The Dakota, Oregon and possibly Colorado (haven’t checked) allow to display “distance to next”, “ETA at next”, “time to next” and “next waypoint name” on the screen.

If your map is routable, the GPS will calculate the distances on the paths / roads. If your map is not routable, it’ll calculate distances in straight lines.

What do you mean by saying I do not “actually follow the map on the screen of either the Oregon or Dakota when cycling”? There’s no in-built speaker calling out the turns… I have to follow the map and routing directions using my eyes.

Screen resolution is not as important as screen readability. If you can’t see what’s on screen, however high-resolution it may be, you can’t use the GPS.

In the UK I’ll produce routes using bikehike.co.uk which will follow footpaths from OS mapping and also a combination of auto routing using google maps. The shop units and staff haven’t been able to tell me the following: when coming to a route (waypoint) change of direction can it give a countdown to that point and the intended new direction? I can’t see that you actually follow the map on the screen of either the Oregon or Dakota when cycling - or do you? Does the reduced screen resolution inhibit use when following maps.

Look forward to your help and the long review.

I apologize for the delay with delivering the Dakota vs Oregon article. It is at the top of my writing list and I’m doing my best to free some time from photography and design projects to finish and publish it.

I’ve logged thousands of kilometers on the bike and on foot with the units, backpacked, used in the cities (including nightmarish Paris), in different lighting conditions, temperatures (+25 to -15) and weather (sunny to snowy). So, the data is ready.

The pictures are ready.

The text is waiting several draft revisions. My writing workflow involves a lot of re-reads and re-edits.

The short conclusion is that the Dakota 20 is the best outdoor GPS unit we can buy today. Regardless of price.

Even if the Dakota 20 was twice more expensive than the Oregon 550, I’d still get the Dakota 20.

Reasons?

1. Screen usability. I can read information from the Dakota in any lighting condition.

2. Size. Easier to handle than the Oregon, takes less handlebar space, weighs less.

So, if you trust my opinion without first reading the detailed review, get the Dakota 20.

Sorry again and thank you for your patience!

Honestly, I’m not the best person to talk to about geocaching. I don’t do geocaching at all and have zero experience with Garmin geocaching features.

The iPhone is barely useable in bright sunlight. Just reading a book on my iPhone, sitting in the sun, is sub-optimal. And I have to crank screen brightness level to maximum, draining the battery real fast.

Dedicated GPS receivers like the Garmin Oregon, Colorado or Dakota also have a huge advantage: they work without cell phone coverage. Using GoogleMaps on the iPhone is nice when you have coverage and when you’re ready to pay 1 EUR per 1 Gb of data roaming when outside of your country.

The Dakota vs Oregon article I’m preparing has side-by side shots of Oregon, Dakota and iPhone for size and bulk comparison.

From what I know, Garmin does not develop maps or other navigation data (examples: elevation data, POI, airport approaches, etc.) In other words, they do not survey countries around the world to create maps.

Garmin specialty is hardware and embedded software that interfaces data read-in from instruments (examples: GPS, air-speed, attitude) with navigation data created by private companies (examples: Navteq) and state agencies (examples: USGS, US NACO, France IGN, SwissTopo).

Garmin does help to convert the data into formats compatible with Garmin devices.

In my understanding, the core data of the Topo Swiss map is produced by the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, and not by Garmin.

The PDF document you reference above dates from 2005. 5 years old. And even that document mentions Garmin Switzerland as Bucher+Walt, the importer and reseller of a large gamut of equipment. No mention of Garmin painstakingly surveying the Swiss Alps.

Furthermore, all maps produced roughly since the invention of Postscript and Bezier curves’ editing software (examples: Freehand, Illustrator) are vector maps. The cartographers use aerial imagery and local surveying to draw maps in vector format, name locations with vector fonts, add details like topography, symbols, etc. The files are then printed on paper, reused in other products, or rasterized into what you seem to call “pixel” form (TIFF-style data). But the source remains in vector format.

