Making the Oregon and Colorado Easier to Read with New Backgrounds
Ever since the Colorado was released most owners have complained about how difficult the screen is to read. When the Oregon was released several months later it was actually a little worse than the Colorado. After using both units and following many discussions on the topic I believe that the issue is in part due to the choice of dark colors which Garmin picked for the default backgrounds. The good news is that you can easily change the background on both the Colorado and Oregon by downloading new jpeg image files to your GPS and selecting this image as your new background.
While changing your Oregon or Colorado’s background to a lighter color isn’t going to completely fix the issue I believe it does improve the visibility of the screen. As a side benefit, you can put a “watermark” on your background image which includes your contact information so that if someone finds your GPS they might be able to return it to you.
I’ve put together some simple background images that can be used on either the Oregon or Colorado. These images include a colored border and embed a profile name in the top and bottom of the border so that you can tell which profile you are currently using. The image above is a screen shot of my Oregon in the Automotive Profile using the new white background with gray border. The other image is of my watermarked background.
All of the sample images below can be downloaded in the zip file here. The Colorado and Oregon wikis include information on how to download and change the background.
Profile specific backgrounds:
Automotive Profile
Geocaching Profile
Recreational Profile
Fitness Profile
Marine Profile
Simple backgrounds with a colored border:
All White (no border)
Black
Yellow
Orange
Blue
Green
Red
Gray
Brown
Purple
Related posts:
November 13th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Very nice. Thanks.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
This works, I just reformatted all my profile screens.
I made my custom profile templates with Photoshop.
Many Thanks to the inventor.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
[...] were available by default on the Oregon. Unfortunately this means you cannot use the all white background images we’ve been providing for Colorado and Oregon users which improve screen visibility and [...]
June 6th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
[...] forumet hittade jag en bra artikel från en av de jag följer nitisk på twitter, gpsfix. Fast tipset var från tiden före att jag körde twitter. Anyway, med en vit bakgrund blir många [...]
July 20th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Thanks a bunch! I downloaded & installed these on my Oregon 550 – it really makes it easier to read…
September 13th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thanks for taking time to do this for all of us. Kudos.
December 30th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
The back grounds are great and all, but you don’t need to leave a watermark on your backgrounds. If you edit the file ” startup” in the garmin folder, and add all your contact info it appears as you oregon loads.
December 31st, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Right, but you only see that briefly at startup. I use both.
-Scott
June 5th, 2012 at 7:47 am
Scott,
you wrote: “These images include a colored border and embed a profile name in the top and bottom of the border so that you can tell which profile you are currently using.”
How do I install different images for different profiles?
I like your idea of the watermark; thanks for that!
greetings,
Björn