New Garmin Oregon 600 Series

[+Team-H :)]

I have an Oregon 650 on backorder from REI and just got the email this morning that the order has been delayed (doesn't say until when...). What's strange is that if you search REI.com for 'Garmin Oregon' nothing is returned (no 4xx or 5xx models, let alone 6xx). Up until a couple days ago they showed the 4xx/5xx series in stock.

[+DragonsWest]

[quote name=Team-H ' timestamp='1364559214' post='5228138]

I have an Oregon 650 on backorder from REI and just got the email this morning that the order has been delayed (doesn't say until when...). What's strange is that if you search REI.com for 'Garmin Oregon' nothing is returned (no 4xx or 5xx models, let alone 6xx). Up until a couple days ago they showed the 4xx/5xx series in stock.

 

I'm not aware of any dock worker strikes around the port of Oakland, which once held up a new computer monitor.

[+Great Scott!]

[quote name=Team-H ' timestamp='1364559214' post='5228138]

I have an Oregon 650 on backorder from REI and just got the email this morning that the order has been delayed (doesn't say until when...). What's strange is that if you search REI.com for 'Garmin Oregon' nothing is returned (no 4xx or 5xx models, let alone 6xx). Up until a couple days ago they showed the 4xx/5xx series in stock.

 

On Amazon, the pre-order status for O650 is gone, and it now shows "Usually ships in 1 to 2 months"

[+gulo]

way to screw up the launch Garmin

[+gulo]

GPScity just changed from 4/5 to 4/23

[+Kai Team]

Now GPSCity is showing May 6. Although Garmin has screwed up the launch, one can hope that the firmware will be less buggy than most of the newer Garmin GPSr's have been when it is finally released (i.e. fewer firmware updates in the first year of the unit's life).

[+Matthew 7:7 Too]

Now GPSCity is showing May 6. Although Garmin has screwed up the launch, one can hope that the firmware will be less buggy than most of the newer Garmin GPSr's have been when it is finally released (i.e. fewer firmware updates in the first year of the unit's life).

 

I'm just hoping it will arrive in time for Santa to put one in my Christmas stocking! (That's this year!!)

[BMW JEDI]

Now GPSCity is showing May 6. Although Garmin has screwed up the launch, one can hope that the firmware will be less buggy than most of the newer Garmin GPSr's have been when it is finally released (i.e. fewer firmware updates in the first year of the unit's life).

 

I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised. IMHO, the current firmware is already more polished than most of my other Garmin GPSr units at launch. And they are still polishing daily

[+TAZ427]

Well I was hoping to get on here and find that a couple early birds got there Garmin Oregon 600 series. But it looks to be delayed

 

I was really wanting to see someone with a Standard .GPX file (1.0 or 1.1 - say generated from GSAK) w/ 30K+ caches in it loaded up and no balking. I know it's been debated as to what they mean by unlimited, as for myself, I question it until I see a huge quantity in there. I don't mean all 2M geocaches but something that would cover a couple big cities. 1000 or even 5000 caches a few years ago would have been fine, but now many NA and EU cities are have > 10K caches in them. When I travel (even across the city I live in) I don't want my GPSr to be restricted to relatively small pockets of caches. I've had as many as 35K caches in my phone to cover my home city and two other cities I was visiting. Sure I could have gone live view on my phone but you never know when Data Service is going to crap out of Groundspeak decides to perform an update.

 

I'll check back in a couple weeks (unfortunately after the Texas Challenge XI Mega Event) and see if anyone's demonstrated this.

[BMW JEDI]

Well I was hoping to get on here and find that a couple early birds got there Garmin Oregon 600 series. But it looks to be delayed

 

I was really wanting to see someone with a Standard .GPX file (1.0 or 1.1 - say generated from GSAK) w/ 30K+ caches in it loaded up and no balking.

 

I have nearly 50k geocaches loaded on an Oregon 650.

 

Nearly 22k geocaches surrounding Seattle, WA:

 

 

And another 24k + geocaches loaded covering a large portion of the state of Arizona:

 

 

 

I know it's been debated as to what they mean by unlimited, as for myself, I question it until I see a huge quantity in there. I don't mean all 2M geocaches but something that would cover a couple big cities. 1000 or even 5000 caches a few years ago would have been fine, but now many NA and EU cities are have > 10K caches in them. When I travel (even across the city I live in) I don't want my GPSr to be restricted to relatively small pockets of caches. I've had as many as 35K caches in my phone to cover my home city and two other cities I was visiting. Sure I could have gone live view on my phone but you never know when Data Service is going to crap out of Groundspeak decides to perform an update.