The Garmin Oregon offers the following choice of position formats:

• hddd.ddddd°
• hddd°mm.mmm’
• hddd°mm’ss.s”
• Austrian grid
• Borneo RSO
• British grid
• Dutch grid
• EOV Hungarian grid
• Estonian grid
• Finnish grid
• German grid
• Icelandic grid
• Indonesian equatorial
• Indonesian irina
• Indonesian southern
• India zones
• Irish ITM
• Irish IG
• Loran TD
• Maidenhead
• MGRS
• New Zealand
• New Zealand TM
• QNG grid
• RT 90
• Swedish grid
• SWEREF 99 TM
• South African grid
• Swiss grid
• Taiwan grid
• US national grid
• UTM UPS
• W Malayan RSO
• User grid

When can we expect to see the Dakota 20 vs Oregon comparison review?

I want the 3 axis compass (like in the Dakota) but I think the WhereIGo geocaches seem like a cool fun idea, but the Dakota does have those :(

But screen visibility is very important so…

Maybe go with Oregon 450 instead? which has the 3 axis compass, but more expensive and all I want is a geocaching GPS! Sigh

Thanks and keep up the good work

have you ever tried to use a OpenStreetMap ? There are some renderings:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DE:All_in_one_Garmin_Map (sorry only German descrition)
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Computerteddy

or basic info about Garmins and OSM:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Garmin

Information about both products in German here (comparison of features in the PDF at the bottom of the page): http://www.paravan.ch/faq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=6&id=21&artlang=de

Regards
Derek

I would recommend to avoid any elecro-optical gear hanging around the neck or on the shoulder when walking off-trail. Otherwise, lenses, screens, binoculars – all will be destroyed pretty quickly. And, plan for the inevitable: that’s the reason I buy a B+W UV filter for each new camera lens.

Personally, I put the GPS with unlocked screen in the side pocket of my ULA Conduit, screen side facing the belt padding. I put it out only to sight-check, then back in the pocket.

To your question… what do you mean by “Grid Reference”? The grid printed on the topographical maps? The coordinates of your position on your GPS?

Yes, a Garmin Dakota 20 review is indeed in the oven. A photo session yesterday with the weakening sun of October. Working through the draft. Trying to squeeze the writing in between other projects. The Dakota 20 review is now the next to be published on my web site, please stay tuned, either manually, on Twitter or via RSS.

Been using a Legend Cx for years on my European bike trips. Outside rubber piece is coming off so its time for an upgrade. The new touch screens look great but I just can’t get over that poor visibility.

However, like you say, the screen is a nightmare. I am a walker, so changing the backlight is not a problem and made customer friendly by not having to unlock the screen to do this (good thinking, Garmin). I now walk with no backlight during the day, as it little improves visibilty. However, I do try up-ing it now and again, to get that tiny bit more detail in tricky situations - like when I can’t see anything at all!. My other gripe with the screen is that it is so very easy to scratch and damage. I do much of my walking off-path and have to battle with undergrowth, fences, walls and heaven forbid, thick forest. My GPS is held in my hand most of the time but is slung round my neck for when I need both hands. I then shove it in a handy breast pocket to protect it but just jiggling with my mobile phone caused loads of tiny pit-like marks. Was I heart-broken? You bet. I now have a special, custom built (i.e. expensive) bit of flimsy plastic to prevent this happening again.

And now to my question. Would really like to know why, on a very recent trip to walk the Tour du Mont Blanc (with extra climbing, of course), I had the Topo maps but no Grid Reference? Any suggestions, please?

Next year I hope to walk the Pyrenees, end to end and a GR might just prove useful when the weather gets bad, which it surely will at some stage.

Thanks again - brilliant work (and I got to find out how many WPs and routes my unit will hold - been wondering about that for months).

Carole Engel - LDWA (Long Distance Walkers Asociation) 19932

Thanks again, and keep up the great work!

Victor in NC

Maybe you’ve seen my post on Twitter: I’ve just received the Garmin Dakota 20 and from my first impressions it may be the GPS unit to choose. More compact, more readable.

Will publish a comparison review of the Dakota, after testing it thoroughly (minimum 1 month). Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to the RSS updates to get notified of the new review.