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Garmin Colorado 300 customer reviews

Global Rating: 4.14 from 7 reviews.

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rating title date name city state/province country
Agree with Take some getting used to (4/5) Jan 25, 2008 Dino Bakkar Woodland Park CO US
  The following observations and opinions were made after years of owning a GPSMAP 60CS and an eTrex Vista, and spending few hours with the new Colorado 300.
A quick comparison between the GPSMAP 60CSx and the Colorado 300 manuals, suggests that the Colorado 300 manual has been drastically reduced in content and over simplified.
The options and menus have been drastically simplified and are easier to those who are starter users, and/or those do not have the patience to tinker with their electronic toys and enjoy a more cut down unit than the 60CS Series or Vista.
Showing more data fields on the Map submenu has been removed
Changing between Bearing pointer and Course Pointer in the Compass page submenu and actually have yet to find the option on the unit at all.
Large improvements include the graphics are very clear detailed, and the screen is large, bright and vibrant.
The extended 384MB memory is definitely very nice.
Options to change the tones have been removed
Options to change map colors and contrast between day and night have been removed
Options for straight line navigation “Off Road” or “Follow Road” are not conveniently placed in the Map submenu. The user must go to setup and change their profile to toggle between the two choices.
Recalculate to change between “Fastest Time” or “Shortest Routes” have been terminated from the Map submenu. They can be found, but the user must choose between the two under the Route Setup and cannot toggle between the two options on the fly.
Easier is better for some, but if you like more advanced use and options, then the 60CSx or eTrex Vista would be the preferred way to go.
Colorado and 4gb sd card (4/5) Jun 30, 2008 John Williamsburg Va US
  I have had my colorado now 2 days, never used a gps before but this was pretty easy to get used to. I used a 4gb sd card in my pc downloaded to a card reader and colorado read the card, I also downloaded pics directly to the colorado with the sd chip installed worked fine, now I am just waiting for my City and topo map to arrive, to give them a test drive. So far battery life seems great, no problem with backlight you can set it anyway you want it, permanently on, or for a certain amount of seconds. Still playing with the gps but so far its awesome, I was driving 70 mph this morning turned the gps on and in a minute or so the satelite locked on the gps. Going hiking in two weeks so I will update the review since I will have my maps by then.
Awesome! (5/5) Jan 22, 2008 Bill Savell Roanoke TX US
  I just got mine today and I am amazed at what this GPS can do. I have been able to add geocaches to the unit from geocaching.com, mark waypoints, and find all of the menu items easily. The only thing I struggled with was getting the battery cover off the first time. I get a full GPS signal in my living room chair. The compass is great, as well as the altimeter. I think that this is the best money I have spent in awhile. I shopped hard and read a lot of reviews before settling on the Colorado 300, and I am extremely pleased. I will eventually get the TOPO maps to enhance the Colorado's usefulness in my hunting ventures. Thanks for a great product.
The best gps ever (5/5) Jan 27, 2008 Doug Stern Peyton Colorado US
  This gps is great. I did not have any trouble at all getting used to it and you can see the screen very well in the sunlight. The geocache file that it can store are awesome and easy to access. The only thing it is lacking is a way to mark the caches as found.
Takes some getting used to (4/5) Jan 21, 2008 Matthew Bell Helena MT US
  Being a long time GPS user and Garmin owner I'll have to say that the new Colorado format is a rather large change from the older models (Vista, 60Csx, etc). It will take most of you old crusty users some time to become comfortable with the butons and "Rock-and-Roller" wheel. My wife however, new to the GPS thing, is easily able to use the Colorado without asking me for help. Overall I feel the Colorado 300 is a worthwhile upgrade from anything I've previously owned (VistaC, 60CSX, Mag. Platinum).

The very first thing you'll notice when you turn turn on the Colorado is the vastly improved screen size and resolution over the older models. Like other Garmin's, the screen is easily readable in sunlight or roomlight conditions without the backlight being on. Startup is a bit slow (approximately 30 seconds) compared to previous models. The accuracy compared to other high sensitivity (SIRF STAR III) receivers is on par. The basemap looks amazing with DEM shading.

Pro's:
1) Screen size and resolution.
2) The ability to show terrain shading with the included basemap and TOPO2008(sold seperately).
3) Expandabe memory (SD Cards).
4) Rugged construction.
5) Paperless Geocaching means all the tips, hints, ratings, and latest logs will be readable right on your GPS.
Con's:
1) still a few quirks to be worked out in future firmware updates. Every so often and all of a sudden my battery meter shows that my batteries are empty and the screen light shuts off. A simple reset brings it back. Also can't turn off the electronic compass. This and more should be addressed in a firmware update.
2) Interface seems foreign to an avid Vista/60CSX user. The wheel is growing on me but it took some time.
3) Battery compartment setup seems a little funky to me. It seems as though the batteries would be easier changed through a compartment door rather than sliding the whole back/bottom off.

All in all a great unit with alot of bells and whistles that should be perfected with future firmware updates. Is it worth the high price tag? Evaluate your needs in a GPS, and make your own descision. For me the answer was definately YES!

Why 4 stars and not 5? The firmware has some things that need refining and because of this it gets dinged.

By the way, I feel compelled to give a shout out to the folks at GpsNow. They have excellent customer service and real people to call if there is a problem with your order.
It was my first experience with them and I'll be doing buisness again. Thanks GpsNow!
Good GPS But... (3/5) Jan 31, 2008 Cheryl McMurray Garden Grove CA US
  I have used this GPS on hikes with navigational requirements and just general testing. These are my conclusions after a few calls to Garmin Support and searching GPS forums. It is well constructed, has many features. If you buy the city, topo, and marine mapping, you can probably do it all. It has a fairly basic ease of operation (after you get the settings customized). The manual is way too general. If you want to do basic custom setups, you might have to call Tech Support but the unit is so new that you might not get a reliable answer . That's were the GPS forums can come in handy. The problems I have encountered is first and foremost how difficult it can be to view the screen outside (especially topo detail) unless you have the sun shining directly on it. The backlight under low light conditions (shade, early morning hours) outside will not help. The altimeter does not seem to be the most accurate at times and needs to be recalibrated often. NMHI rechargeable batteries do not work well with this unit if you value the backlight. There is a bug in their firmware that will turn the backlight off permanently after a very short time and in some cases completely shut the unit off even when the batteries have a full charge. The manual tells you how to access settings but gives no detail as to what the settings mean, leaving you to experiment, dig, accidentally find what you want, or call tech support for even basic things as transferring archived (saved) tracks to your PC, transferring topo map detail, or deleting archived tracks. Some of the things I have mentioned are bugs that will hopefully get resolved with firmware updates but right now, I can only moderately recommend this GPS.

Cool Geocaching Tool (4/5) Jan 24, 2008 Troy Bryan Bridgeport NE US
  I like the look and feel of the unit. My early testing shows it to be very accurate and easy to use. No found/goto next for geocaching is a disappointment. The Geocaching mode certainly needs some tweaking but I am certain a firmware release will fix that. The new Rock-n-Roller at the top took just a few minutes to get used to and provides easy one handed use. The picture viewer and customized backrounds give the unit a personal touch. Would have rated it higher but the firmware does show some room for improvement.

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