New Garmin GPSr - Oregon "Touchscreen"

March Brown · Post by **March Brown** » 26 August 08 7:27 pm

I have an Oregon 400c which ha Blue Chart loaded on its internal memory and I have city navigator loaded on the sd card this leaves your internal memory free for cache info etc.
City navigator NT for all Australia takes up about 120mb so on a 2gb sd card you could fit all the topo information for all Aus. as well easily.

pprass · Post by **pprass** » 26 August 08 8:02 pm

Map Monkey wrote:Obviously Shonkymaps is usually a coarser look with less detail in suburbia though the colours and style is the same.mm

That's very impressive - the detail shown there is much better than the Discover Aus maps on the eXplorists.

One advantage though with the Discover Aus maps I have found over the years is that it has very good off-road maps and detail. How good is City Navigator's detail of bush tracks or is that why you also need Shonkymaps?

Skippy&lambchops · Post by **Skippy&lambchops** » 26 August 08 8:27 pm

Hi Gspblu, what version City navigator have you got 2008 or 2009

red tag · Post by **red tag** » 26 August 08 8:29 pm

Hi pprass,
mm took the words right out of my mouth

Thanks mm

my reply wouldn't have had those cool pictures ..... I have only just learnt how to attach 'Emotions' to my comments in the forum

Map Monkey · Post by **Map Monkey** » 26 August 08 8:42 pm

Gspblu wrote:I have an Oregon 400c which has Blue Chart loaded on its internal memory and I have city navigator loaded on the sd card this leaves your internal memory free for cache info etc.
City navigator NT for all Australia takes up about 120mb so on a 2gb sd card you could fit all the topo information for all Aus. as well easily.

Be aware that there are undefined limits on the filesize of ALL the GPX files....this seems to around 8mb when i upload it to the Oregon. Including the last 4 (!) logs, i am only able to upload around 1700 caches rather than the 2000 advertised limit.

sheeez.

YMMV

Bluecharts g2 takes up 384mb on the internal memory of the 400c, with 358mb extra used on mine(Metroguide Australia (old version), Contours Australia v2.00 (Qld tiles only), ShonkyMaps Topo without Contours, SEQ MTB Trails), together with some Wherigo cartridges installed. The real storage hog is Contours Australia V2.00 which needs ~733mb for all of australia.

I would rather use the spare internal memory than play around with microSD cards.

pprass wrote:One advantage though with the Discover Aus maps I have found over the years is that it has very good off-road maps and detail. How good is City Navigator's detail of bush tracks or is that why you also need Shonkymaps?

I would think that ShonkyMaps is better suited to regional areas and bush tracks, due to the community support of such information....perhaps Dooghan and/or Shonkylogic etc could answer that better.

I still think Discover Aus is more detailed/better formed at the moment with their topographical and elevation data (contours, creeks, streams etc), going by a quick comparison of a Magellan XL with DA and my Garmin. (though i am comparing a commercial product to free data)

mm

allrounder · Post by **allrounder** » 27 August 08 11:30 am

I've just ordered a Garmin Oregon & the City Navigator NT for Australia (along with some lovely accessories

).

Which other maps should I also get? Are ShonkyMaps the way to go?

This will be a big jump for me as I've been using my Garmin Forerunner 305 for all my caching!

Map Monkey · Post by **Map Monkey** » 27 August 08 12:17 pm

Contours Australia v2.00 (because it is free

)

ShonkyMaps for extra benefit (and because it is free

)

YMMV

mm

allrounder · Post by **allrounder** » 27 August 08 12:33 pm

thanks for the quick reply MM...

should they be loaded directly onto the device or is using a card better?

Map Monkey · Post by **Map Monkey** » 27 August 08 12:47 pm

I don't believe it makes a huge difference, though i could be wrong (i don't have any mapsets on a mircroSD card (yet)). If you are getting a 300, put them on the internal memory (850mb) and then forget about them.

Use Mapsource to upload the relevant tiles from whatever mapsets you choose.

mm

(edited as i see you have purchased a mapsource program)

allrounder · Post by **allrounder** » 27 August 08 1:49 pm

thanks again MM...

can't wait to get my hands on the unit!!

mtrax · Post by **mtrax** » 27 August 08 4:56 pm

don't forget the OSM maps for street navigation they are free also

allrounder · Post by **allrounder** » 27 August 08 5:28 pm

why would I want these ones?

Map Monkey · Post by **Map Monkey** » 28 August 08 11:53 pm

Well it looks like i'm onto my second Oregon as of tomorrow

.....thank God for Australian warranty

After just on 20 hours of use (have been watching the diagnostic screen carefully to gauge battery life), the unit turns on, then just fades. Overseas forums talk about the Colorado having the same problem, with a replacement the recommended fix.

Does exactly the same thing with external power (usb), lithiums or alkalines.

Damn you Oregon, that'll kill my 6am, 10 hour drive i have ahead of me tomorrow.

..... not allowing for all those caches along the way.

mm

CaleD · Post by **CaleD** » 29 August 08 6:28 am

I ha the same problem a while ago with my CSx. Replaced the batteries, then all worked well.

Then it did it again the other day while on USB power. I couldn't understand why.

But it hasn't done it since, so I'm prepared to overlook the problem

Roaming Man · Post by **Roaming Man** » 04 September 08 5:26 pm

I will be going into Johnny Appleseed on Saturday to look at the Oregon 300 and the 60CSX. So would those of you who have the Oregon still recommend the Oregon over the 60CSX?

Geocaching Australia

New Garmin GPSr - Oregon "Touchscreen"

Is the Oregon worth the while?