Hands on with the Garmin Oregon 550t
UPDATE: It appears that newer production runs of the 550 series models are now getting the brighter screen first introduced in the Oregon 450 series.
UPDATE 2: The Oregon series is compatible with Garmin’s new BirdsEye aerial imagery.
UPDATE 3: This model has been discontinued and replaced by the Oregon 650t.
The Garmin Oregon 550t is the top of the line unit in Garmin’s touchscreen Oregon handheld line, adding a 3.2 megapixel, 4x zoom, geotagging camera and tri-axial compass to the Oregon 400t’s feature set. It also comes with a battery charger and two AA NiMH batteries.
A lot of new topo map products have shown up on Garmin’s website. Some of these may have been available for awhile, but most appear to be new. I’ll also note that they seem to be different than the offerings from Garmin’s long running 
is a smaller version of Garmin’s successful 
The 
is the high-end model in the recently introduced Endura product line. It includes preloaded Accuterra™ “high-resolution” topo maps, a trails and POI database and NAVTEQ® roads for the 48 contiguous United States. Turn-by-turn routing is available as an add-on purchase. The Sierra includes a tri-axial 
I didn’t think this would take long. Some of the more technically adept GPS enthusiasts among us have put together some great tools for creating custom maps for the latest generation of Garmin handhelds. Here are two new ones released in the last day or so. Both allow you to create maps without manually calibrating them in Google Earth.
is the entry level model in Garmin’s touch screen Oregon line, offering a great backcountry navigation and/or paperless geocaching solution at a reasonable price. It doesn’t have a 
There are a lot of new map makers out there now that Garmin has opened the door to 
Owners of the Garmin Colorado, Dakota and Oregon series got a nice surprise 
Garmin has added support for custom raster imagery to the Colorado, Dakota and Oregon product lines. This will allow you to add aerial photos, USGS topo maps, etc. to your device. You’ll need the latest beta firmware for the units (betas have not been posted for all units yet), but the process is laid out in 
is the first and only GPS designed exclusively for triathletes. It is waterproof (to 50 meters!) and can go for up to 20 hours on one charge. Targeted to multi-sport athletes, the 310XT can categorize the activities in your workout and log transition times.