Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

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AusMoss
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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by AusMoss » 28 September 12 4:38 pm

Thanks for the advice gmj3191 and biggles1024.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 28 September 12 5:48 pm

gmj3191 wrote:The 62 range have a much clearer screen but a lower resolution.
I was concerned about this when buying my Oregon but I have never had an issue with the screen.
Thank-you for your insight, thus far. :)

Can you relate the screen of the Oregon when viewed outdoors to say an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy in terms of readability? My iPhone, an old 3GS model iow, not a retina screen, is extremely difficult to read unless I really crank up the screen brightness, but if I do that, the battery life, which is already woeful, really drops.

Cheers,

b.

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gmj3191
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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by gmj3191 » 28 September 12 6:00 pm

biggles1024 wrote:
gmj3191 wrote:The 62 range have a much clearer screen but a lower resolution.
I was concerned about this when buying my Oregon but I have never had an issue with the screen.
Thank-you for your insight, thus far. :)

Can you relate the screen of the Oregon when viewed outdoors to say an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy in terms of readability? My iPhone, an old 3GS model iow, not a retina screen, is extremely difficult to read unless I really crank up the screen brightness, but if I do that, the battery life, which is already woeful, really drops.

Cheers,

b.
My son and I have a GS2 , my daughter has an iPhone, and my wife has an HTC Sensation.
Much easier to read the Oregon than any of these as the screen is not as reflective.

I was really worried about this aspect so I gave it a lot of thought and compared the Oregon to a phone and a GPS Map 60 CSx, which has a similar screen to the 62.
The 60 CSxwas definitely better in sunlight, but you can get along fine with the Oregon, it's not really an issue at all.

I'm sure JA will let you take one outside to have a look at in sunny conditions, if the rain ever stops.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 28 September 12 6:25 pm

gmj3191 wrote: My son and I have a GS2 , my daughter has an iPhone, and my wife has an HTC Sensation.
Much easier to read the Oregon than any of these as the screen is not as reflective.

I was really worried about this aspect so I gave it a lot of thought and compared the Oregon to a phone and a GPS Map 60 CSx, which has a similar screen to the 62.
The 60 CSxwas definitely better in sunlight, but you can get along fine with the Oregon, it's not really an issue at all.

I'm sure JA will let you take one outside to have a look at in sunny conditions, if the rain ever stops.
Thank-you for that insight.

You know, I can't seem to take a trick on this. I decided to drive into St. Kilda early tomorrow morning when the traffic is still light, before the Grand Final and buy my gps. I took yet another look at JA's website, and they're closed tomorrow. :shock: No orders will be sent until Tuesday. :cry:
Anaconda stock the 62s and I'm thinking that is the one I'll go with, but they'll have to come good on their "Price Beat" offer to get their price at least down to JA's.

My money is burning a hole in my pocket now that I've decided to buy and I'm impatient. :lol:

Wish me luck. [-o<

Cheers,
b.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by AusMoss » 28 September 12 9:14 pm

We ended up choosing between the Oregon 450 and the GPSmaps 62s. The advantages of the GPSmaps 62s seemed to be a brighter (although smaller) screen, larger memory (although both take micro SD cards anyway), slightly longer battery life (but both have plenty and we'd have spares anyway), and possibly better signal and accuracy, especially under trees. As we like camping and hiking (although we haven't been for a while since we have a toddler now) I was leaning towards the GPSmaps, but my husband thought it was overkill considering the numerous positive reviews of the Oregon, and also thought that the menus/navigation were better on the Oregon's touchscreen, as well as thinking that it would be nicer to have the bigger screen. I liked the look of the Oregon's user interface better too (as far as I could tell from youtube videos), so we decided to go with the Oregon. We had to order one and should get it next week. I'm very much looking forward to trying it out, and I hope it doesn't let us down under tree cover!

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by gmj3191 » 28 September 12 11:01 pm

Tree cover usually isnt a huge issue. You can almost always back off into a clearing and triangulate.
It's hard to know just how much different the two types are under trees, but you won't be sorry you bought the Oregon.
If the cache has been hidden with an iPhone, it probably doesn't matter at all.

The next thing you need to do is to get a copy of the OSM maps and load that into the GPS.

By the way, you probably won't need an SD card.

I have 5,000 caches, OSM maps of all Australia and about 100 photos and I've used about half of the 900Mb of internal memory in my 550.
You won't have photos to take any space.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 28 September 12 11:16 pm

gmj3191 wrote:Tree cover usually isnt a huge issue. You can almost always back off into a clearing and triangulate.
If there's a clearing nearby. :lol:
gmj3191 wrote: It's hard to know just how much different the two types are under trees, but you won't be sorry you bought the Oregon.
Reading the screen in bright daylight is my main concern. I have to wear my glasses nowadays to actually read any writing, even on my notebook. I'm a bit long sighted and I know from my iPhone which is particularly hard to read in bright sun, that a good daylight readable screen is essential for me.
gmj3191 wrote: If the cache has been hidden with an iPhone, it probably doesn't matter at all.
I know what you mean. I've only seen a couple where the CO has explicitly stated than an iPhone was used but of course, there could be many more.
gmj3191 wrote: The next thing you need to do is to get a copy of the OSM maps and load that into the GPS.
Pardon my ignorance, but why would I need a copy of OSM? I use my TomTom to get my car as close to a cache as possible, or to a carpark 'waypoint' and then proceed on foot for quite some distance in some caches. Whatever GPS I buy, it will have a topo map in it. fwiw, I am much more of a map type of bloke than a gps type. I prefer to navigate using a map rather than an electronic gadget.
gmj3191 wrote: By the way, you probably won't need an SD card.

