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oregon 400t
bought the oregon and the city navigator software and set out on a 4500 mile hunting/sightseeing trip. I did need some help from the garmin folks to get it set up, but after this small headache I found the 400 to be a superb on and off road navigator. It's everything I had hoped it would be. I threw my magellan away. If you buy the mounting device for your vehicle expect it to work but you will have trouble with the power cord. It's not made for the 400 but you can buy it and go by wal-mart or target and buy a power cord for a verizon phone and it will work perfectly. After driving 4500 miles and days hunting in Colorado I have not one complaint with the device. It performed superbly for me. I was told by a retail store sales rep to get two devices and not try to use the 400 for street navigating but being the cheapskate that I am, I tried it to save money and clutter and it proved to be a great decision.Not in Kansas Anymore
It was a dark and stormy night on San Francisco Bay and one of the crew had a Foretrex strapped to his wrist. We weren't in Kansas anymore, but rather on a J24 flying the spinnaker at night and uncertain as to where a 15ft navigation aid was planted in the shallow water to the north of the unlighted ruins of the Berkeley Pier. We wasted a lot of time looking for it. The Foretrex did a good job at telling us we were flying along at 7 knots. When the crewmember attempted to use the map however, he commented that it just wasn't much use for that. The next day I went looking for a mapping unit, and after much frustration at Best Buy, purchased an Oregon 400t from a Sports Chalet, and then spent more money at West Marine to get the MapSource/BlueCharts software. Garmin does a really bad job communicating to someone who is looking for charting, what map product works with what unit. Next time - when I upgrade - I'll do more research at Amazon.com and buy a marine version like the 400c unit online (I was in a hurry and trying to decide how the size of the thing would work out). The Oregon plus MapSource plus BlueCharts (plus a holster - see below) is a cool tool box for sailing once you get over the rather blunt and clumsy user interface. I developed a custom holster with a strap to fit over the buckle of my PFD, and the GPS unit fits very nicely and doesn't get in the way. When I need to use it, I can pull it out and put it back one handed, and it's always connected to me. It is not too small and not too big - just right for high performance sailing on a dark night. A week later I was doing foredeck on an Ultimate 24 at night and we were flying along. This time the Oregon told me that the pesky navaid was directly in front of us, and we wasted no time looking for it. When the GPS told us we were 500 ft from it, it was clearly visible exactly where the Oregon said it was. The user interface is a bit clumsy for sailing, but the Mapsource software and Bluecharts charts are excellent. I concur that the speed display is way off, the display dim for daylight use, and battery life could be better. But at night or in the fog in a harbor full of stuff to avoid . . . I agree with Jay Lowenstein - I'd vote for this to be mandatory on all small boats. It would get 5 stars if the user interface was more in line with the needs of the sailing world.Excellent
Just returned my Nuvi 500 to Amazon because the opportunity came up to purchase the Oregon 400t and the Nuvi 500 is poorly suited for off-road compared to trail-devices. Now my only questions are, what's the limit to what I can do with this thing? People looking into the Oregon may want to look at Delorme's PN-40, released yesterday. The compass has a prompt to hold it level until it can read well and then the prompt dissapears, it would be nice to have a 3 axis compass, but it's not a big deal. The internal compass is, however, a great asset to the device allowing for alot easier navigation then trying to walk around and find your bearing. The touch screen works with fingers, PDA styluses, and winter gloves! It performs well in below freezing temperatures for extended periods and is fairly rugged. For off-road it's amazing however on-road it offers routing, auto re-routing if you miss a turn, but not voice announcements only beeps to announce turns. Mac and Windows user have the option of uploading and downloading and saving tracklogs using GPS Babel and converting them into .kml files to be seen over-layed on google earth. Conversely, you can create tracks on google earth and upload them to the 400t. Great device!The best Hand held GPS on the market
I bought Oregon 400C. I have Topo 2008 and many other Garmin maps on micro SD cards. No matter which Garmin Oregon you pick this model offers all you need in a mapping hand held GPS device. Fast, convenient with its touch screen interface and it is very compact. The only con is the relatively low battery life but with charged 2700+ mAh NiMH or Lithium batteries in particular you can use it for 2-3 days. Compared to the Garmin Colorado this device has much better battery life, smaller profile, and much, much better user interface. If you need a reliable, easy to use and powerful hand held GPS don't look further. Buy it!The best yet
I've owned about 6 GPSr's since my first loaf-sized Lowrance Eagle. Almost all of them have been Magellans, but since my XP PC fatally crashed and Magellan doesn't offer a driver for Vista Home Premium (why not? I suppose that since the Triton series is so bad they're giving up) I went ahead and bought an Oregon 400t. It is by far the best GPS that I have ever used! The size is good, the graphics magnificent, and the operation is intuitive (if you're familiar with GPS operation). (I can't speak about a learning curve -- sorry.) The touchscreen is responsive, fun to use, and much less error-prone than buttons. The maps are clean and easy to read. Pan and zoom is very easy, and different features appear at appropriate scales. The PC interface is error-free, and the firmware upgrade process is a no-brainer. The GPSr and micro-SD card both show up as drives, so you can do anything that you want with them. (There is a warning not to delete the maps.) Cons: the minor roads are blue (contrary to cartographic convention), but it's easy to adjust to seeing them. Hard to read in sunlight? It's a silly point raised by pampered people. Summary: The Oregon 400t sets the new standard; it is way ahead of the previous generation of GPSRs. It's quite expensive, but you get what you pay for.Keyword : garmin
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