Garmin Oregon 650

Discussion about software such as GSAK, OziExplorer etc, as well as all things hardware, GPSrs, laptops, PDAs, paperless caching, cables etc
User avatar
Aushiker
350 ? I am the lizard queen
350 ? I am the lizard queen
Posts: 1397
Joined: 30 July 04 2:35 pm
Twitter: Aushiker
Location: Fremantle, WA
Contact:

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by Aushiker » 03 June 13 4:48 pm

Does anyone have any experience with the ScreenPatronus screen protectors or for that matter the 3M Vikuiti™ screen protector ARMR220 for the Oregon 600? They are more expensive than other eBay options so wondering if they are worth the dollars.

Thanks
Andrew

User avatar
Team Wibble
2100 or more geocaches found
2100 or more geocaches found
Posts: 1054
Joined: 18 October 04 11:47 am
Location: Adelaide

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by Team Wibble » 03 June 13 10:11 pm

Aushiker wrote:Does anyone have any experience with the ScreenPatronus screen protectors or for that matter the 3M Vikuiti™ screen protector ARMR220 for the Oregon 600? They are more expensive than other eBay options so wondering if they are worth the dollars.

Thanks
Andrew
I got the pre-cut screen protectors from ScreenPatronus for my 600t.
Positives: Very easy to apply with no bubbles under the protector. Fits perfectly.
Negatives: Makes screen display appear ever so slightly fuzzy. Reduces the sensitivity of the touchscreen just slightly.
I've only had the screen protector on the unit for a few days, so time will tell if it's more of a pain than useful, but I figured it was worth having something to protect the screen for a pricey unit like this.

User avatar
Aushiker
350 ? I am the lizard queen
350 ? I am the lizard queen
Posts: 1397
Joined: 30 July 04 2:35 pm
Twitter: Aushiker
Location: Fremantle, WA
Contact:

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by Aushiker » 07 June 13 2:07 pm

I have received my Garmin Oregon 600 from Highly Tuned Athletes early this week. It came speaking Dutch :) Also got the bike mount. Just need to set it all up now and see how it goes on a geocache ride.

Image

Image

Image

More images if interested at Google+

Andrew
Last edited by Aushiker on 07 June 13 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
mtrax
Posts: 1974
Joined: 19 December 06 9:57 am
Location: Weston Creek, Canberra

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by mtrax » 07 June 13 3:28 pm

Team Wibble wrote:
Aushiker wrote:Does anyone have any experience with the ScreenPatronus screen protectors or for that matter the 3M Vikuiti™ screen protector ARMR220 for the Oregon 600? They are more expensive than other eBay options so wondering if they are worth the dollars.

Thanks
Andrew
I got the pre-cut screen protectors from ScreenPatronus for my 600t.
Positives: Very easy to apply with no bubbles under the protector. Fits perfectly.
Negatives: Makes screen display appear ever so slightly fuzzy. Reduces the sensitivity of the touchscreen just slightly.
I've only had the screen protector on the unit for a few days, so time will tell if it's more of a pain than useful, but I figured it was worth having something to protect the screen for a pricey unit like this.
yes interested to see how it goes, but having used it for a whole weekend the sensitivity is both good and bad, bad because any touch can do unpredictable things eg when hung around neck etc.. so I have got a habit of locking screen when I'm not logging or using it.

User avatar
mtrax
Posts: 1974
Joined: 19 December 06 9:57 am
Location: Weston Creek, Canberra

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by mtrax » 10 June 13 5:06 pm

just came back from a small caching run .,. GPS crashed.. again.. this is getting a bit more than annoying.. I couldn't restart till I got home and finally booted when I replaced batteries.. and then swapped original batteries back in and they reported 100% charged.. go figure..

User avatar
allrounder
3500 or more caches found
3500 or more caches found
Posts: 365
Joined: 19 January 06 2:38 pm
Location: Kambah

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by allrounder » 11 June 13 12:44 pm

had no problems with mine yesterday...did the Mineshaft series plus some others in the area...

User avatar
mtrax
Posts: 1974
Joined: 19 December 06 9:57 am
Location: Weston Creek, Canberra

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by mtrax » 11 June 13 12:55 pm

allrounder wrote:had no problems with mine yesterday...did the Mineshaft series plus some others in the area...
actually bumped into your friends yesterday doing the Chalk-it Up series thats actually when it crashed

User avatar
allrounder
3500 or more caches found
3500 or more caches found
Posts: 365
Joined: 19 January 06 2:38 pm
Location: Kambah

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by allrounder » 11 June 13 3:55 pm

perhaps you shouldn't have bumped into them then! :wink:

User avatar
Alansee
4000 or more? I'm officially obsessed.
4000 or more? I'm officially obsessed.
Posts: 560
Joined: 23 February 06 12:45 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by Alansee » 11 June 13 6:54 pm

I have been using my 600 for a couple of days now and am so far quite happy with it. Had the problem of new GGZ files not loading but that was resolved when I uploaded to the new build version. I loaded about 4000 caches as a GGZ file and found a delay of 2-3 seconds when looking for a new cache. I have since changed to just loading a smaller GPX file which is quicker, but 2-3 seconds for a big file is not too bad.

