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GPSMAP 64s vs Oregon 600


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I have gotten to the point that I want to demote my venerable Garmin 60CSx to back-up status and get a GPSr with contemporary technology. I have two capable but flawed $400 candidates on the top of my list - both obvious ones - the Garmin 64S and the Oregon 600.

 

I considered a $200 62S but really want GLONAS at this point plus the extra memory for caches. A while ago I was sure I wanted the Oregon 600 but they seen to be afflicted with chronic firmware bugs. And now we have the 64 series, which I’m sure also has bugs but so far it seems not to be too badly afflicted.

 

I don’t feel wedded to the buttons of my 60CSx; in fact, I use an iPhone and a Nexus 7 regularly so I’m used to a touch screen. I don’t think the similarity in controls of the 64S to my old 60CSx would be a factor. Plus the darn button labels wear off eventually.

 

So what do you guys think? Does one model stand decidedly above the other or is it a coin toss?

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Coke vs Pepsi argument in my opinion. However, I noticed you also bicycle and just my experience from having both touchscreen and buttons while cycling is that buttons have an advantage in my opinion, especially when it's colder outside and wearing gloves.

 

I will disclaim this by saying I have not seen the Oregon 600 or 64 series in action on a bicycle, only the older 62 and Oregon 450 while cycling.

 

The 62s I think holds 5,000 caches, which is quite a lot but as you said, no GLONASS though, and not unlimited likt the 62 series.

 

Perhaps you can go to a brick and mortar store and get to play with both units before purchasing.

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You'll like either, but my advice is to spend as much as you can, and avoid *wishing* you'd spend that extra $100 later.

 

I received my Oregon 650 yesterday, and mmalready had the v4 TOPOS SO DIDN't see any point paying for V6 or whichever version are pre-installed in the 650T. Some people, I've read, grab the 600 cos they don't need the camera: I wanted the camera, but didn't need to pay extra for the topos, for the aformentioned reasons.

 

The screen on the O650 is so bright outside, from every angle, it looks backlit even with the backlight completely off.

 

Edit: I haven't played with the 64s, but it *looks* more rugged, and touchscreens *can* get scratched ai spose, so it just depends how much abuse you plan to give your unit, or conversely, how careful you feel like being.

 

The O6xxs are no doubt heavier, so gravity will hurt them more, but conversely again, they don't have an antenna that can break off.

 

Decisions decisions! :D

 

I can confirm too, regarding the GGZ file thing, that geocaches from GCing.com - the GPX ones, download file, though I only did two pages of singles just to test it out, they install fine.

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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I'm more cyclist than anything else and use an Oregon 600 for directions, usually following a track. The ability to put fresh batteries in and continue is what endears this type of unit to the ultra-distance cycling community. I like it's bigger screen too.

 

The touch screen isn't a problem with gloves, when I'm wearing thick full finger gloves the screen sensitivity needs to be set to high. You can use the normal setting with lighter full finger racing gloves.

 

Whether you go for touch screen or buttons is a matter of personal taste, I had no problem with the Edge's buttons, but now find the touch screen better.

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The O6xxs are no doubt heavier, so gravity will hurt them more, but conversely again, they don't have an antenna that can break off.

 

The 64 series is heavier once you have batteries in both, or take the batteries out of both.

 

Having both, I agree it is a matter of taste and what tradeoffs you are willing to make. The Oregon is better for entering text, smaller/lighter, and has a higher resolution screen. The 64 has better reception in the forest, and the screen is a little easier to read with the backlight off (more contrast between colors). Also, the 64 has the iOS notifications feature. I kinda suspect that the Oregon has the hardware needed to do it as well, but no idea if Garmin would be willing to backport it to the Oregon or ship it in a new model.

 

I like both but for different reasons, and I haven't taken the 64 biking yet. I tend to prefer the Oregon though.

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I have to add that I'm not as much of a cyclist these days as my handle would indicate. I still take the Geo-Bike out sometimes for rails to trails, etc., but most of my caching is on shoe leather. I do have a handlebar mount for the 60CSx so I can always use that (It's a freshly refurbished unit) for the bike.

