Garmin Oregon 550 3-Inch Handheld GPS Navigator with 3.2MP Digital Camera
March 15, 2010 by JustBuying.com
- Capture locations and memories with a 3.2 megapixel autofocus digital camera with 4x digital zoom
- Tough, 3-inch diagonal, sunlight-readable, color touchscreen display
- Built-in 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass shows your heading even when you’re standing still, without holding it level
- Barometric altimeter tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude, and can help you keep an eye on changing weather conditions
- Comes preloaded with a worldwide built-in basemap with shaded relief; add more detailed maps with a MapSource microSD card
Amazon.com Product Description
The navigator with the photographic memory–Oregon 550 combines rugged outdoor touchscreen navigation with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. Add high-sensitivity GPS, barometric altimeter, 3-axis electronic compass and microSD card slot. The result? A multipurpose device that will make your biggest adventures even more memorable.
Oregon 550 combines rugged outdoor touchscreen navigation with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. Click to enlarge. |
3.2 megapixel autofocus digital camera with 4x digital zoom. Click to enlarge. |
Preloaded with a worldwide built-in basemap with shaded relief. Click to enlarge. |
3-inch diagonal, sunlight-readable, color touchscreen display. Click to enlarge. |
Take Pictures and Save Locations
Capture locations and memories with Oregon 550’s 3.2 megapixel autofocus digital camera with 4x digital zoom. Each photo is automatically geotagged with the location of where it was taken, allowing you to navigate back to that exact spot in the future. Snap and view pictures in landscape or portrait orientation. With 850 MB of internal memory, you’ll never miss a photo opportunity. To store online, simply connect Oregon 550 via USB and log into my.Garmin.com to upload and store your photos at Picasa, a popular online photo sharing community for friends and families around the world. For more storage, insert a microSD card; you can even view pictures from other devices on microSD with Oregon’s picture viewer.
Touch and Go
Oregon 550 makes rugged navigation effortless with a tough, 3-inch diagonal, sunlight-readable, color touchscreen display. The interface is easy to use, so you’ll spend more time enjoying the outdoors and less time searching for information. Both durable and waterproof, Oregon 550 is built to withstand the elements. Bumps, dust, dirt, humidity and water are no match for this rugged navigator.
Get Your Bearings
Oregon 550 has a built-in 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass, which shows your heading even when you’re standing still, without holding it level. Its barometric altimeter tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude, and you can even use it to plot barometric pressure over time, which can help you keep an eye on changing weather conditions. And with its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix satellite prediction, Oregon 550 locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons.
Add Maps
Oregon 550 comes preloaded with a worldwide built-in basemap with shaded relief. Adding even more detail is easy: just insert a MapSource microSD card preloaded with detailed maps. Oregon can accept a variety of maps for any navigational need. Add detailed street maps to get turn-by-turn directions to your destination. Add select topographic maps to take advantage of Oregon’s 3-D maps and elevation detail. Or add BlueChart g2 maps, which provide everything you need for a great day on the water, including depth contours, navaids and harbors.
Find Fun
Go paperless with Oregon 550 by quickly downloading information from Geocaching.com for up to 5000 caches, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description. No more manually entering coordinates and paper print outs. Slim and lightweight, Oregon is the perfect companion for all your outdoor pursuits.
Share Wirelessly
With Oregon 550 you can share your waypoints, tracks, routes and geocaches wirelessly other Oregon and Colorado users. Now you can send your favorite route to a friend to enjoy or the location of a cache to find. Sharing data is easy. Just touch “send” to transfer your information to similar devices.
What’s in the Box
Oregon 550, AA battery charger, 2 AA NiMH batteries, carabiner clip, USB cable, owner’s manual on disk, and quick start manual
Buy from Amazon Garmin Oregon 550 3-Inch Handheld GPS Navigator with 3.2MP Digital Camera
Well, this is my first GPS unit, and all I can say is that it is fantastic!
I have not done any hardcore test with it yet. But, as far a I can tell, this is a great device.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have owned it for one week.
gpsfiledepot has some nice maps and tutorials.
