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Difference between the Oregon 450 and 550?

Started by Reno8, January 19, 2011, 08:52:43 PM

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Reno8

I really don't see any difference between them besides a camera and cosmetics. I'm going to be upgrading from my 60Csx soon and was just wondering. Thanks in advance.

leszekp

Display was supposed to be better right from the start on the 450, though I hear Garmin has upgraded more recent versions of the 550 to the same display. I did a review of the 450 for my website:

http://freegeographytools.com/2010/a-review-of-the-garmin-oregon-450t-gps-for-field-work-part-i
http://freegeographytools.com/2010/a-review-of-the-garmin-oregon-450t-gps-for-field-work-part-ii-the-touch-screen-interface

Short version: As a long-time user of the 60Cx, I hated the touchscreen interface, and didn't care for the display when viewed in sunlight. I've just bought the 62s, and while I like it better, there are still substantial issues with it (look for an upcoming review). If my 62s broke tomorrow, I wouldn't feel rushed to get it fixed; if my 60Cx broke, I'd get it fixed right away. Does that tell you something? ;-)

Unless you absolutely need to have the Birdseye aerial imagery, or need to use scanned custom maps, it's not at all clear to me that the 450, or even the 62s, is that much of an upgrade. Especially when it's $300+ for either unit.

Reno8

Thanks for the feedback. I love my Csx but hate the fact that its not paperless. I go through alot of paper and ink with the printouts and was looking into paperless units. I was also looking at the 62 but haven't heard enough feedback from them yet. I take it your having some problems with yours? I'll check out your review when you post it. I really don't want to get a PDA or the like just for geocaching to go along with the 60Csx. I'll have to read your reviews of the 450 on your site. In your opinion what is the best paperless unit?



Reno8

WOW! Just got done reading your reviews of the 450 from your site and it is extremely informative. Great info! I will definitely like to read yours of the 62. The touch screen definitely has its disadvantages.


jbensman

leszekp,  I read your review and I must say I could not disagree more.  I got a 60csx when it first came out and loved it. I got a Colorado when it first came out. I was afraid of the touch screen so I avoided it until my CO died.  I got the OR 550T.  Of about the dozen Garmin models I have had, I think it is by far the best one and the best interface.  I would not even consider a 60csx to be in the same league as the ORs.  It is without question, the easiest and best interface of any garmin I have ever used.  I remember even before the white wore off the buttons of my 60csx (and 60 before it), it was hard to get the right button-particularly at night.  I read your review.  Yes some things are hard to get too.  But I see you did not talk about profiles which make everything you said not an issue.  You set up profiles for different uses.  Unlike the 60CSX, all you do is switch profiles with a couple of presses. 

On the 60csx if you want to switch from City Navigator with street navigation to a topo map with off road navigation, you have to change all kings of settings.  With an OR, all you have to do is select profile and change it.  I can do it in a couple of seconds on the OR but it takes minutes on the 60csx.  Another thing you did not mention is you can customize your menu (you can have the functions you use most often as the first 6 buttons).  You can change this for each profile.  From the map screen, I can mark a waypoint on my OR in about two seconds without looking at the GPS.  You complained about the button size.  I like the big buttons.  After you use it a while, with the big buttons you know right where to push the GPS without looking at it.  With the 60csx, you have to find the right button and this can be challenging at night.  With the use of profiles, I think EVERYTHING is easier to do on the OR than the 60CSX (except waypoint marking which I would rate the 60csx and OR the same).  It is also much easier to select something on the map on the OR than the 60CSX.  Likewise, zooming and scrolling is much easier.  Data entry is exponentially better on the OR. 

Reno8, the camera is the difference between the 450 and 550.  There is lots of varying info on if the screen is different .  I've compared my 550 to 450 screens and could not detect a difference.  The screen is great in sunlight and low light.  In between light is the OR's weakness, but it is usable.  The camera is not that great (and sometimes it is hard to see what you are taking a picture of, but it does take nice georeferenced pictures.  I went with the 550 because I am a mapper and it is much easier and accurate to take a picture of what I want to add to My Trails than mark a waypoint and edit the name so I remember what it is.  If you want georeferenced pictures (which will display on the map) go with the 550.  If there is a trail map at the beginning of a trail, you can take a picture of the map for reference on the trail. \

As for geocahing, the OR is 100 times better than the 60CSX.  Besides paperless, it has field notes which saves countless hours logging cahces.  You can have 5,000 paperless caches on the GPS.  It also supports filtering and CHIRP caches.  It will also let you wireless share your caches with other OR, CO, and Dakota GPSs.  It also will keep track of the number of cahces you have found.  It now has multi cache support.  The camera is also great for taking pictures of things you need for multi caches in case you make a mistake. 