 

Your comments are backing up what I thought - that this is a close call. That's why I appreciate any additional information.

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The minor irks about the Oregon 650 I have are:

 

- USB port on a 90o angle to the unit, so the only way to lay it flat while plugged-in, is on it's screen and even then, the usb cord will be pointing up at the roof.

- Case has began squeaking. It's very slight, and caused by the stiffness of the rubber button-covers. It's not a huge issue, and only discernable when you're squeezing s*** oit the power-button really, and being a touchscreen unit you only need the larger, non-squeak-causing user button to toggle the screen so the squeaky thing's pretty irrelevant.

- Bluetooth. Bluetooth, that ONLY transfers to that crappy Basecamp mobile, and nothing else. Won't pair with anything except other Garmin GPSrs or the bascamp app. They can fix this in a firmware update, and I sure hope they do, because xferrimg pics means plugging the unit into your pc, at the moment.

 

Mmm what else. That's probably about all the irritations I have with the unit, oh, the power button! As mentioned, it's so tight you have to squeeze the guts oit of it, which makes a creak.

 

All that said, I don't feel like I made a bad choice, since the unit *is* a lovely device, the above points are just minor gripes and the only ones ai can think of.

 

I'll post any more if they pop-up, but overall it's a great device.

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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Oh one more thing.

 

I've said this in another post in a rambly way, but the Garmin battery pack is junk. Don't base your choice on that. A brand new, freshly charged pair of proper high-quality AA's will well and truly outlast the garmin pack, and the Garmin pack is just two AA's bolted together. Being stuck together too, means you cannot recharge em in a normal AA cradle-charger, cos they don't fit.

 

I got about 4 hours out of my 100% charged, fresh-out-the-box-new Garmin Battery pack before they were critically low and needed to be plugged-in.

 

The eneloop 1900mAhs I replaced them with ran 6 hours last night inside the house, without dropping a single bar of power.

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I have to add that I'm not as much of a cyclist these days as my handle would indicate. I still take the Geo-Bike out sometimes for rails to trails, etc., but most of my caching is on shoe leather. I do have a handlebar mount for the 60CSx so I can always use that (It's a freshly refurbished unit) for the bike.

 

Your comments are backing up what I thought - that this is a close call. That's why I appreciate any additional information.

 

I mostly hike. Biking and geocaching are more of a side-hobby to hiking. I just wanted to be clear that while I've hiked/cached with both units, I haven't biked with the 64. And yes, it really is that close. In the end, I think the biggest difference is which one you like using. If you have an REI in your area, they should have both on display at this point to play with. Unfortunately, I don't know of other chains that might actually have usable display models.

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There are NO display models here in Adelaide, (Australia), in any store or chain that i know of.

 

The only GPSrs I found on display a few weeks ago at a local Shopping Centre were two Magellans, and even then, they were literally bolted to a board in such a matter that nobody could possibly handle them.

 

Sucks too when so many camera and tablet makers have half a store full of floor/demo models on display.

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Something else that irks me, is that although the 650 has 3.5Gb of int. memory, It comes factory-filled to almost 3gb, leaving a poultry 600mb free.

 

I've been meaning to ask a wuestion about that actually: the basemap is only 50mb or something right, so what's taking up all that room, and what can be cut&pasted to my PC from the Oregon's internal memory, so i can make room for the topo v4 maps to go in internal memory?

 

There're like samples of birdseye for countries I'll never even visit, and heaps of other "demo" files, but zi don't know ehich ones can be moved and which can't.

 

Buy youself a superfast sdcard because a 2gb map on the 4gb camera card I have is pretty slow when scrolling. That's why k want to move it to the devices memory, for speed.

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I have an REI about 40 minutes away that has both units in stock. Whether they have display units, I don't know. It also seems that I can get a few bucks off by joining their club.

 

Every time I read the details of the 600 I think I want it. Then I read about the features of the 64s and I want that!

