Garmin Oregon 400t thoughts?

[DaveM]

REI has a sale on the Garmin Oregon 400t units right now. I'm wondering if anyone here has used one and has any comments on them?

I need to replace my aging Magellan unit and these look pretty nice for the discounted price.

thanks,
dave

 

[sboada]

They received the "Backpacker's Magaizine Editors Choice" FWIW. They had alot of good things to say about it.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

I've had mine since January and love it. Garmin is coming out with new updates to it almost every week (including adding new features), so it continues to get better.

So far I have no complaints about it.

The current REI price is great.....wish I had got mine for that price!

 

[Overland]

just a note about their topo software. we here in canada we can get the canadian 400t with the canadian topo preloaded but it is the old version of the software. very recently Map Soucre released new versions of US Topo and Canada Topo so be sure what version of the software your getting with your unit.

i had to buy a 300 and then the canada topo seperate to get it the way i wanted.

 

[DaveM]

I went and checked one out at REI today and pretty much answered my own question.

Its a great little unit but the screen is very hard to read in daylight. Even in the store there was a lot of glare. As soon as I realized the back light was already on and set to high that was pretty much it. I'll wait and see if they fix that issue.

 

[Navman]

I went and checked one out at REI today and pretty much answered my own question.

Its a great little unit but the screen is very hard to read in daylight. Even in the store there was a lot of glare. As soon as I realized the back light was already on and set to high that was pretty much it. I'll wait and see if they fix that issue.

The Oregon is a great unit. Very easy to use. My only complaint is the screen brightness too, but I manage okay with it.

 

[DaveM]

The Oregon is a great unit. Very easy to use. My only complaint is the screen brightness too, but I manage okay with it.

I'd read about the screen in reviews but figured that even if it wasn't fairing well against its current competitors it would still be way better than my 6+ year old Magellan. But it's not. The GPSMap 376c has been discontinued and is discounted pretty cheap now. I may look at one of those instead.

 

[chet]

I'm sure you could make an antiglare screen for it pretty cheap and it would help protect the screen too?

edit: just looked and boxwave makes a antiglare screen specifically for the 300 and 400t $12!!

 

[IntrepidXJ]

The new 500t that is coming out in July is supposed to have a better screen...

 

[S.Limited]

just looked and boxwave makes a antiglare screen specifically for the 300 and 400t $12!!

has anyone tried this?
Or any other boxwave product?

 

[chet]

I had a boxwave screen protector on my pda and it was a good product.

 

[Corey]

Been reading up on the new 550T in my new REI catalog, looks like a nice unit.
Everywhere I Google they say that REI "leaked" the info by having it in their catalogs early.
http://www.gpslodge.com/archives/025074.php

Does anyone know if when you take a picture with it if it can embed the lats/long info on the picture?
That would be cool indeed.

I am looking to upgrade, I have the original Garmin eTrex, the basic yellow one.

Found more info at Garmin:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=26876

It answers my question too.

Each photo is automatically geotagged with the location of where it was taken, allowing you to navigate back to that exact spot in the future.

I may have to upgrade to one of these.
3.2 megapixel camera too.
Basically the same as my LG Dare cell phone, it takes decent pictures.

 

[DrJohn]

I went and checked one out at REI today and pretty much answered my own question.

Its a great little unit but the screen is very hard to read in daylight. Even in the store there was a lot of glare. As soon as I realized the back light was already on and set to high that was pretty much it. I'll wait and see if they fix that issue.

I was worried about that too, but I'm very happy with my Oregon in the field. The screen reads great in the sun with no backlight, so I turn mine off to conserve the batteries.

 

[motochain]

Been using my 400t since July and love it! Best part is that when it's in direct sunlight it is perfectly clear and easy to read. Love the map software also.