Garmin Oregon 550t

Santa is feeling generous this year and considering the Garmin Oregon 550t for a particularly good little boy.  I would love to hear the pros and cons from anyone who has had some "hands on" experience with this GPS.  Thanks.

Some good info. here:

gpsinformation.info/penrod/oregoncamera/oregoncamera.html

I have the Dakota 20 and love it.

Merry x-mas

Thanks for the link. One of the major knocks against the 550 is it's screen readability in bright sunshine. Is the screen on your Dakota easily viewed in full sunlight?

Not as bright as my late Vista, but you get use to it. I've read that the Oregon is brighter than the Dakota (same link but the Dakota page), but the Dakota's batteries last quite a few hours longer too. This is only with the battery operation and if you plug into an external power source it brightens considerably. To be honest, after comparing the Oregon and the Dakota series I went with the Dakota 20 simply because it's a smaller version of the Oregon (same core functions and antenna) without the built in digi-camera and quite a bit cheaper.

The new touch screen is really nice to use and liner gloves do not interfere with it's operation. The tri-axel antenna is great and locks in very fast to the orbs overhead. All-in-all a great GPS.

Ive got a 400 and plan on getting the OR/WA maps to compliment the national course maps. Just in a few test runs while driving and heading to the mtn...the batteries don't last nearly as long as I had hoped. I really need to learn how to use it with settings so I can be able to turn it off and still make functions that work.

I have the NW map set and it is well worth it; at some point I'd like to set down and figure out how to produce/upload my own maps. There is a car kit that allows you to draw power from the cig lighter (saving your batteries until the last min) and, for the most part, in the BC my GPS is turned off unless I'm collecting a waypoint or it's absolutely necessary for navigation. Also, spare batteries help

For GPS use while sea kayaking I purchased a solar charger that's basically a battery that recharges itself and it worked wonderfully at recharging my various electronic gizmoes. It does take some time to charge/recharge, but for long trips where space is a concern it's nice to have a charging option.

It would be nice for the unit to act as a charger too, but I understand the size vs. function equation.