Garmin Oregon 550 / GPS

Garmin Oregon 550

category: handheld GPS, by:

Garmin

we bought a new GPS unit, in June 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

We bought a new GPS -- global positioning system -- unit, to replace our aging Garmin eTrex. This is what we wanted... with the most important at the top of the list:

• Essential: a GPS to allow us to do "paperless geocaching". Our old eTrex does not support paperless geocaching.
  
• Essential: A GPS unit to guide us on "GPS walks". See, for example, Walk GPS. The eTrex is adequate for this.
  
• Nice to have: Street navigation -- largely to support our geocaching. We could use street navigation to drive as close as possible to a geocache.
  
• Nice to have: Guidance (minor roads, contours, etc) on 4WD treks would be useful.
  

First impressions of the Oregon

Terrific!

Let me qualify that: The device itself is terrific. The software is quite good but takes a while to understand. The user manuals are absolutely awful...

I spent many hours, sweating over PC and GPS, working my way through the basics. Some of it was absolutely dead simple -- once I figured out what to do. Perhaps it's the really simple stuff which is not adequately explained? Worse yet, you need to use several systems -- as well as the GPS. And, often, there are many alternatives -- with no explanation of which is best.

The Garmin manuals are awful. But most of the problems are not due to Garmin.

The essentials of paperless geocaching require the extraction of geocache data from the geocaching website, via the PC, to the GPS. Instructions on the geocaching website are weak, not helped by the requirement to be all things to all users. The Garmin instructions would benefit from an explanation of the essential approach to GPS files. In between -- are dozens of alternate pieces of software.

On the Garmin website, at least one set of instructions does not work as written -- on the steps which use Google Earth. The instructions are for overlaying a personal map on the GPS map -- not an essential for what we do. Everything else on the GPS (that I have tried so far) works fine -- once the initial understanding has been gained.

We have taken the GPS out for some paperless geocaching. It worked brilliantly! We learnt that street maps and street navigation would be really useful. We learnt how easily we -- the GPS users -- can forget some simple yet essential steps. Next outing will be even better:-)

Our first impressions are, that the Oregon is brilliant and that it does all that we hoped -- and it will do even more. Technically, it picks up satellite signals far quicker than the eTrex. It picks up signals where the eTrex could not. And the software offers features -- and ease of use -- that are way ahead of the eTrex.

Satisfied? You bet! Still learning? Definitely.

But how much does it cost?

You buy a GPS... but there are always extras. Here is what we bought, or are about to buy. With costs -- but note the explanation that follows the costs.

In my opinion -- the list provides an almost complete set of gear for effective paperless caching. You can skip the last item and you may want to add a TOPO map for your area (rrp $229 for my area). Apart from that, I suggest that you also carry a pen or pencil -- and a pocket-sized notebook, just in case:-)

Garmin code	item + comment	rrp in AUD
	Garmin Oregon 550 ... the GPS unit	$649
010-10850-20	hard carrying case ... intended use is for travelling, if the GPS travels in a suitcase	$45
010-10851-11	vehicle power cable ... saves GPS battery power while using the GPS in a car	$39
010-11-31-00	marine/cart mount ... for permanent fixing in our 4WD; the standard "car mount" uses a less secure suction cup	$39
	four spare NiMH rechargeable batteries ... for those days when there is just no mains power	$30
	8GB SanDisk MicroSD card ... to store the extra City Navigator maps (wrong! see *note*)	$50
010-11388-00	City Navigator maps on CD ... plus postage ... will need to be loaded onto the MicroSD card (wrong! see *note*); the CD version comes with extra route planning software for the PC	$195 $15
010-10997-02	premium heart rate monitor ... well, why not...	$89
	Total cost	$1,151

Explanation of costs:

All the costs are rrp (recommended retail price) in AUD (Australian dollars), direct from the Garmin website -- as at June 2010. Check the site to see if the rrp's have changed.

Various shops and websites offered various prices. We went with the "local" shop where our loyalty card gets us a 10% discount on rrp, for every purchase.

*note* (July 2010)

As I understood it -- and this is my own faulty assumption -- I thought that the CD version of the maps would be loaded onto a MicroSD card. As it turned out, the City Navigator maps simply loaded "somewhere" onto the inbuilt storage. How certain am I of this? Well...

One day, I collected a trojan virus from an internet site. I cleared the virus from my PC -- but it has copied onto the Garmin MicroSD card. Windows Explorer struggled to read the card, I gave up waiting and removed the card from the Garmin. The Garmin -- and its maps -- still run fine.

Since then I have found just one possibly useful use for a MicroSD card -- I could store my taken-by-the-GPS photos there. Meanwhile, I have decided that the GPS is fine for a single "locating" photo but I prefer to use a "real" camera for the "real" photos. That's just my preference.

I still have plenty of available photo space on "fixed" GPS storage. The MicroSD card is locked away, possibly forever. As it turns out, I should not have bought it.

So subtract $50 from the total cost to get a good GPS setup for geocaching.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.