Garmin Oregon 550 3-Inch Handheld GPS Navigator Review
October 1st, 2009
Garmin Oregon 550 3-Inch Handheld GPS Navigator Review from Joel A Pogar J Pogar. Sadly unimpressed…., I have had this for a couple days now and have to admit, I’m “underwhelmed” by it so far. I had very high expectations of the 550 and ordered it with the 24K Topo maps from Amazon. Here’s my issues:
1. This is my first Oregon unit, but the screen seems small….I’m a big guy, it feels like my thumb covers half the screen when navigating.
2. Compass accuracy is questionable, or at least it seems very “jumpy”. If I move an inch, it rotates way more than I did.
3. Not sure why, but it’s hard to see in the shade. Outside on bright sunny days and it’s easier to see in direct sunlight than in the shade.
4. Having map problems….can’t display a 3-D view of my map (open case with Garmin support).
5. All the manuals are on CD and the CD had issues loading in my computer. Had to find a PC that would read the CD and copy to my hard drive.
What’s good about it…
1. The camera. While 3.2MP is not “hi-def” by any means, it is nice to only carry one device and have my pictures geotagged. The resolution and quality is respectable.
2. Unit feels very durable….I fish a lot so it’s nice that it’s somewhat weather / waterproof.
3. Comes with some nice accessories….I was surprised that Garmin included NiMH batteries and a charger.
4. Battery life is good. Although I’m using 2700mA batteries (not the included batteries) I get almost 20 hours from a set of AA.
Maybe I’m being a little too hard on Garmin and I generally like their products. However, for $600 (Oregon 550 and the Topo Map) I was expecting an iPhone like experience….an oohhh ahhhh kind of moment……hasn’t happened so far. Not sure if I’ll keep it…it’s not a “bad” device, just don’t know if it’s worth $600. I was on the fence about giving it two or three stars….I gave it two because of the price and some of the frustrations I’ve had getting the maps to work right.
**Update (8/16/09): I did get the map issue resolved….turned out to be a software glitch with the Topo maps, but I did get it corrected. Took this unit on a 3 day trip to the Pike National Forest in Colorado. I would upgrade my rating from two stars to three stars as the GPS was extremely accurate when geocaching….but I didn’t even get a full day from one set of batteries and the pictures I took with the 550 were hardly usable. It was cool that they were geotaged, but pretty poor in quality. Because of the price, picture quality and low battery life, it’s going back. There are better options for less money.
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