Thrilled with my Oregon 450!

[+TeamPennyFinder]

Previously we had been using an original TomTom One to geocache with. It was great to get us to the area itself by navigating us there. But once there and we would leave the road all bets were off. Well, to be blunt even if it was just about on the road all bets were off due to its inaccuracy. Being off of sometimes about 200' made the search areas very large and it would take a lot of time and energy to make a find. Also you would get writers cramp from writing all the needed information down. LOL!

 

Then we improved our accuracy by using a certain other program coupled with my rooted nook color to get satellite images and also allowed us to go somewhat paperless. Geocaching was getting less tedious for us but we were still lugging about extra items with very limited battery staying power and not meant for the great outdoors. So worry became a factor. Those NC's are not dirt cheap even used.

 

A few days ago I got in the mail a used Oregon 450 that I bought from a member on here from the for sale area. Since I got it I have been chomping at the bit to be able to use it. Due to epilepsy I can not drive so I am basically stuck at the house until the wife gets time off and is not to tired to go geocaching.

 

WOOT! Today we went. She had to do some shopping at Wally World a few towns over. I was already prepped as I had already done a PQ of the area with 1,000 caches. LOL! In high spirits not letting the looming clouds deter me I grabbed up the 450 and few few extra batteries and leapt into the car and off we went. We finally arrived at Wally World and happily I kissed her and wished her luck shopping and I toddled off for my adventure.

 

Firing up the 450 and going to the map screen I was happy to see a few caches right in the area. Zippidy doo dah!

Geocaching profile>pick top one from the list>GO>Compass!

 

Feeling like a true blood hound on a scent I zeroed in on the first. BAM! It was right where the 450 and compass said it was. I am amazed! I entered a field note and picked the next closest. Wow! Another find! Hot dog! I can not believe this! I cannot get over the accuracy as opposed to the TomTom. Excitedly I entered another and took off walking. BLAMMO! Another find. Had to be careful with this one though. A Lil' ole' lady was parked near and kept eye balling me very closely. Finally she looked away and it was mine!

 

Checked for the next closest. Mmm... across the very busy 321. Off I dashed calling the wife on the way. Good, she is still lost ummm shopping in WallyWorld. MM... follow the road or go as the crow flies across a field like the arrow is pointing. I'm a manly man (getting long in the tooth but yet) so across the field I go. Oppsss... MMmmmm... this red clay mud is getting kind of deep, getting my shoes all mucky. I will have to take the time and get all this uhhh stuff off before climbing into the wife's car. (yes, I am a manly man, but a MARRIED manly man and do not enjoy staring into the fiery laser eyes of the looks only a pissed off wife can give) So I start making leaps and bounds from grass clump to grass clump. Finally out of the clay pit and back onto the road. I make yet another find! HOT DOG!

 

Next closest and I am off like a shot. Well, kind of off like a shot. These Ole legs are startingOle to complain a bit. But happily I make another find and am sitting on a curb to sign the log. A van pulls up beside me and a young lady leans out the passenger window with a worried look on her face.

"Sir? Are you okay? Do you need help?"

I laugh and wave to show I am fine and Thank them for their concern. Still looking worried they drive off.

 

I call my wife. She has found her way out of the store and I tell her where I am and she comes and picks me up. I told her about what happened and I ask her,

"Do I look that bad?"

She looks at me and does not answer for a few seconds.

"Yup."

My face crumbles as we drive off.

 

On our way home I leave the 450 on and watch the caches roll by. She senses that I want more and she asks, "Where to?"

 

Grinning I start guiding her knowing we are on a tight time schedule. You see we have doggies in the house that puts us on a timer.

 

I have to say she was pleased with the 450 also when she saw that we did not have to look forever to find 1 cache. She even started getting out of the car and started looking at the 450. I even let her hold it. LOL! She found a few of the caches, her eyes are better than mine. Plus she is good at playing where would she hide something.

 

All in all we wound up with a record shattering day for us.

10 caches! Those were found in the four hours we were out. That includes traveling time and a visit to the Mother-in-Law.

 

Only 1 DNF! Very very very VERY HAPPY!!

[+lamoracke]

I have an Oregon 450T, but I still use my Garmin 60 CSX. I just like the routing better. How do you like the routing aspect? Just seems difficult for me to have to go into settings and switch car mode to distance mode every time I get near the cache area. Maybe I am missing something.

 

Glad you like your new unit!

[+dfx]

Oppsss... MMmmmm... this red clay mud is getting kind of deep, getting my shoes all mucky. I will have to take the time and get all this uhhh stuff off before climbing into the wife's car.

