Oregon 450t vs 450

[+Fusilli Jerry]

Hi folks,

 

I recently took a tumble and now my trusty Oregon 400t is somewhere floating down the Hudson River.

 

I'm in the market for a new GPSr and since I liked my 400t I figure I'll stick with the Oregon line. There's quite a difference in price between the 450t and the 450.

 

Is the only difference between the 450t and the 450 the preloaded maps?

 

My friend told me that I can just get the 450 and then load free topo maps that are just as good or better than the preloaded maps that come with the 450t. Is that right? Can anyone point me to some instructions or website with more info on this?

 

Thanks!!!

[+kywaterfowler]

Hi folks,

 

I recently took a tumble and now my trusty Oregon 400t is somewhere floating down the Hudson River.

 

I'm in the market for a new GPSr and since I liked my 400t I figure I'll stick with the Oregon line. There's quite a difference in price between the 450t and the 450.

 

Is the only difference between the 450t and the 450 the preloaded maps?

 

My friend told me that I can just get the 450 and then load free topo maps that are just as good or better than the preloaded maps that come with the 450t. Is that right? Can anyone point me to some instructions or website with more info on this?

 

Thanks!!!

 

Your friend is correct. The only difference is the preloaded maps. I bought the 450 got a 4gig micro SD card and loaded all the maps I wanted. Just go to http://www.gpsfiledepot.com to get the free maps.

Edited November 17, 2010 by kywaterfowler

[Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide]

Hi folks,

 

I recently took a tumble and now my trusty Oregon 400t is somewhere floating down the Hudson River.

 

The Oregon does not float as far as I know. Maybe you could still find it back where you took your tumble.

[+kwcahart]

It is waterproof and submersible so maybe you could find it. I may be too late, they will only stay waterproof for a amount of time.

[Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide]

It is waterproof and submersible so maybe you could find it. I may be too late, they will only stay waterproof for a amount of time.

 

Here's a story of a drowned gps, for inspiration:

 

http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2010/09/...er-elements.htm

[+Cacheoholic]

Your friend is not correct. The 450t has more internal memory than the 450 but the topo maps take up that difference of internal memory and the available “free” memory is about the same. Did you backup your Oregon 400t on a PC? That’s the first thing you should do with any of this type GPS so you can fix your GPS when you accidently delete a file. I’m not suggesting anything but if you have a backup then you have the map file.

 

The free map quality vs. preloaded may depend upon where you want maps for.

[+ecanderson]

Your friend is not correct. The 450t has more internal memory than the 450 but the topo maps take up that difference of internal memory and the available "free" memory is about the same. Did you backup your Oregon 400t on a PC? That's the first thing you should do with any of this type GPS so you can fix your GPS when you accidently delete a file. I'm not suggesting anything but if you have a backup then you have the map file.

 

The free map quality vs. preloaded may depend upon where you want maps for.

Given that the preloaded maps are the lesser quality 100K, and gpsfiledepot offers their maps at the higher res 24K, the price of a 4GB SD card is certainly less than the usual price difference between the 450 and 450T (still runs nearly $100 difference, doesn't it?).

[+Fusilli Jerry]

thanks for the replies everyone.

 

i have an extra 16GB SanDisck micro DB HC card from my droid phone. not sure what the HC stands for.

 

Could i use this in the 450?

[+ecanderson]

thanks for the replies everyone.

 

i have an extra 16GB SanDisck micro DB HC card from my droid phone. not sure what the HC stands for.

 

Could i use this in the 450?

Yes, assuming you mean micro SDHC. HC just stands for "high capacity", and would cover any card of 8GB or higher, and nearly all 4GB cards. What you don't say is how fast (Class) the card is. I've found that a lot of the micro SD cards are pretty slow (e.g., no more than Class 2). That's fine for audio on your Droid, but it might be an issue if you're using your 450 for road navigation.

[+Fusilli Jerry]

Yes, assuming you mean micro SDHC

 

What you don't say is how fast (Class) the card is. I've found that a lot of the micro SD cards are pretty slow (e.g., no more than Class 2). That's fine for audio on your Droid, but it might be an issue if you're using your 450 for road navigation.

 

oops my bad. it's Micro SD HC.

 

How can I find out what class this card is? it came with the phone. next to the 16 GB there is a little 4 in a circle. not sure what that means. could it be class 4?

[+ecanderson]

How can I find out what class this card is? it came with the phone. next to the 16 GB there is a little 4 in a circle. not sure what that means. could it be class 4?

Yup, that's what it means. For anything you'll be doing with the 450, it's going to be fine. Not sure how you'll use up all of that 16GB unless you start putting BirdsEye satellite shots on it, though. That's a bunch of memory!