Using MapSource and BaseCamp from Garmin (to install maps) crashes my Windows 7 computers, they suck up all the memory (RAM and virtual). I am able to use MapInstall from Garmin to install maps. Also EasyGPS (free) can be used.
I have loaded both the Georgia topo and SE USA topo from gpsfiledepot to the 550’s microSD card. They work very well. I am in the process of making some more detailed topo maps for my area. To have more than one map on the SD card just add a number after each img file once you have them on the SD card.
Using the 550, I can read the screen if I’m not wearing sunglasses and I can use shade to adjust the amount of light hitting the screen. The software on the unit works well. The device works well with geocache sites and makes it easy to download cache info.
I use Sanyo Eneloop rechargable batteries, they seem to last a 8-12 hour day of frequent usage. Just be sure the device is turned off and not in standby when you are not going to use it for a while.
When I got the 550 at home, I did not read the manual. The SD card holder opens up, you lay the microSD card down in it, lower the holder cover and then slide it down. Then I quickly inserted the batteries. The + symbols are both on the same end of the battery holder. One is more toward the center then the other. The “lower’ + is supposed to be at the other end. I had to flip one battery.
The set up screen comes on first. In my excitement, I accidentally hit the Polish language selection. I had to learn the Polish word for reset in order to get the English language back.
I suggest going to the Garmin website and registering the device first thing. This will let you set up a Dashboard and GarminConnect so you can update the firmware. The new firmware made the whole device faster.
Then go to gpsfiledepot and download a nice small map. Also read the tutorials on loading the map into your 550. If Mapsource (see the gpsfiledepot site on how to get Mapsource for free and legally from Garmin) keeps crashing on Win7, try Basecamp (free from Garmin). If it crashes see if you can get MapInstall or another free program. I did find that if I right click on MapSource in the start menu and change the compatability mode to “Vista SP2″, it runs better on Win 7.
It may take 30 minutes to load a single state topo map to the microSD card, then you can try it out in the neighborhood. Also go to Geocaching and download the details on a couple nearby caches. See if you can find them using the 550.
Happy Trails!
Rating: 4 / 5
Purchased for my dad who use this product in rugged mountains and hills of Nepal. He says it has made his life a lot easier. Easy to collect data and easy to use. Simply awesome. He wonders how he was doing work all along without it.
Rating: 5 / 5
I ordered the Garmin 550 for a deployment to Iraq. This GPS does everything I want a GPS to do. It even tracks satellites indoors if you are under a thin roof, and I forsee it having NO trouble maintaining at least 20m accuracy in the woods. The compass is very accurate as well, and I have checked it against my military compass. I have seen GPS systems that have trouble with compass accuracy while standing still, but the Oregon 550 is dead on the money even sitting still inside a vehicle.
The camera is incredible. The pictures are clear and crisp, and the system allows you to take the picture (it geotags the location you were standing at), and then assign it to a waypoint if you wanted to tag something with a picture taken in the distance. The only downside is sometimes the camera is sort of slow to start up. This is only an issue if you’re on the move.
The unit itself is rubberized and very durable. I have put it through quite the beating. Its screen has also held up surprisingly well. I was expecting a number of times to look to see my GPS screen spiderwebbed, but it just absorbs punishment. I have heard people say it is hard to read in sunlight, but I’ve found that tilting the screen sideways allows the user to view it clearly even in the brightest desert sun. The touch screen is HIGHLY customizable, and very easy to use.
The onyl complaint i would have about my Oregon 550 is that i did not get the 550t with the US topo maps. I downloaded them and they were very easy to install, but I could have saved a step by getting the 550t.
All in all, the only reason i would not recommend this GPS is to someone who cannot afford it. It is absolutely rock solid and possibly the best GPS I’ve used. Well done Garmin!
Rating: 5 / 5
This is the Rolls Royce of the GPS. I use it with Garmin GB Discoverer which display Ordnance Survey 1/50,000 maps on England. Perfect for long distance walks.
Rating: 5 / 5