Gps Hand Held Navigation

Price:$374.19

HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series) Product Reviews

A few shortcomings, but they are major., March 12, 2008

The HP210 / 211 / 212 / 214 could have been a truly great product. (They’re all the same product: the different numbers indicate the channel and country; i.e., 210 US – Consumer, 214 – Asia, etc.) But it has a few shortcomings that, in my opinion, reduce it to an average product that should be considered carefully.

First, I am a big fan of PDAs and so-called smartphones and have been using them for years. None of them are perfect. In fact, most of them are far from perfect. In recent years the smartphone category, combining the cellular phone, the PDA and a camera, has really taken off. The standalone PDA is probably an endangered species and the HP211 could be the last of its kind. The emergence of the mini-laptop like the Asus Eee and Fujitsu U810 may, in fact, be the final nails in the coffin of the standalone PDA which I think would be a pity.

HP did a lot of things right with the HP211.

The screen is absolutely gorgeous. Photos and videos shine forth in all their glory. Glare from the screen surface has not been a problem. I have not tested it in direct sunlight, but it holds up well in bright daylight. The screen does require a fairly strong touch, but it is something you become accustomed to fairly quickly. Scrolling, however, in Internet Explorer seems to somewhat difficult. You have to apply firm pressure which the device may be interpreting as repeated taps. Something makes navigation in IE more difficult than it has to be.

For those who use the inking capability, once you get the touch done, it is a great experience. The Marvell processor is fast enough to make inking a delight. If you use an onscreen keyboard like TenGo, you’ll be well impressed with how responsive the screen is and how fast your input can be.

Overall, the CPU powers the device with lots of horses to spare. And it is wonderful to have all that memory available, knowing as well that you can add humongous SDHC and CF cards as well. The idea that you can add 32GB of memory with 16GB card in each slot is mindblowing.

WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities are excellent.

The four function buttons are well placed and can be reprogrammed to meet your needs. On left side is another button that starts the recording function. The on/off switch is mounted on the front near the top right corner. While it hasn’t happened to me, I am afraid it can be depressed accidentally, but the auto shutdown should render that moot even if it happens.

The D-pad is a major drawback and could be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. The designers lopped off the top of the D-pad. It is smaller than the right/left and down pads and, mounted just below the screen bezel, feels funny. It is also difficult to toggle precisely which is frustrating. As I use it more, it seems to be becoming more natural, but I consider it a dumb design move. I would strongly suggest that prospective owners either try it in a store or buy from a vendor with an excellent return policy.

The other major flaw – and this could be a deal-killer for a lot of people is the speaker arrangement. There are two speakers, but they do not work together at the same time. The front one is used only, as far as I know, with Skype. It has just barely adequate volume in a quiet room. If there’s any kind of noise, forget it. By the way, the HP211 works very well with Skype.

The rear speaker is just plain horrible. It is inaudible even in a quiet room. It is unusable for playing back voice recordings and trying to use it for music or audio tracks on movies is unthinkable. You can also whistle goodbye to using it for voice prompts for GPS. In a unit this expensive, this design flaw is inexcusable. Making matters worse is that the headphone jack – which is, thankfully, a standard 3.5mm – is located on the bottom of the unit. I haven’t tried it with Bluetooth headphones. one of the big pluses of a standalone PDA like this to me is the recording capability for quick notes. But if I can’t hear them playing back without headphones, what good is it? Another reason for a standalone with Bluetooth is GPS. Obviously, you want GPS with voice prompts. But if you can’t hear the voice prompts, what good is it?

Considering HP’s legendary engineering, I am surprised these flaws made it into the final product, but they did and I think they greatly reduce the appeal of the product.

The unit is pretty big, which I appreciate because I want an ample writing surface and I have big hands. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the surfaces are all slippery plastic. If you intend to use this unit without a case, I suspect it will become a casualty within a matter of days. Overall, the construction feels a little on the cheap side. Not awful, but it doesn’t feel very robust either.

My primary reason for wanting a standalone PDA is to have a way (other than pen and paper) to take notes throughout the day. The HP211 fills this role well. I primarily use PhatNotes and TenGo. The HP211 screen provides an excellent inking experience with no vectoring problems. The stock Windows Mobile Notes and other applications and the letter recognizer also work well. It’s a joy to have a ton of memory with the ability to expand to previously unheard of dimensions. The screen is a marvelous platform for viewing photos or videos. (The CPU, by the way, doesn’t have quite enough ooomph to play video back smoothly. Using TCMP, I had lots of dropped frames.)

If I were ranking the device very narrowly, I would give it 5 stars without hesitation and then take 1 star away for the price, which I think is too high. Thus a net 4 stars. Because of the D-pad design and, in particular, the utterly useless audio, I can give it only 3 stars. Considering the high price in conjunction with these defects and I have to strongly urge that anyone considering this device consider it very, very carefully. One of the reasons I prefer Windows Mobile devices is the wide array of software available for them. The main reason for buying the HP211, on my part, was the large screen, which is admittedly much easier to work with than the one on my smartphone.

But at $400+ for the HP, there are alternatives and I suggest that they be considered. The Nokia N800 is less than half the price and provides WiFi, web browsing and email. The screen is great, though converting video for the N8*0 is dicey. The N800 offers SDHC expansion capability. The N810 adds a sliding keyboard. And both have a rudimentary camera which the HP211 should have, but doesn’t. The big drawback to the N8*0 devices? They’re Linux and apps are still relatively scarce.

On the whole, I think the HP211 is well suited for a notetaking function and moderately well suited for web browsing when Opera is installed. It is an adequate video platform. But the built-in speakers simply stink. The headphone jack is inconveniently placed and the D-pad is something of a design disaster.

The big problem is that there just aren’t that many standalone PDAs out there running Windows Mobile 6 with a ton of memory and a great 4″ screen. At half the price, I’d live with the problems. At $400+, though, I’m still wondering about it. My smartphone does everything the HP211 does: it’s just smaller and more difficult to work on. Is the convenience worth $400+? I’m not sure yet, but am tilting toward saying “no”.

Jerry

My $0.02 Worth, March 7, 2008

I’ve been using Windows Mobile and Windows CE products for almost 10 years. I’ve owned the 4700, 2595 and now the 211. My wife has the 110. I use these devices extensively and have an entire workflow planned around it. It goes everywhere with me. My requirements are such that a converged device doesn’t provide much use to me: processor usually too weak, memory too little, and definitely the screen too small.

I bought the 211 about a month ago. Here are my impressions:

- My first reaction was “BIG!”. It is bigger than all my other devices. It’s thick, more so than the 4700. The weight is ok, though. I don’t think about the size any more. I’ve gotten used to it.
- The screen does require more pressure to operate, but again, I’m used to it now and it’s forgotten. I haven’t noticed different pressure reactions on different screen locations.
- The screen is perfect. To address previous comments about being able to see more stuff: I scan all my documents and commit to PDF. Everything. Then I sync to the 211′s SD card. I have a lightweight PDF reader, and I can read PDFs easily without scrolling horizontally. I can’t come close to doing that with my wife’s 110, or my 2495. Yes, you can fit much more on the screen, and it’s much much sharper than any other device. Yes, the unit takes advantage of the higher resolution: it’s not just bigger pictures on a bigger screen, honestly. Having said that, it’s up to the application to do that. Most do.
- I have *not* noticed any negative performance difference between this and my previous devices. It’s as fast as my 2495 and my wife’s 110.
- I have approximately 30 applications(!) on it. None have had compatibility issues. And because of the impressive amount of memory, I still have approxiamtely 55% of storage memory left.
- Yes, there’s a proprietary cable for sync and power. However, there’s also a mini-USB port, so the proprietary cables aren’t necessary at all. I don’t travel with them. I only use a retractable mini-USB for charging and synchronization. It’s really not an issue.
- Battery life is better than the 4700 and the 2495.
- I love the buttons. I honestly don’t understand the criticisms I have read about them. I’m happy.
- Bluetooth and WiFi have worked without any issues. My only complaint here is for WM6: it can’t connect to my work WiFi network because WM6 doesn’t support WPA enterprise.

Sorry for the rambling review. Just wanted to give my opinion on issues raised here. It’s the perfect device for my requirements: no converged phone/PDA, and I don’t need a camera. BTW, my employer gave me a 8525. I don’t use it at all. It simply can’t do what the 211 does.

