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(More customer reviews)I recently just bought 2 new Garmin GPS units to upgrade my aging Garmin Legend (Original Model). I was hesitant to purchase the Oregon due to the mediocre reviews on Amazon, but ultimately I decided to take a chance.
First I bought the Garmin Dakota 20, and I really liked it. Small, Battery Efficient, Easy to Use, and Paperless Geocaching using the touchscreen. Good stuff. I called my friend who likes to have the latest and greatest, and he told me he had purchased the Oregon 400t when it first came out last year. I took a drive to his house to compare it to my new Dakota 20... Very similar in capabilities, only smaller and less resolution on the screen. After seeing his unit, and how well it ran I found myself craving the higher resolution screen, and 3D Terrain features, so I went up and bought another one, this one, the Garmin Oregon 550. I decided against buying the Oregon 550t because the 550 had a little deeper discount than the "t" version. Ultimately I chose to purchase the 550 since it was around $60 off retail, VS. only $1 less than retail on the 550t. I figured I could add the TOPO maps later. Plus I had also just purchased the Dakota 20, and the $160 difference in cost was sounding pretty good. I have completely busted my mad money for now.
Ultimately I find this unit to be right in line with all of the other Oregon models software wise... it works exactly the same way. So go and read some reviews on the other Oregon models sine this unit doesn't have many reviews yet. It is VERY similar in capabilities, but this one has a few added goodies.. 3 Axis Compass + 3.2MP GEOTagging Camera (Good stuff)...
Another observation between the new 550 and 550t models... Garmin's specs say the these models have equivalent storage, but in fact this is not the case, the 850MB seen in the specs relates to the free space after taking into account the included maps. In reality it is more like 550 = 1GB, 550t=4GB internal memory. Mostly a non-issue since both have a Micro-SD slot behind the battery, which happily accepted an inexpensive 4GB SDHC card, and since SDHC was supported I would expect you could add an even larger one.
Like the other reviewer stated I noticed that the roads on Garmin's 2008 TOPO maps are slightly off.. this is easily recognizable if you load a driving map, calculate a route, and then disable the driving map, you will see the driving route is not exactly on the road. To me this is all the more reason to just get the 550 model (at this point) without the TOPO maps. You can add them later once the road data is fixed. On second thought, the TOPO features themselves on the 2008 map seem fine, only the road data is a little off, so if you are using the maps as they are intended this is probably a non-issue. At the time I just felt like the 550 was a better bargain, only $90 more than the Dakota 20 I had just purchased, which also was still at the full $350 retail price since it is still a brand new model.
The only other glitch was with the Compass calibration, which went haywire for a moment, but resolved itself after a reset, and hasn't happened since. We'll see if it becomes an issue.. but I doubt it. The reset was very fast as this unit boots up very quickly.
I decided to make these purchases since my girlfriend has expressed an interest in "Re-Taking Up Geocaching", we really haven't done it in a while (Since '02), and its such a great outdoor activity. The original point in making these purchases was the ease at which you can add Geocaches into the unit directly from the website with a single mouse click. She was having trouble getting used to adding the co-ordinates into the old Garmin Legend with that tiny joystick, it was VERY TEDIOUS.
So now she has the Dakota 20, and I have the Oregon 550, and we can easily transfer geocaches back and forth wirelessly, and it is easy as pie to download them from [...].
To me, these new Garmins are a huge upgrade from my old "Legend", and they are waterproof and rugged as ever.
I would have given this product 5 stars had it not been for the couple of small glitches, which I expect will be fixed in the future via a firmware update / map update from Garmin.
Truely.. the new touchscreen Garmin units are to GPS's, as the iPhone is to mobile phones. In a class by itself.
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Garmin Oregon 550 Waterproof Hiking GPSThe navigator with the photographic memory--Oregon 550 combines rugged outdoor touchscreen navigation with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. Add high-sensitivity GPS, barometric altimeter, 3-axis electronic compass and microSD card slot. The result? A multipurpose device that will make your biggest adventures even more memorable.
Take Pictures and Save Locations Capture locations and memories with Oregon 550's 3.2 megapixel autofocus digital camera with 4x digital zoom. 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. Snap and view pictures in landscape or portrait orientation. With 850 MB of internal memory, you'll never miss a photo opportunity. To store online, simply connect Oregon 550 via USB and log into my.Garmin.com to upload and store your photos at Picasa, a popular online photo sharing community for friends and families around the world. For more storage, insert a microSD card; you can even view pictures from other devices on microSD with Oregon's picture viewer.
Touch and Go Oregon 550 makes rugged navigation effortless with a tough, 3-inch diagonal, sunlight-readable, color touchscreen display. The interface is easy to use, so you'll spend more time enjoying the outdoors and less time searching for information. Both durable and waterproof, Oregon 550 is built to withstand the elements. Bumps, dust, dirt, humidity and water are no match for this rugged navigator.
Get Your Bearings Oregon 550 has a built-in 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass, which shows your heading even when you're standing still, without holding it level. Its barometric altimeter tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude, and you can even use it to plot barometric pressure over time, which can help you keep an eye on changing weather conditions. And with its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix satellite prediction, Oregon 550 locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons.
Add Maps Oregon 550 comes preloaded with a worldwide built-in basemap with shaded relief. Adding even more detail is easy: just insert a MapSource microSD card preloaded with detailed maps. Oregon can accept a variety of maps for any navigational need. Add detailed street maps to get turn-by-turn directions to your destination. Add select topographic maps to take advantage of Oregon's 3-D maps and elevation detail. Or add BlueChart g2 maps, which provide everything you need for a great day on the water, including depth contours, navaids and harbors.
Find Fun Go paperless with Oregon 550 by quickly downloading information from Geocaching.com for up to 5000 caches, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description. No more manually entering coordinates and paper print outs. Slim and lightweight, Oregon is the perfect companion for all your outdoor pursuits.
Share Wirelessly With Oregon 550 you can share your waypoints, tracks, routes and geocaches wirelessly other Oregon and Colorado users. Now you can send your favorite route to a friend to enjoy or the location of a cache to find. Sharing data is easy. Just touch "send" to transfer your information to similar devices.
What's in the Box Oregon 550, AA battery charger, 2 AA NiMH batteries, carabiner clip, USB cable, owner's manual on disk, and quick start manual
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