Garmin GPS Oregon 400c

Garmin GPS Oregon 400c Product Review

The Garmin Oregon 400c puts saltwater fun at your fingertips. This next-generation handheld features a rugged, touchscreen along with BlueChart g2 coastal charts, a high-sensitivity receiver, barometric altimeter, electronic compass, microSD card slot, picture viewer and more. Even exchange tracks, waypoints, routes and geocaches wirelessly between similar units.

Easy to learn and simple to use, the waterproof Garmin Oregon 400c features a high-sensitivity GPS receiver and preloaded detailed BlueChart g2 coverage for the coastal U.S. and the Bahamas. The chart detail includes shoreline, depth contours, navaids and port plans. It also offers a high-resolution, color 3-inch touchscreen that reacts as you tap or drag through menus and options. With its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix satellite prediction, Oregon 400c locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons. It's also equipped with a barometric altimeter and electronic compass, and it's compatible with Garmin's heart-rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors.

The Oregon 400c lets you customize five profiles--automotive, marine, recreation, fitness or geocaching--making the most beneficial features for each activity the easiest to access through quick shortcuts. The tough, 3-inch color touchscreen display is easy to read even in direct sunlight, and the Oregon's easy-to-use interface means you'll spend more time enjoying the outdoors and less time searching for information.

It also plays well with others, allowing for wireless exchange of tracks, waypoints and geocaches between other Oregon units and Garmin Colorado models.

This unit has a built-in electronic compass that provides bearing information even while you're standing still, and its barometric altimeter tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude. You can even use the altimeter to plot barometric pressure over time, which can help you keep an eye on changing weather conditions.

With the preloaded BlueChart g2 Vision maps, you'll get aerial reference photography with "real world" photos of ports, harbors, marinas, waterways, navigation landmarks and other points of interest, offering the mariner another powerful tool for navigating unfamiliar waters. The Mariner's Eye View perspective provides a bird's eye view from behind the boat showing the chart information for a quick, reliable and easy position fix, while the Fish Eye View 3D perspective provides an underwater view that visually represents the sea floor according to the chart's information. Auto Guidance technology searches chart data to suggest the best passage to a destination.

Conveniently plug in optional preloaded microSD memory cards for all your outdoor activities on land or water. The card slot is located inside the waterproof battery compartment, so you don't have to worry about getting it wet. Just insert an optional Garmin MapSource card with detailed street maps, and the Oregon provides turn-by-turn directions to your destination. Add optional topographic maps to take advantage of the Oregon's 3D map view which gives you a better perspective of your elevation.

Garmin's HotFix capability automatically calculates and stores satellite locations, greatly reducing satellite acquisition time so that you can turn the unit on and get going. Geocaching is even easier with the Oregon, which quickly downloads online information for every cache, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description, so that you don't have to tote printouts with you. Review Courtesy of Amazon.com

Customer Reviews: