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After consulting with Garmin's cartography department, I decided on the Oregon 400i as I would get the Inland Water data as well as the Topo 2008 that I already owned. The marriage of both seems to work well. In the transition period, I'm working the Oregon 400i and my trusty 60 CSx so I can compare between the two. Precision is good, the difference between the Oregon 400i and the 60 CSx' tracks is meaningless (on a day when neither has acquired WAAS). Oh! the numbers on the screen favored the 60CSx, but if I went by those numbers the choice would have been my way older 60CX who beat them all by quite a margin! Not a really wise choice between those three units. Actually, the position, in UTM and lat/long varied only in the last digits and not much at that. The display of the Oregon 400i is not as clear as the 60CSx. No questions about that. I had the backlight on on full during a clear fall day and still the 60SCx beat it. I found that by not having the 3-D shading I was getting a better display. I realize that for some, this is could be major point, but I've been dabbling with topo maps since I was a teenager, a topo map speaks to me. The SirfStar III chip of the 60CSx is slightly better that the Oregon's chip but here the difference is not really visible, other than if you look at the satellite screen really carefully. But the Oregon 400i never lost acquisition even in the woods with foliage still being up. It even kept its acquisition in my kitchen!
I have not been on the water with it yet, but I already saw that the aerial photography covered only half of Otisco Lake, one of the NYS Finger Lakes, but all the others were covered. OTOH, even Otisco Lake had the depth data for both halves. So I bet there will be times when I will be surprised but the list of lakes covered is so long, chances are it will not be a regular problem.
The Oregon, IMO, is in many ways as good as the 60CSx but it does more for me, on as larger screen in a smaller unit and has the magic touch screen. I can only strongly recommend this unit and having used the 60CSx extensively, it makes me a judge that is not easy to satisfy.
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