Garmin Oregon 550t GPS

Thursday, October 7th, 2010 at 2:33 pm

The Garmin Oregon 550t a satellite navigation aid that combines touchscreen navigation with a digital camera. Ideal for all outdoor activities, any climate, terrain and is simple enough for beginners or more advanced users.

To learn more or to buy straight away click this link – Garmin Oregon 550T Handheld GPS System

Garmin Oregon 550t – General Description

With a large 3-inch display, it is easy to find where you are at all times. When used with compatible O/S mapping, the 3-D elevation view will give you a real sense of the terrain around you. The built-in camera allows you to photograph and show your friends where you have been or allow you can take part in the new GPS adventure game, Whereigo and have a great family day out.

The Garmin Oregon 550t allows you to Geotag each photo that you take with the location of where it was taken with the 3.2 mega pixel camera. This allows you to mark, remember and return to that exact spot any time you wish.

The built-in barometer tracks changes in atmospheric pressure and will pinpoint your exact altitude. You also have the ability to plot barometric pressure over a period of time, enabling you to keep an eye on weather conditions.

The Garmin Oregon 550t has the ability store up to 2000 waypoints, 200 routes, 2000 geocaches and an active tracklog of up to 10,000 points and 200 saved tracks.

The expandable micro SD card slot allows for extra mapping to be installed.

Other features:

Rugged and waterproof.

There is 1:50,000 scale mapping for the whole of Great Britain in 3 regions available – Southern England and Wales, Midlands and Northern England and Scotland, available as a download or SD card.

With GB Discoverer, you will see an Ordnance Survey OS Landranger map on the screen. You can use the touchscreen GPS to search, select and navigate to street addresses and attractions, follow routes on foot, in car or by bike.

High sensitivity GPS receiver with HotFix. This means the Oregon will pinpoint your location quickly and will maintain it even under heavy cover.

The Geocaching feature is like a huge treasure hunt that anyone can take part in. The Oregon 550T will allow you to download up to 2,000 caches, with holds information on location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description.

Reviews:

The Garmin Oregon 550t is not cheap and is aimed at the upper end of the market.

After reading as many reviews about this device as I could, I got the impression that there are mixed views about it. There are a number of features that people genuinely like, such as the speed and accuracy of acquiring satellites and fixing your position was very good. Some commented about the fact they liked the ability to see their position and route overlaid on the map. There seemed a general agreement that the camera was surprisingly good and that the unit felt strong and had a rugged feel about it.

However, I found many comments about the poor screen and the inability to see detail especially in bright sunlight. The interface of the unit is quite difficult to learn and is not particularly intuitive or user friendly. Quite a few people commented on the low battery life, though some were happy to carry spare batteries, another bugbear is the high cost of the Ordnance Survey Maps that people seemed to want.

As I said people’s opinions are split about the Garmin Oregon 550t. Also whether or not they would recommend this model was fairly evenly spread as well between those who would and those who would not. So as long as you are willing to put up with a few failings, or perhaps you have already seen one and you are happy with it, due to the fairly high price, I would suggest buying with care.

To buy now or to learn more click this link: Garmin Oregon 550T Handheld GPS System