 

It seems the 600 has the nicer, bigger display, a good touch interface and is a smaller, lighter unit. It seems to be designed specifically with Geocaching in mind.

 

The 64 has the better antenna system (lots of tree cover around here), will link with my iPhone for texts and emails and comes with a free year of Birdseye satellite imaging. Plus it has more internal memory.

 

I think I'm leaning toward the 64. If only I could be sure the labels wouldn't wear off the keys so easily!

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Something else that irks me, is that although the 650 has 3.5Gb of int. memory, It comes factory-filled to almost 3gb, leaving a poultry 600mb free.

 

I've been meaning to ask a wuestion about that actually: the basemap is only 50mb or something right, so what's taking up all that room, and what can be cut&pasted to my PC from the Oregon's internal memory, so i can make room for the topo v4 maps to go in internal memory?

 

There're like samples of birdseye for countries I'll never even visit, and heaps of other "demo" files, but zi don't know ehich ones can be moved and which can't.

 

Buy youself a superfast sdcard because a 2gb map on the 4gb camera card I have is pretty slow when scrolling. That's why k want to move it to the devices memory, for speed.

I think it comes with a ggz file that has all the opencaching caches. Look in /Garmin/GGZ and see. Deleteing that should free up something.

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Something else that irks me, is that although the 650 has 3.5Gb of int. memory, It comes factory-filled to almost 3gb, leaving a poultry 600mb free.

 

I've been meaning to ask a wuestion about that actually: the basemap is only 50mb or something right, so what's taking up all that room, and what can be cut&pasted to my PC from the Oregon's internal memory, so i can make room for the topo v4 maps to go in internal memory?

 

There're like samples of birdseye for countries I'll never even visit, and heaps of other "demo" files, but zi don't know ehich ones can be moved and which can't.

 

Buy youself a superfast sdcard because a 2gb map on the 4gb camera card I have is pretty slow when scrolling. That's why k want to move it to the devices memory, for speed.

I think it comes with a ggz file that has all the opencaching caches. Look in /Garmin/GGZ and see. Deleteing that should free up something.

 

I've just been out looking for neighbourhood caches with my she-dog, and I tell ya what, since I swapped-out the Garmin pack for the 2xAA 1900mAh Eneloops last night it's performed remarkably well.

 

Installed @100% charge last night, I turned the 650 on at 9:00pm, and let it just sit on my desk for about 5 hours, then switched it off before going to sleep at 1:48am okay. I didn't plug it back in to charge overnight, nothing like that. When I switched it off it was at 100% (full battery bar). Today, I switched it on at 10am, and left to find some caches at about 1:00pm - arrived back here about half an hour ago now.

 

So ading these times together, we got nearly 5 hours from last night, and (counts) 5.5hrs today, and the battery indicator has only just dropped to 75% charge, or 3/4 bars on the screen.

 

So 10.5hrs being on (in battery saver mode, with GPS only and the backlight on low) has only used 25% of a single recharge-cycle, and it's still turned on and sitting on my bed right now.

 

After gving it a full charge with the provided Garmin Battery pack inside the unit, then seeing it go flat in just 4-5hours of operation I'm prety impressed with the difference. I'd love to buy a pack of Eneloop XXX 2500mAh AA's and see how long they last. Garmin need to upgrade their battery packs to something more respectable, because alot of people would try their pack, then just draw the assumption that the Oregon 6xx's just don't last or suck too much power, when all they have to do is use good quality batteries and they'll get their 16hrs operating time.

 

I'll have a look later at the files on the garmin, I suppose if I just back the whole file-system up, I shouldn't be able to do anythng too terrible by removing things, but the 4gb memory card I have in there that holds the topo maps is so old and s***, I'm sure it's the reason the map pans slow. Even if the internal memory is the same, I'd prefer to have the topo on the device, so I can use the memory card(s) I buy in future for photos and any other temporary data. I don't consider the topographical maps temporary, so I gotta get em on the device.

