+splashy Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 There might be a screwup between launching the Oregon 600, a new model called Monterra (should be working on Android) and a coming Garmin Android app. Maybe all 3 have to work together in one way or another, maybe they want to launch them at the same moment, maybe they want Android on the Oregon 600, who knows. Quote Link to comment
+Matthew 7:7 Too Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 I was wondering whether to replace my Oregon 400t or buy a new camera lens. Guess the camera lens has won now, and the new Oregon will have to wait until Christmas (when hopefully the major bugs will have been sorted and the price discounts arrived!) Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 The Monterre must be getting close. Amazon has a product number and you can sign up to be notified when it is available. Quote Link to comment
+sufferin succocache Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Go outdoors in the UK have now changed expected due date from end of March to end of April. Could be just another guess by them. Quote Link to comment
+Matthew 7:7 Too Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Meanwhile Garmin UK claim it will be available in the 1st quarter of 2013! You'd think they would have an up to date picture wouldn't you?? And know that the 1st quarter ended on the 31st of Match according to my calender!! Quote Link to comment
+Team-H :) Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 When I sent an email to Garmin support a week or so ago they replied: "From what I understand the devices should ship in the month of April. It was listed as first quarter which means between April and June." So no, I don't think they know that Q1 ended in March! Quote Link to comment
+lensgrabber Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 The Monterre must be getting close. Amazon has a product number and you can sign up to be notified when it is available. What is the Monterre? I can't find anything abou it. Quote Link to comment
+larryc43230 Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 The Monterre must be getting close. Amazon has a product number and you can sign up to be notified when it is available. What is the Monterre? I can't find anything abou it. The correct spelling is Monterra. I don't know much about it other than this incomplete listing on Amazon. --Larry Quote Link to comment
+Matthew 7:7 Too Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 First quarter of the financial year is April to June, guess they use that rather than the calendar year. Given that map updates run from April to March it's perhaps not surprising Well that would make sense if they were talking about the financial year 2013/14 and not the "1st quarter 2103" Chris Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 (edited) Re: Monterra Item Weight 1.5 pounds Product Dimensions 6.4 x 3.3 x 6.4 inches Item model number 010-01065-00 Batteries: 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included) Display Size 4 Battery Life 16 hours This thing sounds like a small cinder block. edit: Ah... The Oregon 650t lists at 1.3 lbs and 5.5 x 3.4 x 6.5 inches, so this is clearly about packaging size. Edited April 8, 2013 by DragonsWest Quote Link to comment
+Ruby Reed Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 I contacted Customer Services at Go Outdoors in the UK to find out when they expected the 600 series to be available and they responded with. 'We are expecting the Garmin Oregon GPS systems to be delivered to customers approx mid April going on towards the end of April. They have been delayed due to an unexpected problem with Garmins shipping and distribution.' Quote Link to comment
+gulo Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 I contacted Customer Services at Go Outdoors in the UK to find out when they expected the 600 series to be available and they responded with. 'We are expecting the Garmin Oregon GPS systems to be delivered to customers approx mid April going on towards the end of April. They have been delayed due to an unexpected problem with Garmins shipping and distribution.' so what is it ? distribution issues ? firmware issues ? manufacturing issues ? waiting on Monterra ? Quote Link to comment
+TAZ427 Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 You probably didn't notice they don't show as caches. The 650 has a 12K limit. You use GSAK to make a POI file and load that. Is that a 12K limit for geocaches, as in caches in GPX files? --Larry Apparently so. The Montana has the same limit. I was hoping there'd be some info on a GPX>GGZ tool. GGZ so far remains a mystery. Yeah, that's the basic reply I got back from a Garmin Rep. 12K GPX file limitation still applies, but hey you can do 4M caches in our new proprietary standard .ggz that nobody knows what the heck it is, but if you go with our Opencaching which has like 50 caches on it for your area, you can download up to 4M caches to put on our GPS unit. Trust us. Ok, a bit of paraphrasing in that, but dadgum this is a bit of bait and switch until they have a way for others to create .ggz files. The folks at GSAK said they would PROBABLY be able to do it if Garmin releases the spec's/definition for .ggz files. Until there's a tool for generating .ggz files then this isn't working for me. Sorry POI's only don't cut it for me when geocaching on a GPSr. Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 I contacted Customer Services at Go Outdoors in the UK to find out when they expected the 600 series to be available and they responded with. 'We are expecting the Garmin Oregon GPS systems to be delivered to customers approx mid April going on towards the end of April. They have been delayed due to an unexpected problem with Garmins shipping and distribution.' so what is it ? distribution issues ? firmware issues ? manufacturing issues ? waiting on Monterra ? If it looks like a fish and smells like a fish it's probably a fish. All I can think is some logistics company, somewhere is pulling the units from packages, loading some updated firmware, repacking end putting in cartons to send out to distribution. I worked in logistics and this is what it "feels" like is going on -- Garmin identified a serious problem and is reloading firmware before shipping. Serious enough they'll suffer the delay now rather then the slings and arrows of critical reviews later. Quote Link to comment
+gulo Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 (edited) If it looks like a fish and smells like a fish it's probably a fish. All I can think is some logistics company, somewhere is pulling the units from packages, loading some updated firmware, repacking end putting in cartons to send out to distribution. I worked in logistics and this is what it "feels" like is going on -- Garmin identified a serious problem and is reloading firmware before shipping. Serious enough they'll suffer the delay now rather then the slings and arrows of critical reviews later. ok garmin, can you please send my unit right away ? I will be happy to upgrade the firmware myself Edited April 8, 2013 by gulo Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Don't worry.... I'm sure Mr. Lipe will have a converter built for the new format once he gets a sample file to look at. Quote Link to comment
+TAZ427 Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Don't worry.... I'm sure Mr. Lipe will have a converter built for the new format once he gets a sample file to look at. Assuming it's some sort of xml or similar script, I'd agree with that line of thought. If there's some sort of encoding or encryption on top, that may prove to be a different matter. I'll bide my time, twiddle my thumbs and keep caching w/ c:geo on my phone and Oregon 400t until I see something working from him, before I buy a 600 series. Quote Link to comment
+NevaP Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 eMail from Amazon this AM. New shipping date for Oregon 600T June 24. Sorry for any inconvenience. Well the 62S is still performing just fine. It will serve for late April trip to AZ and mid June trip to SD. Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 If there's some sort of encoding or encryption on top, that may prove to be a different matter. I really don't think that will slow him down considering he already has converters for every format out there.... Quote Link to comment
Pacific NW Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 I really hope Garmin is spending the time to make sure the firmware is right. I don't think I want to be an early adopter this time around based on how things have worked in the past. Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 If there's some sort of encoding or encryption on top, that may prove to be a different matter. I really don't think that will slow him down considering he already has converters for every format out there.... I've seen informal specs and frankly, I hope they revisit some of their decisions before it's final. That's probably about all I'm likely to say until it's public since I'm already on record as being skeptical. It wouldn't be terribly hard to create a PQ->GGZ converter with tiny little standalone program. I'm not at all sure that it belongs in GPSBabel and right now (it would be an architecture problem as it would require multiple passes over the output file - not impossible, bue definitely weird and it would be a problem for things like pipes and network sockets.) I'm not chomping at the bit to bear the engineering cost to implement it. Of course, the whole point of Open Source is that if someone ELSE wants to do it and get it into GPSBabel, they're welcome to bear that cost and I'll help integrate and support it. Quote Link to comment
+Ruby Reed Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I contacted Customer Services at Go Outdoors in the UK to find out when they expected the 600 series to be available and they responded with. 'We are expecting the Garmin Oregon GPS systems to be delivered to customers approx mid April going on towards the end of April. They have been delayed due to an unexpected problem with Garmins shipping and distribution.' so what is it ? distribution issues ? firmware issues ? manufacturing issues ? waiting on Monterra ? Quote Link to comment
