# New portable GPS review - Garmin Oregon 550



## Lightman (Jul 22, 2008)

I just thought I'd write a quick review in case there are any guys in the market for a handheld gps for ice fishing, portability, or whatever.

I lost my old 2002 etrex vista on Erie while ice fishing this season (doh!), so I recently got a replacement - the Oregon 550. What a difference! The screen is much larger, color, and touch screen. It accepts a micro sd card which I happened to have laying around from an old windows mobile phone that I used before my Droid. I wanted to stay with Garmin so I could still use the Mapsource software, and transfer over all the mapsets, waypoints, etc that I had collected/maintained over the years. The Oregon could not be easier to use...everything is logical and hardly requires a look at the owner's manual. You can transfer routes/waypoints etc wirelessly to other garmin devices which is nice, and it has a 3.2mp camera so you can take pics out on the trail or lake, and stamp them with coordinates/attach photos to waypoints. It has the ability to have multiple mapsets loaded on it at once time, and you can easily switch between mapsets in the menu... so I have the Bluechart mapsets for the Great Lakes and FL, inland lakes US mapset for smaller waters, and topographic mapset for riding quads/sleds etc. Not sure if they worked together or not, but the inland lakes mapset and navionics mapset (which I have on my phone) are identical for mosquito and chautauqua at least..(which is good!). I'm also pleased to learn that with just a new $9 cradle, the rest of my existing RAM handlebar mount that I have on my quad will mate up just fine. The unit gets a gps fix/signal extremely quickly...1-2 seconds most times....it's waterproof, and so far has shown very good battery life.

Hope this helps someone in their search.


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## woba123 (Mar 15, 2011)

Can i ask what you paid and where you got it?


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## Lightman (Jul 22, 2008)

Woba, it seems like the prices fluctuate almost weekly. I got mine from universalmania, which was the cheapest on the web at the time.

I would however comment - folks that already have Garmin topo mapsets and want a gps for hunting - there is zero difference between the 550 and 550T other than they charge you an extra hundo for their latest topo mapset. I preferred to save the money and load the 2008 top set I have...I doubt the mountains and rivers have moved that much since 2008..


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