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New Garmin Oregon 600 Series


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Batch deletion...Once you select all the waypoints you want to delete, all you have to do is tap the red delete button at the top.

Sure hope there's an 'Are your sure you want to do this?' message box. :)

How about batch renaming?

 

There IS an "Are You Sure" dialogue screen when you go to delete your waypoints.

 

No batch renaming that I can find. You could probably do that in BaseCamp?

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Several more hours of configuring and accessing menu's and I simply cannot find an issue, bug, concern, whatever you want to call it and believe me, I'm trying to find one. If the Oregon 600 never get's another software update it will be fine with me. For once, I don't feel like a beta tester upon product release!

 

 

Wow really? That might tempt me to get one :)

 

Really! After updating to WebUpdater v2.60 and a hard reset I haven't had a freeze, hang, shut-down, or glitch yet. No apparent bugs either. I'm sure, over time, once thousands get their hands on one that a few things will surface but I've been running it through it's paces and I haven't found one yet.

Edited by yogazoo
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I have a question regarding this gps unit. What is the advantage of having the built in camera and would it be worth the increase in price? I'm actually leaning toward the 600 and buying any additional maps I would need. Thanks for your help and I look forward to the replies.

 

1) The camera will come in useful for earthcaches where you are asked to prove your visit with a photo, or when you want to record details of the cache or cache location.

2) But the 650 also comes the rechargeable battery pack as standard (and although it can be added to a 600, Garmin UK aren't showing a price for it yet so doesn't seem available here yet) and also 3.5GB of memory rather than 1.5GB.

 

I'm waiting for the 650 to arrive as IMHO the extras are worth the delayed delivery and higher cost.

 

Chris

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Hi

 

Hope this isn't a daft but has been bugging me for a while....

 

So the Oregon 600/650 can hold "unlimited" geocaches, but how do you get them off of geocaching.com when the pocket queries are max 1000.

 

Thanks

 

Ps screenshots are great thanks. Any chance of a video ?

 

Nick

 

The "unlimited" geocaches feature refers to Garmin's plan to supply geocaches in a .GGZ file from their own website. So far this is still vapourware and hasn't yet been demonstrated as far as I know.

 

However the 600 series will also hold 12,000 geocaches using .GPX files. You can presumably load 12 PQs using different file names to fill the Oregon 600/650, or use GSAK to handle your PQs, and then combine the 12,000 geocaches you want to find into a single file for the Oregon.

 

Chris

Edited by Matthew 7:7 Too
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Does this new unit still erroneously record the extra mileage and track between power cycles / location changes like all of the earlier generations do?

 

NO! What's interesting about this new unit is that the track distance appears to be compiled using trip data (once per second) regardless of the actual distance or frequency of the track points. In other words, your track distance data is only recorded when you have it going and it is recorded at once per second even if you have it set to once (one track point) every 5 minutes. And to answer your specific question, no the unit does not record the distance between power cycles even if you move a great distance.

 

It does draw the straight line from the last known location if the tracklog is disabled but it separates once you begin recording again. So you won't have straight lines all over the place.

 

The days of tracklogs differing from trip data due to a setting like "Most Often" truncating track distance are gone. Tracks are handled very differently, much improved, over any previous unit I've used.

Edited by yogazoo
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No batch renaming that I can find. You could probably do that in BaseCamp?

No thanks. BaseCamp has its own waypoint naming limitations, e.g.: not allowing identically named points even if in different folders.

Thanks for your deliberate attention to all of our questions. I'm surprised that you have time to play with the unit. :)

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1) The camera will come in useful for earthcaches where you are asked to prove your visit with a photo, or when you want to record details of the cache or cache location.

2) But the 650 also comes the rechargeable battery pack as standard (and although it can be added to a 600, Garmin UK aren't showing a price for it yet so doesn't seem available here yet) and also 3.5GB of memory rather than 1.5GB.

 

I'm waiting for the 650 to arrive as IMHO the extras are worth the delayed delivery and higher cost.

 

Chris

Good points about the battery and memory, thank you for pointing that out.

Edited by Alewood
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I always advise screen protection. I had a ZAGG screen protector waiting to be cut to fit before I received my unit. I always protect my electronics regardless of screen material. That said, the material on the Oregon 6xx appears to be some type of ultra-hardened plastic. It could be glass I suppose but regardless of material, it will scratch eventually if not protected.