Boyd

I'm with you jbensman. I got an Oregon 400t shortly after it was introduced (about 3 years ago?). Ever since then, I haven't touched my 60csx. Yes, the screen is more visible on the 60csx, but that's the only plus I can see. And the 450/550 have evidently made a significant improvement in screen quality.

I wish the screen were better on my Oregon, but all the other advantages make it a no-brainer for me personally. I am also seeing much more consistent tracklogs on the Oregon than the 60csx. This was not the case when it was first introduced, but they've come a long way with the firmware since then.

babj615

I also think the Oregon x50 are the best GPS currently available. I could write a long review, but everything you could ever want to know about them can be found here: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Versions+x50
Garmin GPSMap 60cs, Dakota 20, Colorado 400t, Oregon 300/400t/450/550t/650/650t, Montana 650, Lowrance Endura Sierra, nuvi 3790, iPhone 3G/4/4s
Geocaching ID: Atlas Cached
OpenCaching.com Ambassador

leszekp

I'll certainly agree that data entry is a lot easier on the Oregon than on the 60Cx; 62s is an improvement over the 60Cx, but still nowhere as easy as the Oregon. If you switch profiles on a regular basis, I can see the advantage - I don't, so it wasn't a major factor for me.

But I stand by my conclusions. Yes, I was aware that you could change button order on the Oregon, and that didn't make a difference; still too much of a pain to perform basic tasks. Maneuvering through multiple screens to perform basic tasks was a non-starter for me, as was the mediocre screen visibility in daylight. And don't get me started on track recording/management (which still sucks on the 62S, BTW). Throw in crappy WAAS reception, lousy distance/elevation change tracking (which they keep fixing and then breaking again), continued restrictions on Custom Maps, etc..

There's no arguing taste, obviously (though I know several people who disagreed with my Oregon review, and now think the 62S is better than the Oregon for most people). While I don't think the 62S is perfect, it's a huge step up in usability from the Oregon in all aspects except data entry. If you can, find someone with an Oregon and/or 62S and see if you can borrow it for a while; that's the best way to figure it if it's right for you. I bought the 62S, and am keeping it, but you'll have to pry my 60Cx from my cold dead hands.

leszekp

I know that Rich Owings of gpstracklog.com is working on a review of the Magellan Explorist 710, and you might want to hold off on a decision until that comes out. The 610 model (same as the 710 except without a detailed road map) comes with a camera + microphone for audio/video recording, a full set of 1:24K equivalent topo maps for the US, built-in 3-axis compass, paperless geocaching, a large touchscreen that they say is sunlight-visible (and which from photos looks like it might have a better interface than the Oregon), and a programmable hardware button for quick access to one function. Plus support for Magellan's RMP format, which lets you put scanned raster maps and aerial imagery on the unit (Google "TritonRMP" and "TritonRMP Helper" for free tools that let you convert scanned imagery into that format, with no limits on the number of maps except for the unit's memory). All this for less than the Oregon 550, or the Oregon 450T for that matter.

Seldom

#9
You say tomahto, I say tomato.  I have to agree with leszekp when comparing my 60CSX and my OR300.  I take a lot of photos with a film camera, and I manually geotag those photos by entering an alpha and numeric tag that reflects the roll and frame.  The number entry on the OR isn't too bad, but the alpha buttons are too small for my fingers, and I have numerous typing errors.  This is way easier to do on my 60CSx.  

Boyd

The new Magellans do look very cool from what I've seen. Heh, my first handheld GPS was a Magellan Meridian Gold back in 2002 and it served me well. I also have a Triton 1500, which I really only got so that I could run OziExplorer by "unlocking" the Windows CE operating system. It's just "ok"... very awkward user interface that's lost somewhere between push buttons and the touchscreen. You really need a stylus for some things.

