Sunday, March 18, 2012

Garmin Oregon 450 review

Garmin-Oregon-450-review

Hands on with the best Oregon yet

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued and replaced by the Oregon 600.

The Garmin Oregon 450 is one of the newest members of the touchscreen Oregon family, featuring the latest improvements such as better visibility, a tri-axial compass, custom dashboards, advanced track navigation features and the ability to load custom maps and BirdsEye aerial imagery. I’ll delve into those details shortly, but first I want to clarify the differences between the Oregon 450 and some closely…

Related units

  • The Oregon 450t adds pre-loaded, 1:100,000 scale topo maps of the US to the 450’s feature set (see the next section for reasons not to spend the extra money!)
  • The Oregon 550 adds a 3.2 MP geotagging camera
  • Going the other direction, dropping down to the Oregon 300, you’ll go back to an earlier generation (less legible) screen and you’ll get a standard electronic compass
  • To see how the Oregon 450 stands up against other Garmin models, check out my Garmin handheld GPS comparison chart.

Save your money

The 450t’s pre-loaded topo maps of the entire U.S. may appeal to those who travel a lot, but there are few other reasons to step up to that model. The reason? There are better quality 1:24,000 scale topo maps available for free for most states. GPS File Depot is a great source for such maps.

Custom maps and BirdsEye imagery

Then there is the recent introduction of Garmin custom maps. Basically, this allows you to put any map image on your Oregon. Found a park trail map online? Add it to your GPS! The image at left below shows a custom map — a USGS topo map (raster) image. You can read more about this feature by checking out my posts on Garmin custom maps.

Custom map and BirdsEye Garmin also recently announced their BirdsEye aerial imagery program, a $29.99 annual subscription that will allow you to add aerial imagery to the Oregon series. The image at right, above, shows a screenshot.

Now that we have that out of the way, lets look at some of the other new features in the Oregon line, which are all found on the 450…


Oregon 450 touchscreen display

All of the newer generation high-resolution GPS screens suffer a bit when it comes to visibility. The 550 series is slightly better than the x00 first generation, but the newer 450 series seems better yet. As a matter of fact, it’s the first Oregon I’m going to recommend for fixed mount, non-powered use, such as bike handlebars. In the past, I’ve recommended Oregons primarily for handheld use, where you will intuitively tilt it for the best view.

Let me back up a bit and share what I saw when testing the Oregon 450. The first time out on my bike, I was surprised by the visibility, but when I took the 450 off my handlebars, and held it side by side with my 400t, I couldn’t tell much difference looking at them straight on. Once I tried different angles though, it became clear to me that the 450 was viewable over a wider range than the older model. I don’t recall seeing this when I tested the 550t, so I asked Garmin if there had been changes between the 450 and 550 series in regards to screen technology. Here’s the response I got:

While the most notable enhancement in our Oregon screens was from the x00 to the x50 lineup, customers may notice other improvements that are a result of various hardware and software improvements.

The difference is seen in sunny, bright conditions only. I could not detect much difference in shade. And regardless, in at least some conditions, the 450 still isn’t as bright as older units that don’t have such high resolution screens (e.g., the 60/76C and eTrex C series). But the huge number of improvements the Oregon series is accumulating leaves me with little reservation in recommending them over previous model lines. With the recent improvements in screen technology, visibility just isn’t a deal killer, even for bikers. Even so, I still recommend that users create sun and shade profiles to improve visibility (discussed a little later in this review).

Portions of the following are taken from my Oregon 550t review.

Oregon 450 tri-axial compass

Having a tri-axial compass means you don’t have to hold the unit level while navigating. The downside is that the calibration process is more complicated than that for a two-axis electronic compass. It’s the same procedure that is used on the Dakota 20 — here’s a brief video I shot of it. The compass should be recalibrated every time you change the batteries in the unit. Like most GPS receivers with an electronic compass, the 450 also includes a barometric altimeter.

Garmin Oregon 450 Interface

Handheld GPS receivers typically offer lots of options, and can be overwhelming for a first-time user. Even so, the Oregon is about as intuitive as they get, and I love the touch screen menus. The main menu is spread across five screens (as shown below); these can be customized, so if you don’t need “Man Overboard”, you don’t have to display it.

Oregon 450 menus 1

Oregon 450 menus 2

Oregon 450 menus 3

Customizing the Garmin Oregon 450

Take the time to do some additional customization and it gets even better. Here are some tips:

Use profiles – There is a “Change profiles” item on the main menu, and you can create a new one via Setup > Profiles. Tap the new profile to give it a name. Now start changing various preferences. Want track up when geocaching and north up when biking? No problem. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Rearrange the main menu – Set this different for each profile. I make extensive use of the Track Manager, so that gets moved to the first main menu screen for my hiking and biking profiles.

