In conclusion, I don't think there's a bad decision between these two, get whatever one appeals to you more.

Edited by Barnhart_Ram
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So how would the accuracy of the 450 be compared 60csx?

I googled for "oregon 60csx comparison accuracy" and found this article :

 

http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=19442

 

Remember that is just one person's experience. I was somewhat surprised by his results though.

 

Anyway, for the OP, for measurable things, you're looking at a brighter screen for the 62s, and the convenience of a touchscreen, larger LCD, and much more pixels on the Oregon.

 

Thanks for that link -- I hadn't seen that before, and those were some pretty interesting results.

 

Larry

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