HUGE leap from HX2495 and Dell X51v, February 17, 2008

got this “monster” this week
the first feeling is “HUGE”, my hand can hold it because I have big palm
the screen is eye candy, 4″ VGA can make a quite difference, the color is very good, not “yellowish” like other HP products, the screen looks dark when the backlight is off, however, it’s pretty viewable under sunlight
the buttons and d-pad are pretty comfortable to press, but up direction of d-pad is a little bit difficult to press because the bottom of screen frame, the arragement is
calendar/contacts (I changed to IE/File Explorer)
Start button (cannot to be changed)
OK and minimize/? (I changed ? to Bluetooth Manager
messaging (not changed)
the application is typical WM, but HP signature application “iTask” is no longer exist, which I can shut down an application with ease, it doesn’t have ipaq backup
Monster Chinese users must read, you must use version 5.3, ver 6.0 will mess up the machine, cause it unable to boot, requires factory reset
all jacks are located on the bottom, even headphones jack, that you may want to use wireless headphones instead, luckily, the updated bt is alot more stable, almost no skip/interruption on a2dp; you can almost forget the new data port, the miniUSB can do both async and charging (1A or higher USB charger is highly recommended, the included AC adaptor has supplied charging adaptor to the data port)
the unit speed is OK, slow down a bit when a2dp is active, video is decent, with TCPMP, no slowdown on mpeg (ripped directly from VCD), Divx is fine (VGA @30fps), wmv has some hiccup
the battery is OK, VGA can use good amount of power, it is recommended to setup screeen auto-off to save power, I tested with Pocket Player, play 160-192kbps ogg vorbis, got around 7 hours when bt a2dp is active
this unit has 2 memory card slots, I put 16GB CF (A-Data) and 16GB SD-HC (A-Data), both work 100%
RF on wifi and bt is pretty impressive, can get signal easily, and give wireless headphones more range (though it’s not good as class 1 bt)
this unit is a big leap from HX2495 and X51v, HX4705 users will find similar pleasure with this unit
I give 95%
pro:
HUGE VGA screen, buttons are comfortable to press, 2200mA/h battery (you can use HX4705 battery), miniUSB port, stable bt, good RF
con:
weak speaker, headphones jack is located on the bottom, no cradle included, kinda bulky

iPaq 211 vs iPaq 2755, July 20, 2008

I have been using the iPaq 211 now for a couple of weeks after upgrading from the iPaq 2755 that I purchased when it first hit the American market – 3+ years ago. I haven’t had a chance to really test the multimedia capability but am willing to bet the 211 will be better for MP3 and movies. Overall, it is a good devise, but not as much of an improvement over the 2755 as I was hoping for. Below is a comparison between the two devises.

Screen
2755 – Bright and easy to read but type gets more difficult as it gets smaller. Web pages are really difficult to view making Internet Explorer nearly pointless.
211- Even brighter in comparison to the 2755. It also has automatic brightness adjustment that actually works well. But the biggest difference is the VGA resolution on a comparatively BIG screen. Web pages, books and everything is much easier to read on this devise. I have been using my iPaqs for reading books for several years and this devise is really a pleasure for that! The on screen keyboard is also a lot easier to use, almost good enough to use with just a finger.

Processing power
2755 – HP’s second unit with the 624 MHz processor blew away the previous units for speed of applications and handwriting recognition. It made the unit much more useful that previous with slower processors.
211- It has the same processor which is a mixed blessing. Since the 211 lacks a high powered graphics processor, it is actually slower on some tasks than the 2755 due to having a screen with 4 times the resolution. That said, it is only a little slower and only in certain aspects like initially opening a document. Handwriting recognition is actually slightly better for some reason; possibly the increased memory.

Internal Memory
2755 – More than adequate for several documents and programs to be stored. Bogged down or crashed if several apps were loaded at the same time, but that was easily solved by the task manager that allowed you to close individual apps or all of them at the same time.
211 – Even more memory, making easy to store loads of applications and files without issue. It does still slow down if you keep the Internet Explorer, Word and other large apps running. I couldn’t find a task manager that worked like the 2755′s included so installed a freeware program TMAN that works even better.

Touch screen
2755 – Good but sometimes difficult near the edges of the screen. It was often hard to hand write anything due to the size of the screen and my writing style (or lack there of.) Taps and gestures were very responsive, but it was nearly impossible to use a bare finder or even a man’s fingernail.
211 – The screen is only about 95% as responsive in comparison which isn’t that bad though occasionally annoying. But due to the screen size you can actually use your finger tip for many applications including the contact list making the 211 slightly better than the 2755 overall.

Included programs
2755- HP included the standard office mobile, image viewers, media players and a backup program. You also got Outlook on the disk for your desktop computer just in case you didn’t have Office.
211- Actually has less than the 2755, no Outlook and no backup software. As it comes with Windows Mobile 6, the Office apps are better than the 2755. Still, plan on purchasing Sprite Backup and Outlook if you don’t already have it.

Accessories
2755 – sync cable, power cable and cradle. Options include SD and CF card slots for LOTS of storage space. I have an extra battery and charger that makes it even more flexible.
211 – No cradle included. Same optional card slots except that the SD can reads SDHC cards which are a lot more versatile. There is also an optional host cable that allows you to use USB mice, keyboards and external hard drives. There is also an extended battery available that can double the amount of time before charging or exchanging batteries.

Looks and build quality
2755 – Looks are OK, though I never really liked the color tan/gray. Great build considering that I have been using it daily for more 3 years without any issue. Buttons are easy to use and can be programmed. NOTE; the first thing I do when I get a new electronic devise is put a screen saver on it.
211- It looks great in black! Same or better build quality than the 2755. Despite being lager, it is still very easy to hold and use.

Connectivity
2755 – Uses Activesync 4.5 in XP which is still my operating system of choice; sorry Microsoft but Vista totally sucks! Slow and buggy, but can be used with the included Bluetooth as well as cable.
211 – Exactly the same accept that does include a standard USB mini port for sync and charging. Charging on the USB is slower but is a welcome addition.

Security
2755 – Comes standard with password security and a biometric finger print reader that really works!
211 – No finger print reader which is a real disappointment, but does still have the password security.

Portability factor
2755 – Easily fits in a pocket and there lots of great cases available.
211 – Slightly bigger to allow the great new screen, but still pretty easy to pocket. The included case is OK, but I will be looking for a nice leather one instead.

–Summery of the 211–

Pros
Very readable screen, probably the current leader for any Windows Mobile devise that can still fit in a pocket.
Very powerful with more storage options that most people will know what to do with.
Mobile Office apps are way better under Mobile 6 and very usable. I can really create a full Word document on the devise without too much effort
Battery is sufficient for the devise, allowing several hours of use before charging is necessary.
Quite stable, very few resets and nearly all the programs that I wanted to use work great including a couple designed for WinCE 3.0.
Optional USB host adapter.
SDHC comparable.
Finger touch usable in some applications.
Opera Mobile web browser 9.5 works like a charm!
Plenty of internal memory.
Easy to carry and use.

Cons
A little slower than I would have expected.
No cradle.
No Outlook or backup software.
No biometric fingerprint reader.
No independent graphic processor for the VGA screen slows it down at times.
The speaker is a little weak.
Touch screen takes a little more pressure.

Great PDA!, February 21, 2008

My Dell Axim X50v died unexpectedly and I had to get another PDA. After using a VGA screen I could not go back to QVGA. Since there aren’t too many units to select from I decided on the IPAQ 211.
Already there are some good reviews out there so just a couple of comments based on what’s already been said.
1. It is big, but then the screen is incredible.
2. I didn’t have any devices that already used the connector so the new configuration was no big deal. The large connector accommodates sync and charging and the mini USB does both as well.
3. As for screen tapping it is a bit stiffer than the Dell, but I’ve already adjusted.
4. Connecting via WiFi is a breeze compared to the Dell. It just connects quickly without a big hassle.
5. It may be a touch slower, but I’m assuming that’s a result of the persistent memory.
6. I have quite a wide variety of software that I’ve installed with no problems whatsoever.
Overall, I’m very pleased with this unit.

A big disapointment, February 14, 2008

I have always owned Pocket PCs made by HP, and their quality hands down has always been superior for me. These include the 3800, 5555, 4155 and 2755. When the Ipaq 211 came out, I bought it because it was the first PPC to include 128MB of Ram, 256MB of ROM **AND** have a VGA screen. It’s something I wanted for years and have always criticized companies like Dell for always sacrificing one strength for another when releasing a new design…such as creating PPCs with more storage and a VGA screen, but intentionally limiting the ram to 64MB so running multiple robust applications became next to impossible.

The Good: Beautiful design, terrific screen size and color…and superior wireless connectivity. Loaded with a good complement of software, and includes both compact flash and secure digital slots. It also has a decent battery life, even when running Bluetooth or Wireless (I used it for almost 5 hours straight.) Windows Mobile 6 is feature rich and is ready for business right out of the box. On the outside, it appears to have it all.

The Bad: HP changed their universal 22pin serial cable connection to a larger 24pin version for no reason, so none of the external docking peripherals, cables or anything that previously interfaced directly with the HP series will work. The new interface offers no new benefit and renders your PPC incompatible with a lot of hardware. If you own a GPS with a serial connection, get ready to buy another one with a wireless Bluetooth interface or pray that your GPS company decides to offer a converter cable. Unlike every other PPC I have ever bought, there is no docking cradle included, and instead of giving you a USB serial cable that syncs and charges through the USB port, the cable given also requires a separate power connection, making carrying the included power supply more of an unnecessary burden. In addition, the amount of force necessary for the stylus to interact with the screen is greater than what I was ever used to, and different parts of the screen were more sensitive than others.