Create sun and shade profiles – A great use of this tool is to create separate sun and shade profiles (perhaps even one for each activity). Create a Sun profile and then go to Setup > Maps > Advanced Map Setup. Set Shaded Relief to Do Not Show to enhance visibility in bright light. If you’re in an area with lots of national parks and forest, you can also improve visibility by getting rid of the green background. Go to Setup > Map > Advanced Map Setup > Zoom Levels > Land Cover and set it to Off. Credit GPS Fix with originating these tips for sun / shade profiles.

Dashboards – The map screen can be set up to show 0, 2 or 4 data fields, or to display a dashboard. Choices for the latter are recreational, automotive, stopwatch, compass, large data field, geocaching (nearest or active) or elevation plot. I’ve included screenshots showing the last two below.

Oregon 450 dashboards

Shown below are the compass and trip computer screens. The data fields can, of course, be customized, as can the background. The trip computer screen can be also switched to show fewer (but larger) data fields. The top section of each can be modified display one of the previously mentioned dashboards.

Compass and trip computer

Finally, here’s a random interface tip… When you select a location on the map, a push pin appears. You can now slide the map around underneath the pin, and zoom in as needed, to fine tune the selected location..

Route, Track and Waypoint management

Oregon 450 trackThe Oregon series has excellent route, track and waypoint management tools, including:

  • Waypoints – The ability to project a waypoint, and to reposition one at your current location.
  • Tracks – You can choose to hide or show  tracks on the map and give them a custom color (17 colors are available). The image at the right shows a track in light blue (a record of a previous trip).
  • Routes – You can view a map of the entire route, edit the route, reverse it and view an elevation plot.

Track Navigation

The Oregon 450 features some recent improvements in track navigation. Select a track to navigate and a route will be created. Waypoints are created for the high and low elevation points and any user waypoints along the track are added to the route. I’m a heavy user of track navigation. If I head out for a trail I’ve never traveled before, I do a search online for tracks (favorite search terms are .gpx, gps, trail name, and park name) and load the track to the device. One advantage of this new track navigation feature is that, unlike typical backcountry route navigation, you’ll get an estimate of actual trail distance rather than “as the crow flies” mileage.

Geocaching with the Oregon 450

The Oregon 450 is a nice GPS for geocaching, as it is set up for full paperless support, meaning you can see the description, logs, and the hint, and you can log your attempt (find, DNF, etc.) for later transfer back to geocaching.com. Speaking of which, full access to these features requires a premium membership at geocaching.com. Shown below, clockwise from top left: Closest geocaches, geocache description, menu for a specific cache, and custom map using a USGS topo.

Geocache list description

Custom topo and menu

Wireless data transfer

The Oregon 450 is capable of wireless data transfer with other compatible Garmin units. You can transfer waypoints, tracks, routes and geocache summaries (paperless caching details cannot be transferred).Dual-use-GPS-Oregon

Garmin Oregon 450 in your car

The Oregon 450 makes an excellent dual-use unit, though you’ll probably want City Navigator and a car kit if you want to use it as a turn-by-turn navigator in your car. If I wanted a single unit for trail and road, an Oregon plus City Navigator (screenshot at right) would be my top choice.

Garmin Oregon 450 performance

The Oregon 450 performed very well for me in testing against multiple units including the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx and the Magellan eXplorist GC. I noticed no significant differences in accuracy at ground zero when geocaching.

Multiple tracklogs were collected, comparing the Oregon 450 and the Garmin 60CSx. Tracking was set to collect points every five seconds while mountain biking. Steep terrain ridden in both directions, combined with frequent stops to record notes, resulted in good testing environments. In the images below, the Oregon 450 tracklog is in blue, the 60CSx is in red. I’ve compiled these four tracks in a single .gdb file, which you can download and open in MapSource or BaseCamp for closer examination.

In one test, shown below, the 60CSX wandered a bit more than the Oregon in a few spots, while the Oregon track separated more at one point on the uphill and downhill runs. This test was a draw.

OR 450 Rocky Fork

In the test below, the Oregon significantly outperformed the 60CSx. I’ve labeled a geocache at one point, because I moved around a fair bit there. Still there were two other points where the 60CSx wandered significantly. Each unit had a single instance of track separation on the uphill and downhill segments.

OR 450 Cherokee Mtn

Battery life is rated by Garmin at 16 hours. In my testing it ranged from 10 hours, 27 minutes (backlight always on) to 16 hours, 51 minutes (backlight timeout set for two minutes, battery saver mode enabled). Battery life tests were conducted with the unit stationary, using Eneloop low discharge rechargeable batteries.

One other performance note — I’ve always been very impressed with how accurately my 60CSx reports overall elevation gain, and disappointed with the inaccurate numbers generated by my Oregon 400t. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Oregon 450 is extremely close to my 60CSx in terms of reported elevation gain. I hope to do some more testing before I send the review unit back to Garmin, and will post a full report here.

UPDATE: Well, I set out on the trail to test this out and to my surprise, the 400t, 450 and 60CSx were all within 2% of each other. Perhaps Garmin fixed this on the Oregon x00 series in their most recent firmware update. Go figure!

