Review of The Garmin Oregon 450 handheld GPS

The Garmin Oregon 450 can easily be used staight from the box it comes in. You may want to consult the owner's manual once or twice, but it should not be a problem getting started. It seems that Garmin has heard the wishes of all geocachers out there, and provided many features that make the GPS a great tool. We combine the use of the Oregon 450 with my husband's 60CX. My husband's device may be slightly more accurate than the Oregon, but the Oregon has the easy to use touchscreen that we love. I have chatted with other geocachers that own the Oregon 450, and I have come to realize that this tool can do a lot more than I originally thought. I just have to find out which macros to use with the device. It was my desire to get a Oregon 450 for over a year, and I am glad that it turned out to be as great as I had hoped it would be.

Taking a look at the screen, the 60CSX that my husband owns looks to be a bit brighter when viewed in direct sunlight. However, in other types of lighting there is not much difference. The Oregon has a much better screen resolution, which makes it easier to read topographical maps and to do general navigation. The better resolution accounts for the less brightly lit screen.

The brightness that is offered in direct sun isn't really an issue because I keep the brightness on 0. When set to zero, you can read the screen perflectly, you just need to tilt the screen so it can be visible. The ability to touch the screen makes it much better than the 60CSX if you ask me. One thing I wish the Oregon 450 had is the ability to make the waypoint with the touch of a button like the 60csx has.

The software on the Oregon is sufficient, though it does lack some of the more advanced features that the 60csx offers. It provides you with profiles which you can set, which is helpful for using GPS on different terrains as well as to set the preferences of different users.

If anyone would like to know how well the device performs in the car, I can tell you it is great. I have had no problems using the Oregon as my navigation tool. Even though it doesn't speak the road names as I travel, it does alert me with a beep for important notifications. You can choose to have proximity alerts as well as a custom POI.

There are maps on the device which will alert you when you need to make a turn. It can also tell you which side of the road your desitination is located. If you have the Garmin plugin installed, you can send an address from Google maps straight to the tool.

Going off road, the Oregon 450 is very efficient. I had no issues when I took this unit off roading.

Another very valuable component is the 3-axis compass. It works extremely well and can be useful in many situations. An added feature is that you can insert the compass onto the trip computer so you don't have to stare at the dedicated compass screen. You can get a lot more information on the other screen while still seeing the compass.

The Oregon 450 is marine capable, but I cannot speak for this area because I have not tested the device on the open water.

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