A few months ago Garmin surprised many when it discontinued the relatively new Colorado line of handheld GPS units.  I was certainly surprised have only recently upgrading.  I discovered a couple of days ago that Garmin will be releasing the GPSMAP 62 series by the end of July.  From where I sit this is the unit Garmin should have released instead of the Colorado.  The GPSMAP 60 series had the right form factor all it needed was upgraded software.   In the GPSMAP 62 series the form factor is back with upgraded software and some upgraded internals. I can’t wait to see if this is a better unit than my Colorado 300.

I knew I was going to have to send the unit in for warranty repair but I was hesitant.  It would take too long, it would be too much of a hassle, it would be an all around pain in the ass.   I was wrong on all counts.

I contacted Garmin support to start the return process.  I was informed that as a Canadian I had to send the unit to the Canadian repair depot.  This would save me having to ship cross-border, twice.  The Canadian repair company is Raytech Electronics.  The Raytech site was very easy to use and within minutes I had received authorization to ship the unit back for repair.  Their system even prepared the shipping label for me.   It cost me about $9 to ship the unit to Quebec.

About a week after sending the unit in I received an email stating the unit was being returned to me.  I was it afraid it was going to take upwards of 6 weeks and here I was getting my GPSr back within two weeks.  My unit was toast so I was sent a replacement Colorado.  The noted didn’t say for sure but I think it was a refurbished unit.  I didn’t mind as it was better than having no GPSr at all.  The total cost to me for the replacement was $9, the cost of postage, one-way.

The support people at Garmin provided even more help to me today.  The one downside to getting a replacement unit is that I would have to reload the unit with my information, including my maps.  Installing the maps was going to be a problem.  I’d somehow managed to render my original disk unreadable.  I could not install the maps without the disk.  I called Garmin software support to see what they could do.

I’d already been in touch with Garmin on this issue once before.  At that time I was told too bad, so sad but you’ll have to buy a new installation.  That communication was done over email and I had the feeling that email support was outsourced.   Today I actually spoke to Michael in Kansas.  It took us a while but he figured out that I could buy replacement media to solve my problem.  I immediately placed the order with Michael, it wasn’t Garmin’s fault I buggered up the disk.  For $15 plus shipping I was going to get a replacement disk.  I had to send proof that I actually owned the original disk.  The was a bit of a nuisance but manageable.

I recommend you reach out to Garmin support as soon as you have a problem.   I’m very happy to have my GPSr fixed and a replacement disk ordered all for less than $35.   That sure beats shelling out another $500 just to replace what I already owned.  Thank you Garmin Support!

Here’s a video from Garmin that explains how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_p1x-fL2zc

DeLorme-GPS-Satellite-Communicator

Well it’s not exactly two-way GPS tracking but you can send text messages and update your position via the soon to be released DeLorme Earthmate PN-60w with SPOT Satellite Communicator. The SPOT beacon has been around for a while. It is a personal emergency beacon that sends a message via satellite to give rescuers your location. In that is doesn’t rely on cell technology there is a better chance your message will get out regardless of where you are.

The new SPOT Satellite Communicator, designed exclusively for the new PN-60w, merges SPOT satellite message functionality and DeLorme state-of-the-art GPS mapping via wireless. Together, this product pairing offers broader messaging capabilities. Users can send freeform text messages using the PN-60w’s keyboard to select individuals or groups from the field even from remote areas world-wide.

So next time some geocachers go to Maple Mountain we’ll have to see if someone brings one of these along!

I’ll keep my review short as I’ve only had the Colorado 300 in the field once my opinions may change over time.  Here are some annoyances I’ve discovered with the Colorado 300.

1. The shortcut and options button are hard to depress when wearing gloves.  It some ways it is nice that these buttons are flush with the case it does make using them a little harder.
2. Sharing wirelessly was the main reason that I upgraded from my GPSMAP 60CSx.  This outing was my first chance to share a waypoint wirelessly.  This is an excellent feature except for the fact that the description is not transfered along with the waypoint.
3. The compass requires that you hold the unit level.  It is very sensitive in this regard.  The compass is also very sensitive to battery changes (which you will do often).
4. I”m a little on the fence regarding the carabiner mounting clip.  I liked having the lanyard and slip on clip with the 60CSx.  That way I could clip it to my backpack and use the lanyard as a safety strap.  I would have lost my 60CSx in a river once if it wasn’t attached via the lanyard to my backpack.  Warning:  only change the batteries over solid ground.
5. Why does the unit turn off when I unplug it from the computer?  Grrr.
6. Navigating when editing a waypoint was not intuitive.  When you are entering numbers using the wheel you don’t immediately think to use the rocker to move left and right.  Once that’s discovered editing geocache stages becomes straightforward, and easier than on the GPSMAP 60Csx.

It’s not all bad.  In fact I quite like the Garmin Colorado.  Here are some of my positive impressions of the unit.

1. The fully rubberized housing makes for a more secure grip.
2. Using the soft buttons (on screen buttons) is quite intuitive.
3. You can’t beat the paperless caching aspect of this unit.  I long ago abandoned printing cache pages primarily because I frequently cache with my friend Bakers Dozen who already has a Colorado.  I’m sure he’ll be relieved that I’ll no longer be calling to him with “do we know what size it is?”.
4. Zooming on the map is both intuitive and fast.
5. The rocker wheel is definitely a highlight of the unit.  It takes some getting used to if you are like me and need to reprogram your brain.  Data input is fast with this interface.
6. Profiles make it easier to use this unit both in the car and on the trail.  Once inside a profile type you can customize things like the trip computer to your liking for each role.  In this way your trip computer for Geocaching can have different data fields than your automotive profile.
7. The compass overlay on the map screen is a nice feature.
8. The ability to log notes with your finds.  Even though the rocker wheel allows for fast data input I don’t think you’ll be writing long logs with it.  It is a good way to note if you dropped or picked up a trackable item.

Overall I am very pleased with my decision to upgrade to a Garmin Colorado GPSr.  The feature I had the most difficulty with was myself.  After three years with a GPSMAP 60CSx I have to unlearn all that I’ve learned.  The interfaces are radically different.   You will find little similarity if you are used to using a different Garmin unit.  What you will find is an interface that works very hard to make the administration and execution of your geocaching activities easier.

NOTE:  Regardless of when you get your Garmin Colorado be sure and update the firmware.  Many past annoyances have already be addressed in the most recent firmware.

UPDATE:  The Garmin Colorado has a very temperamental compass.  It requires frequent calibration.  If you find that your compass is not working you should try recalibrating the compass.  When there are no letters on your compass as in the image to the right it indicates that you did NOT successfully calibrate  the compass.  It must be held flat and rotated at the correct speed for the calibration to be effective.

If you take your Colorado GPSr in the car be sure to set the interface mode to Garmin Spanner.  Once you do this the unit will prompt you for Mass Storage mode when you plug in a USB cable.

Here’s how to activate Garmin Spanner:
Setup>System>Interface>Garmin Spanner

The Garmin Colorado includes the option to take screen shots of your device.  To take a screenshot hold the right soft key for about 5 seconds.  If you have sounds on  you will hear a beep confirming capture.  These images are found in the SCRN folder on the device.   This is very handy for illustrating stories and for troubleshooting.