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Oregon 450 for $249.99, 8/26/11 – 9/6/11 @ REI

Cacheoholic

By Cacheoholic
in GPS technology and devices

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michaelnel

+michaelnel

Posted
Posted (edited)
After my experience with a $369.00 Oregon 450, I still wouldn't buy one for $199, but many will.

What's the issues you have with the 450? I knew you were unhappy with the Montana.

 

This is what I wrote at the time (March 2011):

 

1) The high resolution display is extremely difficult to read in sunlight. Since I didn't buy it to use indoors, that's a real problem. If you hold it at just the right angle to the sun it looks good, but if you have it on a bicycle mount it is almost never at that angle, which means you can almost never read it.

 

2) Battery consumption is terrible. I use 2700 mah NiMH Powercell batteries in it and have to carry extras if I am going to be out for a full day.

 

3) It loses sat sync easily and won't regain it no matter how long I wait unless I power cycle it

 

4) The "paperless" caching will bite you if you do any caches where pictures are important clues, as it won't download the pics and display them unless you do it all manually (download the pics from geocaching.com to your computer, then transfer them to the gps like any other photo. Unless you think this through before you leave the house, you won't have access to the picturs in the field.

 

5) It comes with that stupid carabiner clip but no lanyard. If you like to walk with the GPS in your hand, the carabiner clip makes that uncomfortable and you don't have the security against dropping it that a simple lanyard would provide.

 

6) The Birdseye imagery is a joke. It looks good in the Basecamp application on the computer but on the tiny screen of the Oregon 450 it just clutters stuff up. Downloading enough of it to be useful can be an exercise in futility, I kept on running into "you have exceeded the server limit", even though I had paid the $25 for a year's subscription.

 

7) The built-in map is useless. If you geocache in the city as I do, you need a detailed auto-routing map, which means buying City Navigator for about $75.

 

8) The WAAS accuracy enhancement is a joke. It seldom locks on to WAAS signals and even when it does, the accuracy bounces around all over the place. It's TERRIBLE for geocaching.

 

I sent it back to Amazon for a refund.

Edited by michaelnel
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Chrysalides

+Chrysalides

Posted
Posted
I sent it back to Amazon for a refund.

Thanks for the feedback. I won't debate them as this is not the thread for that (and I suspect there's already a thread somewhere where someone did), and that is good info for any potential buyers to know. The good thing about buying from REI is that returning the unit is hassle free.

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BAMBOOZLE

+BAMBOOZLE

Posted
Posted

This is a GREAT price on , what I believe, to be the best of the newer paperless units. Field testing , side by side, on well over 1000 hunts has shown that 80-90 % of the time they are as accurate as anything out there.For the other 10% or so they have issues ( discussed in other threads ) that prevent them from getting to GZ as accurately as some older units.

My wife uses one as she does the logging and likes having everything on one unit......if these were 100% at getting to GZ I'd get another for me in a heartbeat. I would buy ONE all over again but I would prefer to use my older ones than get a second one.

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BAMBOOZLE

+BAMBOOZLE

Posted
Posted

I have a question.

 

Most rebates are cash rebates after a unit has been purchased and comes from the manufacturer. What would prevent

someone from paying REI $250, collecting $50 from Garmin and then later returning the unit to REI for a $250 refund thereby making a $50 profit.

 

Just wondering :blink:

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Chrysalides

+Chrysalides

Posted
Posted (edited)
I have a question.

 

Most rebates are cash rebates after a unit has been purchased and comes from the manufacturer. What would prevent

someone from paying REI $250, collecting $50 from Garmin and then later returning the unit to REI for a $250 refund thereby making a $50 profit.

 

Just wondering :blink:

Many places will not accept returns without the original box, or if the UPC have been removed from the box. They would exchange if defective, however.

 

I'm not sure what is REI's policy on this.

Edited by Chrysalides
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BAMBOOZLE

+BAMBOOZLE

Posted
Posted
I have a question.

 

Most rebates are cash rebates after a unit has been purchased and comes from the manufacturer. What would prevent

someone from paying REI $250, collecting $50 from Garmin and then later returning the unit to REI for a $250 refund thereby making a $50 profit.

 

Just wondering :blink:

Many places will not accept returns without the original box, or if the UPC have been removed from the box. They would exchange if defective, however.

 

I'm not sure what is REI's policy on this.

 

I remember now about the UPC....there had to be a way to prevent that kind of scam.

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BAMBOOZLE

+BAMBOOZLE

Posted
Posted
I have a question.

 

Most rebates are cash rebates after a unit has been purchased and comes from the manufacturer. What would prevent

someone from paying REI $250, collecting $50 from Garmin and then later returning the unit to REI for a $250 refund thereby making a $50 profit.

 

Just wondering :blink:

Many places will not accept returns without the original box, or if the UPC have been removed from the box. They would exchange if defective, however.

 

I'm not sure what is REI's policy on this.

 

I remember now about the UPC....there had to be a way to prevent that kind of scam.

 

If receiving a rebate meant you could not return an item it would make you think twice about a rebate especially when buying from someone with as good a return policy as REI.

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coggins

+coggins

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a question.

 

Most rebates are cash rebates after a unit has been purchased and comes from the manufacturer. What would prevent

someone from paying REI $250, collecting $50 from Garmin and then later returning the unit to REI for a $250 refund thereby making a $50 profit.

 

Just wondering :blink:

Without the UPC, they only refund $199.99 :rolleyes:

 

Besides that would be theft or fraud.

 

These thing have serial numbers that go along with the rebate form, box, etc...

Edited by coggins
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BAMBOOZLE

+BAMBOOZLE

Posted
Posted

I have a question.

 

Most rebates are cash rebates after a unit has been purchased and comes from the manufacturer. What would prevent

someone from paying REI $250, collecting $50 from Garmin and then later returning the unit to REI for a $250 refund thereby making a $50 profit.

 

Just wondering :blink:

Without the UPC, they only refund $199.99 :rolleyes:

 

Besides that would be theft or fraud.

 

These thing have serial numbers that go along with the rebate form, box, etc...

 

I had no intention of doing that, I just wondered what the protections were against it.

Again, while we enjoy having one 450 on the hunt I like to carry a Magellan Platinum or 60 CSx. Yesterday on about 40 hunts the 450 became unresponsive on two or three, all with fairly thick canopy....the older units were dead on all of them.

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