Customer Reviews

Garmin Oregon 200 Portable GPS System

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just had Oregon 200 for a few days and decided to perform an indoor battery life test to see how this receiver holds up on battery life compared to its siblings, Colorado 300. With WASS off, Battery Save off, backlit off and auto track mode on, it actually remained on for 17.5 hours with a pair of Sony CycleEnergy 2000 mAh (NiMH) batteries. Garmin claims 16 hours for this receiver. In comparison, Colorado 300 can only hold for 10-11 hours (less than 15 hours claimed by Garmin) in the same test. This is way beyond my expectation, particularly after my disappointing experience with Colorado's poor battery life.

The receiver is also very accurate and acquires signal fast. It took about 3 minutes for the 1st useful sat. acquisiton (cold start) and under 10 seconds to have good lock (warm start) afterwards. My test was done indoors and Oregon had lock on more than 7 sats all the time with 15 - 40 feet of accuracy.

As this is the cheapest model in the Oregon family, some features are also stripped off.

1. Only comes with 24 MB of internal memory. Micro SD expansion is supported though.
2. No audio beep (even for battery low warning).
3. The built-in base map has no DEM so no shaded relief on this map. Oregon 200 does support shaded relief for maps with DEM (for example, US TOPO 2008).
4. No altimeter, barometer and compass.
5. No wireless transfer capability to share information with other receivers.
6. No support for HRM and bike candence.
7. Only lanyard included (no carabiner).

Overall, I like this unit so far for its built quality, accurate positioning and long battery life. Too bad Garmin has stripped off several good features (probably contributes to better battery life performance). To users who don't need those features, this is a great buy if the price is right.

Recently bought the Oregon 200. It is super fast at acquiring and seldom drops out.

Installed base map is chintzy and out dated. 10 years ago my city was bypassed by the major highway US 97. Didn't happen according to Garmin! It still shows US 97 running through the middle of town.

Trekking through the forest or riding my quad is great! Seems to be extremely accurate and the cookie crumb trail is easy to see.

I conclude, great for trekking, poor for automobiles. I just ordered the expensive topo map chip. If it isn't more up to date then the base map I'll have to send it back.

Bend, Oregon

This is my third Garmin and the best I've had! The touch screen is very user-friendly and easy to input coordinates. The GPS sensitivity is very consistent and precise! I have geocaching friends who prefer my Oregon to their Colorados! If you can step up to the Oregon, it's the way to go!

Length:: 7:40 Mins

+ Touchscreen
+ Durability, water resistance
- Hard to read - glare, low contrast
- Inconsistent speed and alitude readings
- Only works with ENELOOP batteries (not 2 other types of NiMH batteries that I tried.)
- No routing (unless you buy another map)
- No 3d view (unless you buy another map)
- No elevation history page (contrary to some 'screenshots' you may see)
- Ancient maps (very few roads)

I have been happy with this GPS, especially after that Bushnell. I do wish this one had a larger screen.

This is my second Garmin GPS. The first one, an Etrex Legend, starting giving me problems just out of the warranty period; the joystick stopped working. This unit was gently used, never dropped, never got wet or abused in any way. I contacted Garmin about repairs and found it was hard to justify the cost of repairing it vs just buying a new one. I ended up selling it on Craigslist as a non-functioning unit.

In December, 2008, I purchased a Garmin Oregon 200. Just this month, the unit failed; the screen showed nothing but a bunch of horizontal lines and then would not do anything else. I tried several different batteries, but still nothing worked. This unit was also used gently and maybe 10 times total. Again, I contacted Garmin about repairs. I was informed that they have a flat fee of $99. I then e-mailed them, and stated my problems with their products, hoping they might help out with the repairs, but I never even received a response.

So, I now have another expensive Garmin paperweight. I'm not sure what I'll do with this one, but I can honestly say that I'll never buy another Garmin product. I just don't trust the brand.

This unit is great for the price. Highly accurate, lightweight and compact, fast satellite acquire times, and you can load lots of free topos for various parts of the country. You can also load aerial photos, once they are georeferenced. I've purchased 8 of them in the past year for my work and they are the best deal out there. I've connected them to both PC's and Macs with no problems. I would highly recommend these to anyone.

If we like to do Nature sports like orientation or geocaching, Garmin oregon is a very good choice. His portability, and his batery save program made this device a first choice. In city or holidays, Garmin city navigator maps are a very good and helpful tool. Nice style, nice GPS accuracy.

for the price, this is an awesome unit. It works really well, it will stand up to all of the rugged wear and tear that i can put it through, it works really well and is super user friendly. BUY IT, NOW... Its Awesome...

Muy BUENO EL GPS Garmin Oregon 200. ya que me hacia mucha falta para mis trabajos persanales. Claro que luego lo voy a cambiar por el Oregon 550 ya que trae camara. pero a este (200) le he sacado el jugo (usado mucho)GRACIAS.