Garmin Colorado 400t

Was very happy initially with the unit when it arrived but quickly found out that the included user manual is pretty much worthless. I tried to find any additional user information from Garmin and nothing… in book form is currently available. I did find out about a company called Bennett Marine Video that has a DVD's for almost every GPS unit and one specifically for the Colorado 300 and 400 series GPS. Not sure exactly what it contains but it is the only aftermarket product that contains more info than what's in the user manual. Also have noticed some issues with accuracy on this unit initially while doing some geocaching with my son locally. Had problems getting the thing to stabilize and quit bouncing around. Also had some accuracy problems when using it while snowshoeing in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness area in Colorado. It would not lock onto the trail I was supposed to be following and I ended up totally losing the trail. This was a bit more than an inconvience when you are hiking in 5 to 10 feet of snow and cannot see the trail. I have become more familiar with its features and have done some communicating with Garmin support, have uploaded the 24K Topo series maps and upgraded the operating system software to the the new beta version and it seems to be a little more accurate. Will be testing it out again in the Rockies in a few weeks and see if accuracy in the mountains has gotten better. I like many of the features, like being able to add or remove shortcuts from the main screen and only have the ones you really need displayed. The battery life is great with 2700ma NiMH batteries and I have not had any problems with viewing the display in bright sunlight. The backlight is also great in poor lighting conditions. I would highly recommend investing in a screen protector. It's cheap insurance and they are easily replaced. I did find out that the built in thermometer not very accurate displaying the ambient air temperature probably due to the insulating effect of the GPS body. The bottom line I guess the best way to learn about this beast is just keep playing with it until someone puts together a decent manual. Will update this review once I finish my next wilderness trek and see how the accuracy does with the new maps and updated software.

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I received my 400t about a month ago. It seems to work very well. The only thing that I was disappointed in was that most of the trails that I regularly go on aren't on the built in map. Since this was… supposed to be the trail model for hiking and such, I expected to have it loaded with most of the trails that I go on. I guess I will have to buy the upgraded map to get them at a cost of 129.00. Other then that, It seems to be a great unit. I have used the Geo-caching part and it works great. Lots of fun!

