Three-strong range uses touchscreen interface and will be able to run Ordnance Survey mapping.
We recently told you about the Ordnance Survey mapping that will be
available for use on certain Garmin GPS units from 1, November 2008.
The mapping can be used on the existing Colorado GPS receivers, but
also on the
new,
three-strong
Oregon range
complete with touch screen control that's appearing in the
shops right now.
The new Oregon combines the touch screen interface of Garmin's car
satnav units with the funtionality of their outdoor GPS. The three-inch
colour touch screen itself is claimed to be 'responsive to the touch of
your finger, yet resistant to the forces of nature' and the whole unit
is waterproof to IPX7 specification. What's more the operating system
looks far more intuitive than previous incarnations with an iPhone-like
icon tippety-tappety set-up.
All three Oregons have a high-sensitivity GPS receive and also
something called HitFix, which is claimed to speed up position location
by using stored satellite information to calculate your location
without 'waiting for data collection from satellites' - no, we don't
quite understand that either.
Otherwise it's all singing, all dancing, comes with a pre-loaded
basemap that becomes more detailed the further up the range you go and
can communicate wirelessly with other Oregon or Colorado units to share
data. Battery life is claimed to be up to 18 hours from a pair of AA
batteries and weight is quoted at 193 grammes including batteries.
The big plus though is the ability to load additional mapping from a
microSD card, which means it will be able to run Ordnance Survey
mapping, effectively giving you a proper OS map on the screen along
with a dot showing where you are and a snail trail showing where you've
been and more besides. It's not unique in that - the Satmap Active 10
does the same and ViewRanger software converts your Smartphone into a
full-on navigation unit with OS mapping.
We've had a brief play with an Oregon, albeit indoors, and it does look
like a very neat bit of kit. Our main concern is over the longterm
durability and reliability of that neat, colour touch screen.
RRP is : Oregon 200 - £279, Oregon 300 - £329,
Oregon 400t - £429.
More information from
www.garmin.co.uk
and
www.garminblogs.com
