Review on 📶 Waterproof Garmin Oregon: Hard-to-Find Discontinued Model by John Barnett

Overall I am very happy with this product. I've had it for about 8 months now and have taken it on many hikes, hikes, swims and mountain bike rides. I also use it in my car almost every day. I'm using 24K topography for Missouri. The large HD resistive touchscreen is excellent. I'm afraid the screen will scratch more easily, but I'm very careful not to find out! I don't find the screen too dark to read. The battery saver feature is very handy - I can set the time after which the display turns off to save battery power. I use this for all applications except in the car. I have no complaints about the battery life, but I pop in a freshly charged pair of NiMH before every ride. I have found that new NiMH batteries last longer than older NiMH batteries, especially in this device. I still use the nickel metal hydride batteries that came with the unit and they last many hours. Actually, I don't have time for her. The 24K topography routing feature works well. No complaints. The three-axis compass is fantastic, but in the car it's often off by as much as ninety degrees when I'm stopped. After experimenting, I found that this was due to the metal body of the car. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's not really a problem because when I move the GPS compass works. I plan to experiment more with this and read the Oregon wiki which I will mention later. The profile feature is great for many of my uses. However, I have found that my tracklog sometimes automatically changes settings from recording to non-recording, for example when I switch profiles frequently. It's also negligible for me as I reset the log at the start of most rides anyway, so I check that as well. A few complaints about resetting tracks and trip computers: I can clear the track log from the track menu, but I have to go into settings to clear the trip computer. With my old Legend, this went smoothly at the same time. Also, I accidentally deleted all my waypoints because the Delete Waypoints button is right next to the Retrip Computer button! Also, I can only save entire sections of the route - basically a day. I can't cut tracks on device but it can be done on Basecamp or Mapsource. Also, I'm not sure how the tracks are sorted in the tracks menu. It doesn't appear to be alphabetical or by date. I probably have about thirty tracks saved, but it's not that hard to figure them out. I really like Basecamp. I mainly use it as a backup for tracks and waypoints. Every once in a while I plan a route or a trip and it's great for that. The camera is great compared to what I feel for other similar options. I don't like taking a good optical zoom camera with me on sailing trips and I feel that the photos I get with my Oregon 550 are on par with a disposable camera, plus it's waterproof. It leaves a lot to be desired, but not enough to make me want to carry a second camera. That closed the deal for me. The correction satellite forecast is also excellent. I usually get a signal within 5 seconds of turning on the device in the same spot. I turn it off for 3 days. That means I turn it off when I get home and a day or two later I turn it back on when I leave the house and there's a signal! I can get satellite reception while sitting in a windowless room in my house. It's really cool to be able to overlay JPEG images and create your own maps! If you have a map of your favorite trail, you can follow the instructions on this site, which is very helpful in every way: [.] However, the JPEG quality needs to be very good or your custom map will look grainy. I started looking at the 200 but it didn't have an electronic compass. I used to think it didn't matter, but in the dense forest it's hard to move long enough to get on course. So I looked at 300 (400x is basically more than 300 cards and I already have cards). The 300 lacks a 3 axis compass and camera so I went with the 550. If you mount the device on a car, quad or bike, a 3-axis compass is a must. I didn't comment on many points. Features I don't use. If this device lasts for many years I would consider it an excellent purchase. I paid $440 on Revain.com. The new 300s are currently selling for around $400, so the extra features paid off for me.