Geocaching Australia

Has anyone tried the Dakota 20?

I love my Dakota 20 - in effect a baby Oregon

Its smaller size and less screen resolution may put people off

but for bushwalking - its ideal.
If you want to use it as an in car unit - its too small

Meredith likes the 3 axis tilt compensated compass - no more trying to keep it level

It doesn't work with Whereigo caches either,

However keep in mind its considerably cheaper than an Oregon

Its GPS is highly sensitive - compared to my old Etrex Summit
and having cache notes (GPX files) on board means an all in one unit

It also can run multiple .img files which can be switched on and off at will.

I normally run OSM with 5m contours
but can switch to T4A or shonky maps, depending on need.

Comments have been made about its screen brightness in daylight,
but I have found the unit to be readable in all sunlight conditions.


Kevin

Funnily enough, my eXplorist 500 gave up the ghost today (quite terminally) and we go away for a caching trip tomorrow night. So a flying trip to Johnny Appleseed tomorrow for one is on the cards.

Garmin Oregon 300 is the best


fattyacid

Just bought a GPS 60 Yellow, does everything I need as will use in marine application as well, has external ant socket, usb and serial, so can be hooked to the laptop as a chart plotter, waterproof, foolproof, Cheap enough, wouldnt buy the etrek yellow as U realy should have the USB serial and other conectivity. Dont need mapping as you should use paper charts for serious stuff (marine and bushwalking) anyhow, always use redundant methods as backup.

FishFinder wrote:Just bought a GPS 60 Yellow, does everything I need as will use in marine application as well, has external ant socket, usb and serial, so can be hooked to the laptop as a chart plotter, waterproof, foolproof, Cheap enough, wouldnt buy the etrek yellow as U realy should have the USB serial and other conectivity. Dont need mapping as you should use paper charts for serious stuff (marine and bushwalking) anyhow, always use redundant methods as backup.

Hi, Paper maps are always a good idea to have if heading into unfamiliar territory.
Do you plan to use your GPSr for geocaching?

Just given my new O550 a run. Very pleased . Getting within 2m of point (Good GPS site). Garmin quotes an accuracy of +/-3m.
(I'd add a picture if I knew how.)
Has some great features for which you pay for, i.e. 3 axis compass.
O300 will be just as good with the core GPS functions.

poorPDOP wrote:Just given my new O550 a run. Very pleased . Getting within 2m of point (Good GPS site). Garmin quotes an accuracy of +/-3m.
(I'd add a picture if I knew how.)
Has some great features for which you pay for, i.e. 3 axis compass.
O300 will be just as good with the core GPS functions.

So your avatar isn't actually a photo of your caching gps? I'm disappointed!

FishFinder wrote:Just bought a GPS 60 Yellow, does everything I need as will use in marine application as well, has external ant socket, usb and serial, so can be hooked to the laptop as a chart plotter, waterproof, foolproof, Cheap enough, wouldnt buy the etrek yellow as U realy should have the USB serial and other conectivity. Dont need mapping as you should use paper charts for serious stuff (marine and bushwalking) anyhow, always use redundant methods as backup.

Don,t dismiss mapping handhelds too quickly as they can be loaded with free maps and usually feature better reciever chips than the cheaper units which is exactly the case with the gps60 compared with a gps60csx which has a much more sensitive chip making it far more usable in difficult conditions, such as under tree cover.

I have found out how to prove/support my earlier post, i.e "I'd add a picture if I knew how."
http://geocaching.com.au/gallery/image/9926

WARNING - WARNING - WARNING

If anyone has recently bought an Oregon 300, DO NOT CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK (I include myself in that and I reckon I got a fantastic deal after getting the GST refund on the way out to New Zealand in August last year):

http://www.ja-gps.com.au/garmin/handheld-oregon-300/!!!

So, if you are leaving the country within 30 days of purchase, you can get a brand spanking new Oregon 300, in the box, for less than AUD$300 after getting your 10% GST refunded as you are leaving, and you get to use the thing until you go!!! Even if you aren't going OS, $329 is pretty sensational but how are they able to do that?!?!?!

The 450 and 450T are due before end March.
They are the replacement models, so they're decreasing prices to move the old stock.
I'm hanging out for the 450.

Ahh, that explains a lot. There appears to be a few differences between the 450 and 300:

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do? ... re=compare

• 2000 WPs (v 1000)
• 200 routes (v 50)
• high-speed USB (v normal speed(?))
• tilt-compensated, 3-axis compass (v not)
• Photo navigation (navigate to geotagged photos) (v NA)
• and the big one, $50 less RRP than the 300!

Other than those things, everything else is pretty much the same but a darn good looking unit nevertheless. It probably means that support will start slowing down for the 300 soon. Gulp!!

It's the 3axis compass that stopped me buying the 300 and I was >< this far from buying a Dakota 20.
When I saw the 450 with the benefits of both the Dakota20 and the 300 I knew that was the device for me.

Wow, what are Garmin doing? A comparison of the 450 and 550 shows that the only difference between the two is the 3.2 megapixel on-board camera on the 550, and that doesn't have optical zoom.

In effect, you would be paying AUD$150 more (RRP) for the camera! I reckon that the 450 will effectively kill off the 550 as well at that sort of price difference. I know there would be people who would want the convenience of an all-in-one unit but for mine, I'd take the 450 and buy a cheapie, snap happy 10 megapixel camera with 3-4 times optical zoom and still have enough left over for a celebratory champagne .

BTW, I also noticed that the 450 takes in a staggering 5000 geocaches compared with the 300's 2000 (and that's over and above the waypoints). Well, that's Victoria covered .

EuDes wrote:In effect, you would be paying AUD$150 more (RRP) for the camera!

Actually you are paying $150 for a waterproof, geotagging camera. Haven't seen many cheap cameras around that can automagically georeference an image yet and handle 3 drops of water.

::EDIT::
The real world price difference between the 450 and 550 is only $50.

mm