Garmin Oregon 450 pros

  • Tri-axial compass
  • Barometric altimeter
  • Great touch screen interface
  • Ability to customize display and menus using profiles
  • Excellent track management and routing tools
  • Paperless geocaching support
  • Availability of free maps
  • Accepts Garmin custom raster maps
  • Accepts Garmin Birds Eye imagery
  • Improved visibility over previous Oregon series

Garmin Oregon 450 cons

  • Somewhat poorer sunlight visibility than eTrex and GPSMAP color units

Recommendation and conclusion

Highly recommended. The Oregon 450 is a great workhorse, at a reasonable price. The  interface is very user friendly and it has a lengthy feature set. It is an excellent choice for nearly any outdoor activity, including geocaching and hiking. This is the first Oregon I’m recommending for bikes too, due to the improved screen visibility, which makes it more appropriate for fixed-mount use.

More Garmin Oregon 450 reviews

I’ll be posting more hands on GPS reviews as they appear, but in the meantime, here are some…

Other Garmin Oregon 450 resources

Compare prices on the Garmin Oregon 450 at these merchants:

 

About Rich Owings

Rich is the owner, editor and chief bottle-washer for GPS Tracklog. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus.

Comments

  1. You recommend the Oregon 450 so highly that I wonder where you would rank it in your overall list of Top Handheld/Sport GPS?

  2. A lot depends upon your specific needs, but absent other information…

    #1.

    • Wow – hearing there is a new #1 is great, especially given your prior love affair with the “old #1.” My order is going in later today. I’ll be using it for biking, but already have a bike computer/HRM that I’m not giving up. This is for directions in unfamiliar parts of my road ride territory and occasional use in the car in other states and cities. Given that use, I’d appreciate you listing specific accessories that you know fit and work with the Oregon 450. Rich, you have a great website!

  3. The part that slides onto the back of the Oregon pops off the suction mount and can be attached to the friction mount… https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=15428

    AFAIK, there’s no kit that gives you both.

    I don’t think there is any such thing as unlocked City Navigator any more. They can only be used with one device, most likely due to NAVTEQ licensing restrictions.

  4. Rich, do you know how much memory is onboard the Oregon 450 (without the micro SD chip installed)? Finding the answer to this question about the Oregon 450 (or the other Garmin units) is not easy. Another thing that I don’t (quickly) see in the Product Description for City Navigator, is — how many computers can the DVD can be installed on? I understand that the disc will only allow you to download maps to a single Garmin GPS unit, but I have at least one or two other computers that I’d like to install it on, in addition to my desk computer. Finally, can you comment on the merits of having more than one micro SD card? Is deciding whether to get more than one mainly a matter of how many maps / charts you want to be able to use? Thanks for any help you can give – your answers would be relevant to people (especially to GPS newcomers, like me) who have other Garmin units, as well.

  5. The specs say 850 MB, which is consistent with similar Oregon units.

    You can install the City Navigator DVD on as many computers as you like, but can only transfer the maps to a single unit.

    I’d get one bigger card rather multiple smaller ones. I hate messing with micro-SDs. Are you familiar with Garmin’s new 24K topo maps series, that includes City Navigator roads? I bring this up because it could influence your decision about CN and/or micro-SD cards.

  6. Thanks for those updates re. available memory and multiple computer installation! Knowing that I can install City Navigator DVD on multiple computers will let me confidently go ahead with that plan, knowing it won’t be a waste of time. I believe their website instructions said I could only UPDATE the DVD for free, a total of two times, however.

    No, I didn’t know that Garmin’s 1:24K topo maps had roads.

    I’ve already purchased City Navigator (it’s much more accurate than the pre-installed global map, by the way), and am planning to get some of the 1:24 topo maps from the free source(s) you mention elsewhere on your site.

    The card I got was a 2gig micro sd for a great price on Amazon.com (less than $10 incl. shipping–but don’t know how long it will be available at that price). Is this what you meant by “bigger?” How many do you think would be handy? Do you organize by keeping separate batches of maps on separate cards?

    Your thoughts greatly appreciated, as always.

  7. Great link. Only technical question remaining is, can the Oregon 450 can make use of all Class 2, Class 4, Class X micro sd cards? I know with cameras, it sometimes makes a difference, and that bumping up the memory too high means the card can’t be recognized.

  8. Just came across this today. How timely…

    http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=248924

    (see post #3)

  9. Excellent info! OK – we’re on a roll, here so what the heck. Let’s say I’ve put my City Navigator maps on the 2G card I got earlier, but now I want to expand my collection way beyond what that card and the 450 will hold internally. Can I simply put the 2G card into my computer and move the files using Windows functions onto say, an 8G card or do I need to go through the steps of moving the files from MapSource onto the 450 all over again once I’ve plugged the 8G card into it? I know half the fun of getting one of these GPS units is just playing with it to see what will happen, but as long as I’m reading your reply to my question, above, just thought I’d ask.