I have 5,000 caches, OSM maps of all Australia and about 100 photos and I've used about half of the 900Mb of internal memory.
That's good to know. Thanks again.

Decisions, decisions..... ](*,)

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 29 September 12 8:32 pm

JA's website is now advising that they're out of stock of Oregon 450's and are offering to let potential customers know then their next order arrives. :(

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by gmj3191 » 29 September 12 9:31 pm

biggles1024 wrote:
gmj3191 wrote: The next thing you need to do is to get a copy of the OSM maps and load that into the GPS.
Pardon my ignorance, but why would I need a copy of OSM? I use my TomTom to get my car as close to a cache as possible, or to a carpark 'waypoint' and then proceed on foot for quite some distance in some caches. Whatever GPS I buy, it will have a topo map in it. fwiw, I am much more of a map type of bloke than a gps type. I prefer to navigate using a map rather than an electronic gadget.
Usually when urban caching I would use street maps rather than topo maps. If you can load multiple caches into your Tom Tom that's fine. I can't do that with my in dash unit. What I tend to do is find the street location on my GPS from the OSM map and then put that into my car GPS. I can put coordinates in ONLY as DD MM SS.SS but that's tedious and error prone.
Then again, you're not always in your car when doing urban caches.
I find the maps in my GPS quite useful. It's also useful to have with me when I cache interstate (or overseas) and don't have my car.
After all, they're free so wouldn't you want them?
You can still have the topo maps which I have never found very useful really.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by AusMoss » 29 September 12 9:46 pm

biggles1024 wrote:JA's website is now advising that they're out of stock of Oregon 450's and are offering to let potential customers know then their next order arrives. :(
We ordered ours from a local store in Adelaide for a similar price. They'll get it in in a couple of (business) days and let us know.

You could also get it from Ryda

http://www.ryda.com.au/Garmin-OREGON-45 ... gon450.htm

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 30 September 12 9:03 am

gmj3191 wrote: Usually when urban caching I would use street maps rather than topo maps. If you can load multiple caches into your Tom Tom that's fine. I can't do that with my in dash unit. What I tend to do is find the street location on my GPS from the OSM map and then put that into my car GPS. I can put coordinates in ONLY as DD MM SS.SS but that's tedious and error prone.
Then again, you're not always in your car when doing urban caches.
I find the maps in my GPS quite useful. It's also useful to have with me when I cache interstate (or overseas) and don't have my car.
After all, they're free so wouldn't you want them?
You can still have the topo maps which I have never found very useful really.
Again, thank-you for your insight.

Loading multiple caches into my TomTom is done using GSAK. You need to be careful though as the TomTom will try to take you as close as possible to a cache and there might not be any access to the cache from the nearest point on a road.

Good points about OSM. I'll check it out when I get a GPSr.

Cheers,

b.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 30 September 12 9:07 am

AusMoss wrote: We ordered ours from a local store in Adelaide for a similar price. They'll get it in in a couple of (business) days and let us know.

You could also get it from Ryda

http://www.ryda.com.au/Garmin-OREGON-45 ... gon450.htm
Thanks for that. I found Ryda during a Google search and was contemplating buying from them. JA's Melbourne branch, (St. Kilda) is about 50km from me, each way so its not a cheap trip to drive there and back. I'm thinking I might as well buy from interstate and pay the postage and have it delivered to my door.
It would be nice if Anaconda or Ray's Outdoors stocked this particular model, but they don't, at least not according to their respective websites.

Cheers,

b.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by gmj3191 » 02 October 12 6:49 pm

Oregon 450 & 550 - price change, now $399 and $499 down approx $100. Details http://www.gpsoz.com.au/garmin/garmin_oregon.htm

That's from GPSOZ. Don't know how that compares with other quotes you might have.

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 03 October 12 7:01 am

gmj3191 wrote:Oregon 450 & 550 - price change, now $399 and $499 down approx $100. Details http://www.gpsoz.com.au/garmin/garmin_oregon.htm

That's from GPSOZ. Don't know how that compares with other quotes you might have.
Thanks for that. GPSOZ will have to try a bit harder though. For the 450, JA, when they get stock. $365.00 Ryda $362.85. I'm still undecided about which one though. The GPSMAP 62s, which purportedly has better reception when under trees, which is very important to me, is one I want to look at 'in the flesh'.

Cheers,

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Re: Newbie thread: Which Garmin handheld GPS to buy?

Post by biggles1024 » 03 October 12 2:30 pm

The deed is done. I've purchased a Garmin Mapgps 62s. I had an opportunity to take both it and an Oregon 450 outside at Anaconda Frankston. Its a bright, sunny day here in Melbourne and the clarity of the 62s was head and shoulders above the 450. I got it for $400.50 by invoking Anaconda's "price beat" guarantee. I had a printout from JA's website for comparison.

Thanks to all those who have helped.

Now I'm off to find some caches. :mrgreen:

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