Thread: Hand Held hiking GPS

What should i know about them?

Any one have experience with a Garmin Oregon 400t gps?
Any ideas on what a good price for a used one would be?

Thanks in advance

No experience with that particular model. The Foretrex 401 has done me well though.

I've always been a fan of the garmin 60 series. I used one pretty much every day a couple of summer ago, ~10-12 hrs a day for work and it never let me down. It has been "replaced" by teh 62 series, so you should still be able to find some good prices on those.

Sorry, but I can't help you on the oregons. Clubtread.com is a hiking forum I frequent. If you SEARCH on there, I'd be willing to bet there is a lot of good info.

Skip the oregon. Get something tougher. Get something with buttons. the 62 or 72 series is great, the etrex series is good too (lighter, cheaper, smaller). Decide if you want to use it with your computer. the advertised compatibility and mapping features are largely marketing gimmicks. Don't spend too much. $250 max. For wildlife research and hiking purposes waypoints are the only thing that matters. Stick to garmin. still the best.

Oregon 450 was my first GPS, I bought it mainly because its the first GPS I picked up & could vaguely use without any instructions.
Don't usually consider myself a luddite, but a lot of GPS firmwear & programs don't seem very intuitive. Its been a learning curve using basecamp...
Compared to an old etrex a friend has, oregon has a bigger screen with higher resolution, much friendlier interface.
I've used the touch screen & it works at -15c, in the rain, in bright sunny glacier light.
Battery life is passble with the screen brightness turned down (it takes 2xAA).
I mainly got the GPS for mountain navigation (eg track back in case of a glacier whiteout etc). After I bought it I discovered (with the appropriate mapsets) I could use it for route planning & directions for motorbike trips, & it does 3d modelling so useable for paragliding... 2 big bonuses for me.
I still find it easier to plan looking at paper maps, detail disappears from GPS maps as you zoom out (not sure if this is a controllable setting?).

Everyone will have their opinion, this is just my experience.

I use the oregon a lot for backcountry skiing. The touch interface is a bit meh, and the battery life isnt the best (turn down the brightness and get some nice rechargables) but i love the ability to display maps and routes.
For example, I will use google earth (coupled with a plug in to get USGS topo maps into GE) to first scout a backcountry area I want to check out. I will draw paths in GE for possible "runs" I want to take, or for marking good ridges to put uptracks, etc. I can then save both the USGS topo map and paths I have marked into a single .kmz file, which can then be placed in the Oregons "custom map" folder via a usb connect with your pc. Fire up the GPS and boom, you have your high res topo map along with your runs in the GPS's map. While skiing, I then keep the gps on and saving my tracks so I can map where I have gone, plan how to best get back to a ridge for an uptrack, etc etc etc. Also works great when you come home and then download your tracks back to GE. You can look at your elevation profile over the day, your speed at any given time, and see exactly where you took your run, etc. It's pretty slick.

Have the 62 and think it's a good bet. Top notch screen resolution, custom map feature and ruggedness make it standout. I'm using it with the Backroadsmapbook 1:50K stuff.

A really comprehensive review here, (plus the user ones on amazon.)
http://gpsinformation.info/penrod/oregon/oregon.html

I've liked mine.
MINOR issues to be aware of:
The screen in sunlight is a pain to see, but in the overcast PNW that's usually not been an issue.
Sometimes the touchscreen inputs "lag" when entering alpha characters.
The screen needs a firmer presssure than an iPhone. Definate mash, not a light stroke.
Upgrade to the TOPO add-on map chips, especially if you're going to use it in the car as well as on the trails. (Detailed topo chips get you 24k vs baseline 100K topos displayed.)
Caryy spare AA batteries. It'll run for a day, but not two.