    • Hooboy! I “think” so. If it’s a single .img file BTW, you should be able to rename it something descriptive, like CityNav.img. Let me know how it works if you try it.

  10. I’ll give it a whirl once I get my 8G class 4 card.

    In the meantime…I absolutely love the 450 and have had a ton of fun just trying things out to see what happens, sort of like my first real adventure video game (The Legend of Zelda…I’m dating myself here, but no matter). In playing with things I am imagining that the 550 or 550t with their on-board camera, would also be kinda nifty. BUT I steered away from the 550 series because at the time, you felt the 450’s screen readability out of doors was superior. Your first review of the 450, while quite thorough, didn’t have your red “hands-on” seal, and so I viewed it as preliminary. Since then, have you changed your opinion on this — is the 450 series still superior to the 550 series for outdoor viewability?

  11. Ah, I dropped the hands-on seal with the new site design. The graphic wasn’t very high-quality. New hands on reviews will indicate that they are at the beginning of the post, as I did on this review. But yes, the 450’s screen is superior to the 550, in my opinion.

  12. Quick observation re. Oregon 450’s screen and its viewability outdoors.

    I rotated my polarized sunglasses over the 450’s screen, and lo and behold, the screen disappeared! This means that Garmin has applied some sort of polarizing filter over the 450’s screen, and so may explain some of its good viewing properties in brighter light. As a practical matter, on my bike the screen was visible (enough) almost the entire ride. On local rides it’s more of a fun gadget just to play with, but on longer rides outside of my immediate area, it should come in handy. Plus, I just discovered that City Navigator can now replace the Yellow Pages phone book I keep in my car! Man, that thing is loaded with goodies!

    Back to the screen…thank heavens Garmin oriented their polarizing filter in the right way for my sunglasses. All my sunglasses work with it, that is, none of them immediately turn the screen black. I’m assuming there must be some standardization out there that Garmin took into account.

    Dunno whether this application of screen polarizing also applies to other GPS products. A quick test on your part would tell the story of what devices use it, or not.

  13. Hi Paul,

    I tried this with two pairs of sunglasses yesterday, but saw no differences. I’ll try to remember to test it with some other sunglasses at home later today and report back. Good catch!

  14. (I think) from a physics point of view, that means that the sunglasses you used did not have polarized lenses. If they themselves are polarized, when you hold one lens over the other, then rotate one 90 degrees, the view through them will darken considerably.

    As to the Oregon 450, one amazing thing about its screen is when it dims after a timeout, a bright light shining on the dimmed screen from the right direction will make the screen noticeably more readable/viewable.

    From a practical point of view, this means that when I rode with it the other day, with the Oregon mounted to the stem of my handlebars, I could still pretty much make out the map and my position icon during most of the ride–even though the screen had dimmed and the unit was conserving power. Maybe all GPS screens are like this, but I was definitely impressed by my 450.

    • Hmm, apparently even my pricey North Face glasses aren’t polarized, or if they are, I’m not seeing the same effect. I do recall some discussion about the effect of polarized lenses on Garmin hi-res displays, but can’t locate anything about this particular effect. I’ll keep checking though.

      I’m glad the 450 is working out for you on the bike. I was pretty impressed and am wanting to replace my 400t now!

  15. MapSource Problem with Receive from Device Function – with a workaround

    I was having a problem transferring waypoints, routes and tracks from my Oregon 450 into my MapSource (version 16.ssss), on the two computers I’m using for MapSource. Everything else about MapSource’s ability to recognize my device and send maps to it worked fine. But MapSource would only pull one or two tracks into itself–no routes or waypoints, even though the message I’ve been getting at the end of the transfer is “The data was successfully received.”

    Browsing various forums, I could see I wasn’t the only one experiencing this issue with MapSource. The good news is, I found a simple workaround at:

    https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?p=27152

    Be careful that you don’t modify/ruin any files on the Garmin itself as you walk through this procedure. I say this, not seeing any problem with the procedure as I’ve tried it however. I don’t think you’ll have a problem if you stick with these instructions, nevertheless, proceed at your own risk:

    Hook up the Oregon 450 to the PC as usual, making sure you have the latest MapSource version, etc. Then pull down File>Open and navigate with the Open dialog box until you get to your Garmin device>Garmin folder>GPX folder. Pull down the Files of type menu and select GPS eXchange Format (*.gpx). If you have waypoints, tracks and routes, you will see individual files at this point, plus folders for Archive, Current, and Nav. You can open the individual files, one at a time, and go through a somewhat manual process of consolidating them as needed through a repeated Save as, etc., process.

    I have alerted Garmin’s Customer Support to this via emails. In a separate issue over the weekend, I found them to be very responsive, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will come up with a solution.

    If you have any insights into this issue, Rich, I’d love to see them!

  16. Oops – I forgot to fix a placeholder in the message above – the latest version of MapSource is Version 16.15.11 as of the time of this email.

