Feelers for Oregon 550 or Explorist 610

[+TeamPennyFinder]

If you look at our gallery you can see that my grand daughter Aryanna has turned out to be a die hard geocacher. We have her about every week end and is now just about stopped using her geomate jr. as she states she has outgrown it. She wants a gps like I have got. (i currently have an Oregon 450) Often times it is just her and I walking from cache to cache as the wife will drop us off at point A and just has us give her a call when we near point B. We will never break and find records or anything, but she loves the thrill of the hunt. (of course swag is a plus also)

 

I am currently torn. Would love a model with the built in camera so I can stop carrying a camera to take pics with. (at my age even lightening the load in the back pack by a few ounces is good lol) Also one less thing to remember to plug into the pc and download from. *sigh*

 

If I am able to upgrade she will get to use the 450 when she is with us. As she tells me so often, she is not a baby anymore, she is a big girl.

[+Dr. Dragon]

Every time you come on here and post your going to get a bias opinion because not everyone uses the two units you are looking at . I currently own the Explorist 710 and love the unit for what I purchased it for. It gives me good road directions to get from where I am to the geocache unlike My Delorme. Though I would not give up my Delorme if you payed me to. To me it seems to keep better satellites in the forest. I have seen many, many other people say how wonderful the Oregon 550 is. Garmin is a much more widely bought system. If you want my opinion, if you have the 450 then go with the unit you know. If you have had problems with the other unit, try a new one. Simple as that.

[+TeamPennyFinder]

Thank You Dr. Dragon (cool screen name),

 

I really love the 450. It is easy to use and was easy to learn. Improved our find rate over the old TomTom we started out with a 1,000 percent. LOL! Aryanna has been drooling over the 450 mainly because she likes the map screen AND the 3-axis electronic compass. When the wife is driving us down the road I have to hold the 450 up so she can also watch it from the back seat to make sure grandpa does not miss seeing a nearby cache. LOL!

 

I cannot believe I missed an entire section of what I was posting about above. Sheesh, having an old man moment I guess.

 

What I am torn between is upgrading what I have to a higher end unit like the 550 or 610. That partly depends on if anyone on here is tired of theirs and can offer me a good deal. If so I can buy it and let Ary use the 450.

 

If not the reason I am torn is because then I would consider getting Ary a lower end unit. Something like the Explorist GC or 310. BUT, what I am worried about is Aryanna noticing that those two units are not even in the ballpark with my 450 and will consider them toys also and rejecting them. (sigh)

 

I cannot stress enough how deeply she is into geocaching. It is approaching being an obsession with her.

[+TeamPennyFinder]

This can be closed as I got a Oregon 550.