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I tried to like the Colorado 400t, I really did. And there's no separation between easting and northing - you need to keep track of where the easting entry ends and the northing begins, or start all over again when you mess up. Unfortunately, everything else is terrible. Alkaline AA cells aren't much better.If you try to hand-enter UTM coordinates with the rock-and-roller input hardware, you'll find yourself ready for a rubber room.
I wasn't sure they'd take it back after so long, but they did.Even if someone gives you one of these, AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE. You won't always have a computer to download locations from in the field, so the kludgy entry is a show-stopper. After a wilderness navigation course this summer, I discovered the problem with UTM entry. There's a good reason Garmin discontinued the Colorado series.If I could give it no stars, I would.Do yourself a favor - buy a GPSmap 62st instead. Fortunately, I bought it at REI, so I could still return it for a full refund after 18 months. It has a great display.
The user interface for entering other information is similar - there's no way to correct errors without re-entering everything.I bought this unit a long time before I found out its worst shortcomings, but tried to use it anyway. It's a much better GPS, with very useable user interface and great battery life. 2000mAh NiMH rechargeable AA batteries last 6 hours or less. You need to enter EVERY number and character in the easting and northing perfectly, or you get to re-do the entire location.
Awkward to delete them. Downloads geocaches easily. It seems to have better sensitivity and accuracy than others I have used. Reasonably easy to operate.
I like it very much.One more thing to add: wheel design is much more practical than the touch screen. Although my GPS was totally submerged in the water, it is still working great now. So choose wisely if you want to have something truly reliable on the mountain or in the river :) It's definitely a rugged, waterproof GPS. We went whitewater kayaking right after buying this GPS, and got knocked off by a fallen tree that laid across the river.
It's the #1 Choice of everyone I know who really uses there GPS. You have to use the backlight to really see anything cleary (unlike the 60 series) and it just did'nt feel very comfortable in the hand, a little bulky, and seemingly fragile. My biggest concern was that this model has been discontinued, and when you go to the update page, there's a warning that the update is not backed up by Garmin, (use at your own risk). Garmin just came out with a brand new edition of the 60 series with all the goodies, but I'll wait until they work out the bugs. And I've heard that all the parts are the same, but, I'm not sure about that. This is an excellent tool for navigating.
No big deal, there cheap enough now that it's not a problem. The 60 series, though lacking some of the goodies, is tried and true. However, here are my complaints, and the reason that I returned it, and got the tried and true 60csx instead. My biggest concern, or dis-like is that the screen is not sun light readable. For now, I'm sticking with this. It does come with pre-loaded topo maps, but there 100k which does'nt do much for you in the backcountry ( you really want 24k) which you have to buy seperately anyway.
They still can service this model, but for how long will they have all the parts.
I couldn't be more disappointed in a product. You shouldn't have to commit hours to tech bulletin boards and user groups to figure out how to use a device these days. I have followed directions and still come up short.
It is a disaster. Basic things like battery life are annoying (Garmin has none), but using the software on this high tech trivet is another matter all together. I have had my Garmin for about six months now and have mostly given up on it.
Multiple attempts to use Topo 100K, for example, has been nothing but an exercise in frutration. This is far and away the worst purchase I have made in recent memory.and I'm not the most responsible guy you're going to meet. Yes, I have seen all the videos showing all the cool things you can easily do with a Garmin and I don't believe any of it.
The videos have to be mass produced fakes.
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