  17. On May 7 I asked you: “Can I simply put the 2G card into my computer and move the files using Windows functions onto say, an 8G card or do I need to go through the steps of moving the files from MapSource onto the 450 all over again once I’ve plugged the 8G card into it?” You answered that you thought the answer was yes, but asked me whether I would let you know once I tried it.

    The answer is yes, as far as I can tell with limited testing. There may be some problem with this method that I have not yet experienced, and what I tried was only the most simple thing.

    Using the ordinary Windows drag and drop method, I transfered the entire folder named “Garmin” with its contents from my 2G micro SD card onto my 8G micro SD card, and used it (apparently) seamlessly in the SAME Oregon 450 that I used to set up the files with MapSource originally. The entire 1+Gig folder transferred within about 12 minutes. This is quicker than it took to set up the same files through MapSource originally, so on the surface, there is an advantage to this method. The tracks, new names, routes, tracks, and waypoints that I set up when the 2G card appear to all be present and usable with the 8G card in place.

    My Oregon is not used for anything mission-critical and I don’t have a real need to test this issue further, so proceed with caution; your result may vary from mine.

  18. IMPORTANT UPDATE to my May 12, 2010 at 10:16 pm post above re. using Windows to move files to the Oregon 450.

    This morning I checked my Oregon 450 after having transferred approx. 3G of topo maps from GPS File Depot onto the 8G card using MapSource. Now my City Navigator map is not displayed as one of the map selections, even though it was displayed as an option and working properly prior to the MapSource transfer. I am now in the process of transferring the CN maps all over again.

    I’m not testing this systematically and am a Garmin beginner, so haven’t probed and don’t know the reasons why. I just know that something didn’t work as expected. I do see an compressed zip type file on the card that wasn’t there before. Perhaps this should be the subject of another type of posting dialog somewhere else on your site, since my guess is the topic of whether Windows and/or MapSource is best to transfer files applies to more than just the Oregon 450. I don’t think I’ll comment further, other than to give my personal recommendation that the Windows method of transferring files probably has flaws with it, and that users should stick with MapSource, BaseCamp and similarly proven tools.

    (Rich, you may want to comment on this and direct your readers as appropriate. Your call!)

  19. Paul,
    it will overwrite any old maps each time you send new ones to the unit. Read M15 to M17 here (http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Maps) and let me know if you have any other questions.

  20. Rich, thanks for that great link! As a result, there was a happy ending to my previously foiled attempts to transfer more than one map to my larger micro SD card.

    I followed the general advice at the link you provided above. The advice was very easy to follow. I repeat the essence of it below, for the convenience of future readers of this comment.

    Go to MapSource (after downloading all the compatible maps you want to add to your Oregon 450. Then map by map, call up the first map, select the area map sections you want to transfer, call up the next map, select the desired sections. Repeat this process until all the map sections you want appear in the list that is built in the left panel. MapSource accumulates and tallies them all. You can see how many segments were chosen, and how much file space they consume in total. Then transfer them to the Oregon as usual.

    The time it took my laptop to compile and transfer about 4G of maps was approximately an hour per gig, by the way. I started the process and just walked away from it, only checking progress once in a while.

    The results worked well. Even though all the sections/segments are loaded together, the original map names you selected the segments from were preserved. This means that the individual names for the maps (MapSource labels this column, “AREAS,” I selected the segments from, are used in the enable/disable maps section of the SETUP menu in the Oregon 450. I can enable or disable the areas, map by map.

    Again, thanks for the great service you are providing here, Rich. That tip worked great!

    • Glad to hear it! You can also load a single map at a time and use your file explorer to change the name from gmapsupp.img to something like topo.img or citynav.img. Then do the same for other mapsets. This is covered briefly in M17 on the same page. The advantage is that the next time you send maps to the unit from MapSource, the others are not overwritten.

  21. Rich,

    I have done a pretty good amount of research so far, and I have narrowed my choices down to the Garmin Oregon 450, Garmin Dakota 20, Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx, or the DeLorme Earthmate PN-40. This will be my first GPS and it will be used primarily for Geocaching and hiking, as well as maybe biking and auto. Based on these needs, which unit will be the best fit for me?

    Thanks

  22. I would get the Oregon 450, with the understanding that you’ll probably want to buy City Navigator maps for highway use. The DeLorme is a good unit, but their software is overly complex, the screen is small and their highway routing / database is weak. The 60CSx can’t do paperless geocaching. My second choice would be the Dakota, but I’d go with the Oregon for screen size.

    • Thanks Rich,

      I have ordered the Oregon 450, and should have it by late next week. I can’t wait to start using this thing for Geocaching and hiking. I see that you mention GPS File Depot for downloading free maps. Do you know of any other sources? I live to the East of Sacramento in the ElDorado Hills, and I would like to get some good maps of Northern California and Nevada.

      Thanks again,

      Jerry

      • Cool! I’m betting you’ll have a blast with it.

        I think that’s the best source of maps. You may also want to check out Garmin’s 24K topo for California, which would also get you set up for street routing. Another thing to look into is searching for track files online, that you can load to your Oregon. This will allow you to load the trail ahead of outdoor adventures. Try searching for trail or park name + gpx.

