Portable Trail GPS - Looking at Garmin 450t - Others?

[Spinalguy]

i will just say that my 60CSX is mainly used for Geocahing and we love it.
And for $200, is the 450 worth $260 +$100(screen) more?
For some it would be, but for me the 60csx does all i ask.
Street map. Offroad map and fantastic at Geocaching.
Definitely a smaller screen.
And i believe those free maps can be used as well. Others on here can better answer that but i still thing the backroad maps are the best bang for the buck.

[silverfox]

Well I think I am going with they 450T

More bucks for sure but  a little more versatile, more memory newer firmware broader range of use for me anyway.

The whole create a map thing is pretty damn cool, overlaying to google earth with the FLUZ maps will be a neat feature from my perspective (ok maybe not much more than a toy but after all isn't it all toys )

[Spinalguy]

Well I think I am going with they 450T

More bucks for sure but  a little more versatile, more memory newer firmware broader range of use for me anyway.

The whole create a map thing is pretty damn cool, overlaying to google earth with the FLUZ maps will be a neat feature from my perspective (ok maybe not much more than a toy but after all isn't it all toys )

Awesome. At the end of the day it has to suit your 'wants'.

[JohnB]

i will just say that my 60CSX is mainly used for Geocahing and we love it.

Just guessing here, but I suspect my level and experience in Geoaching is a bit larger than yours, 7 years, 2600 caches found.  I'm also a GPS enthusiast and run the trail mapping project so am very versed in all the models, their features and performance.  I owned a 60csx for around 3 years.  The newer models with paperless caches make those older style models seem like dinosaurs.

If not doing caching, the selling points for the higher price is not that great.  There are some important points, but they may not be needed by everyone.

- No track storage or display limits.  This is important if you like using saved tracks in the future.
- No restriction on map sizes and a much higher limit on number of maps.
- Shaded terrain and 3D views (not a fan of these myself).
- Satellite image underlay (this is only useful around here in the city as the resolution out of the city is too low)

I'm not sure I understood your price comparison?  The Oregon 450 is $340 so $140 more than the 60csx Costco deal.

Oh and for the OP, if you plan on using it in the car, then get a power cord.  The backlight level when plugged in is much higher than on batteries and make a huge difference for driving use.

[Spinalguy]

The 450 is $460 + you said $100 more for a big screen attatchment. If you found the 450 for 340 thaN ADD THE 100 YOU MENTIONED SO WE HAVE 440 VS 200.

nO, I AM NOT AS GEOCACHING SAVVY AS YOU BUT IT HAS NEVER STOPPED MY WIFE AND I FROM FINDING CACHES IN THE CITY AND WHEN WE GO TO OFF ROAD AREAS AND SPEND 1/2 A DAY RIDING A DIRTBIKE TO 5 OR 6 CACHES.
mY GPS SAVES TRACKS. nOT SURE WHY YOUR DIDN'T?
aNYWAYS, AT THE END OF THE DAY, THIS THGREAD PROVIDES INFO FOR THOSE THAT WANT A GOOD ENOUGH gps FOR OFFROAD AND THOSE THAT WANT THE DELUXE MODEL.

$200 IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.

[Spinalguy]

argghhh, sorry for cap locks by accident.

[JohnB]

The $100 was for a Nuvi, which I would suggest for anyone using one in the car over any handheld.  It was not an attachment for the Oregon.

The Oregon itself is quite a bit better in a car than the 60CSX due to the larger and brighter (when plugged in) screen but still not as nice as a Nuvi.

On the tracks.  The 60csx and all older Garmins have a limit of 20 saved tracks with 500 points each maximum.  This is fairly limiting if you want a lot of old tracks on the device at once.  Not everyone uses the feature, so it only matters to some people.  The new units allow 10000 points per track with no "known" limit on the number of tracks.

For the Geocaching features, it just makes it nicer and easier.  All of the cache page information is there to read while you navigate, uploading finds to the site is easier.  It just makes things easier.  It is not a need, just nicer.

I'm certainly not suggesting to anyone that spending $340 makes sense over $200.  I was stating the differences and individuals can decide if those features mean anything to themselves.

[Spinalguy]

Its good to have information.

[silverfox]

All thoughts and opinions are warranted and appreciated as it gives a point of reference that perhaps another has not thought of and can apply to their application.

I have the built in for the Rubi so the Nuvi would be somewhat reduntant..............I am a little confused as to why Jeep would put a trail rated rig together with a non trail capable GPS, but considering 90%+ of Jeeps never see so much as a gravel road never mind an offroad trail I guess it isn't much of a surprise.

Thanks to all for input.

[w squared]

I believe that the 450 is destined to replace to 60 series. I think that Garmin will probably have the 450 compatible sat maps of Canada available eventually...they just don't have them now. That's not really a big issue in the interim because you can run the Garmin topos overlayed with tracks from GPX files to show the specific trails if you want.

I've got a 60CSX and it has done great service. The nice thing about the micro SD card slot is that LOTS of places offer topos for Garmins on micro SD's. When I was in Moab, I decided that I wanted local topos. $90 later at a camera store, I had the Utah and Colorado topos on an SD card. Slide it in, and you're good. When I got back north of the border, I slid my old SD card back in, and I'm good to go with the Western Canada topos again.

[JohnB]

I believe that the 450 is destined to replace to 60 series.

The 60 series was already replaced with the 62 series.
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=143&fKeys=FILTER_SERIES_62

I think that Garmin will probably have the 450 compatible sat maps of Canada available eventually...they just don't have them now.

Satellite (aerial) images have been available for a year and half.  They are called Birdseye.
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=70144