The Ugly: Despite the 624Mhz processor, this PPC is SLOWER and demonstrates more inconsistent and laggy performance than any other PPC I have ever owned, period. The Marvell PXA310 processor…being a member of the XScale family, has broken compatibility enough so that even applications like Pocket Hack Master, which ran on every other Pocket PC I ever owned, cannot recognize or make full use of it. TCPMP, probably the most efficient video player in the PPC world, would crash after attempting to end the playing of video. No other PPC ever had that issue. Every application I installed exhibited enough of a delay to the point where I was certain that the machine was clocked to run at on 1/4th the speed it was advertised to do. The difference was so obvious that I even installed the same applications an another friend’s Ipaq just to do a side by side comparison. Both hard and soft resets yielded no benefit, and since I bought this direct from HP, it already had the latest drivers and firmware.

The performance and compatibility issues…both on the software and hardware side…make upgrading to this unit a very risky proposition for people who have come to expect more from their PPCs. I was so profoundly disappointed that I promptly returned it to HP for a full refund. Aside from the drawback of only having a 320×240 screen, my hx2755 outperforms this unit in every measurable way. As such, I have come to the conclusion that no PPC manufacturer has any intention of actually giving people what they want without *intentionally* introducing drawbacks or flaws into the design or functionality. HP has no valid excuse whatsoever for releasing what I have no choice but to deem a sub-standard product that is easily outmatched by units that have been discontinued for years. If you are someone that expects more for your hard-earned money, this is not the unit to get.

Takes some getting used to, February 5, 2008

I must be one of the first to own a iPAQ 211, which I purchased directly from HP Shopping. I plan to write a more extensive review but for now I think the most important thing is that you understand what the new high resolution 480 x 640 screen is like. The 211 is BIG. Taller, wider and thicker than an iPhone. Heavy. Roughy 33% larger than a iPAQ Classic 100.

Understand as I am writing this that the word I hear on the street is the days of the stand alone PDA are numbered (the 200 seriers are stand alone devices). The only kind of PDA that can be a success in the market is one that has a phone built in, or looking at it another way, celluar manufacturers are choosing to use the Mobile 6 OS to give users a very rich platform.

Most importantly you need to understand this. Yes there are 4X more pixels on this screen than on the 240 x 320 standard screen BUT Microsoft has not taken advantage of this higher resolution. What they have done is basically expand the size of interface to fit the screen. So icons are bigger, text is larger, everything is much easier to read for old and tired eyes. But it is not what I expected.

What they could have done is keep the fonts and icons the same size as the 240 x 320 screen and then distribute more of them in the screen area. that way there could be way more information packed on the screen than the smaller handhelds.

In other words imagine you bought a new video board that had double the resoution of your old one. But when you played DOOM on things just got bigger, you saw no new detail.

Anyway that is my PITA at this point. I hope to have more to say in a few days.

So the feeling I get is that the interface is big and lumbering, not refined and tastful as the resolution would allow.

This may not prove to be of major importanct to people, but this is my personal take and parly gripe on the iPAQ 211.

Inferior product with serious support issues, February 25, 2010

Whats Good: Cann’t think of a thing.
Whats Bad: This is what I sent to the CEO as instructed by HP employees.

Purchased in March 2009 Warranty expires April 15, 2010.
I have been a HP customer for over 15 years. I’ve purchased Desktops, Printers and Pocket PCS. Over the last several years, I have purchased a desktop HP Media Center that was dead out of the box (defective motherboard)and a HP Photosmart 7760 printer that would not work-straight out of the box. Then In late March of 2009 I purchased an HP iPAQ 211 hand held device.The problems from day one: will not always connect to my desktop, often loses connection during Sync resulting in a complete loss of data in MS Outlook Calendar and Contacts on the desktop and the iPAQ, fully charged battery would not last a full day of no to light use, turns itself on and off, no support to speak of, HP refuses to repair under warranty.

Calls to support have proven useless. Their solution has always been to wipe the unit clean and do a complete reinstall on the iPAQ and reinstall all of the supplied software, on the desktop and the unit. This has never solved anything. In early Feb. 2010 I was finally unable to connect to the desktop at all. Once again I called support. This time they offered to have the problem diagnosed in house. Since the unit was still under warranty I agreed. I sent them the iPAQ 211 unit, the HP OEM extended life battery I had purchased separately, and the 24 pin Connector/AC power adapter cable. They called me on February 25, 2010 and said the problem had been determined by HP to be “user damage” with no option to appeal. They gave until March 3rd to decide if I wanted to pay $200.00 to repair or pay $50.00 to send it back to me. It was never explained how the motherboard and the connecter were damaged. I have never dropped the unit or be un-gentle with it in any way. Their only offer to explain was an offer to “send the pictures” to me. They did not have nor had they seen “the pictures” themselves, but they assured me they would show that it was user damage.

I was told by the billing Manager that there is no way to appeal her decision, that she had the final word. Later she stated if I wanted to pursue this further I would have to send an email to the CEO, Mark Hurd, through their corporate web site. But that even if I did that I would still be billed $50 and the unit would be returned on March 3rd. She was the third person to read me the exact same script. I told her I could not find the link and asked her for assistance. She only repeated it was there without offering any help. Then I asked for the address to thier offices, she refused to tell me. With the explanation that she had no idea! When I expressed my amazement she relented and said “they are located in California” but would not give the city because “it is not business related”. (REALLY!?)

Then she hung up.

That’s where it stands today.

PS I tried to print the preview of this posting and my HP printer locked up. I ended up printing on another Brands printer.

Two thumbs high up! Man I love this baby!, December 1, 2008

It is a shame that anyone would rate this product less than 5 stars. Really, I don’t know what some users are looking for. This product is much more than adequate. I got one just a few days ago. I loved it so much I have decided to purchase 3 more for my friends and colleagues as Christmas present. They are that good.
My job requires that I have almost instant access to volumes of information, and this pocket PC has not disappointed. I have installed my most commonly used books without any problems. Instead of carrying numerous pocket books, I carry only this small and slick handheld without losing anything.
Moreover, the clarity of the music remains incredible. The battery life is more than adequate. I just finished a 5-day assignment with the PPC after only one charge. The storage space is relatively small, so I bought a 16G expansion SD card for less than $25. And, unlike Dell’s buggy and annoyingly slow Axim II, this baby is much faster.
Indeed, what is not to like? At less than $400, you have a true digital assistant that promises to last a long time.
As far as I am concerned, this product deserves 5 stars and more.

Thoroughly enjoy it – a good long term investment, June 28, 2009

We have had a few iPaqs. When the 200 series came out I was hesitant to purchase due to the fact that I loved my 4705 (which is now my husband’s iPaq.)

The screen is a little more challenging to use. You have to press harder than you expect to get it to register your stylus initially.

But the colors are so vibrant. It is great for viewing digital photos (just slip the sd card from the camera into the iPaq) or downloading a show and converting it for viewing in the car. The viewer and processor don’t seem to catch or lag at all. Games come through with wonderful color and definition and seem to play consistently and trouble free.

Windows mobile 6 seems quite stable. After a year and a half of use, I have only had too reset a handful of times. Additionally, there are quite a few aps out there for mobile 6 so personalization and making this what you need are available.

At times the processor seems a little sluggish, but give it a minute and it catches up. But this is an ‘instant’ kind of world, so I thought I should mention it.

Wireless and bluetooth are both at hand and both work very well. The wireless seeks out anything it can connect with and often connects when other electronics struggle.

I also enjoy the ability to slip a CF and an SD card in and know that I have as much memory as I care to purchase. And with these cards getting bigger and cheaper, I have more space instantly without spending hundreds of dollars again. It is just a nice long term investment that way.

And while some may find fault with the size, I do not for a few reasons. 1) The screen is LARGE. It is 4 inches, it will take up some space until someone figures out how to fold these screens. 2) It is sturdy. I was just reading how the iTouch seems fragile. I know we aren’t gentle on our electronics, but mine doesn’t have a scratch on it and it still works great. 3) The battery life. I can listen to a book or music for several hours and it will still be going strong. In this case, size is function and investment.

If you do get one of these (or if you just need screen protector) I would highly recommend looking at ZAGG. We have had several of their screen protectors for various electronics – you only need one per electronic as the protector has a lifetime guarantee. We have yet to return any of them.

All in all, I love my iPaq. Although I hope the market supports HP coming out with another one, I am set for quite a while if they don’t.

Price:$339.98

DeLorme Earthmate PN-30 2.2-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Product Reviews

Good GPS with lots of features and a STEEP learning curve, October 25, 2009

Was looking at several alternatives for a hiking GPS when I noted Amazon’s excellent price on the PN-30 ($199 as of 10/23/09). With the faster dual-processor setup, fixed WAAS bug, and higher sat tracking count, the PN30 is a great little GPS for that price.

Using a SDHC 8GB card I was able to quickly load the supplied base topo maps for NV, AZ, CO, NM, UT, CA, and OR. At first cold turn-on it took about 10min to lock in several sats to get a fix. However, all cold starts since then have taken about 30 seconds to get a 3D fix. Very nice. That was the ‘easy’ part about setup.