  23. I’m having continued fun with my Oregon 450, setting up custom profiles: “Bike,” for use on my road bike where I can alter routing choices to keep me off major highways, and other useful shortcuts, and “Home,” for use indoors where I am more likely to be playing with routes in a demo mode, using an Automotive style profile as a base.

    I’ve looked at the Wikispaces article on how to control the speed of my imaginary vehicle in the Simulating Driving mode, but for the life of me can not get the speed to change based on their instruction to jump over to the Compass function press and hold at 12 o’clock, and jump back to the map. Do you have any suggestions on how to control the speed when “driving” a simulated route?

    • I haven’t tried that (nor was I even aware of it!) There is a forum on the Oregon wiki. You might want to ask there. I’d try it here but don’t have CN on my Oregon.

  24. Michael says:

    Hi Rich,

    Would you mind commenting in a little more detail on the outdoor screen visibility of the Oregon 450 vs. the Dakota 20. I’ve narrowed my choices to these two models and would like to know if both models are basically indistinguishable in their sunlight readability or nearly equivalent with a slight edge going to one model vs. the other. Also, in the real-world, do you observe a significant difference in battery life between the Dakota 20 and Oregon 450 under comparable terms, as is indicated by the Garmin specs.

    Thanks in advance for your reply.

    • I’d have to go off recall, since I didn’t test them side by side. They are probably pretty close. For whatever reason though, the 450 sticks in my mind as perhaps a bit brighter. I did not see a significant difference in battery life when testing the two. Given the choice, I’d go for the larger screen Oregon 450 for my use. A backpacker or someone else very weight-conscious would be better served by the Dakota though.

  25. Hi Rich, Through review – thanks. I have a broken 60CS that needs to be replaced. I hit a pothole on my bike the other day, broke the bike mount, and the GPS hit the ground. It continued to work until I accidentally hit the antenna with my finger… anyway I need to get a new one. While I was pretty sure I was going to get a 60GSx to replace it this article is making me rethink that. One problem I had with the 60CS was that I could not download .tcx training files to it. They had to be converted to .gpx files AND THEN they had to be trimmed to just 50 points because the 60CS would not navigate a route that had more than 50 points on it. Does either the 60GSx or the 450 have the ability to take the .tcx files and if not, what is the maximum number of points that routing can navigate for either unit?

  26. I don’t believe anything other than fitness devices like the Edge series will accept .tcx files. The forthcoming 78 series (I’m assuming the 62 series too) can accommodate up to 250 points in a route. The Oregon 450 specs don’t say how many it can handle. It sounds like you may be trying to navigate something more like a track though. If that’s the case, this feature might interest you…

    http://garmin.blogs.com/softwareupdates/2009/12/getting-more-out-of-track-navigation.html

  27. Eldridge says:

    How easy is it to display coordinates (latitude and longitude) for one’s current position, or for the positions of waypoints? I can’t see these displayed on any of the screen shots. My very old Garmin shows coordinates, and my bike computer shows them but not conveniently. If this information is not readily displayed on the Oregon, do you know of another make or model that does this? Thanks for your help.

  28. It’s easy. You can set a data field to display Lat/long (or other coordinate system) on just about any screen. This is true across every Garmin handheld that I know.

  29. Hi Rich,

    Thanks for sharing your awesome knowledge with us! First time GPS shopper and I am 95% sure I have my choice narrowed down to the Oregon 450, but have a couple questions for you.

    I plan to use the unit for mtn biking, geocaching, and some auto navigation. While mtn biking, most likely will carry the unit in my Camelbak, as opposed to the handlebar mount.

    Touchscreen:
    1. Is there a way to lock the touch screen while the unit is in my Camelbak, so things touching it don’t make menu selections?

    2. How well does the touch screen work with full finger biking gloves? Or should I expect to remove a glove to use the unit?

    3. I see there is a hard case available. Does the unit still have excellent reception in that case? Or is that really just for storage?

    Maps:
    4. You mention the free source of topo maps, which is super cool. Can the Oregon 450 still do it’s neat 3D shading with those maps?

    5. You mentioned in a response above that the 1:24k map includes roads. Is that the same map that comes with the 450T version? And, are those roads the same roads on City Navigation? That is, can I use that 1:24k map to get turn-by-turn directions on city streets?

    Thanks much!
    Connie

    • Connie,

      From one mountain biker to another, I think you’ll love the Oregon 450!

      1. Yes, tapping the power button will give you the option to lock / unlock the screen. Your body will block GPS signals, so depending upon the pack and how upright you are, it could result in significant signal degradation. I prefer the handlebar mount myself.

      2. It works well enough. I’ve encountered minimal problems with gloves. If this is a concern, you might consider the forthcoming Garmin GPSMAP 62s (http://gpstracklog.com/2010/06/garmin-gpsmap-62-62s-and-62st-announced.html).