+Ruby Reed Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Posed the same question to Garmin UK via their Facebook page and they said "Unfortunately at this time we do not have a date on when this will be launched but hope to have them released in early may." Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I contacted Customer Services at Go Outdoors in the UK to find out when they expected the 600 series to be available and they responded with. 'We are expecting the Garmin Oregon GPS systems to be delivered to customers approx mid April going on towards the end of April. They have been delayed due to an unexpected problem with Garmins shipping and distribution.' There are times when I'm sorely tempted to step in and say, "I could get this done faster than their team." This is one of them. Who is running their logistics, Larry, Moe and Curly? Quote Link to comment
+gulo Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 (edited) Here is a short preview of Oregon 600. Nothing new really, it says "Small drawback: the delivery of the new Oregon has been postponed to early May." the scary part is " Namely, if instead of normal batteries batteries are installed, they could destroy with an applied charge current the entire device." :laughing: Edited April 11, 2013 by gulo Quote Link to comment
+Kolenka Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Here is a short preview of Oregon 600. Nothing new really, it says "Small drawback: the delivery of the new Oregon has been postponed to early May." the scary part is " Namely, if instead of normal batteries batteries are installed, they could destroy with an applied charge current the entire device." :laughing: The very next sentence says "Garmin solves this problem with a small switch". Specifically, there is a switch that the NiMH battery pack triggers that AAs (or other NiMH batteries) won't trigger. You can see it in the image. It looks like these models are setup to only allow USB charging when the switch is toggled. Quote Link to comment
+gulo Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Here is a short preview of Oregon 600. Nothing new really, it says "Small drawback: the delivery of the new Oregon has been postponed to early May." the scary part is " Namely, if instead of normal batteries batteries are installed, they could destroy with an applied charge current the entire device." :laughing: The very next sentence says "Garmin solves this problem with a small switch". Specifically, there is a switch that the NiMH battery pack triggers that AAs (or other NiMH batteries) won't trigger. You can see it in the image. It looks like these models are setup to only allow USB charging when the switch is toggled. I know, I meant it as a joke at google translate. On a serious note - I wonder if simply ducktaping 2 rechargable AA batteries would trigger the switch and work as opposed to buying specific garmin pack Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Here is a short preview of Oregon 600. Nothing new really, it says "Small drawback: the delivery of the new Oregon has been postponed to early May." Review published on April 5th, when did we heard about June 24th being the day? The 9th was it? So still looking like late June? I may cancel my order and give up my place in line. I ordered one hoping to have it before Geowoodstock. Garmin need to learn not to even disclose a product availability until they are shipping to distribution. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Not quite the thing to make customers happy. I wonder what stockholders think. Quote Link to comment
+Kolenka Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 (edited) On a serious note - I wonder if simply ducktaping 2 rechargable AA batteries would trigger the switch and work as opposed to buying specific garmin pack Probably. The battery pack is just two NiMH AAs bound together. Although I suspect that the charge rate while plugged in would be fairly slow (would the 600 be able to draw more than 500mA from a USB port?). A good charger will beat the sort of charge that could be provided this way, somewhere around 200-300mA. While it is a nice feature, and some will like it because it means you can treat the Oregon like any other USB-charged gadget, it just feels like a waste of money if you buy the pack, or good batteries if you tape a pair together. Although, I am looking at a 600/650 to replace my 450. I am just not sure the extra storage and camera are worth 80$ (I probably wouldn't even use the included NiMH pack), and I mostly am interested in the ruggedized 8MP camera. Edited April 11, 2013 by Kolenka Quote Link to comment
+Team-Facetious Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Yesterday through Amazon I did the pre-order for the Oregon 650. I hope the device will ship soon as my first ever geocaching event I will get to attend falls on my birthday and I really want to take along this new unit. I've been using my iPhone 4 and it's time to step into a GPSr that I feel more comfortable with in the woods and much longer battery life to boot. I've emailed Amazon and Garmin both to see if there are any updates to the release date. *fingers crossed* Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Yesterday through Amazon I did the pre-order for the Oregon 650. I hope the device will ship soon as my first ever geocaching event I will get to attend falls on my birthday and I really want to take along this new unit. I've been using my iPhone 4 and it's time to step into a GPSr that I feel more comfortable with in the woods and much longer battery life to boot. I've emailed Amazon and Garmin both to see if there are any updates to the release date. *fingers crossed* I've emailed Garmin, but have yet to hear back from them. I hope someone in Olathe, Kansas, is learning something here about product announcements and roll-out dates. Steve Jobs, love him or hate hime, the iPhones shipped when they said they would. Quote Link to comment