 

For now though, I want to see how much longer the 650 can run for but I guess plugging it in a minute or two isn't really cheating :)

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Something else that irks me, is that although the 650 has 3.5Gb of int. memory, It comes factory-filled to almost 3gb, leaving a poultry 600mb free.

 

I've been meaning to ask a wuestion about that actually: the basemap is only 50mb or something right, so what's taking up all that room, and what can be cut&pasted to my PC from the Oregon's internal memory, so i can make room for the topo v4 maps to go in internal memory?

 

There're like samples of birdseye for countries I'll never even visit, and heaps of other "demo" files, but zi don't know ehich ones can be moved and which can't.

 

Buy youself a superfast sdcard because a 2gb map on the 4gb camera card I have is pretty slow when scrolling. That's why k want to move it to the devices memory, for speed.

I think it comes with a ggz file that has all the opencaching caches. Look in /Garmin/GGZ and see. Deleteing that should free up something.

 

The 64 comes with a GGZ containing 250,000 worldwide geocaches from geocaching.com that is about 350 MB, and the Oregon does not come with that.

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Something else that irks me, is that although the 650 has 3.5Gb of int. memory, It comes factory-filled to almost 3gb, leaving a poultry 600mb free.

 

I've been meaning to ask a wuestion about that actually: the basemap is only 50mb or something right, so what's taking up all that room, and what can be cut&pasted to my PC from the Oregon's internal memory, so i can make room for the topo v4 maps to go in internal memory?

 

There're like samples of birdseye for countries I'll never even visit, and heaps of other "demo" files, but zi don't know ehich ones can be moved and which can't.

 

Buy youself a superfast sdcard because a 2gb map on the 4gb camera card I have is pretty slow when scrolling. That's why k want to move it to the devices memory, for speed.

I think it comes with a ggz file that has all the opencaching caches. Look in /Garmin/GGZ and see. Deleteing that should free up something.

 

The 64 comes with a GGZ containing 250,000 worldwide geocaches from geocaching.com that is about 350 MB, and the Oregon does not come with that.

 

Another human-error based miscalculation on my part. God dadgum if I were a robo-cyborg-type-thing, I wouldn't make hasty judgements so often.

 

Turns out, everything was fine, and the O650 had - in actuality - 3.4gb or so free.

 

Why I *thought* it's internal memory was maxed-out: I'd plugged the 650 into my PC, opened the Garmin/garmin/ folder, then pasted the *.img file for the TOPO Auz/NZ 4 map in, *then* I checked the devices internal memory, and to my horror found there wasn't enough room to complete the file transfer - only 654mb or there-abouts.In reality, Windows 7 had already deducted the 2.xgb that *was* going to be used to house the map/img file and "reserved" it, but because I checked the space available while it was copying-over, yea.. you get the drift :)

 

It actually had some 3.xgb free, even with all the system files and demo BirdsEye crap, so it's in there now - the Topo map - and *now* there is 650ishGb free. all the photo's are set to save to the - now almost empty - 4gb microSD, so I'm happy bout all that.

 

Having said this, the map still doesn't pan instantly like my laptop or ipad does with google maps, but I guess there are hundreds or thousands of map tiles in there, and it only takes a fraction of a second to draw the newly exposed parts when I pan, so I can live with that.

 

I was going to make a new post about how much I love the O650 actually, I took it out today for a dogwalk/cache-hunt, and when I returned home I installed a plugin on my site that lets me upload *.gpx tracks directly to the site, with a simple one-word option to include geophotos I take while walking etc,. I went for a second walk afterwards and took a few pics, and all I have to do is create a gallery and add the Gallery id# to the GPX plugin, and it shows photos right along the track, just like Garmin's Basecamp does. Well, I'm not limited to *having* to create a whole "Adventure" like I am in Basecamp (mobile), and it's viewable to anybody at all who can view google maps. I also don't have to rely on garmin's servers or software working, and can password protect the map-tracks I publish on my own site.

 

Stoked!

 

Edit: Here's the demo walk, complete with a geopic at each street corner -Afternoon dog-walking tracklog with Geopics

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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I've found that it doesn't matter if the map is located on the internal memory or on an SD card, the draw speed is the same. You can set your detail to "normal" or "more" instead of "most" and it may draw a little faster.