If you want color map overlays, aerial image overlays, etc. you have to use the Topo8 software and the netlink feature. There is a learning curve here and while it is not cliff-like, it is somewhat steep (particularly compared to a Garmin GPS, for example). I was able to get a few different areas of aerial image overlays and color maps for a couple of hikes I was going on, however, the download link failed on the 2nd set of maps and continued to fail. As a prior reviewer stated, you can still get them via email, which ended upworking fine. Still feel like I’ve only barely wet my feet as it were with the Topo8 software. I’ll keep digging (luckily there is a wiki and a support board), but it is like slogging through a swamp getting around in there.

The unit itself has a small but VERY VERY visible screen for daylight use. I can barely see the screen on my friend’s Garmin Colorado 400T, but the PN30s screen is super easy to read outside in bright light. Yes, compared to some other units out there the PN30s screen is quite small, but you get a damn good screen for quality and daylight visibility. I’ll tell you, it is not fun trying to read my friend’s Garmin 400T in bright daylight…there’s quite a bit of cursing going on at times! (Don’t get me wrong the 400T is very NICE, but that horrid screen just does not work in the daylight)

Interal setup is not particularly user-friendly, but it is doable without the manual if you want to go that way. Pages are straightforward, and layering easy to figure out (though learning what Level of Detail to use in Topo8 BEFORE you download is a good idea since my aerial images are not visible at all until you get down to about 640′ scale).

Phsyically, it is a bit ‘fat’ at the bottom, but tolerable and fits the hand well. I have a few gadget pouches and it does not fit in a normal camera pouch due to the thickness at the bottom (~2.5″). The little metal dots for the USB interface connection are okay, though getting the plug in the first time was struggle. It was tight and I thought I was going to break the unit. I understand the use of the metal dots to keep the unit sealed, however, I wonder about connectivity and conductivity over the life of the unit. I guess we’ll find out. Same with the memory card location. To keep the unit water-tight it is located under the back panel, beneath the batteries. Get a big SDHC card so you don’t have to swap out the card.

I looked at the PN40, but with nearly all of the same features, the PN30 was the best ‘bang for the buck’. I am quite happy with the unit thus far. I’d have rated it a 5 if it was not for the less-than-user-friendly setup and Topo8 software (and really out of date road maps for Vegas!)

Great Little GPS, November 7, 2009

Just got this Delorme PN-30 about a week ago. I extensively researched handheld GPS units before buying this one. I was leaning towards the Garmin Oregon, but I need to actually see the screen in very bright light…like when I’m kayaking out on the open water…so that unit was out…as well as all their other similar offerings. So despite the reviews about the Delorme PN units being a bit hard to use, I decided to get it.
First off, it is NOT hard to use. Anyone with even the slightest ability on a computer can get this unit up and customized to their liking. The complaints about the non-functional link to their on-line map library must have been heard, because mine worked like a dream. I only had one download not go to completion (using my free $40 worth of maps, satellite and aerial images#…and that could have been my connection to the internet…which is sometimes less than optimal. Everything else went like a dream. You select which sections of the grid you want…for me it was around a lake I like to kayak in and some hiking areas…you ADD those to a list…which you accept and then download. A little menu box pops up with a list of maps you’ve downloaded and a list of what is on the GPS. You simply click on the map you want to install on the left column…which is what is now on your computer…and click on the destination folder you want on your GPS…either the internal memory or SD card. Then just click button to load it in, and it is done. Large files…like entire states take longer when using a USB connection, so it’s best to just pop the SD card into a card reader or slot on your computer to speed things up.
The quality of the maps that come with the unit are superb. And…if that wasn’t good enough, you can overlay things like satellite images right over the regular map. So, for instance, when I’m kayaking at my favorite lake, when the GPS is in that geographical area, automatically, it switches to a very detailed and accurate sat map so what I’m kayaking in looks exactly like where I really am. I have noticed with the rise and fall of the lake level…older topos show peninsulas and other features that are no loner there…and are now islands. This is kind of frustrating. Even google earth’s image is not correct. But the sat images from Delorme which I got for free, (due to their $40 worth of free images that come with the unit)were right on..and very clear. Any of these additional maps can easily be switched off if you do not want them to automatically come up when you’re in the relevant geographical location.
Other nifty features are things like the unit’s ability to switch to night-mode automatically, based on when it knows sunset occurs. I was driving out of a labyrinth of roads in a housing development, and the night mode made it very easy to retrace my route out, without messing up my dark adaptation…very nice feature.

So, all in all, I would say Delorme has a real winner with the PN-30. It blows my eXplorist 500 right out of the water! The maps are superb, the ability to customize is amazing, and it is just a solidly built, great little unit. And, it is obvious that Delorme has made its online map downloading feature function correctly and quickly.

Nice unit, but not new, December 28, 2009

I purchased this for my daughter for Christmas because my entire family is into geocaching and I have a similar model, the PN-40, that I purchased last year. There is a bit of a learning curve for this device, but it is much nicer in my opinion than some of the other GPS units used for geocaching. I have compared it to several Garmin products, and really like the PN-40 and PN-30 a lot more. One person I know has to carry a Palm for to store cahce information on and his 60-CSX to locate them. The PN-30 stores all that information on one device. While it used to be true that it was easier to load up a Garmin with geocaches from the [...] website or from GSAK, this is no longer the case as the Delorme PN-series are now included in both and load just like the Garmin units do. In addition to that, the PN-30/PN-40 also includes street maps, which the Garmin units do not, unless you pay an additional fee for them. This is nice because it allows me to drive to get close to a cache and then get out and search for it while walking all with one device that has everything you need to do so included with it. I have nothing against Garmin, in fact, I own a Nuvi that I use for trips, it’s just that I honestly believe that the PN-30/PN-40 are better and nicer devices for geocaching.

I was a bit surprised and disappointed that the unit my daughter received was clearly a refurbished unit, even though Amazon did not advertise it as such. If it was being sold as a refurb, then it should have been advertised that way. What I eneded up with was paying a new price for a refurbished device, although Amazon did make this right with me by refunding a portion of the cost. The unit appears to work just fine (we haven’t thoroughly tested it, but it loaded up maps just fine), but it is scuffed up considerably, especially on the back. The front and screen look fine though.

Overall, I’m not too concerned that it is a refurb though because this will work very well for her. I also know from owning a PN-40 that had some issues with it that Delorme’s support is second-to-none and that if there are any issues with it that Delorme will take care if them. It is nice to work with a company that actually cares about it’s customers, and Delorme sets the standard that others should try to achieve in customer support. Amazon does as well! I had to send in my PN-40 twice, and on the second time requested a new unit and Delorme did that for me even though they did not have to. Turn-around was quick both times I had to send it in and I have had no trouble since getting the new unit. The first unit I had was bought as soon as the PN-40 was released, and the issues with those early models have been worked out now. Also, the PN-30 appears to run faster than the PN-40 does.

Since my daughter is using this for geocaching she doesn’t have to deal with the Delorme software other than to load the maps onto the device. This is very easy to do. All you do is select the maps you want, broken down by regions and states, and let them copy onto the device’s SD card. I would recomend getting a 8 – 16 GB card for it, though a 2 GB card is included. If you do need to use the software, I do agree that it can take some time to learn. For Geocahing, just use GSAK and the tools available on the [...] website and you’ll be set. No need to use the Delorme software.

This unit is just like the PN-40 except that it does not have a compass that works when standing still or barometric altimeter on it, neither of which we use for geocahing anyway. If you need a compass, a real one would work better than an electronic one anyway. I think the compass on the PN-30 works if you are moving, but I have not verified this. If you want what I view as the best device for geocaching or hiking, then look no further. The PN-30 is definitely it!

Remarkably Accurate But Not Easy, October 23, 2009

The first PN-30 I received had a bad UBS cable. I was sent a new one with just one phone call to DeLorme tech. support. Their number is in the back of the manual that comes with the unit.

The other problem I encountered was with the USGS quad maps you can download from the DeLorme Map Library. If you zoom up one mile from an area with a 1000 square kilometers of USGS quads then try zooming back in the unit will freeze up then reboot. The amount of data contained in the USGS quads at one mile up will overwhelm the receiver’s processor as it tries to redraw the map cluster. I returned the first PN-30 and its replacement repeated the problem.

I did, however, found a way around this. You can turn off the USGS map layering until you get to your destination. Then when you need the map detail of the USGS quads you can turn the layering back on. At one mile up the USGS quads show no useful information, anyway, making the Topo-8 maps supplied with the receiver better suited for road traveling. If you’re hiking and need the USGS quads just keep them at half a mile up or less and the receiver works fine.

I found the PN-30 to be remarkably accurate and quick to correctly adjust the map in the direction of travel. The provided maps are of good quality and cover the entire US with Canada and Mexico thrown in for good measure. The DeLorme Map Library at $30.00 for a one year subscription is a bargain if you’re looking for more map detail. As others have stated the link within the Topo-8 software is useless and I had to obtain my selections through the e-mail notification you receive when you’re maps are ready. This usually takes ten minutes or so.

DeLorme tech support was good but was unable to resolve my problem. They did try, however, and the wait time for an available technician was reasonable.

Amazon was outstanding, five stars, providing a no hassle quick replacement. If you’re thinking of purchasing this GPS receiver get it though Amazon in case it doesn’t work out for you.

As many others have said this is not a plug and play receiver. The Topo-8 software and receiver takes some time to learn but will give you a lot in return if you’re up for the challenge.