I have also found the sensitivity an issue - it is either that or the thing is changing screens on its own :evil: . Have taken to locking it but will try changing the sensitivity as suggested by David.

One issue is that when I entered a new waypoint (eg. for a multi) I then had to change the Dashboard on the Arrow screen from "Geocaching" to something else, which used to be the case with the old 300 from memory. I then had the odd experience of having the main arrow pointing to the waypoint, and the smaller one up the top pointing to a geocache at the same time. I have since reverted to using the map with the Dashboard.

A major issue I haven't resolved yet is with maps. I loaded in the Openstreet maps for Australia and the 600 immediately switched to them. However come night it seems to switch back to the standard Basemap, which was of no use whatsover. I haven't spent much time trying to fix it yet but it was very frustrating!

Its all a learning curve

User avatar
maccamob
10000 or more caches found
10000 or more caches found
Posts: 915
Joined: 04 April 03 6:37 pm
Location: Hoppers Crossing, VIC
Contact:

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by maccamob » 11 June 13 10:57 pm

Been using our 650 for a few days too, and am very happy with it. In anticipation of our forthcoming US/Canada trip, I have about 17,000 caches loaded. Haven't had any trouble with cache loading times. The cache index appears in about a second, descriptions and past logs take less than a second to load, all of which is quite acceptable.

Have been paying particular attention to the compass behaviour in light of earlier comments. For me, the compass works just fine in electronic mode (ie when standing still with zero km/h showing as the speed). I understand it switches to GPS mode at a very low speed (between 1 and 2 km/h); I would much prefer it to switch to GPS mode at well above walking speed - say at about 10km/h. It has shown some strange behaviour in GPS mode though. If I start walking, it will often point in the wrong direction, at anything up to 180 degrees off compared with where it was pointing when standing still. Then, if I keep walking, it will usually swing back to the right direction after 30 seconds or so. If not, stopping then setting off again seems to fix it.

I have set the screen sensitivity to 'normal' (in the Accessibility settings) and haven't had any unwanted screen changes. However, I didn't like the frequent portrait/landscape switching, so have locked the screen to portrait mode. I love the ease of reading the screen in daylight, even with the backlight off.

I'm not particularly impressed so far with the supplied (2000mAh) rechargeable battery pack yet. I can only get about 4 or 5 hours use out of it, although it is still improving with each charge cycle. Perhaps not surprisingly, it's much better with 2500mAh Eneloops.

Still getting used to the camera, but I do like the way that the geotagged photos, when viewed in something like Geosetter, show not just where they were taken but also in which direction they were taken.

User avatar
Alansee
4000 or more? I'm officially obsessed.
4000 or more? I'm officially obsessed.
Posts: 560
Joined: 23 February 06 12:45 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by Alansee » 12 June 13 1:22 pm

Resolved my map issue - on changing the batteries the SD card had fallen out, and was thankfully on the floor of the car. I have also learnt how to lock the SD card in as indicated in the battery space. :oops:

I have had the same compass issues as maccamob - ie, the arrow taking quite some time to align when walking off, but it seems to be fine when standing still.

I too have locked the screen to portrait - on one occasion it took ages to change from landscape when I needed it to.

And I had the opportunity to compare the screen to an Oregon 300 the other night - actually it was incomparable! SOOO much better!

User avatar
mtrax
Posts: 1974
Joined: 19 December 06 9:57 am
Location: Weston Creek, Canberra

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by mtrax » 23 June 13 8:42 am


LouiseAnn
4500 or more caches found
4500 or more caches found
Posts: 727
Joined: 08 August 09 12:04 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by LouiseAnn » 23 June 13 10:43 am

Wow

User avatar
Alansee
4000 or more? I'm officially obsessed.
4000 or more? I'm officially obsessed.
Posts: 560
Joined: 23 February 06 12:45 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by Alansee » 23 June 13 10:48 am

OK, so if I throw the 600 down Artemis Lane it won't break, but will it show me where the cache is? :mrgreen:

LouiseAnn
4500 or more caches found
4500 or more caches found
Posts: 727
Joined: 08 August 09 12:04 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Garmin Oregon 650

Post by LouiseAnn » 23 June 13 1:44 pm

Throwing it down the lane isn't going to achieve anything. You'd have to throw it somewhere else to find the cache using that method....

Post Reply