Garmin Oregon 600

A great little unit let down by sub standard controls – I've had this little unit for about 5 years now, received it as a gift. Worked great until recently the power button and the button just below it disintegrated and has left 2 holes where the buttons used to be. A really good unit, let down by sub standard hardware. Disappointing from the world leader in electronic GPS.

Love the Touch Screen - Not for Marine Use! – I bought this unit when the model runout sales were on, got it for half price. The Oregon 600 was to replace the GPSMap 78s which I used for marine navigation on my jetski. The 78s lasted about 3 years before water eventually found its way inside. First up let me just say that for marine use, the 78s is a better suited product. The Oregon 600 does not float, has a metal fitting for the belt clip on the back cover which is prone to corrosion, and, like the 78s, has a flimsy rubber flap to cover the USB connector which needs to be checked constantly.

The touch screen was great for quick navigation, zooming and text entry.

Great GPS unit for hunting or hiking – Excellent screen, waterproof and generally a very durable unit. The screen is made of glass similar to an iPhone, so fairly durable but will scratch if exposed to keys in a pocket for example. Will hook onto a backpack or belt with the carabiner supplied, or you can buy mounts for it that allow it to be set on a handlebar. I mount on a quad bike handlebar for hunting and it cops dust, mud and water in fairly large quantities, with no adverse effects thus far.

The interface is much better than other Garmin units I've used, and fairly self-explanatory. It does have a higher level of customisation if you like though, and can be programmed to give different info depending on what you use it for.

Comes loaded with topo maps, and works well with Garmin Basecamp software. Also, don't forget to hook up to a laptop every now and then to download new firmware and maps.

Highly recommended.

Great GPS – I upgraded to this unit to get touch screen capability and in this regard, it works well. Excellent daylight visibility and brightness control. You can download various free maps (eg OpenStreetMap) via internet. The Basecamp software is OK but quite clunky to use and I find developing my routes in GoogleEarth much easier and then importing them. The unit's memory capacity is generous and expandable. Nice size and fits the hand well. Has various alarms and proximity warnings.

On the downside, it's a bit glitchy, with it occasionally requiring the batteries to be removed to unfreeze it. I've set it to screen off mode, but the screen keeps coming on in my pocket. It doesn't have an "On" light, so you don't know whether it's running or not in screen off mode. Battery life is short - I get around 10-12 hours out of a set of rechargeables. Imported routes/tracks sometime fail, so they need to be checked before use.

But overall, it's quite reliable and is not lacking in features. Hopefully, the glitchiness can be software upgraded out over time. Pretty happy with it. Works very well. Screen readability in bright light. Easy to use. Needs an 'on' light. Glitchy SW. PC Software could be better.