I have a new Oregon 450 and have a few questions

[+Team Bubaloo]

Hi,

I have recently upgraded from an iPhone to a Oregon 450- the reason being I want to do some caching in Norway and when I go on holiday so thought proper GPS would a good idea so I don't have a massive bill.

 

I have a few questions and hope you can help...

 

1. Can you recommend anywhere to get free maps to load on Garmin- for uk and Norway ( any information on the format i need to down load would be great.

2. With the Oregon 450 do I have to load the caches on to the device one at time or can I send like 1000 based on postcode - and if so how do I do this? I have messed around but have been unsuccessful

3. Is there any way I can look at the Oregon whilst it's charging in my computer as it stays on the charging screen?

 

Also I don't know if it is important but i have a mac not pc??

 

Any tips or advice you could give me in preparation for using the new Oregon in Norway would be really helpful and appreciated.

 

Many Thanks

 

Natalie

Edited August 8, 2012 by Team Bubaloo

[+kunarion]

1. Can you recommend anywhere to get free maps to load on Garmin- for uk and Norway ( any information on the format i need to down load would be great.

2. With the Oregon 450 do I have to load the caches on to the device one at time or can I send like 1000 based on postcode - and if so how do I do this? I have messed around but have been unsuccessful

3. Is there any way I can look at the Oregon whilst it's charging in my computer as it stays on the charging screen?

The Garmin Oregon Wiki has all the details on how to load Geocaches. You'll use "Pocket Queries" which are easy to do and you can get 1000 at a time. The 450 can access 2500 stored caches. http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Geocaching

In your Profile on Geocaching.com, there's also some info about Pocket Queries.

 

When it's plugged into USB, it becomes a USB drive, so you can move files, but not much else.

 

I don't know about the maps.

Edited August 9, 2012 by kunarion

[+Chief301]

The Oregon shows up as a drive on your computer when it's plugged in....actually it shows up as two drives, I think. One I believe handles GPX files (your Pocket Query downloads) and the other handles waypoints and maps.

 

One thing you must understand about the Garmin Oregon is that waypoints and Geocaches are handled completely differently...they're two seperate things. That can be a little confusing at first until you get a feel for how each is managed.

 

Also, when you have the unit plugged in to the USB drive it is not charging. The Oregon can use rechargeable AA batteries but they won't charge in the unit, you have to take them out and charge them in an external battery charger.

[+phlatlander]

Maps? Check out http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ Take the time to figure out how the tiles work. On my 550 I have Canada, Mexico, USA, England(from TalkyToaster), Barbados, Cuba, most of Italy, Germany and Spain, and city maps of Budapest and Prague. Of course I have an 8gb micro sd.

 

Purchase a micro sd card (minimum 4gb) Store everything you add to the sd card; geocaches, waypoints, maps, custom gpx files, photos (I think the 450 will process geotagged photos). BTW, the 450 will process gpx and csv files.

 

In addition to the previous advice from kunarion about the Oregon Wiki (great info and forums), keep reading and searching this website and you will pick up lots of info.

[+Chief301]

Maps? Check out http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ Take the time to figure out how the tiles work. On my 550 I have Canada, Mexico, USA, England(from TalkyToaster), Barbados, Cuba, most of Italy, Germany and Spain, and city maps of Budapest and Prague. Of course I have an 8gb micro sd.

 

Purchase a micro sd card (minimum 4gb) Store everything you add to the sd card; geocaches, waypoints, maps, custom gpx files, photos (I think the 450 will process geotagged photos). BTW, the 450 will process gpx and csv files.

 

In addition to the previous advice from kunarion about the Oregon Wiki (great info and forums), keep reading and searching this website and you will pick up lots of info.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about the SD card....that's why it shows up as two drives. One is the internal memory of the unit and the other is the SD card.

[+Team Bubaloo]

Thank you SO much for all of these responses. Will check out talkytoasty and get myself a 4gb card.

 

As you guessed I am already a little but confused about waypoints and geocaches - I'm guessing a 'waypoint' is the cache? but not sure... anyway will have a look on the wiki page and if I have any problems come back here

Thanks again.

