FYI: Garmin Oregon 600 on sale at REI for $219

[robgendreau]

http://www.rei.com/product/855741/garmin-oregon-600-gps

Touchscreen, very viewable in bright light, compass, atmospheric barometer, can connect to heartrate monitor, microSD slot, etc. That's about $100 off. While they last.

 

[photo nomad]

They also have the Delorme InReach Explorer for $285. Which is $95 off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[agavelvr]

The oregon is a great unit. You can import scanned paper maps and georef them easily. I use mine on a dirtbike with the backlighting turned off to conserve juice...daylight readable w/o a light is nice.

 

[hansrober]

My local store was out of them but they shipped one to my door for the same price. I just received it tonight. I cant wait to use it goofing around tomorrow. I plan on marking some springs with it this weekend on a Suwannee River trip!

 

[LoneSniper]

I thought about purchasing it, but have little need really as only go on short day hikes. Thinking of using Trimble Outdoors or AllTrails instead. Do you guys have any experience with those apps?

 

[hansrober]

I thought about purchasing it, but have little need really as only go on short day hikes. Thinking of using Trimble Outdoors or AllTrails instead. Do you guys have any experience with those apps?

I have not tried those, my phone is a battery hog...plus I kill phones regularly. I am sure I will do an unintentional durability test on the Garmin this weekend.....

 

[bikemanx2]

I took advantage of this sale in the inreach. Same thing they were sold out but shipped it to me, received it yesterday so I'm looking forward to playing with it. My wife and I do quite a bit of travel in the back country alone so having a way to communicate with family and in emergencies is important. I have also been looking for good map/nav apps so I'm looking forward to using the earthmate app.

 

[robgendreau]

Trimble apps are quite nice. A bit convulted in interface, and I like Gaia better, but their online trip planning thing is superior. Quite decent for a phone-based solution, and they have versions that are especially nice for hunters. I think the cool features still require a subscription.

Been using the Oregon; very nice that I can use custom maps. They overlay in the handheld quite well. I use QGIS to create georeferenced maps from say scanned paper ones. Very cool. Garmin's US Topo 24K maps are meh for trails. Pretty decent for USFS roads in CA.

The Basecamp software on the Mac stinks. Crashes a lot, and several features are broken right now (like the trip planner). I can't believe they do such a poor job with it. Fortunately, the GPS unit itself is super easy to use. And it shows up as just a USB mass storage device. So cool after years of struggling with serial connections and wonky USB/serial adapters. Yippee.

 

[LoneSniper]

I agree Trimble UI is a bit outdated compared to other apps. Glad to hear it's 'quite nice' and will try the trial on June trip to Shenandoah State Park, VA.