Garmin Oregon 700 Handheld GPS, 1.5

This is great. Learning how to use it presents a small challenge but much of it is intuitive. I use it 95 percent for hiking and for that it works just fine. I did have the experience of it culling when I first used it. After I exported the info to the computer and phone I had to remove a battery and replace it in order to clear it. However that was seemingly solved by using NIMH rechargeable batterys.The first time I used it I placed it on stop for the drive home and it tracked all the way to my house, Now I cut the entire device off and turn it on when I am ready to sync. So far, no problems with that anymore. The unit turns to a black background with white lettering when the sun sets, but reverses during daylight.It has a great feel to it and the touch screen works well, but living in AZ we don't have a lot of real cold weather so I have not used it with gloves.The one thing I would change is the way it hooks onto the backpack. It has a carabiner clip that fits over the back opening but the clip makes it dangle at an awkward angle and it is a bit cumbersome. However that does not detract from performance.I would buy this again and look forward to when I know all of its operation.

I do a lot of geocaching. My last Oregon was the 450 model. It was a workhorse for over ten years. Unfortunately, due to unfaithful ice, it is now somewhere in Cloverdale Lake...This model is faster (especially the USB transfers), lighter, and with a clearer screen. BirdsEye imagery is actually useful on this. (The unit comes with a free 1-year basic subscription)The accuracy seems the same as my old unit. The interface is confusing at first, but you can remove icons you don't use to clean up the menus a LOT.But, let's be honest. It cannot replace a smartphone for real-time data, though it tries with the Bluetooth feature.You can get real-time data through tethering, but why would you want to? If you have a signal, you can view updated information for geocaches on your phone. If you don't have a signal, you can't.The wi-fi capability may be more useful. It is able to connect to a wi-fi signal and download geocaches directly. I haven't done this so I really can't speak to how well it works.

Overall I like the Oregon 700 which replaced my Oregon 450. Lots of nice features that I'll likely never use but hey, I'm sure others have a need for all the calculations it can do. On my initial hike, I wanted to pitch it into the woods as it did not work even remotely like the 450.Right off the bat, the "Classic" seemed similar to the 450 but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to start a new hike! I did a "reset" like you would do on the 450 which would then start a new trek but not this one. They've made this more like a cell phone with using "gestures" and apps which to me overly complicates a GPS. I finally had to just go with "Activity" but even then it took a bit of learning since Garmin manuals are generally worthless. Also, I recommend you "lock" the fields in after you figure out what you want or they'll go away when you switch things like between Activity and Classic mode and then have to go back and set those again.I'm currently fighting the altimeter settings because it seems like it's off elevation. I've done the manual setting and get it reasonable but then the next time I hike at the same trailhead it's off several hundred feet (I'm almost at sea level but it'll say elevation 350'). For now, I just try to remember to set it correctly.I've found it eats batteries faster than the 450. I change out batteries after around 10-12 hrs even on battery save mode.After fighting through the initial interface, I like it and would recommend it. Just don't think of it like their other GPS's and just learn the new interface. I also recommend the screen protector on Amazon, the only reason I stopped using the 450 was it got too scratched up after 10 yrs.

I would love to have the trip computer come up immediately on the screen. Nothing else is as interesting to me nor as useful. But other things get in the way. The idea of hitting the power button for options is not that appealing. Other Garmen hand holds avoid an over reliance on hitting that button. With the Garmen hand held offerings I wish they had the year they came out with them. As a consumer I assume that the next version fixes or improves upon earlier versions, but Garmen doesn't make it easy to date their offerings.

I have 2 older models, one dating back to about 2000. This is a fantastic upgrade. Small size but the screen is excellent, was not sure about a touch screen but I do like it, if i was using this as a possible survival tool I'd likely look at one with physical buttons like the 64st. but for playing and geocaching this is a great model. This has the best balance of screen size and resolution of the 64, Oregon, and Montana