 

Yeah I'm still getting the slight lag in drawing. I forgot about the detail setting though, I'll change that tomorrow when I turn her on.

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I have an REI about 40 minutes away that has both units in stock. Whether they have display units, I don't know. It also seems that I can get a few bucks off by joining their club.

 

Every time I read the details of the 600 I think I want it. Then I read about the features of the 64s and I want that!

 

It seems the 600 has the nicer, bigger display, a good touch interface and is a smaller, lighter unit. It seems to be designed specifically with Geocaching in mind.

 

The 64 has the better antenna system (lots of tree cover around here), will link with my iPhone for texts and emails and comes with a free year of Birdseye satellite imaging. Plus it has more internal memory.

 

I think I'm leaning toward the 64. If only I could be sure the labels wouldn't wear off the keys so easily!

 

Yeah, welcome to my world. I have both and still haven't decided!

 

Usually with REI, their first shipment of devices comes with a display model. My local store has had the 64 on display for about a month now (they had the 64st on display before the 64s was even available). Might be worth calling and asking about the display models, as the GPS displays for the local stores around me are all pretty prominent for GPS devices.

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I took a 45 minute drive to the nearest REI today. I checked on the computer first and saw they had both models in stock. When I got there, the closest display model was a 600t and there was no 64 (or 62 for that matter) to be seen. So I talked to a salesman who said the 64 was new and he didn't think they had them yet, but when I told him the web site said they were in stock he went hunting in back and came up with one. He took it out of the box, handed it to me and went off in search of batteries.

 

So I got to look at the two models side by side (Like I said, the Oregon was a 600t, but close enough). The guy took ages to come back with batteries so in the meantime I plugged the 64s into a USB connector on the display board and fired it up.

 

The 64 has a good feel - just like my 60CSx, of course. I like the way they redesigned the buttons and the back. The 600 also feels good in the hand but that was hindered by two zip-ties and the sharp ends kept poking me (plus the ties interfered with the screen). The difference in size is noticeable but not drastic; that wouldn't be a deal-breaker. Also, the screen size of the 600 is noticeably bigger but barely - again, not a deal-breaker. More important, the screen resolution of the 600 was definitely sharper and brighter. This was probably exacerbated by the fact that the 600 had topo maps on it with all their skinny little lines while all the 64s had loaded was the base map.

 

I really like the ability of the 600 to zoom in and out with my fingers. A much nicer process than pushing buttons. The other touch screen functions were responsive, too.

 

On the other hand, the 64 pulled in a bunch of satellites right there in the store. The salesman recommended the 64 for geocaching because of it's superior antenna.

 

So the bottom line is that after handling both, I know where Kolenka is coming from! They are both nice units with their own strong points. I think I'm leaning toward the 64s but not by much.

 

My rule of thumb: When I can't decide between two products, always go with the less expensive one. Why couldn't Garmin have priced one of these $25 higher than the other! :blink:

Edited by bikebill77
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Does anyone know which of these two models has the faster processor?

 

Nah be nice if Garmin published that in the specs, every other "smart" device manufacturer seems to. Maybe if we knew they all had the same old ARM-based CPU we'd spastic-out and switch brands? ;)

 

I've noticed, that walkong around the neighbourhood, the tracks and live-accuracy reported on the device in te Satelite menu are no more accurate at all with GLONASS ON.

 

I shoukd go walk around in some trees a while with GpS/GPS+GLONASS in-turn, cos there's no gain with open areas.

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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The Oregon is using the STMicroelectronics STA2065 ARM1176 Processor. See here for details on one that someone opened up.

 

I was JOKING when I suggested they used an ARM CPU! My god those CPUs date all the way back to the Palm Pilots!

 

That's shocking. That's like finding out your brand new, 2013 smartphone runs on a 486.

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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Now we know why there can be a lag on map drawing.