Good, but annoying software and setup, November 21, 2009

The receiver hardware functions very well, probably latest GPS chipset, nicely wrapped in HW function. However, the setup, data download, web-based database, etc is painful: slow, not intuitive (your first reaction on how to do something is often wrong), and seems like a bunch of software hacked together instead of being designed and coded as a coherent project of several modules. It does work, and, eventually, after a steep learning curve, it will make some sense to you. Mine came with a useless 1GB SD card, so buy a 32 GB SD card right away and probably a box of alkaline batteries, too. I am going to Death Valley with my wife for few days, and doing some modest day hikes in well- separated areas, and suspect I will need two 32 GB cards to get the full resolution and satellite views of the various hikes I might or might not take. (I dont need it, but it is fun) If you just downloaded the coarse map for one or two states and the details for a few 7.5 minute topos sized area at a time, then one 32 GB should be fine. The data downloads to your PC HDD, and it is so slow that you dont want to erase it, and then download again, so you may need 100 or more GB free on your disk drive if you travel to many places.

I got the PN 30. The PN40 has barometric altimeter and electronic magnetic compass, which I deemed unnecessary ( the electronic compass in most items doesn’t work well, and you can get a heading from GPS if you move, and the PN40 doesnt provide an additional backup over the PN30in event of device failure — bring an old fashioned compass and a paper map as backup if you doing something where you might need help if the GPS device fails.

I recommend this for people who enjoy working with computers, but temper your expectations on the “out-of-box” experience and be patient as you learn to use it. I haven’t tried it for marine navigation, and I don’t use it for auto travel. This unit is really best for hiking and probably geocaching..

Great handheld GPS!!, February 21, 2010

I purchased my PN-30 about a month ago, and I have been finding every excuse to pull it out and use it. I’ll start out with what I have found out about its ability and functions so far.

1.First Look: I was looking for a GPS unit for use in the military primarily. I studied a lot of reviews, prices and versatility. I came to the conclusion that I would end up either getting a Garmin model or the Delorme. I was looking for a gps that was under $300.00, ample memory (or at least upgradable), and good mapping software. I know there are alot of GPS units that you can purchase pre-programmed memory cards with maps already on them, but I’d rather prefer to put what I want exactly on my unit. and be able to switch them around.

2.Mapping software: The Delorme PN-30 (and apparently all Delorme PN series gps) come with the latest TOPO USA map software, and DVD software containing street and trail maps of the entire US, as well as streets, roads and POI’s in Canada, and main roads in Mexico. (I have not looked at all of it yet). It is true that it takes a little bit extra to learn how to use and upload the maps to the unit, however, once you get it figured out it is very remarkable. I was also pleased that the unit came with a 2GB SD card, which can hold quite a bit of maps. The maps are very nice to look at on the unit, from black&white to color aerial imagery, as well as topographical and standard street maps. I also like the ability to layer various maps on the unit so I can see the “drawn” streets and trails over the aerial images. One thing some people complain of, or boast of, is regarding the maps that you can get online from delorme’s site. You do have to pay a subscription fee of about $30.00 for a year, but you can download any of their maps and as many maps as you want. That is well worth the price considering what you get, or can get. Because you can bet I’ll be downloading that $30.00 worth and then some. I would have to probably pay about $200.00 anywhere else just for the maps I have already downloaded. (Another plus to the unit was the $40.00 credit you get to purchase maps from their site just to try them out). I contacted Delorme to ask if I could use the credit for the purchase of the year subscription, but they won’t let you. But, using the $40.00 credit to download some of their maps shows just how much you would spend elsewhere for such stuff. No, their maps are not overpriced just to make you think they are cutting you a break with the subscription. If you check, you’ll find that Delorme has been about the best map publisher in the world. They have always produced some of the best around. Now you can get them on the web and your GPS. The Delorme maps you download are also yours to keep. they don’t just disappear. Any changes made on the maps may make any you download somewhat obsolete, but having a $30.00 yearly subscription can easily fix that.

3.GPS unit: I purchased the “realtree” camo version and I quite like it. (Just a quick note: the Realtree version is unique to each unit made. that is no other realtree unit out there looks exactly like mine–I know useless info but hey…).
The unit does take a couple of minutes or so to find the satellites the first time, or if the unit has been moved a ways from the last time it was on, or if you are moving, say in a car and you just turned it on. However, I found that the unit picks up satellites within seconds, (I mean 10 to 30 seconds) if you turn it back on in the same spot, within 20 feet, from the last time it was on. I personally don’t understand how some people seem to have, (or at least they say) a hard time getting satellites and tracking them. I have turned mine on in my house, (and I live in a two story house), and I can pick up satellites very quickly and with at least 10 to 12 feet of accuracy. I’ve done this on the first and second floor. I have also used it to geocache and my gps got me within 2 feet of the geocache. Another thing I find great is the screen. many people talk about the screen being small, but compared to many gps units, and most older ones, it is just fine. I guess if you compare it to the type you use in your car, then yeah it has a small screen, but it is a handheld unit. It wasn’t designed for mounting on your dash and sitting way back in your seat and using it to navigate somewhere on the road. That being said, it does work great for road navigation, however it doesn’t give you voice directions, just a subtle “whistling” like beep/s. (In my opinion I get tired of some voice telling me to turn somewhere I don’t want to go or telling me in several sentences to make a u-turn). The Delorme will also ask if you want to re-calculate your route because you may have turned somewhere it wasn’t telling you to turn, and therefore create a new route rather quickly. You can also tell it to get you “Back on Track” in case you have to go around some blocked road or trail and you want to return to the road/trail you started on to your destination.

4. Computer interaction: I found that my gps is very easy to link up with my PC and download, or upload any maps, routes, tracks, or waypoints. I also like how easy it is to go to the “NetLink” tab and get more maps from Delorme. I found that the unit will also act as a GPS antenna for the TOPO USA program while it is running, so if you are in some vehicle and you have your pc and gps linked and running it will show your movement on both a overhead view and 3D like view on the pc screen. Now with something like my mini pc in the car, that will give you a screen that no other gps can beat. I can’t really go into all the details of the program, but believe me, it has alot to offer. You just need to check it out and learn to use it. If you’re something of an avid computer user, you should be able to have some real fun with the program.

5. Contents and final thoughts: The Delorme PN-30 comes with PN series maps on DVD’s (with both Topography, streets and roads, points of interest-and there are alot of them, bodies of water, public lands and much more).
A certificate for $40.00 credit to try out any maps you wish from Delorme’s website. ( Their customer service is excellent by the way. They will answer any and all questions).
A USB data transfer cable for PC/GPS data exchange. (The data cable will also power the gps unit while it is attached so you won’t run down the batteries. Also if you insert the appropriate re-chargeable batteries, the data cable will charge the batteries as well).
Two AA batteries.
A neck lanyard.
A 2GB SD card. (The GPS unit can handle up to a 32GB SD HC card).
A Quick Start guide.
Comprehensive User manual. (Although I will say that you need to play around with the unit for awhile to really get to know it and learn how to use it well.
TOPO USA Software.
I am really enjoying my gps unit. One other thing I forgot to mention was the battery life. I have heard several people complain of a short battery life. I don’t know why that is. Perhaps they are in areas that makes it more difficult to track satellites or they have been running their units for 10 or 12 hours over several days, or they are using cheap batteries, I don’t really know. I have only recently changed my batteries after over three weeks of usage consisting of three to four 20 minute road trips each week. A trip out geocaching that lasted almost 2 hours, and several times playing around with it in my house. Compared to some older units I have owned (Garmin Rino 110, 120 and eMap, Garmin 196, and a Magellan, Michelin road GPS) the battery life in this Delorme has been way better. So, my understanding is that even these people stated that using good rechargeables the power lasts much longer than standard alkaline batteries. Whatever the case. I always take an extra set with me on 1 day trips. Next time I head overseas, I plan to use this GPS unit quite extensively.
I don’t want to bash other GPS units, because I believe many are really good, it just depends on what you want out of it. I will say that although I have heard that you
can download 3rd party maps onto many Garmin units, I have’nt seen where it has been done. Besides, I dont know that I would trust the accuracy of the maps on the system. With the Delorme, you’re getting great maps at a very reasonable price and much easier to install with accuracy that is nearly perfect.
Another nice thing is the base map of the world on the unit. Now not every road is in there, but main roads, and several cities are there as well in about every country. At least what I can see. (I’ve looked to see a few places in Afghanistan and Haiti).
I currently don’t own or use a “vehicle” type gps, because the roads tend to change over a short time, and it seems any gps unit out there requires a rather high price to update the software at least once a year. I figure at the $30.00 a year rate, I can keep updating my maps all the time without paying anything more.
I do often use my iPhone google maps to navigate with and it works great for that. Although my phone doesn’t give any voice, beeps or anything else to remind me of any upcoming turns. My PN-30 does alert me. Given that, and the nice accuracy of my gps, the Delorme does work quite nicely in my car, (even though I did state earlier that it isn’t really made for that kind of usage

I think I can say that at a price of about $200.00 (plus $30.00 for the subscription), I got a great, reliable, accurate and fun to use handheld GPS. I’d say it definitely beats many units costing $100.00 and higher out there.

