Garmin Oregon Beta 2.95 Available — Seriously!
Yes, I know. It is April 1st and everyone is having a bit of fun, but this one is for real. The hardworking Oregon team has released another (make that five total) beta release for the Oregon. Garmin’s release notes include another round of useful improvements as well as a bug fix for that pesky map page shutdown in beta 2.94. This release does seem to be based on the same GPS firmware (2.80) as available in beta 2.94. I’ve verified the map page fix and it does address the issue. Here’s the complete run down of changes:
- Added big numbers option to the trip computer
- Added new trip computer dashboards
- Added POI subcategories
- Added ‘search near’ option to Geocaches search
- Added change location to Sun and Moon
- Added change location to Hunt and Fish
- Fixed shutdown on the map
- Date: April 1, 2009. Weather: Cool. Health: good. Food: 905 pounds. Next landmark: 190 miles. Miles traveled: 364 miles.
I’m not too sure about that last one, but now for the fun part. The major enhancement in this release is support for big fields on the Trip Computer! The Trip Computer tool sports two new buttons. The first button allows you to select the dashboard (previously you would tap the dashboard). The second button makes the fields at the bottom of the page toggle between two large fields or six small fields. You’ll also note two new dashboard options: Small Data Fields (which includes four fields) and Large Data Field (which includes one large field, the time, and power and satellite bars). There are so many combinations it would be impossible to show them but essentially you can now go from ten small fields to three large data fields. While this wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the release notes this is also the first time you can see the time with seconds on the Oregon — the long fields support it as well as the time field in the Large Data Field dashboard.
 New buttons on the Trip Computer to select dash and field size |
 Big number mode with small data fields dashboard |
 Large data dashboard shows sat, battery and time with seconds |
 Large fields all around. Time with seconds is visible on large data fields |
POI subcategories are another welcome addition. While this feature has been available on many older Garmin models, Garmin Oregon users can now select a built in POI category and then select from a list of sub-categories. There is also the option to see the entire category.
The final set of enhancements adds the “target button” to a few pages. You can now find geocaches near a specific location and there is a change location button on the Sun and Moon page and Hunt and Fish page.
There are also a few Easter egg waypoints if you poke around — good to see the Oregon team has a sense of humor and it isn’t all work and no play!
As usual post your experiences here or over on the 2.95 thread on the Oregon wiki.
 Transportation POI subcategories |
 Find geocaches near a specific location |
 Change your reference on the Hunt and Fish page |
 April Fools! |
Related posts:
April 1st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
ClimbGuy figured out the release note mystery and the easter egg waypoints. Remember this game?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(computer_game)
April 1st, 2009 at 9:45 pm
S-WEET! A critical bug fix, exciting new functionality – AND easter eggs? Now that’s what I call a release! Just home from a LONG day at the office (actually, two) – and off to download and have some fun.
As always – thanks for the great up-to-the-minute reporting, Scott.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:47 pm
btw- what an interesting and coincidental time of day you happened to snap the screen shots.
April 1st, 2009 at 10:52 pm
That dude who always asks about POI subcategories will be happy
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 am
Thank you Garmin, a very beautiful update! Only a small thing: the up- and down. button in Where To?Coordinates have still no function, and the preview for target has no Go-Button (only preview, not already go!)
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:43 am
Hey maingray, i think that guy that you are talking about is me and , YES im very happt with this update. Everything llok perfect now! Thanks Garmin!
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:30 am
Tom88,
The up- and down buttons change the north/south and east/west parts of the coordinates.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
So far Garmin has done a great job with this release. The shutdown was most annoying while out GeoCaching! Arghh…
One thing I would like to see fixed or addressed it in the ‘geocache_visits.txt’ file it always uses GMT/UTC/ZULU time regardless of your local timezone. I’m located in Arizona, -07:00 hours UTC, so when I’m out geocaching at 1700 (5:00PM) the time stamp in the geocache_visits.txt file switches to the next day and 0000 UTC. When I upload my caches to Geocaching.com it looks at the time and date stamp and everything after 5pm Arizona time is seen as the next day so I have to manualy change the date when I post my logs. This isn’t a major deal now that I know about it but it was time consuming the first few times when I had to go back and change a dozen logs to the previous day. I would like to see the log keep time in the local timezone that you are in and not UTC time. Garmin?
Cheers!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Still havn’t seen an improvement in WAAS lock on and retention. Would really like to see this feature addressed and fixed for accuracy of the Oregon 400t unit.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I think the issue is with the STM chipset or chipset firmware. Given that the DeLorme PN-40 is based on the same chipset and has similar problems with WAAS I suspect the issue is with the chipset. Since it has been this way for 6-8 months I’m not holding out much hope that Garmin will be able to fix the problem if it is an issue with the hardware.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Scott,
Great site, searched for info on the latest software update and found you! Your reviews and especially screens shots are awesome!
Hey quick question, I have a Colorado 300, am a bit disappointed with the interface and am thinking of exchanging it for an Oregon for the touch screen.
Any thoughts, especially now with the updated software that gives much more capabilities with the Oregon.
Any regrets with yours?
thanks
Jody
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Thanks for finding us Jody, also check out the Garmin Colorado and Oregon wiki’s where you will get a lot more detailed help. I have both units and really prefer the Oregon at this point. The Colorado has a few slim advantages over the Oregon, the biggest is better screen readability. Sometimes I find the Oregon a little harder to read but overall the advantages of the touch screen and all these new updates are really starting to make the Oregon Garmin’s flagship handheld.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:49 am
Yep, that’s what I’ve kind of concluded from talking with folks at REI and other sites I’m reading. I also seem to get a feeling that Garmin is way more committed to the Oregon software updates than the Colorado, thoughts?
Do you have any issues with actual or perceived ruggedness of the Oregon? I know a good Zagg screen protector and the Garmin case helps tons, but………
Thanks for the response, and hey where do you live, your picture in the about page looks like Colorado, I’m in the Springs?
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
As of recent Garmin has been providing a lot more updates for the Oregon. Many of these are “beta” drops, but they do contain so very nice enhancements (not just bug fixes). I’m beginning to doubt if the Colorado is ever going to get these enhancements. Probably some bug fixes but I think it is in “maintenance mode”.
Ruggedness of the Oregon has been great, I take mine every where, dropped my first one on solid granite and other than a few scratches it was fine. No problems with screen reliability — I do use a Zagg and a lanyard.
That shot is from the White Mountains in NH, I live in New England not too far away. Hope to get our your way soon for some hiking.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Thanks again Scott!
If you make it this way check out where I work and know that it’s a rather unique place to stay here in Colorado Springs. I’m the Manager of Technical Services and could show you around, it’s right next door to Garden of the Gods.
http://www.navigators.org/us/ministries/gleneyrie/
there’s not many prettier hikes than Pikes Peak from the Barr Trail, just bring your oxygen
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I charged the new release 2.95.
Everything seamed fine. But when trying to seek a cache I noticed that previous to the release existing pocket query on the GPS was not considered to show the caches, only the single loaded caches existed.
Back home, I deleted every WP, Cache and pocket query – then loaded the pocket query again. Now the caches from the query were showed.
Problem solved.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:31 am
[...] last four days have been trying times for some Oregon users. Around the time Garmin released Oregon beta 2.95 software people started reporting intermittent but serious GPS reception issues. Initially it [...]