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Has anyone tested the bluetooth connectivity yet? I am asking because there are nearly no details available what this means e.g. for transfering .GPX data from smartphone to the oregon. Is it only possible with the garmin iphone app or does it support standard bluetooth profiles?

 

It would be incredibly smart to retrieve cache descriptions as GPX files on a smartphone out in the field and to transfer them via bluetooth to the oregon.

Edited by Schatzfinder
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Has anyone tested the bluetooth connectivity yet? I am asking because there are nearly no details available what this means e.g. for transfering .GPX data from smartphone to the oregon. Is it only possible with the garmin iphone app or does it support standard bluetooth profiles?

 

It would be incredibly smart to retrieve cache descriptions as GPX files on a smartphone out in the field and to transfer them via bluetooth to the oregon.

 

So far, it only supports Basecamp Mobile and other Oregon 600s. Not sure exactly what Bluetooth profile is used though. I'll need to dig through some diagnostics to find out.

 

On the iOS end, it is kinda annoying that you can't send GPX files to Basecamp Mobile from other apps. It prevents that exact scenario. Makes it mostly useful for moving between Garmin servers and the Oregon.

Edited by Kolenka
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...On the iOS end, it is kinda annoying that you can't send GPX files to Basecamp Mobile from other apps. It prevents that exact scenario. Makes it mostly useful for moving between Garmin servers and the Oregon. ...

Dang, that was the one thing I *wanted* it to do. It would have been so easy for Garmin to add a hook to "Open With... (Basecamp)" for GPX files downloaded via web pages or email messages.

 

Can you go the other way is there an iOS or Android supported way to push GPX files you have up to Garmin's cloud so you can turn around and download them back into Basecamp and your Oregon?

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Dang, that was the one thing I *wanted* it to do. It would have been so easy for Garmin to add a hook to "Open With... (Basecamp)" for GPX files downloaded via web pages or email messages.

 

Yeup. I was hoping for that exact behavior, but it doesn't work. Since Basecamp Mobile is a free download, you can actually play a bit with the "cloud" functionality without a 600 to see how it behaves. But it is a simple enough feature that we can request it and see what happens. We aren't exactly asking for the moon.

 

Can you go the other way is there an iOS or Android supported way to push GPX files you have up to Garmin's cloud so you can turn around and download them back into Basecamp and your Oregon?

 

Basecamp Mobile is it. It's the only app I know of that can talk with Garmin's servers. :(

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I've read that Garmin is looking into an android app. The GPS works great but the bluetooth options are limited at the moment if you don't own an Apple product. I guess with a lack of bugs and issues we need something to gripe about huh? :)

Edited by yogazoo
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I look forward to hearing from other early adopters. Kolenka, did you perform a hard reset after you upgraded to v2.60? If not you probably should just to clear all any beta residual stuff out.

 

I've trimmed down the maps a bit and done a reset, and can't reproduce the bug with the 3D map view anymore. The other two crashes I got were not reproducible at all, and came up because the device got into a weird state. 2.60 does look to be about as stable as the 450 on current firmware overall so far. But edge cases might still be a problem:

 

There is one repeatable bug I'm hitting which may be Mac-only that I'll be reporting. When ejecting the SD card on the Mac, it remounts both the internal memory and the SD card. I can reproduce it 100% of the time, but only happens when the SD card is ejected. Ejecting the internal memory by itself is fine. Thankfully I haven't had any data corruption from this on the SD card.. yet, anyhow.

 

As another note, the touch screen will behave oddly in the rain as some suspected. Light rain will make it a bit harder to use some gestures (still easier than the 450 in my opinion). Really heavy rain will start to introduce spurious touches, so locking the screen when in a really heavy downpour is probably a good idea.

 

Still, the 600 is in, the 450 will need to find a new home. The device is pretty much what I wanted and needed it to be.

 

I've read that Garmin is looking into an android app. The GPS works great but the bluetooth options are limited at the moment if you don't own an Apple product. I guess with a lack of bugs and issues we need something to gripe about huh? :)

 

Even the iOS app isn't quite featured enough to be terribly helpful (yet). It's really just a bridge between Garmin's cloud storage and the Oregon 600, and a viewer for that data. If I could, say, grab a GPX from a website and send it to the Oregon at the trail head, it'd be a very useful tool for that one feature alone. Without it, the usefulness is more limited.