Deep menu…., December 12, 2009

This is my first GPS…so consider this when reading this review. Have owned for approx 1 month.

pros: * many options so that most things you might want to do…can be probably done * accurate positioning relative to the maps in most places…off by 10-15 feet…re-walking a path off by only 5-8 feet in places…midwest US * included maps are fairly accurate as far as backroads and forest roads…similar to but not the same as the Delorme state paper maps * can construct and follow detailed routes and trails using the Topo 8 software

cons: * menu is DEEP…so that I needed to make up my own crib notes on shorthand to be able to do what I typically wanted in the field * had an issue where the unit would “buzz” and run the batteries down pretty fast…and couldn’t be stopped except by removing them…happened 2xs…no repeat. Happened on shutdown…need to wait for the shutdown dialog to appear? * software for both the topo 8 software and the handheld is a bit “buggy” and complex…some things might not be detailed in the help files. * find function…as in looking for gas stations could be more accurate * screen is small

note: to be fair SOME of my “buggy” claims are more related to my not remembering how to do or change some setting…or not remembering that I did change something and what to expect. This is actually a small OS…you need to try various options with it until it becomes intuitive…takes time to get oriented. Or just put batteries in it…give it time to get a fix…take a walk into the bush and you can get back.

conclusion: I considered returning the unit due to the buzzing issue…but since there has been no repeat..I haven’t. Since it does the detailed things I want it to do…and I’ve learned how to do them…I’m keeping it. May the force be with me.

note: can be powered by a USB 12V to 5V converter in a vehicle

further note: unit is still working about the same…buzzing issue has not repeated. Apparently I also got a refurbished unit.

* I received a replacement PN-30 shipped overnight…back up and running.

Have now downloaded some additional maps through netlink and found it to be pretty easy and intuitive. For my purposes…the quads and the B/W aerial maps work best…quads for decent road/trail/topo detail…aerial photos for vegetation detail. Sat10 didn’t seem detailed enough…Sat color were more expensive.

Great Handheld! Mapping website takes time…, January 25, 2010

I ordered this to product to be primarily used as a geocaching tool. For the most part it does an excellent job. The screen is very nice and easy to read, the button layout is intuitive, and the ergonomics are pleasing. I picked this unit over the PN-40 because I really have no need for the compass and altimeter. I also chose it over the Garmin 60csx because the PN has better memory capability, comes with more software, and it’s cheaper. Apart from that, the PN-30 has all the same features as the PN-40 and the GArmin.
The software it comes with (North American atlas) works very well with the unit and is easy to upload. I also purchased a 32gb SD card to enhance the on-board memory (which is much more than other brands can carry by the way). This software has all the street mapping and many points of interest included…it can be used for road navigation but I still like my Nuvi better. The PN is far superior for hiking/geocaching (it’s not map based).
The only negative I have about the PN-30 is the Delorme mapping website where you can purchase and download maps from. The package comes with a $40.00 credit for the site but I found the site difficult to use. It is rich in information though and once learned it can be a valuable resource (Delorme has some of the best maps out there)but there is a learning curve to be overcome. Overall it a great product…just expect to spend some time with the map website.

Great Little GPS, January 13, 2010

I purchased this gps for hunting, boating and some road navigation. I would have rated it five stars for the topo maps and other features but Delorme needs to get with their plotters and do a little better on the road maps. I would recommend this for hunting, and fishing but if you are going to rely on it for a lot of traveling on the road I would think twice

GPS PN-30, November 11, 2009

This is exactly what it professes to be. Light years better than the PN-20 and it shares nearly all (can’t figure out what’s missing myself) the features and advantages of the PN-40 at a lower cost. It takes all the firmware updates of the PN-40 and is great for geocaching.

Price:$441.64

Garmin Oregon 450T GPS Product Reviews

Nice upgrade from my Oregon 300, March 9, 2010

Bought this as an upgrade from a Oregon 300. I wanted the topographical maps preinstalled so that I could still have the memory slot available for a data card. The screen on this unit is better than that on my 300 in bright sunlight and the high-speed USB port transfers maps and images much faster. I still use my 300, but give it too my wife so she can link with me and share maps, waypoints etc.
I noticed that another reviewer of this item gave it rather low marks. It was obvious after reading the review that the unit was purchsed for automobile navigation. THIS IS A HANDHELD UNIT! It is not intended for auto navigation but for activities such as geocaching, hiking, etc. Go to GARMIN’s site and select the GPS based on your primary usage. GARMIN’s road navigation units still have all of the excellent features that people need for this type of use.

The only reason that I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is that I wish GARMIN would build in the capabilities to charge the Ni/Mh batteries in the unit when it is plugged into a USB port.

Great GPS but too many bugs needing fixed., April 7, 2010

Received my Oregon 450T on April 2. Setup was very straight forward and within minutes I was downloading geochaches directly off the computer….way too cool not having to print pages, manually type coordinates etc. The touch screen is great, very similar to ipod or iphone and common sense oriented. Screen view quality is very good and don’t understand other reviews on Oregons I’ve read that rated this poor for the screen view. The 3 axis compass worked great and is a huge improvement over older gps’s. Overall I was very happy with this product until:

After 4-5 hours playing with this, I set the unit down while still “on” to see how long the batteries would last. Next morning, I picked up the unit, touched the screen and got a low bat warning as expected. Shut the unit off, installed new bateries, turneed “on” and the unit automatically went into DEMO Mode and locked up. The unit in the demo mode would not connect to my laptop for software updates etc. Called Garmin tech support, was on hold for 25 min. before getting a tech on the line. The tech asked me to do a number of things that didn’t work before asking me to hold another 10 min. for a different PC Tech. After another 20 min on hold, the new tech had no idea what to do stating that this is a hardware issue, maybe a demo unit or something and told me to just return the product to Amazon. Not impressed with Garmin tech support. After googling this issue, I found multiple forum discussions with the same problem. Seems logical that Garmin Tech’s should have been more informed on this issue, especially since there’s a firmware upgrade in the system to fix this.
Ordered a replacement from Amazon. I plan to download the new firmware (if needed) then do the very same setup and battery check to see if it locks up as well. Overall, think this is a great product, but, feel that Garmin is using their customers as “beta testers” instead of loyal customers. My confidence in product reliability to take this GPS on a Backpack trip or Elk Hunt is nil at this point. This product is a great geocache toy, but, will stick to my old Magellan for any serious treking.

It does all that i need., April 27, 2010

I bought this GPS to use on my ATV to navigate through the hills of eastern KY. I looked for a long time for just the right GPS. i was gonna get the 550 t, but I couldnt see paying $100 extra for a built in camera. I would’ve given this product a five star review, but the screen is a little hard to read in direct sunlight….just like everyone else says about the Oregons. I have noticed some inaccuracies with the maps. A major road is off by nearly 1/4 of a mile in one instance, but I did not buy it to navigate on major roads. The 100k maps are adequate, but i will be buying the 24k maps if they ever get them for KY. Battery life hasnt been an issue since i have a power source on the ATV, but I bought the rechargable NiMH batteries for it since they are recomended. I use it in conjunction with google earth. i can draw in the trail that I want to travel then i can put it on the GPS. To do this i had to download a conversion program, but it works great. You can also let the GPS track wherever you have been and download it directly onto google earth and keep track of all your trails. I would like to be able to put some aerial photos on it, this may be possible but i just havent researched it enough. I am still looking for a good mounting system. i bought the navigation kit for it on amazon and it has already broken. The power cord that comes with the kit sucks too. In all, if you are a little tech savy and you want a good trail GPS this is the one for you.
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Very Nice GPS Unit, July 3, 2010

Very easy to use addition to the Garmin product line. I’ve owned many Garmin units in the past, including most recently a GPS 60CSx, and this is best so far. Definitely recommend it for someone looking for a first unit to enhance their outdoor experiences.

I use GPS units for a variety of activities: hiking, mountaineering, geocaching and search and rescue activities. This unit serves me well for these activities.

Though the unit has a touch screen don’t immediatly think “like an iPhone.” The screen is not multi-touch so you are limited to selecting icons displayed and to panning the map.

One of the biggest complaints other have had about this unit is screen visibility in bright light. No screen is going to be easy to view in directy sunlight, but I’ve actually found this unit to have better contrast/visibility on sunny days than my 60CSx. The trick is to hold it so that you don’t have the sun directly on the face of the unit and to take off your sunglasses.