 

I'll check back in a couple weeks (unfortunately after the Texas Challenge XI Mega Event) and see if anyone's demonstrated this.

 

Hope this helped answer your questions

[+TAZ427]

Well I was hoping to get on here and find that a couple early birds got there Garmin Oregon 600 series. But it looks to be delayed

 

I was really wanting to see someone with a Standard .GPX file (1.0 or 1.1 - say generated from GSAK) w/ 30K+ caches in it loaded up and no balking.

 

I have nearly 50k geocaches loaded on an Oregon 650.

 

Nearly 22k geocaches surrounding Seattle, WA:

 

 

And another 24k + geocaches loaded covering a large portion of the state of Arizona:

 

 

 

I know it's been debated as to what they mean by unlimited, as for myself, I question it until I see a huge quantity in there. I don't mean all 2M geocaches but something that would cover a couple big cities. 1000 or even 5000 caches a few years ago would have been fine, but now many NA and EU cities are have > 10K caches in them. When I travel (even across the city I live in) I don't want my GPSr to be restricted to relatively small pockets of caches. I've had as many as 35K caches in my phone to cover my home city and two other cities I was visiting. Sure I could have gone live view on my phone but you never know when Data Service is going to crap out of Groundspeak decides to perform an update.

 

I'll check back in a couple weeks (unfortunately after the Texas Challenge XI Mega Event) and see if anyone's demonstrated this.

 

Hope this helped answer your questions

 

Great Thanks!

[+MaliBooBoo]

Hmmm, you can orient the zoom buttons in multiple locations on the new Oregon? Interesting...

[BMW JEDI]

Hmmm, you can orient the zoom buttons in multiple locations on the new Oregon? Interesting...

 

Yes

[+DragonsWest]

Well I was hoping to get on here and find that a couple early birds got there Garmin Oregon 600 series. But it looks to be delayed

 

I was really wanting to see someone with a Standard .GPX file (1.0 or 1.1 - say generated from GSAK) w/ 30K+ caches in it loaded up and no balking.

 

I have nearly 50k geocaches loaded on an Oregon 650.

 

Nearly 22k geocaches surrounding Seattle, WA:

 

 

And another 24k + geocaches loaded covering a large portion of the state of Arizona:

 

 

 

Hope this helped answer your questions

 

For every answer there is another question ...

 

How do you load these large numbers of caches? I thought GGZ was the only means. Does Garmin have a tool available for aggregating GPX files into a GGZ?

[+Walts Hunting]

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.

[+larryc43230]

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

[+DragonsWest]

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.

[+gulo]

this is getting better and better, just got email from LL Bean - new revised ship date 5/19/2013

[+MartyBartfast]

I contacted Garmin in the UK via their Facebook page last week and they said that shipment had been delayed again and it would now be some time in May. I've given up and bought an Etrex 30.

[+VHI]

I contacted Garmin in the UK via their Facebook page last week and they said that shipment had been delayed again and it would now be some time in May. I've given up and bought an Etrex 30.

Yesterday I visited a outdoor store (Garmin representative) and the owner said that many customers have cancelled their preorders of Oregon 600 -units because of repeating delays.

[+splashy]

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.

[+Matthew 7:7 Too]

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!)

[+Walts Hunting]

The Monterre must be getting close. Amazon has a product number and you can sign up to be notified when it is available.

[+sufferin succocache]

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.

[+Matthew 7:7 Too]

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!!

[+Team-H :)]

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!

[+sussamb]

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

[+lensgrabber]

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.

[+larryc43230]

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

[+sussamb]

Some info here http://gpstracklog.com/2013/04/garmin-monterra-virb.html

[+Matthew 7:7 Too]

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

[+DragonsWest]

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

[+Ruby Reed]

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.'

[+gulo]

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 ?

[+TAZ427]

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.

[+DragonsWest]

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.

[+gulo]

 

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

[+Red90]

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.

[+TAZ427]

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.

[+NevaP]

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.

[+Red90]

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....

[Pacific NW]

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.

[robertlipe]

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.

[+Ruby Reed]

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 ?

[+Ruby Reed]

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."

[+DragonsWest]

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?

[+gulo]

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

[+Kolenka]

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.

[+gulo]

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

[+DragonsWest]

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.