But their tech support gets such universally bad reviews, I would want to hear from some satisfied customers before taking that plunge.

CanyonHiker17

I'll take the flip side of the coin.  I originally purchased an Oregon 400 and used it for about 2 weeks.  The visibility of the screen in strong daylight was really disappointing.  I do most of my hiking in direct sun in the Grand Canyon, and I'd have to shade the GPS and tilt it around at odd angles to make it even remotely visible.  I had purchased a mount for it so I could also use it on my mountain bike.  Forget it.  I'd have to stop and remove the GPS and tilt it so I could read it.

Unfortunately (or maybe that should be "fortunately") I lost it after a couple weeks when it fell out of my pack as I was dashing off a mountain, trying to avoid a horrendous lightning storm.  I ended up buying the 60csx as a replacement and I should have gone with this model in the first place.  The screen is a bit smaller, but it never fails to hold a satellite signal, even when in a narrow side canyon with steep walls.  And I can read the screen without doing gymnastic contortions!

Your mileage may vary, but I'll stick with the 60csx.  I don't do geocaching, so maybe the Oregon series is better for that.

Boyd

#12
Quote from: leszekp on January 20, 2011, 08:21:00 AM
I know that Rich Owings of gpstracklog.com is working on a review of the Magellan Explorist 710, and you might want to hold off on a decision until that comes out.

Hmm.... you got me thinking here. I just noticed that Magellan has a "customer loyalty program" for trading in old products. This was posted on Facebook

QuoteHello Magellan Fans!

To show our appreciation for customers who've purchases Magellan branded outdoor products in the past, we have upgraded our Customer Loyalty Program (CLP) to allow legacy outdoor GPS receivers to be traded-in for a discount off the Suggested Retail Price of our latest GPS receivers.

So, if you have a registered Map 330, SportTrak, Meridian, eXplorist 500LE, or Triton device, contact Magellan and start the upgrade process!

1. Call our customer support line at 1-800-707-9971
2. Send the legacy GPS receiver to Magellan
3. Place order for new GPS receiver at the discounted rate.

It's that easy!

Looking at a post from another Triton 1500 owner (like me), they were quoted

explorist 510: $209
exlporist 610: $269
explorist 710: $329

Not so sure about those "highly detailed" summit series maps, but they look interesting in the screenshots that I found here: http://www.exploristforum.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=62&func=view&catid=29&id=594#608

What do we know about the screen? It's the same resolution as the Oregon (240x400). My Triton screen is 240x320 and not any better than my Oregon 400t.

I played around with TritonRMP a year or so ago and it seemed hard to use. Their map format is a little odd - each raster image is only viewable at about 3 zoom levels which are determined by the map resolution. You can embed several different maps of different resolutions in the same .rmp file if you want it to be visible at more zoom levels. Seemed like a lot of work as compared to OziExplorer CE raster imagery which is scaled very nicely by the software and loads quickly on the GPS.

babj615

Quote from: leszekp on January 20, 2011, 08:21:00 AM
I know that Rich Owings of gpstracklog.com is working on a review of the Magellan Explorist 710, and you might want to hold off on a decision until that comes out. ......
All this for less than the Oregon 550, or the Oregon 450T for that matter.

Quote from: Boyd on January 21, 2011, 06:54:08 AM
Looking at a post from another Triton 1500 owner (like me), they were quoted

explorist 510: $209
exlporist 610: $269
explorist 710: $329


Not so sure about those "highly detailed" summit series maps, but they look interesting in the screenshots that I found here: http://www.exploristforum.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=62&func=view&catid=29&id=594#608


Uhhh.....

Oregon 550 $499 https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=26875
Oregon 450T $499 https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=63350
explorist 710 $549 http://www.magellangps.com/Products/eXploristseries


Garmin GPSMap 60cs, Dakota 20, Colorado 400t, Oregon 300/400t/450/550t/650/650t, Montana 650, Lowrance Endura Sierra, nuvi 3790, iPhone 3G/4/4s
Geocaching ID: Atlas Cached
OpenCaching.com Ambassador

Boyd

Uhhh?  ???

If there's a point there, I guess I missed it. I was just musing about the idea of getting one of the explorists, since it would be pretty cheap if I traded in my Triton. I already know what the list prices are, and I already have an Oregon.