Quick summary of other pro’s and con’s:

Pro’s:
- Very easy to use
- Fast acquisition time
- Ability to re-arrange icon’s in the screen layout
- Ability to customize for different uses
- Built-in digital elevation model
- Different types of maps available (but they will cost you)
- Large, expandable memory
- Long battery life, especially with lithium batteries

Con’s:

- Touch screen is balky if the unit is cold or wet, and doesn’t respond well if you are wearing gloves
- Cost of Garmin’s additional maps and imagery: Garmin should take Delorme’s lead and offer a yearly subscription service that allows for one to download maps and imagery of interest versus insisting on $100 DVD’s or SD cards for their users and the $30 Birdseye subscription for aerial imagery. For that same $30 from Delorme you get unlimited annual downloads of maps and aerial images, plus a better software package.
- Multiple, confusing software and web-based service offerings (MapSource, Basecamp, MyGarmin…). Create an integrated package
- Expensive

Geocaching GPS, July 30, 2010

This is our first handheld GPS…we have been using it for almost 2 months now and over 200caches……we love it. very easy to use, and the paperless caching feature it great, the only thing i would consider doing differently is using high grade batteries, the cheap ones dont last very long but that is not the fault of the gps. It was very easy to learn to use and has so far been very accurate. we have not had any problems reading the screen even in the brighest sun. I can load a ton of caches on for the trip or load and we can cache in the city. either way it has been great! would recommend this to others who are cachers for sure.

great for paper-less geocaching, May 10, 2010

My old GPS no longer got a reliable signal and I needed to upgrade. In looking for a new one I mostly wanted one that would allow for paper-less caching and that was easy to use. The Oregon 450t definitely fits the bill.

Downloading coordinates is easy on the geocaching website…just hit “send to GPS” and the coordinates, cache name, and size are sent to the unit. With an upgrade to the paid membership ($30/year) you can also get the full description, recent logs, the hint, and any other relevant coordinates for that cache (such as parking areas or trail heads, marked with their own unique symbols). This has made it very easy to grab the GPS and go without having to print out or keep track of printed papers.

The GPS doesn’t come with a manual but one can be downloaded from the Garmin website. So far I have not looked at it and have been able to figure things out just fine. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of bounce under heavy tree cover and the touchscreen is a nice feature. One thing I have noticed is that the batteries don’t seem to last too long (maybe 8 hours) but that could be my older rechargeables and not the unit.

All in all a great GPS for paper-less caching and I highly recommend it to those looking to upgrade.

Major accuracy problem, June 13, 2010

I bought an Oregon 450t, used it on three trips, and am so dissatisfied that I am returning it.

I use a GPS to map trails for hiking guidebooks. I have recorded over 200 trips with my trusty old Garmin 60csx before it locked up. I ordered a 450t as a replacement.

The unit I received has major accuracy problems. Under moderate forest cover in the San Bernardino mountains, it indicated that I was a mile away in the middle of the lake. Meanwhile, the GPS indicated it had an accuracy of 57 feet. When I drove out and back along a dirt road through the forest, the unit recorded a track resembling a figure 8. The unit also had poor accuracy under the canopy of the Columbia River Gorge. It seemed to work fine on Mount Hood. The 60csx works fine under this forest condition, and even my ancient Foretrex worked better.

The 60csx orients the screen to the direction that you are moving. The Oregon seemed to be configured to do the same, but the screen orientation often seemed random.

The touch screen is tolerable, but disappointing after I’ve become accustomed to the excellent touch screen on an iPhone. It is difficult to read in sunlight, far more so than on the 60csx. My experience with automotive Garmin touch screens is that they wear out after 2-3 years (especially if they get dropped).

Perhaps my unit was just defective. However, even if it had worked correctly, I would still recommend the 60csx over the 450t to serious users because of the screen readability and the short lifetime of Garmin touch screens.

dont forget your compass!!!, May 30, 2010

I loved the screen and was happy with its functions while it lasted. It is really fast and easy to use but the unit got locked in DEMO mode after several hours of usage. It would not get out of DEMO mode and would not display anything but a preset program to show the potential buyer or user the various functions or screen options…..completely useless when you are miles away from your truck in the middle of the forest. Luckily when this happened I was in an area I was familiar with and was able to navigate my way out using a $8.00 miniture compass from Walmart. In any other situation I would have been in great danger of spending the night in the wilderness. I would not trust this device on a trip longer than a day or in unfamiliar terrain and always carry a compass. Amazon did an excellent job in refunding my money and I will buy from them again but not any new Garmin product. Always carry a compass and be safe…..have a backup plan. Good luck in your adventures.

Screen is WAY too dim, August 7, 2010

I purchased this unit for light hiking, based on years of positive experiences with Garmin products. I returned it after one use.

The problem is simple: The screen, even at its brightest, is too dim for easy use in normal daylight. It’s not unreadable, but it’s very difficult to read. Instead of a quick glance, you have to stop walking, press the screen to wake it up, and then manipulate it to the proper angle so you can see it correctly. Even at its highest brightness, it’s not bright enough.

The unit seems rugged, well-designed, and easy to use. I wanted to like it. With a bright enough screen, I would definitely have kept it. For a casual hiker like me, though, a $2.99 app on my iPhone works far better. I suppose if I end up needing something more rugged and task-specific I’ll have to find something different, because this unit was a big disappointment.

T man, March 15, 2010

I just recieved my 450t a couple days ago. I would recommend this unit to anyone that is going to use it for hunting,hiking,geocache etc. The only thing I wish for is a more indepth manual.

Price:$259.99

Garmin Colorado 400i Portable GPS System with Preloaded U.S. Inland Lake Maps Product Reviews

Mostly good device – let down by very poor base maps, May 11, 2008

First, the pictures above are a collage from all the various base maps. This unit can not show the 3D images and has little detail.

First impressions after one day of use. The screen is good and the back-light makes it very readable at night. Fine without the back-light in the day. The menu wheel/push button/rockers are easy to use, After a few minutes of use. It’s just a case of pressing one of the menu buttons and selecting the appropriate item. Normally the wheel is the zoom control.

Calibrating the compass and altimeter was easy. And easy to find. All the setup seemed easy.

The geocaching works well with the built in compass.

I checked the navigation marks on Lake Winnipesaukee in NH. They seemed right, from memory, but the map detail is inadequate to be certain. They certainly don’t show the whole picture, they miss shoal detail which is absolutely essential if anyone were going to trust this as their main navigation.

In general the built in map is poor. It has little detail, few roads, few geographical features. Not enough detail in the lakes to know for sure that you are looking at the right islands.

The supplied CD shows even less detail than the preloaded base map. Useless. It’s just a questionable tool for managing trips and waypoints, it says. They really should have supplied a better map with a $600 GPS. I expect they hope to rip-off the early adopters and then include the topo maps as a package later.

The geocaching site allows you to transfer direct to the connected GPS, including the descriptions if you paid the subscription to the site. Useful. But it would be a lot more useful if the map was any good.

All in all, good product badly let down by bad maps. If the maps had been any use I’d have given it 4 or 5 stars. But what’s the use of a GPS that can’t tell you where the there you are at is on a map?

While the GPS is made in Taiwan the case and all else that I ordered with it, all Garmin, are made in China.

Garmin GPS Review, June 26, 2009

In the GPS realm, in my opinion their are only two companies to consider, they are Lowrance Electronics and Garmin. Upon a close review of available products, the Garmin wins hands down because the 400i Colorado has all of the cadilac features of those of the Lowrance Endura products but at a price that will shock you. Both the Lowrance Endura GPS and Garmin Colorado 400i GPS lines retail around $500 from the factory and their foo foo outlets. Thru this site, you will find you can purchase a Garmin Colorado 400i for $312. and get the product in less than a week. The Garmin has capability for easy downloading of topo maps and even turn by turn directions while driving. This is my third GPS unit over a period of the last 15 years and it is by far the easiest to use. I highly recommend it to all.

Use The High Capacity Batteries, March 25, 2009

This unit is basically the same at the Colorado 400t, with a different preloaded map set. In the reviews for the 400t some folks have mentioned that the battery life is a tad short. Others have suggested using high capacity batteries. Both opinions are accurate. I like to use rechargeables and I have tested Duracell NiMH with an 1800 mAh rating, Sony NiMH with a 2500 mAh rating, and Duracell NiMH with a 2650 NiMN. I turned on the receiver, left the back light on the low setting, and checked it periodically, noting when each set failed. Obviously this is an approximation and I won’t report the details but there was a significant improvement with each step up in mAh. It was measured in hours, not minutes. I wish that the unit ran longer on a set, that is a fact, but I will just carry spare high capacity batteries. I have not used this in the field but have practiced with it extensively here in my home area. So far it is a great unit, better than my old Magellan. The technology has improved over the years.

Not too bad., August 16, 2010

I bought one of these over a year ago and I paid about $350 for it at the time. Overall, this is a good device. The screen is nice and clear. The backlight works well. The device feels pretty sturdy. The controls are pretty intuitive. I haven’t used a GPS with a touch screen yet, but I can imagine that it might be a little quicker to input data with a touch screen over the rock-n-roll wheel. The lake maps that come with the 400i are OK. I think the lake contours are specified every 5 feet. There are certainly better lake maps out there. All-in-all, this device meets my needs and Garmin has been very good at taking care of problems that I’ve had, including replacing the first one I had when it stopped working.

Be aware that this device is discontinued by Garmin, July 21, 2010

The updated product is the Oregon 400i, which is currently 2x the price. Just as an FYI, not saying anything bad about the product.

Great stuff, May 24, 2009

I purchased a Garmin 400i from Amazon, it has been a excellent product, the shipping came to my home in and near the time frame that was mentioned. I used the Garmin handheld Gps for month and I must say it has been fun and useful, since I am a bowhunter. I use the Garmin to scout and locate my deer stand hunting spots. I thank Amazon for making the purchase a breeze.