 

How? I don't see any way to do anything without a connected device.

 

It can interact with the Garmin cloud data without a device connected. So you can view, delete, and do some superficial editing on the iPhone.

 

Are these units in stores yet?

 

The Sacramento REI has the 600t in stock, but I don't think they have the stock for display models just yet. Not when REI just got stock to start filling back-orders on Thursday (online orders, specifically). Everyone else is expecting their stock early next week for their online orders, and I haven't seen any other chain even hinting that they will carry them in brick and mortar locations yet.

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...when ejecting the SD card on the Mac, it remounts both the internal memory and the SD card. I can reproduce it 100% of the time, but only happens when the SD card is ejected. Ejecting the internal memory by itself is fine. Thankfully I haven't had any data corruption from this on the SD card.. yet, anyhow.

That sounds vaguely familiar and may not be new. Mac specific, I've had similar behaviour from other devices with memory cards - cameras and GPSRs.

 

How? I don't see any way to do anything without a connected device.

It can interact with the Garmin cloud data without a device connected. So you can view, delete, and do some superficial editing on the iPhone.

But I don't already have content in myGarmin. How do you get it there to begin with?

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That sounds vaguely familiar and may not be new. Mac specific, I've had similar behaviour from other devices with memory cards - cameras and GPSRs.

 

I didn't see this with the Oregon 450, Explorist 610 or an eTrex 20. It is also the only device I've run into that is forcibly remounting itself on eject. If I run into issues, usually it is because they refuse to eject at all.

 

But I don't already have content in myGarmin. How do you get it there to begin with?

 

Basecamp on the desktop.

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Yogazoo, Kolenka and whoever else may have gotten their hands on one of these new units:

 

How does the accuracy seem to be (with GLONASS) and how long does the unit take to load all those satellites? Is the compass accurate and responsive?

 

Thanks for all the helpful feedback you guys have been giving on the 600's! I definitely am looking at one to supplement my aging 60CSx.

Edited by bikebill77
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I have a question regarding this gps unit. What is the advantage of having the built in camera and would it be worth the increase in price? I'm actually leaning toward the 600 and buying any additional maps I would need. Thanks for your help and I look forward to the replies.

 

I have been using the camera on my (old) 550 for taking snapshots of the surroundings of a found geocache. Such a picture will be used within the log. Since you will also receive the optional accu-pack, it's well worth the value. I found a website (in the Netherlands) that sell the Oregon 600 for €380 en the Oregon 650 for €389. Wow, a difference of 9 euros ... :lol:

 

Eric

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Yogazoo, Kolenka and whoever else may have gotten their hands on one of these new units:

 

How does the accuracy seem to be (with GLONASS) and how long does the unit take to load all those satellites? Is the compass accurate and responsive?

 

Thanks for all the helpful feedback you guys have been giving on the 600's! I definitely am looking at one to supplement my aging 60CSx.

 

Glosmass does NOT make the gps more accurate.

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Glosmass does NOT make the gps more accurate.

 

Why do you say that?

 

Others have reported that having twice as many satellites to see gives a more accurate fix when you only have a restricted view of the sky - such as when you are in a deep valley or between tall buildings. And there is also a suggestion that GLONASS gives better coverage in Northern latitudes as it is designed to give a better coverage in Russia!

 

Chris

Edited by Matthew 7:7 Too
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GPS is more accurate then Glosnass.

A better coverage = more satellites is not the same as more accurate.

If you have no to little reception in an (urban) canyon, or any other difficult conditions, now you might receive Glosnaas having the possibility of a sat fix.

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you can also mark Waypoints from within BaseCamp Moble.
i haven't been able to figure out how to do anything with it at all yet. I may be repeating myself here, but K. Is saying you can try out some of these features in BCM without actually pairing it to a Garmin device but I can't see how. Edited by user13371
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Glosmass does NOT make the gps more accurate.

 

Well all I can add is that my experience with GLONASS shows that it does, with the caveat that I'm in the UK so have good GLONASS coverage. With GPS+GLONASS on my Etrex 20 it puts me far closer to known points than if just GPS is selected.