+Team-Facetious Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Yesterday through Amazon I did the pre-order for the Oregon 650. I hope the device will ship soon as my first ever geocaching event I will get to attend falls on my birthday and I really want to take along this new unit. I've been using my iPhone 4 and it's time to step into a GPSr that I feel more comfortable with in the woods and much longer battery life to boot. I've emailed Amazon and Garmin both to see if there are any updates to the release date. *fingers crossed* I've emailed Garmin, but have yet to hear back from them. I hope someone in Olathe, Kansas, is learning something here about product announcements and roll-out dates. Steve Jobs, love him or hate hime, the iPhones shipped when they said they would. I have already received an email from Amazon. The reply goes something like this: I understand your concern on ship date for Oregon 650, etc etc.... Rest assured we are working with suppliers to have the unit shipped at the earliest possible date. To help you, I've upgraded the shipping date to one day shipping free of charge ( I had previously selected the free super saving shipping). "I can confirm that we still expect to ship your order in time to be delivered to you by Thursday, June 13, 2013. Also states that the order could be shipped anywhere between now and the aforementioned date of June 13th. I hope that's the latest date to be expected. Quote Link to comment
+Redwoods Mtn Biker Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 GPS City is now saying one week from today, 4/19. Quote Link to comment
+VHI Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 GPS City is now saying one week from today, 4/19. A couple of days ago I received an email from a Finnish dealer telling that first units should arrive in the end of next week (around 19th April). We'll see... Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 OK.. March 30th - April 5th - Early May - June 24th - April 19th I'm a nervous wreck! Quote Link to comment
+Team-Facetious Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I'll settle for April 19th. May is pushing it and June 7th is my birthday and Pioneer Palooza in Marietta, so we can't be having any of that. I too am getting pretty antsy. Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I'll settle for April 19th. May is pushing it and June 7th is my birthday and Pioneer Palooza in Marietta, so we can't be having any of that. I too am getting pretty antsy. I really want this thing before heading off to GeoWoodstock. I'll fly to Atlanta, travel a bit through Georgia and then have lots of time to mooch around central Florida. That's a lot of area and I want to have a bucket load of caches loaded, with my trusty old Oregon 450 as a backup, for the trip. Not having it in time means relying solely on the Oregon 450, with its 5K cache limit. Quote Link to comment
+Team-H :) Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 'Quick Start Manual' was posted to the product page today. Hopefully a sign of imminent release... http://support.garmin.com/support/manuals/manuals.htm?partNo=010-01066-20&language=en&country=US Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 [quote name=Team-H ' timestamp='1366058468' post='5236415] 'Quick Start Manual' was posted to the product page today. Hopefully a sign of imminent release... http://support.garmin.com/support/manuals/manuals.htm?partNo=010-01066-20&language=en&country=US It's been vetted by someone who is pretty sure it's accurate, after all this time. Quote Link to comment
+gulo Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 So it says in the manual to record the track log push this button. Does it only save the tracklog when you chose the option or is it constantly recording like 60csx? Quote Link to comment
+Kolenka Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 So it says in the manual to record the track log push this button. Does it only save the tracklog when you chose the option or is it constantly recording like 60csx? Looks like the feature is the same as the Oregon 4xx/5xx, except you can pause/resume tracking from the current track menu. So if you never pause the recording, it will constantly record to the current track file. When you save the track, it will save it to a different GPX file like on the 4xx/5xx. The guide also kinda says "turn it on, walk around, profit". I can see pausing being useful when breaking for lunch during a hike, for example. Quote Link to comment
+Team-Facetious Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Glad to finally see a manual. I had checked previously for a manual and only received an error that none existed. Also I'm a bit of a newbie to some of this and had to look up GeoWoodStock XI, looks like a great time. Quote Link to comment
+splashy Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 (edited) I can see pausing being useful when breaking for lunch during a hike, for example. Not really useful, tracks take very little space on an Sd, so the best thing is to have it on and not bother about it. The gps will close the track (and start a new one) once it reached it's limit, this can go on for many many month. Being on a trip the less settings on the gps the better, if you set the track off every time sooner or later you will forget to set it on again. Edited April 16, 2013 by splashy Quote Link to comment