Ah, a very familiar situation. Welcome to the sport

 

Just seems difficult for me to have to go into settings and switch car mode to distance mode every time I get near the cache area. Maybe I am missing something.

I think you are, and the name for that is: profiles.

[+kunarion]

I have an Oregon 450T, but I still use my Garmin 60 CSX. I just like the routing better. How do you like the routing aspect? Just seems difficult for me to have to go into settings and switch car mode to distance mode every time I get near the cache area. Maybe I am missing something.

You can change various "dashboard" items, even change between street routing and "crow flies" distance/bearing, and save all that as a new profile (or save it over an existing one). It may be possible to have everything you need on one screen (there are a bunch of dashboard items to choose). To avoid confusion, I have Automotive for street routing, then switch to the Geocaching Profile for distance/bearing (since I need to not to be directed to a street at that point). It's easier for me to keep them separate.

 

I've cached with a friend who has the 60Csx. I'm always amazed how I'm 20 feet off when he's standing on the cache. Yet he's envious when I save the day on my Oregon with an on-screen cache description or hint.

Edited January 9, 2012 by kunarion

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the GPS and Technology forum.

[+aurght]

I am happy to see you having success. I remember your first frustrated posts. Use your unit and learn its ways. You will cache a long time before you feel the need to change.

[+kentwoodkrew]

Glad to see it is working out well. Did you ever get any useable maps out of mobac? Let me know if you have any questions about the profiles or anything.

Be sure to send me a picture.

The seller

[+TeamPennyFinder]

Hi kentwoodkrew! Thank You so much for selling me this fantastic unit!! As you can see I am very happy with it. As for mobac I did get some maps after I toned it down to a much smaller area. But I found that using the compass feature yesterday was much more satisfying. The only time I would be using the map was when riding down the road or when walking zooming out to see the next closest cache to walk toward before picking it. That way I could pick what direction to head even though there would be a closer cache but in a direction I did not want to go. I may not even do birdseye after how well it did yesterday.

 

aurght, yes I was frustrated at the start. It would take a lot of time just to locate one single cache. But I was still enjoying it. Or thought I was. Now THIS is having fun. LOL! Oh, I forgot to mention. Our last find yesterday was the DNF that was really driving me crazy:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=681f42c6-ae90-44a9-a5d2-f2dbab6fb425

 

lamoracke, I found switching between the profiles pretty straight forward and easy. But I suspect that kentwoodkrew had the different profiles set up perfect for switching between automobile and geocaching.

 

kentwoodkrew again, I do have a question though. I see the routable map I am using is called SE USA. Does that mean that if we were to ever visit my son that lives in IL that I would have to buy some other routable section of a map from garmin?

 

I Love this unit!

[+GeoReapers]

I have a 450 myself and love it, although I know full well that there are so many things I haven't even started to do with it. Figuring out the street routing deal is a big thing that I would love to learn how to do. Basically I just use it right now to get me to where I need and have to figure out the route on my own. Anyone have good advice for getting the most out of my 450?

[eaparks]

Most everything in the Oregon wiki will apply to the Oregon 450. There is a lot of very good information here in all of the Knowledge Base:

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/message/list/home

[+geocat_]

I have an Oregon 450 but I also have the City Navigator® North America NT maps installed on it. I just leave it in the "Geocaching" profile and use the mapping on the unit to get turn by turn routes to the cache or at least to a parking area. Once I am out of the car, I switch it from "calculate on road" to "calculate off road" and then use the map and guidance to walk toward GZ (if I am over .1 miles away) or the compass view to walk to GZ (if I am <.1 mile away). No need to switch between profiles this way.

Edited January 10, 2012 by geoCATing

[+The_Incredibles_]

I have an Oregon 450 but I also have the City Navigator® North America NT maps installed on it. I just leave it in the "Geocaching" profile and use the mapping on the unit to get turn by turn routes to the cache or at least to a parking area. Once I am out of the car, I switch it from "calculate on road" to "calculate off road" and then use the map and guidance to walk toward GZ (if I am over .1 miles away) or the compass view to walk to GZ (if I am <.1 mile away). No need to switch between profiles this way.

 

This is what I do also.

[+Lieblweb]

We have an Oregon 450 also and really enjoy it!! But wow....using it for street navigating? My eyes are old and senile (lol). You guys are hardcore!

 

We have a Nuvi2450 that we use for street navigating (under $200). You can put geocaches in the Nuvi (as POI's). It's nice to search for them in the Nuvi, hit GO.....it'll get you close (to within parking distance). I think the Nuvi will hold thousands & thousands and thousands of geocaches in it (as POI's).

 

Also - something to consider in the future - GSAK. My husband (the techy one) just started using it to load both the Garmin & the Nuvi. GSAK is complex but very powerful tool.