 

According to Russian System of Differentional Correction and Monitoring's data, as of 2010, precisions of GLONASS navigation definitions (for p=0.95) for latitude and longitude were 4.46—7.38 m with mean number of NSV equals 7—8 (depending on station). In comparison, the same time precisions of GPS navigation definitions were 2.00—8.76 m with mean number of NSV equals 6—11 (depending on station). Civilian GLONASS used alone is therefore very slightly less accurate than GPS. On high latitudes (north or south), GLONASS' accuracy is better than that of GPS due to the orbital position of the satellites.

 

Some modern receivers are able to use both GLONASS and GPS satellites together, providing greatly improved coverage in urban canyons and giving a very fast time to fix due to over 50 satellites being available. In indoor, urban canyon or mountainous areas, accuracy can be greatly improved over using GPS alone. Using both navigation systems simultaneously, precisions of GLONASS/GPS navigation definitions were 2.37—4.65 m with mean number of NSV equals 14—19 (depends on station).

 

Chris

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Hi

 

Hope this isn't a daft but has been bugging me for a while....

 

So the Oregon 600/650 can hold "unlimited" geocaches, but how do you get them off of geocaching.com when the pocket queries are max 1000.

 

Thanks

 

Ps screenshots are great thanks. Any chance of a video ?

 

Nick

 

The "unlimited" geocaches feature refers to Garmin's plan to supply geocaches in a .GGZ file from their own website. So far this is still vapourware and hasn't yet been demonstrated as far as I know.

 

However the 600 series will also hold 12,000 geocaches using .GPX files. You can presumably load 12 PQs using different file names to fill the Oregon 600/650, or use GSAK to handle your PQs, and then combine the 12,000 geocaches you want to find into a single file for the Oregon.

 

Chris

 

You can load "unlimited" geocaches using GPX files alone. I've got ~50,000 loaded exclusively by GPX files taken from a combination of sources including some local cachers' old pocket queries.

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Glosmass does NOT make the gps more accurate.

 

I was of the same opinion until I actually ran some tests on my Oregon 600. I recorded 6 tracklogs with GLONASS and six with just GPS+WAAS (12 total). The stretch was along a sidewalk through town with 3 story buildings on either side. I staggered the tracks, one GLONASS, one GPS+WAAS. It is very clear, after looking at both sets, that GLONASS does indeed increase accuracy in challenging situations such as urban or natural canyons. In the open with a clear view of the sky they were indiscernible. In certain situations yes, GLONASS does make your unit more accurate.

Edited by yogazoo
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Yogazoo, Kolenka and whoever else may have gotten their hands on one of these new units:

 

How does the accuracy seem to be (with GLONASS) and how long does the unit take to load all those satellites? Is the compass accurate and responsive?

 

Thanks for all the helpful feedback you guys have been giving on the 600's! I definitely am looking at one to supplement my aging 60CSx.

 

The compass is accurate and very responsive in my tests. Of course you have to calibrate when changing batteries but that's a given. What is noticeable was how the compass on the geocaching dashboard was just as responsive as the main compass. I remember on the Montana it was a bit jumpy and slow. Again, I have not experience any sticky issue in all of my testing. The compass almost always points in the direction you'd expect and the distance to destination is stable and doesn't stick.

 

As for GLONASS, I get GLONASS sats right away and all the time. I am typically able to receive around 20 total satellites (sometimes 24!). It works very well and as mentioned above, I have seen a great benefit when in urban or natural canyons.

Edited by yogazoo
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you can also mark Waypoints from within BaseCamp Moble.
i haven't been able to figure out how to do anything with it at all yet. I may be repeating myself here, but K. Is saying you can try out some of these features in BCM without actually pairing it to a Garmin device but I can't see how.

All I'm doing is going to the My Collection button on the bottom Left of the screen, then the Edit button on the top right, then the + button on the bottom left to get the New Waypoint screen. zoom, pan, tap the crosshairs to mark and then the next button to add the Name, description and symbol, then the save button saves it to the cloud.

 

1366642125.jpg

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You can load "unlimited" geocaches using GPX files alone. I've got ~50,000 loaded exclusively by GPX files taken from a combination of sources including some local cachers' old pocket queries.

