Oregon 450tWhile I was away in Puerto Rico last week I missed the opportunity to submit this post but since I’ve been blogging and tweeting on the Garmin Oregon 450 and 450t since October, there really isn’t a lot to say other than, “it’s official!”.   These two new Oregon’s have much in common with the current Oregon family, including a high resolution 3″ diagonal touchscreen, high sensitivity GPS receiver, altimeter/barometer, wireless transfer, electronic compass, 850MB of available memory, paperless geocaching, and a microSD card slot.  The 450 includes a worldwide basemap with shaded relief and the 450t adds 100k topo maps.

It’s obvious that these units are replacements for the Oregon 300 (replaced by the 450) and 400t (replaced by the 450t).  The 450 and 450t list for $400 and $500 respectively which is exactly the same as the current 300/400t pricing.   The 450 and 450t are also very similar in features to the 300 and 400t with a few, mostly minor, differences:

  • 3-axis compass which allows you to hold the unit in any orientation and get an accurate compass bearing unlike the 2-axis 300/400 compass which must be held flat.
  • Slightly better screen visibility under bright light because of a more opaque touchscreen outer cover
  • Higher capacity: 5000 geocaches, 2000 waypoints, 200 routes
  • High-speed USB for faster map file and data transfer between GPS and computer.
  • Ability to display and navigate to georeferenced jpeg images.  I believe that even though the 450 won’t take pictures it will still have the ability to display them on the map and navigate to them like the 550.  It will probably also inherit the 550 image viewer which is a notch better than the 300/400 viewer.
  • UserDataSync. True sync between the unit and computer based applications for waypoints, routes and tracks like the 550 and Dakota.
  • Large map symbols
  • Super-sized compass pointer

Looking at it another way, the 450 is simply a 550 without a camera because the list above applies for the 550 as well.

There has been some confusion about what these units really bring to the table because Garmin touts a lot of things on the new 450 site like the ability to use Garmin Connect, Garmin Custom Maps and fancy new dashboards but these are all available on the older 300 and 400 series.  The 450 really addresses an issue with the product line that was caused by the Dakota.  Many prospective Dakota/Oregon buyers ask me whether they should buy a Dakota 20 or Oregon 300 and there is always some hesitation around buying the Oregon because it is missing a few of the Dakota’s features, especially the screen improvements and 3-axis compass. The Oregon 450 addresses that dilemma for the new buyer, but for existing Oregon owners I really don’t see the reason to upgrade.

There are two unresolved questions around the Oregon product line with the introduction of these new models – will Garmin discontinue the Oregon 200 (pushing users to the Dakota) and what happens to the 400i and 400c?   Garmin may introduce 450i’s and c’s or there might not be enough demand for the preinstalled inland lakes and BlueCharts on the Oregon.

If you are in the market for a new GPS and are considering an Oregon you should first check to see if there are any good deals on 300′s or 400′s as stores try to “make space” for the new models.  On the other hand if you’ve been waiting for a 550 but really didn’t want to spend the extra money for a built-in camera the 450 will be available mid-January according to Garmin and it is already available for pre-order at Amazon (450|450t) and REI (450|450t).

As more details become available I’ll be covering these new models in the Oregon wiki which are already being discussed in the wiki forums.

Related posts:

  1. Garmin Oregon 450 and 450t Appear Online