      3. I imagine there are cases, but I don’t use one and haven’t looked into it. Metal cases would block signals, plastic will not. I just use a screen protector. The units are pretty rugged, but you could always crack the screen. How often do you crash!?

      4. No, 3D shading is only supported by newer Garmin topo maps.

      5. No, the 450t comes with 1:100,000 scale maps. The new Garmin 1:24,000 scale maps (http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/us/maps/onthetrailmaps) include the same roads found on City Navigator. Add these and a car kit (mount + power) and you’ve got a great auto unit too, giving you turn by turn directions. It won’t call out turns, but it will give you a beep when you need to turn (in addition to showing the turn on screen).

      • Thanks Rich! Bought the 450 and am up and running. Gloves are not an issue!

        Curious, when you mtb, what Recording Method and Interval do you set your Track Log at?

        Thanks again for all your help!
        Connie

        • Unless I’m testing and comparing units for reception, I use the auto method. You’ll get an appropriate number of track points on slower uphills and more tightly spaced ones to give you accurate recording of the trail on downhill runs.

  30. Hi,

    First of all thx for this very useful overview!
    I was trying to change the color of my track as shown when navigating, but I cannot seem to show it in another color then magena.
    I just downloaded the latest firmware.
    I am able however to change the color of my track and curretn track, but the moment I press go and start navigating, it always pops up in magenta.

    Is there a way to change this as it would help visibility in certain situations

    Thx

  31. I’m glad to see this review as it validates my purchase of the 450. I’m very happy so far but one thing that surprises me is that I cannot find a time display other than hours and minutes in the Alarm Clock page. I would like to synchronize my camera to the GPS and an hour/minute/second readout would be great. I’m sure I’m overlooking it somewhere.

  32. You can set any of the data fields to “Time of Day.” Just press and hold the data field. For most fields, this will give you HH:MM, but if you go to the trip computer screen and switch to big data fields (the icon with the two 6’s), selecting time of day will give you hour/minute/seconds.

  33. Rich,
    That is great to know. Thanks! BTW, I notice that WAAS is turned off by default on my unit and I was wondering if there is any reason not to have it on. (battery eater?) In the Garmin manual the info link on waas does not work.

  34. I think I answered my own question regarding WAAS. When I turned it on, the accuracy display was less than with it off.

  35. This may be the link you were looking for:

    http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html

    I think it impacts battery life, but not that much.

  36. Jeff Mann says:

    We download routes with geocaches for legs of our vacation. Worked great for 4 days then one time we shut the GPS off and upon restarting it displayed that no geocaches were loaded. Tried to reload and got message that they are already loaded but they still will not display.

  37. That sucks. Did you try removing the .gpx files with caches and then reloading?

  38. Dan Ingald says:

    I’ve been reading the reviews (and the external links) for the Dakota 20 and Oregon 450, trying to decide which unit to buy, and I’m a little confused about the necessary software for loading additional maps onto the units. Garmin’s BaseCamp s/w appears to be a free download, but to put it kindly the reviews I’ve seen are mixed at best. MapSource appears to be the preferred s/w, but apparently is only available by purchasing one of there map DVDs (e.g. 100K topos or CityNavigator). Garmin’s MapSource download page states the download will not work unless you already own a MapSource product. Is BaseCamp good enough and compatible with external map vendors? Or is MapSource the best option? Is purchasing one of the map sets the only (legal) way to get it?

    Thanks!

    Dan Ingald

  39. Rich:

    I have absolutely no experience w/navigation units, and don’t know the first thing about using a map + compass. I suspect a gps would be a lot simpler to learn than trying the old map + compass route.

    We hike quite a bit (try to hit a new state park each month), and plan to try geocaching. We stay on the marked trails in the state parks, but realize we need some help navigating to geocaches. We would like to go “off trail” in the state parks, too. Seems like a hand-held gps is what we need. I looked at a lot of units, and narrowed the choice down to the Oregon 450 and the Colorado 400t.

    Between the Oregon 450 and Colorado 400t, which is the best choice for a total newbie? Or, would you recommend something altogether different for situation? I’m looking for a unit that will be simple and easy to use. Thanks for the insight.

    Bill

    P.S. Your reviews are superb. You do an outstanding job of reviewing technical aspects as well as giving the big picture about a particular unit. Keep up the excellent work!

  40. Thanks Bill. I would definitely go with the Oregon 450. It is much easier to view in various conditions than the Colorado. The latter has been discontinued, so you aren’t likely to see much more than bug fixes in software updates, whereas the Oregon is still getting new features. One caveat though — any handheld GPS receiver can overwhelm a new user. There aren’t any real simple units that are appropriate for your needs. So just take your time and play around with basics at first. My handheld GPS 101 series may help…

    http://gpstracklog.com/handheld-sport-gps/handheld-gps-101

    Other than that, go for it. I bet you’re going to have a blast!

  41. Rich:

    Thanks for the fast response. I suppose there will be a learning curve regardless of the make and model of the gps.

    I have a question about getting a deal on the price of a new gps. Are there certain times of year where sales are more frequent and/or prices come down? I’m thinking Christmas, new model rollout, etc. Consumer Reports mentions certain times to get getter deals on tvs, but didn’t give any advice on time of year for gps units. Thanks again for all the help. Take care.

    Bill

    • Handhelds can go on sale at any time, but you can expect a few decent deals around Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). In my experience, this is the most reliable time of year for deals. There won’t be as many as there are deals on auto units though, so your choices may be somewhat limited, but I would expect a few good ones to be on sale. I’ll be covering them on my deals site: http://bestgpsdeals.net

      Hope this helps.

  42. Awsome site. Thanks!
    Question for you on turn-by-turn navigation on the 450 specifically, but GPS capability in general.

    I would like turn by turn audible direction on the TRAIL! I also MTB and would rather ride than try to figure out where I am and what turn to take.
    If I load a route or set of waypoints, can it direct me when to turn? Do they recognize the trails on the map such they know trail intersections or can I tell it a point is an intersection?

    Not sure what approach to take, but this is what I have been waiting for in a GPS!

    Thanks!

  43. Most handheld GPS receivers will indicate turns if you load a route of waypoints. The best you can get at this point is units that will beep when you reach a turn though. They won’t call out voice commands like a car unit will. I believe that Garmin’s 24K series maps will auto-route on trail (i.e., tell you which trails to take from point A to point B), but there will be many trails that aren’t in their database. A better approach might be to create your own waypoints and then use track navigation…
    http://gpstracklog.com/2010/07/navigating-tracks-on-the-new-garmin-handhelds.html

  44. Rich,

    First I’d like to say that you have easily the most helpful website I’ve found for info on handheld GPS units. Im looking for a handheld unit to use for motorcycle street navigation, tracking mountain biking, hiking, and geocaching. I tend to go through some pretty thick woods and deep valleys while biking and hiking. I know the 450 has a high sensitivity receiver but have you been able to test it in some thick cover and how does it do with picking up and keeping satellite reception? Would it be better to go with the 62series or does the 450 handle the thick cover just as well? Thanks for your input and all your extensive reviews.

  45. Rich,

    I’m torn between the delorme earthmate pn-60 and the oregon 450.

    I know the oregon 450 has the touchscreen, but everything else is about the same between the units.

    A nice feature that the pn-60 has is the unlimited topo/aerial downloads for $30 a year. You would have to pay about $100-130 for regional maps unless you download them for free with the oregon 450.

    If the prices are about the same, what would you pick?

    I would like the unit to be reliable and not cumbersome.

    thanks,
    nick

    • I find the Oregon to be easier to use, and the screen is much larger. If you do a lot of solo adventuring, way off the beaten track, that would be a good reason to go with the PN-60w + SPOT satellite messenger though.

      • Rich

        Thanks for the reply.

        The SPOT is a cool idea, but i don’t think I’m going to be doing solo remote locations as of yet.

        From your experience, is durability and reliability between the two units/brands about the same?

        And what do you think of the unlimited topo/aerial downloads for $30 a year from delorme? Or the free maps from garmin are good enough?

        Sorry for all of the questions.

        nick

        • I haven’t used DeLorme products long term enough to speak to reliability. The $30 subscription seems like a good deal. But the free maps from Garmin are great.

          In the past, I’ve found DeLorme products to be overly complicated and less than intuitive, though they are very powerful in terms of capabilities. I think that all applies more to the Topo USA software than the units them selves.

          I’m currently testing the DeLorme PN-60w + SPOT, so I may be able to give better advice after that, but I expect it will be at least a month before that is posted.

  46. Pete Sindo says:

    Pete

    Great info on the 450..I just picked one up at REI for $249.00..I just could not pass on that deal…they had it listed as a Labor Day special…I just checked and I guess the unit it out of stcok..mine is on back ordered. This unit sounds like it will take some time to learn…. I will keep in contact with this site..as I know I will have a learning curve to master. I plan on using the 450 on my ATV…here in northern Maine I will need it…I’ve already bought the 24K Topo SD card…This fall I will also use it for the hunting season..

    • Sounds like it will work well for you. If you can rig it for 12V power, it will be really bright!

      Let us know if you have any questions. If it’s your first handheld GPS, yes, there will be a learning curve, If not, it shouldn’t be too bad.

  47. Rich can you buy a 12volt source…????….or do you have to wire it into the unit..???

  48. I’m a wildland firefighter and am looking for a new gps this is one I’m considering, but not sure about because of the touch screen. I’ve looked at the new 62st also and the colorados but have not been able to make a decision since it’s a whole lot of money to spend on a unit. Any help will be appreciated.
    Thanks

  49. Which to buy a 450 or 550? Is the camera the only difference or are there other features updated on the 450?

  50. The screen is better on the 450, though it looks like new production runs will bring it to the 550…

    http://gpstracklog.com/2010/07/garmin-oregon-550s-getting-a-new-screen.html

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