 

That's interesting... are they all stored as geocaches and giving you full access to their descriptions, logs, hints pictures etc via the geocaching application? Or are they stored as POIs? (It would help if Garmin would publish the technical details of this new GPSr!)

 

Chris

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That's interesting... are they all stored as geocaches and giving you full access to their descriptions, logs, hints pictures etc via the geocaching application? Or are they stored as POIs? (It would help if Garmin would publish the technical details of this new GPSr!)

 

Chris

 

Stored as geocaches accessed through the geocaching application.

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That's interesting... are they all stored as geocaches and giving you full access to their descriptions, logs, hints pictures etc via the geocaching application? Or are they stored as POIs? (It would help if Garmin would publish the technical details of this new GPSr!)

 

Chris

 

Stored as geocaches accessed through the geocaching application.

 

Wow that's incredible!! Now all we have to do is find a way to keep them up to date :)

 

Chris

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That's interesting... are they all stored as geocaches and giving you full access to their descriptions, logs, hints pictures etc via the geocaching application? Or are they stored as POIs? (It would help if Garmin would publish the technical details of this new GPSr!)

 

Chris

 

Stored as geocaches accessed through the geocaching application.

 

Wow that's incredible!! Now all we have to do is find a way to keep them up to date :)

 

Chris

 

Yep, stored as geocaches. Sadly, the pocket queries of the entire state of Nevada that I have are about a year old. I don't plan on going to Nevada any time soon, but the notion that I have them all is really cool.

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The compass is accurate and very responsive in my tests. Of course you have to calibrate when changing batteries but that's a given. What is noticeable was how the compass on the geocaching dashboard was just as responsive as the main compass. I remember on the Montana it was a bit jumpy and slow. Again, I have not experience any sticky issue in all of my testing. The compass almost always points in the direction you'd expect and the distance to destination is stable and doesn't stick.

 

 

I was wondering if you still needed to recalibrate the compass after changing batteries. The manual states that "Your device was already calibrated at the factory, and the device uses automatic calibration by default. If you experience irregular compass behavior, for example after moving long distances or after extreme temperature changes, you can manually cailbrate the compass." I took this to mean that we'd be spared this chore now.

 

I also wonder if you'd need to recalbrate the compass if you recharge the battery pack in situ without removing it or running it flat?

 

Chris

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I was wondering if you still needed to recalibrate the compass after changing batteries. The manual states that "Your device was already calibrated at the factory, and the device uses automatic calibration by default. If you experience irregular compass behavior, for example after moving long distances or after extreme temperature changes, you can manually cailbrate the compass." I took this to mean that we'd be spared this chore now.

 

I also wonder if you'd need to recalbrate the compass if you recharge the battery pack in situ without removing it or running it flat?

 

Chris

 

I always recalibrate the compass before taking a reading. I haven't noticed any strange behavior such as the compass pointing in the wrong direction. I've just always, and will continue to, calibrate before using "Site and Go" for example to ensure that I'm getting the most accurate readings. It may indeed work as described by Garmin.

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As for GLONASS, I get GLONASS sats right away and all the time. I am typically able to receive around 20 total satellites (sometimes 24!). It works very well and as mentioned above, I have seen a great benefit when in urban or natural canyons.

 

Having the GLONASS satellites is definitely helpful for keeping a more stable lock. Although it does seem like if you have a strong enough lock with GPS alone, it will refuse to lock to the GLONASS satellites. For example, I had a really strong lock and about 9-11ft accuracy while at work. The unit was locked happily to 14 GPS sats, and I had 8 GLONASS sats visible. But it refused to actually lock on any of the 8 GLONASS sats. Those 8 just kept flashing with zero signal. Unfortunately, I can't confirm 100% what flashing on the satellite screen actually means due to lack of documentation on it, but as far as I can tell it means "I know this satellite should be there, but I'm not getting a signal, or I'm ignoring that signal".

 

But yes, any time you dip below some number of GPS satellites, it will happily use GLONASS to get a stronger lock than it would normally have. So when you already have very strong GPS signal, GLONASS won't help you. But if you have a weaker signal, the GLONASS satellites help by filling the gap and providing more data to get a better lock on your position.

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