Garmin Oregon Beta 2.98 — Recommended For Stability, New Features
After several unstable beta releases Garmin Oregon beta software 2.98 appears to be a solid release which is worth the upgrade if you haven’t been following the beta cycle. Many users will want access to the excellent new features added since 2.80 but have been hesitant to upgrade because of issues associated with the GPS receiver and some significant autorouting bugs. If you haven’t been tracking the new features added during the beta cycle here are some highlights:
- Improved Trip Computer with big numbers and new dashboards
- Waypoint averaging
- Custom POI categories and search improvements
- POI subcategories
- Pick from multiple objects at the same location on the map
- Edit waypoint from waypoint review — no need to go to Waypoint Manager
- “Search near” support for Geocaches and other tools
- Sight’N Go
- Support for four map data fields
- Custom start-up banner which can contains contact information
- Man overboard tool
Most of these were suggestions captured as feature enhancements or missing features on the Oregon Wiki Issues List so we are happy to see Garmin knocking a few of these big items off of our wish list. Thank you Garmin!
On the other hand, GPS receiver performance has been a mixed bag during the beta and still leaves a lot to be desired in 2.98. My recent tests suggest that beta 2.98 is about the same as it was prior to the beta cycle starting. With the most recent beta WAAS sometimes won’t lock if you are moving and really doesn’t work under any kind of tree cover. Some of the earlier beta releases improved WAAS slightly but in beta 2.98 the Oregon is back to the level of WAAS performance in 2.8. These days I just leave WAAS disabled because I find that when it drifts in and out that it causes more issues than it has benefit.
Receiver performance without WAAS has also gone through ups and downs during the beta. Some of the earlier releases made the unit more sensitive which helped improve the sluggish feel of the Oregon but introduced a lot of tracklog noise and frequent heading shifts. More recent releases are a compromise between the two extremes but overall the receiver still suffers under tree cover and does not perform as well as the 60CSx under the same conditions. Issues I observe as compared to the 60CSx include:
- More frequent “major” location drifts (I define a major drift as a drift of more than 100′ for more than 2 minutes)
- Excessive “stopped time” when moving at speeds less than 3 mph
- Heading freezes for 20-40 seconds when moving at speeds less than 3 mph (probably related to the stopped time issue above)
- Significant 10′-20′ tracklog noise under tree cover
One area where the Oregon does outperform the 60CSx is with track recording when you are truly stopped, the 60CSx will record significant movement and the tracklogs it creates contain “spiders” from the drift associated with the high sensitivity receiver. The Oregon tracks do not contain the same anomalies.
Granted much of the time the Oregon receiver performance is perfectly acceptable, but I find that in 25-30% of the Oregon tests I see major drifts where less than 5% of the 60CSx tests do. In the end, I still don’t trust the receiver and find myself throwing in the 60CSx when I’m hunting micro-caches under tree cover or trying map trails because the older unit is more reliable.
Let’s hope for another round of GPS firmware tuning before Garmin exits this nearly four month long beta cycle which, by the way, I believe will end soon — probably just ahead of the July release of the Garmin Oregon 550/550t.
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