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Easy to operate with one hand. Very easy to use (never read manual), and has long battery life. Use professionally and it gets the job done well in rugged conditions. Would recommend this unit to a friend and/or buy again. Screen brightness works well for me, although sometimes I need to turn the brightness up while in shaded areas, but really not problem.
I bought a Colorado 300 at a local chain store retailer (Best Buys) at a good price, but that's where the good news ended. Why should I have to pay $125 MORE for a map to make the damn thing perform as advertised. Every time I entered a way point or POI and then reviewed my "trip" back home on my PC using Garmin's software, ALL the points would be labeled "Philadelphia-NJ" ###. Poor case design for access to the battery compartment - I was afraid I was going to break the unit just to get the door off, ridiculous software that is cumbersome, time consuming to set-up and operate, and the fact that while a GPS unit is supposed to help you navigate - thus making your trip or hike accurate - I found myself standing on the trail for minutes at a time trying to see where the hell I was on the map. The device map became unreadable with this clutter of too many labels.I tried to return it to the store for a full-refund only to be told that I could only get a store credit - due to store policy on electronic product returns. The unit was ALWAYS off by ten's if not hundred's of feet.The UI must have been designed by a moron. I'm not into geocaching but wanted this for marking locations on trails that I use for wild mushroom harvesting, so I could return to the same spot one year later.Despite being a really classy looking device, the 300 is a worthless piece of junk. And from what I've read, the Garmin digital TOPO maps are inaccurate garbage.I live in New Jersey.
While the roller wheel seems like it will speed your inputs, it actually does the reverse. The screen brightness has to constantly be reset to the level you want each time you "wake" the unit up from standby.The fact that these $300+ units ship with only a useless "base map" - whatever that means - is a total rip-off. I tried for HOURS to re-label and store all of the WP/POI's and save them to the device only to find that the next time I used the device all the points now had TWO labels - my designations PLUS the Philadelphia-NJ### labels. So I ended up getting a E trex Legend H which is barely acceptable.Conclusion: I will never buy anything from Best Buys again, Garmin is a third rate company overcharging for poorly designed products, Don't buy a Colorado 300 or 400.they are simply not worth your money.If I could rate this at minus-stars, I'd give it a minus 4 star rating.it's that bad.
However, battery life is still not great. I tried the Garman Oregon with the topo maps and immediately returned it. The Colorado, with the green shaded base map it came with was not much better, though better than the Topo map (less information than the Topo map). Lithium cells last much longer. I would have been happier if the engineers had spent more time on battery life and screen visibility. However, when I switched to the Cn North American NT map -- a detailed city map (an extra $100.00 list) and turned off the Autoroute DEM basemap I got a nice clean, visible, clear background with lines that were reasonably visible even in bright light.
If going into untracked areas take paper maps and lodestone style compasses. The problem was, that unit in bright indirect light, the map was not visible. Do not use, only, this device where your life depends on it. I am not sure it would work on a bicycle where the distance from eye to unit is greater but for walking it was OK. Also do not use alkaline cells -- the unit sucks the life out of the alkaline. The device seems cluttered with features that add little like calendars, stopwatches, and calculators.
I have a hard time believing that any of the designers took the unit out for a trial on a bright day.
Very good for Geocaching. Update your unit as soon as you open the box and you shouldn't have any issues.
There are a few things I would like to see changed on this unit. I also recommend using some clear non conductive silicon grease around the seal to both allow it to slide off easier and give it a bit better water resistance. The battery life is good while using Energizer 2450MAH NiMH rechargeable batteries as well as Li-Ion batteries. It fits easily and comfortably in my hand. I purchased this GPS for the sole purpose of Geocaching and while I'm sure it will be used for hiking/biking that isn't why I got it. On multi-day trips it would help when logging finds on Geocaching.com. So for the time being that problem has been solved. I asked if I could re-glue the seal without voiding the warranty and was given a go ahead with that.
I would like to be able to separate cache types within the unit and load GPX files individually. The gasket had started to come unseated so I contacted customer support. The unit is very easy to use one handed thanks to the control dial. Lastly the GUI is very nice but I would love to see a few more features added. The battery compartment has some flaws mainly the rubber gasket around the case. they were very fast and helpful. On top of that I would like to be able to see the dates that caches were found. Outside of those few issues which I consider to be fairly minor since I could easily fix most on my own I highly recommend this product.
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