Garmin Oregon 300

empee · Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:28 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the response - and sorry - I meant 25,000, not 250,000! (I should have said what I meant Confused

)
As I understand from this thread to date:
1. Oregon is supplied with Europe base map - not sure of scale.
2. 25k scale maps are available only for specific areas (National Parks etc) but are not giving the quality they should due to different layers showing 'twin' roads etc.
3. The different layers problem may be something to do with running a mapping program suitable for motoring directions (the Navteq / turn by turn navigation?)
As you see I'm new to this - I chose the Oregon as I thought I was going to get the option to add something like the Memory Maps I'd played with on my computer. The OS and Garmin web sites had me confused when I tried to buy more detailed maps - finally figured out (with the help of this site!) that Memory maps don't work on Garmins and the 25 & 50k maps suitable for the Oregon are called Discoverer but they're only for national parks so far.
I'm not familiar with selecting different mapping as yet as I only have the supplied base map. I'm not interested in any motoring applications - we use a TomTom for that! (920T)
Unfortunately I can't see your screenshots out here offshore at work eyeQue - for some reason they show up on some posts but not others. I'm back home in a few days so I'll need to try again then. In the meantime - are they any good!?
Finally - heading to the US next week for 2 weeks - can I buy any detailed maps for the N E states? (Maryland / W Virginia)
Thanks again for your patience!

eyeQue · Lifetime Member Joined: Aug 27, 2008 Posts: 235

http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/lang/en/citynavigatornt

To have the 1:25 maps for the whole of the UK would be a very big SD card!!!
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Garmin Oregon 300 + Garmin iQue 3600
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empee · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:05 am Post subject:

Thanks for the link eyeQue - these seem to be road maps - anything better available for walking in the woods? Will be taking my TomTom for the car.
Is the OS Discoverer series the only detailed topo type mapping available for the Oregon in the UK, or are there other suppliers in the market?
Cheers
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Garmin Oregon 400T
TomTom 920T

eyeQue · Lifetime Member Joined: Aug 27, 2008 Posts: 235

http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/cache/offonce/us/maps/onthetrailmaps;jsessionid=58EF946CEFAD967E45878B108A0BE9C0

http://www.maps-warehouse.co.uk/garmin-topo-uk.html

There are TOPO screenshots in the first posting on this thread to compare with Discoverer. Buy the DVD then you can see it on the PC as well as the unit, and you get the whole of GB.
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empee · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:34 am Post subject:

Thanks again eyeQue!
Checked out the links - beginning to think my expectations of Garmin portable GPS' was a little high! Confused

GB Topo - no interactive option to test but I read the reviews so I can see why they wouldn't want anyone to view before they buy! Mad

USA Topo details not great from their interactive on-line map. has contours but limited tracks / lanes Sad

USA City Navigator seems to have only A roads and above! (Interactive map) Mad

I'm coming to the conclusion I'll just have to use it in 'non mapping mode' in the US and base map in UK
There appears to be nothing on the market as yet that's anything like an OS paper map (or Memory Map)
The 'oversold' comment I read somewhere appears to be right! Evil or Very Mad

Thanks again!
_________________
Garmin Oregon 400T
TomTom 920T

philpugh · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:10 pm Post subject:

empee

If you want whole UK coverage with OS mapping then the Active10 may be the best choice. I'm seriously considering getting one to augment my Colorado300 - which I like quite a lot. I am a little disappointed with the GARMIN approach to providing OSGB mapping. I would rather have the ability to buy 1:50k or 1:25k mapping of my choosing.

The only reason I am hesitating is that even with the 'larger' screen of the satmap my experience with my PDA (full 640*480 pixels) with MemoryMap is that it's fine for following a pre-programmed course and for the slight modification to a course (e.g. changing waypoints) but it still doesn't replace a paper map. You just don't get to see enough of the surrounding terrain to be useful when out walking e.g 'What's that feature over there? type questions that are part of a good walk. The navigation should be relegated to the background allowing you to concentrate on the scenery - that's why we get out there isn't it? Using my C300 - which has UK TOPO V2 on - I still tend to use the bearing to next waypoint display and even then I tend to use it to 'fix' a distant landmark so I can check I'm not going too far of course whilst wandering Laughing

I'll probably end up going for an Active10 - but I'm not in a rush just yet. And, of course, I'll still be carrying my paper maps - too old to change my habits now!

With respect to UK Topo V2 - it's a lot cheaper than the OSGB mapping (of course it doesn't have anywhere near the detail) but it does give a very good idea of the terrain (contours / relief shading) and it seems to have a very comprehensive amount of water features (very small streams are there) and it occasionally suprises me with what tracks it shows. We had a New Years Day walk around our village (part of flat north Cheshire) and quite a lot of the field paths we were on were shown. You do have to zoom in fairly close to get everything shown - but this is a 'feature' of GARMIN products - they try to keep the display as uncluttered as they can.
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Phil

philpugh · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject:

empee, Sorry - meant to add in reply to your earlier post...

GARMIN generally use vector maps (as does your TomTom) - which are inherently much simpler and significantly faster than raster mapping (as used for displaying maps like the GB Discoverer or MemoryMap). Part of the problems shown by eyeQue is the learning curve Garmin are going through trying to mix raster and vector mapping.

So the base map in your Oregon and the TOPO series mapping are vector maps. They don't have any inherent scale associated with them as they are (at a simple level) lines between points. You can keep on zooming in, virtually indefinitely, without any nasty image issues (like eyeQue has shown with the GARMIN OS mapping).

What Garmin do is have local level detail (small roads, tracks, ponds etc) hidden until you get to a level where they won't clutter the screen.

