Rain and touchscreens

[+giles and family]

I am thinking of buying a new GPS e.g. the Garmin Oregon 450.

The only question I have is how well do the touchscreens perform in the rain.

My only experience is with a touchscreen phone (HTC wildfire) which I struggled with when water got on the screen.

I had to dry it off (and my hands) every time I wanted to select a new cache.

whereas my old ETrex works fine using buttons to select caches etc regardless of rain.

 

Is the Oregon going to be better in the rain than a phone and if not are there any other touchscreen GPSs that work well in the rain

[eaparks]

I can't tell you if the Oregon 450 will be better or worse in the rain but I can tell you about my personal experiences with my Oregon 450.

 

I use it all the time on long distant jetski trips both on freash water rivers and on salt water; also use it on all of my ATV rides. In all instances it is mounted in the open on a RAM Mount. On all of the jetski trips it will get very wet and on an ATV trip just 2 weeks ago I was in a horrific rain storm and I still used the touchscreen without any problems. I have a Zagg screen protector on it and I use the tip or edge of my fingernail to pan or navigate from screen to screen. I find using my fingernail is a lot easier than using the pad of my finger and the fingernail gives more accuracy to panning the map page or positioning the cursor on the GPS screen.

[+Triple Crown]

I am thinking of buying a new GPS e.g. the Garmin Oregon 450.

The only question I have is how well do the touchscreens perform in the rain.

My only experience is with a touchscreen phone (HTC wildfire) which I struggled with when water got on the screen.

I had to dry it off (and my hands) every time I wanted to select a new cache.

whereas my old ETrex works fine using buttons to select caches etc regardless of rain.

 

Is the Oregon going to be better in the rain than a phone and if not are there any other touchscreen GPSs that work well in the rain

 

The touchscreen on hiking GPS units is totally different than those on smartphones or tablets. It takes a lot more pressure to register an input, and it will work when wet or even underwater. That said, get a Zagg invisible shield or similar screen protector to keep your screen clear and easy to read. Because caching takes you out into the woods, you will be dropping your Oregon, face down, on gravel. With a screen protector, it doesn't matter.

[+DyverDown]

Sage advice.... the touchscreen on the Oregon works fine, wet or dry.....even nearly frozen in -26 temperatures...

 

As for the screen protectors I can't say enough about them either.... it saved my GPS and a friends from certain death... BUY ONE

 

DD

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

Smartphones use a capacitive touchscreen, sensitive to the slightest touch. Handheld GPS units use a resistive touchscreen which takes a bit more pressure. Works fine when wet.

[team tisri]

I am thinking of buying a new GPS e.g. the Garmin Oregon 450.

The only question I have is how well do the touchscreens perform in the rain.

My only experience is with a touchscreen phone (HTC wildfire) which I struggled with when water got on the screen.

I had to dry it off (and my hands) every time I wanted to select a new cache.

whereas my old ETrex works fine using buttons to select caches etc regardless of rain.

 

Is the Oregon going to be better in the rain than a phone and if not are there any other touchscreen GPSs that work well in the rain

 

I've used my Montana mounted on the handlebars of my bike and cycled through everything from blazing sunshine to hailstorms. If extremely bright light hits it at just the wrong angle it reflects and is hard to read but a well placed hand casts some shade and solves the problem. When it's covered with raindrops the refraction through the raindrops makes the screen hard to read, but a quick wipe down with one finger solves the problem.

 

In the dark the screen is hard to read, but that's what the backlight is for...

[+giles and family]

Thanks for all the replies

Very helpful