Garmin Colorado 400t Handheld GPS Unit with U.S. Topographic Preloaded Maps by Garmin
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin Colorado 400t Handheld GPS Unit with U.S. Topographic Preloaded Maps
Digital camera Review: Could be a great GPS if Garmin ever fixes the problems
Summary: 1 Stars
I really had high hopes for this GPS. And it could be a great GPS if Garmin fixes the problems.
The screen is nice and big. The graphics look incredible. You really get a sense of elevation and orientation with the shaded relief. The shortcut menus are customizable. There is an override on the backlight that lets you turn the backlight all the way up on battery power. In daylight the screen seemed plenty bright with no backlight. The unit seemed very accurate in the small amount of testing I did.
All of the positives were outweighed heavily by the negatives. Even after installing Garmin's latest updates the unit still locked up often. I would be trying to move around the map or generate a track and all of a sudden the unit would not respond to anything. This was most frustrating while trying to make a track. If you don't monitor the unit close enough you miss huge sections of trail while the unit looks like it is on, but it is locked up and has stopped tracking. It took removing and reinstalling a battery to get the unit to reset each time. Once reset it might work for a while, but ultimately it would freeze up again.
It also started developing another fault after just a few days of use. With fully charged batteries in the unit it would simply shut down. Sometimes it wouldn't get through booting and just show the splash screen and then shut down.
Having this experience with Garmin's latest and greatest GPS technology has really made me second-guess another Garmin purchase. I would like to have a portable GPS with Topo, but it needs to work.
Digital camera Review: Could be better
Summary: 3 Stars
There are several features about this unit that are very good but just as many or more that are not so good. It is very accurate and it holds the satellite signal extremely well. The color display is very good although difficult to see well in bright sunlight. The unit is very "power hungry" and this is probably why the brightness is limited. It is also why the unit is designed to power up with the display very dim. It is brighter when used in the vehicle if plugged into the power outlet using the optional adapter.
I use the unit primarily for hiking and geocaching and I really like the geocaching features especially the ability to go "paperless". I do not like the method of entering notes or coordinates into the unit. Instead of the displayed letter, number and character wheel, a virtual "keyboard" display would be much easier to use even with the same controls. A system similar to the Delorme PN-20 would be much better. Geocache files are handled differently than waypoints. One cannot delete geocache information from the unit but must connect to the computer to manage geocache files. Waypoints can be deleted individually directly from the unit without the computer.
A word of caution: the base map files and preloaded Topo files are all combined into one large file which is NOT isolated or protected and can be deleted accidentally very easily. Be very careful!
Road routing is excellent with the optional City Navigator software.
One does not have an option for sorting geocaches or waypoints; default is by distance. If one knows the name or GC code, a search can be done fairly easily. It would be nice to have the option to sort either alphabetically or by distance.
Although the Garmin Colorado is quite functional, it is far from the unit I expected. If I could return it now, I would do so. Then I would buy the Delorme PN-40 which will be available later this month.
Digital camera Review: Delivers as advertised.
Summary: 5 Stars
Read the other reviews on Amazon and the GPS review sites. Be aware of the trade-off and criticisms. For me this unit performs very well, and it exactly what I was looking for: a top notch GeoCaching GPS with a large hi resolution screen. Its very effective in the car and superb as a hiking/recreational unit.Digital camera Review: Do NOT buy a 400 series
Summary: 1 Stars
Please for the love of od do not spend your hard earned money on a Garmin 400 series GPS. I bought one in the Summer of 2008. It lasted until shortly after the warranty expired. Garmin replaced it (for $99). It lasted about 5 months. Garmin replaced it even though it was out of the 90 day warranty. It lasted about 5 months. Fast forward: I am now facing another $99 for the FIFTH Colorado in 27 months. At an average lifespan of 5 months, and $99 a pop it is a money hole.
If I had 1 or 2 go bad, maybe I would chalk it up to an unusual coincidence. But 4? C'mon. I'm not that stupid. It also makes me wonder about the reliability of their aviation electronics which should have much better quality control.
Bottom line, don't waste your money!
Digital camera Review: Don't Buy a Garmin!
Summary: 1 Stars
I have had my Garmin for about six months now and have mostly given up on it. It is a disaster. Yes, I have seen all the videos showing all the cool things you can easily do with a Garmin and I don't believe any of it. The videos have to be mass produced fakes. Basic things like battery life are annoying (Garmin has none), but using the software on this high tech trivet is another matter all together. Multiple attempts to use Topo 100K, for example, has been nothing but an exercise in frutration. I have followed directions and still come up short. You shouldn't have to commit hours to tech bulletin boards and user groups to figure out how to use a device these days. I couldn't be more disappointed in a product. This is far and away the worst purchase I have made in recent memory...and I'm not the most responsible guy you're going to meet.