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My wife got me this a couple weeks back (after I emailed her a tip that I wanted it) and I've been using it every chance I get. Unfortunately, like quite a few others (read ALL of the reviews both here and… in other forums about this model) I'm going to return it to the online store and here are my reasons...in the most important to me (and probably would be to any user) down to the least significant. 1. Accuracy of the maps showing on the screen....VERY inaccurate. Regardless of the profile I was in, the purple triangle on the screen showing my position was basically always inaccurate, anywhere from 60-80 feet. I did multiple tests after soft resets and master resets (everything that customer service asked me to try) and it really didn't improve for me at all...except to say that if I was outside for a long time with the unit it did get more accurate the long it was on. However, I would keep it in the car, take it with us to go find a geocache, turn it on, then wait a few minutes and it would do the craziest things. The easiest way to describe all of this is as such. I could stand in the middle of a straight road..and walk straight down the road...and the map on the display would be off to the side (of my location triangle) and usually askew (not straight up and down as it should have been). When I say it was pitiful trying to use it to find caches, I'm not kidding. The thing would jump all over and never seemed to show roads where they should have been on the display. Oddest part about this...when I'd upload the track data to Google Maps the locations where it showed me were dead on. So the unit itself was VERY accurate...but somehow, someway...the software displaying the map data and directional information is way off. Yes...I calibrated the compass..everything you can think of I tried..multiple times. Fact of the matter is, I just want to turn it on and use it and have it be accurate right away...like my Lexus navigation system....or my iPhone 3G Geocaching app. 2. The display on the Colorado 400t...be forewarned...is NOTHING like the screenshots showing on Amazon's site or on Garmins's site. Those images are captured with screenshot programs and the ones on the product shots are taken in an unnatural way (i'm a semi-pro photog and have done product shots so I know what needs done for shots like that). The screen you will see when the unit comes on is...shall I just say....very dim. Yes, it's transflective...yes, that will come in very handy when it's in bright sunlight (and was indeed very easy to see in bright sunlight)..but still looked NOTHING like what some of these sites make it appear to be. Even with the brightness turned all the way up it's NOT what I expected. My iPhone 3G is much much brighter. So, yeah, I consider the images they show on their site to be....deceptive. It's not what you'll get...I take that as being deceptive. You be the judge for yourself if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you. 3. Battery cover/waterproofness. Well this was not fun to deal with, but I warn you now...this thing ain't waterproof (IPv7) or whatever that designation is. The battery cover (covered with a great rubber coating) didn't slide all the way up as it should. I say as it should because it's obvious how far up it should go and the PRODUCT SHOTS ONLINE SHOW IT THAT WAY. Tell that to the ignoramous customer service idiot who tried to tell me that's how it was supposed to fit. Anyway, after emailing them a few times (and including some sales department email I found...AND emailing photos/links from a website clearly showing the problem!!!)...they finally sent me a different battery cover that fits better..though you have to take off the SD slot o-ring to make the new cover slide up enough..which still is tough to do. Engineering failure with this design..and it shows. Many have reported water issues/etc...if you just look at how the battery cover fits on your unit you'll probably be able to see for yourself if you can expect problems. 4. Automotive mode. Hadn't tried that until today..but after all of the inaccuracies of the unit (or at least of the maps or software running on it!!) I thought I'd at least give it a go. Same thing happened as with the Geocaching mode. I was on 695 in Baltimore and the scale was on 80 feet or something...the line for the highway wasn't even on the display! I had to zoom out to like 200 ft scale for the highway line to show up. Also, the top of the screen flickered as it loaded new road data..that looked pretty bad to me. 5. Wherigo. I was so looking forward to being able to do these things (read on their website), but I don't see myself getting another Garmin that might have the same innards..and hence same problems. SUMMARY: Yeah, some people love theirs and swear by them, others (like me) have had enough problems that it's obvious that you roll the dice when you decide to get a Garmin Colorado 400t. I really really wanted to keep it if ONLY it had been accurate...but alas, mine was not...no matter what I tried. All the reviews swear that the Garmin 60CSx is the best...but just not as feature packed like this one was. But right now...I wish I had ordered the 60CSx instead. It didn't help that Garmin customer service tried to convince me that I was wrong about something that clearly were aware of as a problem and had a new design to address it. That's just wrong.

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I use GPS units for geocaching. The Colorado 400t is the most user friendly unit that I have yet to use. The way it guides you through various screens to get to your target app is great. Nice big screen.… Back lighting is variable in time length, which is a great advantage for saving battery life, and brightness. Comes with TOPO Map, which is great for the field. But if you use it in a city or urban area, roads are not there or the unit is off by about 50 feet. If you get an updated city streets map app and load it on to the unit you have arguably one of the best GPS units available on the market today. Only must have accessory is the available car charger (for use in the car on long trips to save battery life).

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Using this thing is like using a puzzle. The user interface is horrible. Sure it tracks where you are fine within 150ft and gives you nifty elevation plots (with less than accurate numbers despite setting… it up each time from a known elevation)but it's user interface to plan a trip and insert waypoints and manage a trip are horrible. Using the software is a cumbersome confusion of function keys that have no explanationa nd the help function for the software might as well be in another language. If you want to set up a new waypoint out on the trail away from your computer it'll take a good 10 minutes just to find the location if you're more than a few miles away. maybe my hard times are from thsi being my first GPS device but overall I have more trouble setting it up to map a route than I get joy from using it. If it had the option to run a dumbed down or more basic operation interface through the software that would eb great. I'm sure the software that comes with it now is grewat for those already familiar with GPS devices for the most part but for me the software is the enigma to setup and use fully. The device takes a long time to draw maps and eats a set of energizer NiMH rechargable batteries in 6hrs if I'm checking the thing a couple times an hour for a couple minutes.

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