 

Oh yeah. The old palm pilots also used lowish-rez transflective displays, and we know they *have* to use low-resolution be ause the higher the rez, the poorer the sunlight readability, but still, cpu's aren't exactly cutting-edge these days, so why they'd keep the display AND CPU together, I can't imagine.

 

I even get that lag with the naught-detail basemap. It's not really enough to annoy me much, but there's no reason why it shoukd scroll-lag at all. Using google maps on other devices thst *do* have modern CPUs is smooth as silk too, thus, the constrast is more.. Constrasting.

 

Mmhmm. Be interesting to write an email to support asking wtf made them use such dated tech, especially combined with a really nice, apple-esque touch interface.

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My opinion of Garmin has been officially lowered.

 

In an age where $80 pre-paid Samsung mobiles use quad-core CPUs, what possible reason is there to stick such an inferior processor as an ARM-based one in $500 GPS units?

 

Efficiency and low power usage to prolong battery life? Speed and number of cores isn't the only category that matters, and it's certainly not the only thing that makes one processor 'inferior' to another.

 

Also, just because it's an "ARM" processor doesn't mean it's ancient. There are plenty of smartphones that run on ARM-based processors. For example, the iPhone 5S uses the Apple A7 which is ARM-based. Your reason of "I was JOKING when I suggested they used an ARM CPU! My god those CPUs date all the way back to the Palm Pilots!" means nothing. My new PC is using an intel processor, so according to your logic, it's no better than an old computer running on a 486.

 

Edit again: My brand new Samsung Galaxy S5 uses an ARM-based processor.

Edited by insig
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After a little research, I agree that the processor being ARM architecture isn't a liability. They are used all over to this day.

 

I looked up the above processor and here's it's data document: http://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/294041/STMICROELECTRONICS/STA2065/1944/1/STA2065.html It's apparently a GPSr specific chip. Something I don't like is the 2009 date at the bottom of the page.

 

Edit: Here's another data sheet (Rev 5) with a 2013 date on it: http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/389/CD00242715-312112.pdf

Edited by bikebill77
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MtnMutt said <<Have you gone out with a group of Cachers who have both units in that group? Listen to what each thinks is good/Bad about both.>>

 

The small group of cachers I go out with have mainly Etrex's with a Magellan or two thrown in. None have either of these models. I was trying to get a larger group opinion here, which mostly has shown that it's a close call.

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I was JOKING when I suggested they used an ARM CPU! My god those CPUs date all the way back to the Palm Pilots!

 

Actually, if we're going to play CPU trivial pursuit (which, as moderator, I should probably discourage) ARM actually roots back to the Acorn from very early 80's. While the later Palm/OS products used ARM (the originals used Dragonball - with roots in 68K systems of similar vintage) such as early OMAP or XScale, they were of the 100-150Mhz variety and quite different than the ARM cores you're find in today's phones, tablets, Chromebooks, DVRs, etc. While STA2065 isn't exactly Exynos ( 6 or S) or Snapdragon 800, the higher level of integration, onboard GPS and focus on things like battery life over, say, an OpenGL GPU capable of driving a super high res screen conspire to probably make it a better choice in a GPS-like substance. ARM-based processors are darned near *everywhere* these days and they span a huge breadth of power (both in wattage and capabilities), die size, cost, and integrated peripherals. In pretty much any place where power consumption (think battery life or cooling) and size and price is key (that $30 Chromecast and $35 Raspberry Pi are both ARM based) you'll find ARM as the dominant technology and it's an astonishingly wide swath of applications.

 

All the processors of any relevance today have roots in the 70's or 80's. Calling an Oregon 600 a Palm Pilot is about as accurate as calling Nexus 5 a hopped up Newton or your i7 a hopped up Tandy 1200. There's a shred of truth to it in that we all build on the works of others, but don't extrapolate too much.

 

In case I need credentials, my day job is producing code that runs on ARM devices; many of which aren't even public yet.

 

[ Edit ] Insig is spot-on.