You can get US Topo mapping for the Garmin and you won't hear many complaints about it either. But this is because we are very fortunate to have mapping to the detail of the OSGB 1:25k series over here. I've walked in the US with some of their paper maps. Not a very happy experience as the scales between maps seems to vary and tracks can be plotted several hundered metres away from where the GPS leads you to believe you are. And suprisingly large features are sometime absent. I was walking in the Smoky Mountains in the 90's and came across a sizeable lake that they hadn't bothered to draw! It doesn't half make you recheck your navigation.

Of course the USA is a tad bigger than the UK so it takes a little longer to get everything drawn in the right place Laughing

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Phil

empee · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:12 pm Post subject:

Hi Phil
Thanks for that - yeah I s'pose the US is a tad larger!
I'm just home from offshore so I'm about to go through this thread again with the benefit of pictures to look at - server offshore seems to exclude them from posts.
Re Vector and Raster - going back to my sailing days in the 90's when digital mapping was just getting widespread I found the Vector ('digital') were far superior to the Raster maps as the raster were effectivly just a single layer image that was a nightmare to use - zoom out to get your bearings and all the text disappeared into a spiderery scrawl - zoom in to read the text and you lost the bigger picture. The US ones were the worst (Caribbean Islands) Maybe they've improved them now but I'd expected the Vector to be better - maybe not the case anymore from my brief experience with Garmin to date. If the Discoverer range are Raster I guess they must have divided them into lots of layers - the problems I've been reading about?
I had read about the Active 10 but was naturally swayed by the O.S / Garmin advertising! New digital camera has to be above another GPS on the shopping list though!
Is the UK TOPO v2 the same as the GB TOPO I've read the awful reviews about? Maybe I should have looked at some more pics before replying - I'm rushing though - heading to US on Saturday so have to decide on whether to order the US Topo, think I will - taking the kids geocaching and they like to look at the map - a blank screen isn't going to do it!
I actually thought the GB TOPO WAS O.S. - I did say I was new to this! The manufacturers don't actually make it very clear for the newcomer though. I will check it out now though in view of your comments.
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Garmin Oregon 400T
TomTom 920T

philpugh · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:14 pm Post subject:

Yes - UK/GB TOPO it's all the same - there is only one from GARMIN - I just forget what they call it! It's the V2 one.

The GARMIN marine charts are pretty stunning to be honest. They are vector based - very fast in use but not cheap. It will be interesting to see how any charts provided by the raster systems vendors compare - I suspect not quite as well as you really get to see the various information layers in use by the GARMIN devices. I suspect there are about 8 or 9 layers in use. I have one area (part of West coast of Scotland) which I have been sailing in very infrequently - but at least every year!

To be honest the odd time I sail we use the on-board chart devices provided. These have been both GARMIN and MAGELLAN in the past. They are very nice to use both for planning and navigation and also connect to the auto-helm (a real use for NMEA protocols! ). Just starting to think about our week's sailing off the West coast of Scotland this June. We're hoping to get to Northern Ireland this time - weather permitting.

It just goes to show there still isn't one perfect do-it-all unit out there yet.
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Phil

empee · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:44 pm Post subject:

Hope the weather's improved by June for you! My sailing days are over unfortunately - got too intimate with the crew Very Happy

- boat (Moody 425) now sadly swapped for 3 kids, school hols and a mortgage again! Sad

We do have a 10' folding dinghy and a caravan though...! Cool

(Chap at Discover / Harringtons did look confused at continual reference to 'aft cabin'! Wink

)
Looks like my minds been made up with regard to the US TOPO - haven't found anyone that can supply by Friday and we depart Sat morning. I'll look again at TOPO GB when I get back but so far the screen shots don't look much better than the Oregon base map. Does anyone know how the scales compare?
Cheers
Martin
_________________
Garmin Oregon 400T
TomTom 920T

eyeQue · Lifetime Member Joined: Aug 27, 2008 Posts: 235

Firmware Upgrade:-
Changes made from version 2.85 to 2.86:

* Please report any problems with beta software to OregonBeta@garmin.com.
* Added distance and bearing to point when reviewing a Custom POI
* Improved map panning and zooming when shaded relief is turned on
* Improved GPS performance at slow speeds in tree cover
* Improved Custom POI database organization
* Improved Custom POI spell search
* Fixed possible shutdown when reviewing a Tide or Current Point using Where To?
* Fixed possible shutdown when searching for an address and selecting Search All cities

http://www.garmin.com/software/Oregon400t_286Beta.exe
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Garmin Oregon 300 + Garmin iQue 3600
My Zoned Speed Camera Icons, available here.

philpugh · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:30 pm Post subject:

eyeQue · Lifetime Member Joined: Aug 27, 2008 Posts: 235

Just found this link:-
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/alt-image.do?pID=33294&img=ImageScreen1Large

Notice the 'fantastic' clear screenshots previously seen have been replaced by screenshots similar in standard to mine.

The screenshots are with the initial firmware with the 'double' roads.

They are 'non-OSGB Grid alinged maps' unlike the original Garmin screenshots!

Compare the Garmin screenshots with mine[below]:-

.

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Garmin Oregon 300 + Garmin iQue 3600
My Zoned Speed Camera Icons, available here.

eyeQue · Lifetime Member Joined: Aug 27, 2008 Posts: 235

The Garmin Dicoverer National Parks has been discussed but I now have aquired the Discoverer Trails for The Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

Look how big an area I get at 1:50 scale as well as the whole of the path at 1:25!

A far better coverage of one area Very Happy

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Garmin Oregon 300 + Garmin iQue 3600
My Zoned Speed Camera Icons, available here.

mikealder · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:28 pm Post subject:

Does it contain the marine mapping charts data for the area covered by the sea? - Mike

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