Can't wait to try some overseas caches

[+Lieblweb]

Just an FYI - you don't need an SD card to utilize the 450. YOu can load the files directly into the unit on the internal memory. My husband and I never use an SD card. The GPS will only process a certain amount of waypoints/caches at any given time whether its in the internal memory or the SD card. So, in other words....you can't load 5,000 geocaches into the internal memory and expect to add 5,000 more via the SD card.

 

We haven't really seen a benefit to the SD card other than having a backup of the current data OR having a completely different set of data with you for later usage. But that's what we've experienced....

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Just an FYI - you don't need an SD card to utilize the 450. YOu can load the files directly into the unit on the internal memory. My husband and I never use an SD card. The GPS will only process a certain amount of waypoints/caches at any given time whether its in the internal memory or the SD card. So, in other words....you can't load 5,000 geocaches into the internal memory and expect to add 5,000 more via the SD card.

 

We haven't really seen a benefit to the SD card other than having a backup of the current data OR having a completely different set of data with you for later usage. But that's what we've experienced....

 

As said the 450 will hold 5000 caches....most I've had loaded is 4500.

I also put the caches in memory as I buy the Garmin City Nav on a SD card....fast, works great, and has hotels, restaurants, parks, etc.

[+kwcahart]

Hmmmmmmm? I have around 8000 caches on my 450 right now. I use the SD card for different maps. If I go to a different state or country I just pop in a different card. Yeah, I know I could put them all on one but I just don't want to do that just in case an SD card goes bad. I put my .gpx files on my Garmin and the maps on the SD cards. It just amounts to personal preference, just how you like to do it. I travel in my work and I never know where I may end up, so sometimes I have 14 different PQ's on my 450, and several of them have 1000 caches in them.

[savant9]

Hmmmmmmm? I have around 8000 caches on my 450 right now. I use the SD card for different maps. If I go to a different state or country I just pop in a different card. Yeah, I know I could put them all on one but I just don't want to do that just in case an SD card goes bad. I put my .gpx files on my Garmin and the maps on the SD cards. It just amounts to personal preference, just how you like to do it. I travel in my work and I never know where I may end up, so sometimes I have 14 different PQ's on my 450, and several of them have 1000 caches in them.

 

The OR 450 cannot display 8000, if you have that many loaded, some are culled. 5000 is the max, so its best to load just under that amount.

[+Team Bubaloo]

For UK maps go to www.talkytoaster.info ... most cachers use them and Martin (aka talkytoaster) is a prolific cacher himself

 

Thanks for all this advice.

 

I have been on talkytoaster and downloaded a map think I just need convertor or something to actually get in on my Oregon as it is in a file that I can't open.. Is this normal?!!

[+Team Bubaloo]

Just an FYI - you don't need an SD card to utilize the 450. YOu can load the files directly into the unit on the internal memory. My husband and I never use an SD card. The GPS will only process a certain amount of waypoints/caches at any given time whether its in the internal memory or the SD card. So, in other words....you can't load 5,000 geocaches into the internal memory and expect to add 5,000 more via the SD card.

 

We haven't really seen a benefit to the SD card other than having a backup of the current data OR having a completely different set of data with you for later usage. But that's what we've experienced....

 

As said the 450 will hold 5000 caches....most I've had loaded is 4500.

I also put the caches in memory as I buy the Garmin City Nav on a SD card....fast, works great, and has hotels, restaurants, parks, etc.

 

Thanks for the info I was thinking I might need an SD but looks like I won't need one just yet!

[+kwcahart]

I just counted mine and I do have 6400 loaded right now. They are in several different PQ's of course. I don't think the 5000 limit is correct just because someone says it is.

[+Atlas Cached]

I just counted mine and I do have 6400 loaded right now. They are in several different PQ's of course. I don't think the 5000 limit is correct just because someone says it is.

 

You can load as many geocaches onto your Oregon as you wish. And you can count them one by one as many times as you like.

 

However, nothing you do will change the fact that the Oregon firmware will stop indexing geocaches loaded on the device when it reaches the internally coded maximum of 5000.

 

Not just because someone says so... but because Garmin wrote the firmware so.

 

So go ahead, keep loading 6000, 12000, or as many caches as you like on your Oregon.

 

You will never have access to more than 5000 of them at any one time, regardless of where they are stored or how many *.gpx files they are separated into.

[+kwcahart]

That's okay. I only need access to one cache at a time.