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Yeah fair enough. I'd probably rather 16+ hours battery life than a ipad-smooth map scroll, and although the battery pack than came with the unit has proved to be useless, (4-5 hours from full charge), normal, high-quality NiMh rechargables give me up to 17 hours, with settings set for max battery-life, which outlasts most the mobiles I've had.

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There's something else about the 650 that's paramount to false advertising, and I hope you correct me of I'm wrong, but the O650 clearly states "Paperless Geocaching" on it's box, yet I cannot find anywhere, an option to even log a cache when you find it - let alone write a comment or anything like that.

 

You also have to set a proximity alarm if you expect the device to tell you when you're at GZ, because the O650 doesn't make a wound, doesn't even popup a message when you're standing right on top of a cache.

 

So how is that paper-less geocaching, if you have to come back and dig around GCing.com for the caches you just found, then log them on a home computer?

 

Sure, there's no paper involved, but there's no way to log caches on the device either, so if you went out and found 15 caches in a day, you'd have to take paper to write down the ones you'd found so you don't forget em by the time you get home.

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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Psychaesthetic: I'm pretty sure you can log finds in the 6xx. You can log it as found, not found or needs maintenance. You can see the manual at http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/Oregon_6xx_OM_EN.pdf Look at page 6. Also, when I was fooling with it at REI, I thought I came across that feature. Additionally, you can add comments and a rating.

 

I'm leaning toward the 600 at this point. The button wear issue of the 60/62 worries me as it might have carried over to the 64.

Edited by bikebill77
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Psychaesthetic: I'm pretty sure you can log finds in the 6xx. You can log it as found, not found or needs maintenance. You can see the manual at http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/Oregon_6xx_OM_EN.pdf Look at page 6. Also, when I was fooling with it at REI, I thought I came across that feature. Additionally, you can add comments and a rating.

 

I'm leaning toward the 600 at this point. The button wear issue of the 60/62 worries me as it might have carried over to the 64.

 

I'll have a look, again, I downloaded the manual before the device arrived, but it's a pretty packed-out manual :)

 

You won't be sorry you bought the 6xx, I'm just posting things I'ce noticed over the last week or so of operation, since my 650 arrived. I've actually got a cheap Magellan ex110 in front of me with the garmin next to it, and indoors, the Magellan (with it's Sirfstar chip) still hasn't got a lock after 5+ minutes if being on, while the Oregon 650 not only locked on almost immediately after being booted-up, i has an accuracy of 5m indoors. That's without GLONASS enabled.

 

All I really need now, is a decent sized memory card, and some 2500mAh Eneloops and I should get 20+ hours easily, *and* have room to store some apps and utility programs on the sd card, like any external drive.

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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Psychaesthetic:

on peperless geocaching on the Montana 600 that is very similar to the process on an Oregon 600. In order to upload your finds, you will use the field notes feature here.

 

bikebill77: I have an Oregon 650 and love it. I've also played around with a 64s a bit. The underlying abilities are very similar, and a lot of the difference tends to be personal preference on the input method: buttons vs. touch screen.

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Psychaesthetic: I'm pretty sure you can log finds in the 6xx. You can log it as found, not found or needs maintenance. You can see the manual at http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/Oregon_6xx_OM_EN.pdf Look at page 6. Also, when I was fooling with it at REI, I thought I came across that feature. Additionally, you can add comments and a rating.

 

I'm leaning toward the 600 at this point. The button wear issue of the 60/62 worries me as it might have carried over to the 64.

 

Yeah I found it! I had to have an active cache-route going but it's there. The manual says to click GEOCACHING>LOG ATTEMPT, but clicking GEOCACHING - in actuality - takes you to the list you have installed. You have to pick a cache, then click GO, THEN you can go back to the main cache page and log it. Yeah.

 

That's good, glad you proved me wrong :D

Edited by Psychaesthetic
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Yeah I found it! I had to have an active cache-route going but it's there. The manual says to click GEOCACHING>LOG ATTEMPT, but clicking GEOCACHING - in actuality - takes you to the lost you have installed. You have to pick a cache, then click GO, THEN you can go back to the main cache page and log it. Yeah.