+larryc43230 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I can see pausing being useful when breaking for lunch during a hike, for example. Not really useful, tracks take very little space on an Sd, so the best thing is to have it on and not bother about it. The gps will close the track (and start a new one) once it reached it's limit, this can go on for many many month. Being on a trip the less settings on the gps the better, if you set the track off every time sooner or later you will forget to set it on again. Not sure I agree here, and it has nothing to do with how much space the track uses on the unit. In my typical scenario, in the middle of my caching day, I break for lunch at some restaurant, and I leave my GPS unit on, hanging from my belt. Satellite reception goes way down or goes away entirely inside the building. When I look at the track for that day's outing, I see this one big ugly random blob, maybe a hundred feet or more in diameter, centered on my table at the restaurant. Not pretty, and it sure does mess up things like total track distance for that day. I'm looking forward to being able to pause the tracking when I get my 650. --Larr Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I can see pausing being useful when breaking for lunch during a hike, for example. Not really useful, tracks take very little space on an Sd, so the best thing is to have it on and not bother about it. The gps will close the track (and start a new one) once it reached it's limit, this can go on for many many month. Being on a trip the less settings on the gps the better, if you set the track off every time sooner or later you will forget to set it on again. Too true. How many times have you got up from a spot and found an hour later your hiking pole or something else was left behind. Quote Link to comment
+TAZ427 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I'll settle for April 19th. May is pushing it and June 7th is my birthday and Pioneer Palooza in Marietta, so we can't be having any of that. I too am getting pretty antsy. I really want this thing before heading off to GeoWoodstock. I'll fly to Atlanta, travel a bit through Georgia and then have lots of time to mooch around central Florida. That's a lot of area and I want to have a bucket load of caches loaded, with my trusty old Oregon 450 as a backup, for the trip. Not having it in time means relying solely on the Oregon 450, with its 5K cache limit. I hear you. I'll be traveling overland from Houston to Lakeland (about 14.5hrs driving + caching along the way - we hope to make it in 24hrs ) I'll have my Oregon 400t with me (1.5K limit), and my phone and tablet (both w/ c:geo - got 30K caches in it right now - not sure what if any limit there is) and two fellow cachers w/ both phones and handheld GPRs units as well, so we'll be stocked up, but I'd really like to put the 25K or so caches that I've located in area's we'll be in my GPSr and familiarize myself with the unit. Not to mention, show it off at Geowoodstock XI. Quote Link to comment
+TAZ427 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I can see pausing being useful when breaking for lunch during a hike, for example. Not really useful, tracks take very little space on an Sd, so the best thing is to have it on and not bother about it. The gps will close the track (and start a new one) once it reached it's limit, this can go on for many many month. Being on a trip the less settings on the gps the better, if you set the track off every time sooner or later you will forget to set it on again. Too true. How many times have you got up from a spot and found an hour later your hiking pole or something else was left behind. 2 Cache's later when you're thinking, "I should poke that hole with a stick before I reach my hand inside." DOH!!! I left that #$%@ hiking pole back at that cache while signing the log. Quote Link to comment
+splashy Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 [ In my typical scenario, in the middle of my caching day, I break for lunch at some restaurant, and I leave my GPS unit on, --Larr Why should you keep the gps on in a restaurant? Just curious. Quote Link to comment
+larryc43230 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 [ In my typical scenario, in the middle of my caching day, I break for lunch at some restaurant, and I leave my GPS unit on, --Larr Why should you keep the gps on in a restaurant? Just curious. Because I'm sitting there with one or more geocaching buddies, and we're planning our next targets. Or I'm using the unit to show off caches I've already found in the area (I have my finds stored as POIs). Or I'm having lunch with a geocaching newbie and showing him how to use features on the unit. If I'm not doing any of the above, I might turn it off. It depends. --Larry Quote Link to comment
+gulo Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 garmin website now finally allows to purchase the unit. It says processing time 2-3 weeks. I guess better than nothing Quote Link to comment
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