 

That's good, glad you proved me wrong :D

 

I set up the user button on my Oregon to go straight to the main cache page - to display either a list of caches or the cache that I selected. It saves a click or two. Have you looked at the Oregon 6xx Wiki - it's a good source for learning about the unit.

Edited by geodarts
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Yeah I found it! I had to have an active cache-route going but it's there. The manual says to click GEOCACHING>LOG ATTEMPT, but clicking GEOCACHING - in actuality - takes you to the lost you have installed. You have to pick a cache, then click GO, THEN you can go back to the main cache page and log it. Yeah.

 

That's good, glad you proved me wrong :D

 

I set up the user button on my Oregon to go straight to the main cache page - to display either a list of caches or the cache that I selected. It saves a click or two. Have you looked at the Oregon 6xx Wiki - it's a good source for learning about the unit.

 

Yeah I've got that perma-open in another tab, and been flicking theough it for a few days now :)

 

I'll take it for a trainlone cache search a few hundred meters away in a moment, and check out if it beepa and lets me log alright while I'm there. I loke ot so much, I feel like ordering a second unit just as a backup, but alas, i don't have the money for backup units :(;)

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Well, I finally got off my indecisive butt and ordered a new GPS. It was really a difficult decision because they are both excellent units with their own good features but I went for the Oregon 600. I don't need a camera as I travel with an iPhone 5 and I'll get my topo maps elsewhere so I didn't need an 'i' model or a 650.

 

One of the things that finally pushed me over the edge was the Garmin 600 wiki. I saw a posting by a regional cacher I know. He was complaining about how one of the firmware upgrades was giving him trouble with his 650. So I emailed him and asked for a recommendation. He said hands down he'd go with a 600 and the touch screen. So I figured if he liked it that much despite buggy firmware, I'd try a 600. That and I was concerned about button wear on the 64. Hopefully I'll be happy with the Oregon.

 

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

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Well, I finally got off my indecisive butt and ordered a new GPS. It was really a difficult decision because they are both excellent units with their own good features but I went for the Oregon 600. I don't need a camera as I travel with an iPhone 5 and I'll get my topo maps elsewhere so I didn't need an 'i' model or a 650.

 

One of the things that finally pushed me over the edge was the Garmin 600 wiki. I saw a posting by a regional cacher I know. He was complaining about how one of the firmware upgrades was giving him trouble with his 650. So I emailed him and asked for a recommendation. He said hands down he'd go with a 600 and the touch screen. So I figured if he liked it that much despite buggy firmware, I'd try a 600. That and I was concerned about button wear on the 64. Hopefully I'll be happy with the Oregon.

 

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

 

Tell ya one more issue, you won't have to deal with it since you opted for the cameraless 600, is that there's no Bluetooth photo xfer between your phone or ipad or PC and the Oregon. I've downloaded basecamp mobile, but that's effectively useless. You can only upload complete adventures, and of course, you cannot create them on the drvice, (that I'm aware of) but even if you can, it should at least let you xfer your own pics any way you like.

 

As it is, you have to plug-in and copy/paste, which is quite inconvenient.

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So now that it's been over a year later, what are everyone's thoughts on the Oregon 650 vs the 64s? I'm looking to replace my 60csx to keep up with the new technology. I know the Oregon has the chirp cache ability where as the 64s doesn't (at least not that I've seen) but that doesn't seem to be a big thing around here. I like the idea of the touch screen for typing in coords but I also like the idea of the better antenna on the 64s. Help?

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I have the 64s, it does chirps. As for the antenna, I don't think the extra gain will be very significant unless you spend a lot of time in deep canyons or very heavy tree cover. I previously had an eTrex 30 with the same type of patch antenna and the 64s does connect to a couple more sats in tree cover, but the accuracy was not significantly better. Better, but not tremendously so. I was not able to compare the two under extremely adverse conditions. It's also cold here for a good portion of the year, so a glove-friendly button interface was my choice.

 

I would recommend basing your choice on how important a touch screen will be for you vs buttons and rockers.

Edited by JohnCNA
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