Confusing, frustrating…, December 30, 2009

Wow…this IS NOT a product for anyone unfamiliar with anything other than basic computer software management. I like the pretty maps and knowing where I am (within 10-20 yards) on the planet is kinda cool, but the promised features such as connecting with services like Google Earth? Forget about it. I have spent days–literally days–trying to figure out how to fix some freaking .msi file and no success. Garmin support is primarily in user forums and that is a maze of options. Dealers haven’t a clue. In short, this “Ease of Use” only gets two stars from me because I can turn this on and then turn it off. I also know how to use the “Rocker bar” thing. Whoopee. As far as meaningful use of maps and such. Zilch. A huge disappointment.

I’ll go on enjoying the pretty colors and the fun trip odometers and stuff, but unless you have a computer science degree or infinite time to spend loading and unloading software, I don’t see a reason why you would want this product if you want easy mapping features. It is a drag.

great electronic, May 23, 2010

I enjoy the many features this instrument has to offer. I take it to my parttime work, sometimes, and play with it when I am at the kiosk.

uPro Golf GPS by Callaway Golf Product Reviews

A few bugs, but overall an excellent experience, September 28, 2008

I’ve now played 30+ rounds with the uPro. Its got some good points and some bad, I suppose this is like any new device, especially one that is from a brand new company.

The Good
- Distances are right on.
- Basic mode gives you a quick, easy to read view of distance to the green and distance to reach and carry hazards.
- Mark feature allows you to measure the length of your shots. Sometimes gives erroneous readings. However, this only happened when I kept the uPro in my pocket, so maybe buttons were being pressed by accident.
- Aerial view of the hole is awesome. Like looking at a yardage book, with continuously updating distances. There is a small red diamond that marks your position on the hole and moves with you. I almost ran into a 150 yard pole because I was so fascinated with watching the little diamond track my position on the satellite view! Hazards like bunkers are marked front and back and also update continuously.
- Measure Mode lets you get a measurement to any point on the hole. I have used it to find the distance back into the fairway, but you really need a tree or something on the satellite image to reference. I have also used it to find distances not mapped by the company, like a layup distance to the front of a creek.
- Trans-reflective screen is easy to see in Basic View even in bright sunlight. However, in Pro Mode, it can be difficult to see. You need to experiment with the viewing angle to get it right. I’ve found that in bright sunlight, you can see the screen best if you are angling it just off where the sun would be reflecting into your eyes. Or shade the screen with your hand.
- No subscriptions! You pay only for the courses you want. Courses cost the same no matter where in the country (and eventually the world) they are located. You never have to buy a course twice, even if you upgrade the device or have to replace the unit (lost, stolen, broken). Courses are expensive if you buy them one at a time. One course costs $10 (3 credits), but if you buy 150 credits ($120), that comes to only $2.40 per Pro course. I bought 150 credits, and I probably won’t ever have to buy credits again (at least not for a very long time).

The Bad
- One course had strangely mapped points on a couple holes. Some don’t make sense (you can tell they haven’t played the course!) However, I sent an email to support and they corrected the problem in a couple weeks.
- Sync is VERY slow. I timed it, and to sync and download 1 course took over 10 minutes. Be patient.
- When syncing, the status box shows up in front of all other windows (on Windows XP) and cannot be moved to the back. So your computer is effectively stuck doing one thing for 10 minutes.
- No subscriptions. I put this item in both The Good and The Bad because it depends on your point of view. If you play a whole lot of courses (more than 50), then it could get quite expensive. But I play only about 15 courses on a regular basis, plus about 3 or so each year on a vacation trip.
- Distances do not automatically update if you are using the measure function in Pro Mode. You have to either exit measure mode, or switch back to basic mode to get an update distance.
- Not all courses are mapped yet. In Denver, about 70% of the courses are mapped. But of the 15-20 I play regularly, about 95% are mapped. Many of those that are not mapped yet are scheduled to be mapped in 2008. There is a schedule on uPro’s website (www.uprogps.com). And if you choose an unmapped course as your home course, they will have it mapped in 4 business days, guaranteed. I would recommend checking all the courses you play before buying this device.

The Ugly
- The software needs a little work–freezes up from time to time. During the first two rounds, it froze up once in each round. While annoying, all you have to do is hold the power button down for 8 seconds to force a power-off, then turn it back on. Of course, the re-boot process and getting back to your current hole takes a couple minutes. Their customer service department claims a firmware update will be available “in the next few weeks”. I turned off the “automatic hole advance”, and this seemed to fix the problem. The last 25+ rounds were freeze-up free after changing this setting. The automatic hole advance is unnecessary in my opinion. From the “Green View”, you can simply press the up button to advance to the next hole, or press the down button to go to the previous hole.

Suggestions
- Create a graphical overlay for the aerial views, or figure out a way to make them higher contrast. The Pro Mode can be somewhat difficult to see in bright sunlight.
- Faster downloading/sync
- Find and fix the bugs in the software that cause the freeze-ups
- If the upcoming software can mark every ball location, its only a matter of time before it will keep your score, shot-by-shot. On the uPro website they state that additional software to keep score will be available by late summer 2008. Of course, if it freezes up and you lose data then such a feature is worthless.

The Bottom Line
This is a very new company and a very new product. Like most new products, they have a few bugs to work out. I’m going to stick with them and hopefully they will be committed to fixing the problems. If a year goes by and the same problems exist, I might regret this purchase. But right now I’m pretty darn happy with it!

Callaway uPro vs Garmin Approach G5 vs SkyCaddie SG3, October 5, 2009

I’ve owned a SkyCaddie SG3 for some time and, weary of its annual fees, glacial operating speed, and pedestrian display, I decided to go color. I purchased the Garmin Approach G5, but its display is very difficult to see in normal outdoor conditions. So I also purchased the Callaway uPro. I played an entire round on my home course, with all three GPS units mounted on the cart. My findings:

Build quality: All three units are rugged, with great fit-and-finish. The Garmin gets the nod, because it’s waterproof. The Callaway is water-resistant, and you can purchase a watertight skin for an outrageous $24.99 to protect it further. The SkyCaddie is not recommended for use in the rain.

Size: The Callaway uPro is the smallest and thinnest, about the size of an LG Chocolate phone. The SG3 is similar height and width to the uPro, but much thicker and heavier. The biggest of all is the Garmin, the size of an iPhone and four times as thick. It’s wide, heavy, and not good for the pocket.

Accuracy: The three units properly mapped my home course, agreeing on nearly all distances (within 6 yards of each other) and hazards.

GPS acquisition: The old-technology SG3 takes forever to acquire GPS, sometimes more than five minutes. Both the Garmin and the uPro acquire satellites almost instantly. The uPro has technology that, once it locks onto satellites, it really keeps them. After locking on, I took the unit indoors, and even put it in my pants pocket. It never had to re-acquire. Advantage: uPro.

Getting courses: The Garmin wins handily. All 10,000+ available courses come preloaded in its 1GB memory. No annual fees, no paid memberships. The Garmin Approach G5 offered every course I cared to search. Of course, your mileage may vary.

To make the most of your SkyCaddie, you need to pay for an annual membership on their website, and download courses individually. Some SkyCaddie memberships allow you to download as many courses as you want from all over the world…however, the unit’s paltry memory will only hold a few at a time. The uPro also requires that you sign up on their website (no annual memberships, though). With the uPro, Basic Mode (an alphanumeric color screen that resembles that of a SkyCaddie) is free for unlimited courses. For Pro Mode (the nifty aerial photography view of each course) you pay for only the courses you wish to play, a la carte. Your first Pro Mode course is free.

Information: All units show distances to the front/middle/back of greens. The SG3 also shows hazards on the same screen, but it doesn’t give you hazard carry distances, like the uPro does. The Garmin shows the entire hole, including hazards. But showing the entire hole means that the illustrations of hazards are tiny, as is the accompanying yardage text. Coupled with the Garmin’s dim display, it’s pretty useless. Curiously, the Garmin apparently doesn’t consider trees to be obstacles, so they’re not represented at all on the graphical display. The uPro (in Pro Mode) shows every tree and hazard – in fact, the entire hole, as photographed from satellite. It’s like viewing my actual course (including my house!) from above. There’s absolutely nothing like it.

On the home screen, both the SG3 and the uPro also give you the time of day, battery strength, and GPS signal strength. The Garmin gives you none of the above. You need to briefly press the power button to see the time. It also shows a battery icon, but that never moved during my round.

Battery: The Garmin and SG3 both take AA batteries, whether alkaline, NiMh rechargeable, or lithium ion. With any AA type, both units easily complete at least two rounds. The uPro uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Unlike SkyCaddie models that use internal lithium ion batteries, which are a real horror show to replace (SkyCaddie recommends you send the unit back), the Callaway uPro battery easily drops in. Callaway says it takes three hours to charge, but it didn’t take me anywhere near that long. UPro battery life is 6-12 hours, depending on how bright you set the display’s backlight. With my display settings (see Display, below), I easily completed a round with plenty to spare. As far as battery preferences go: For some, constantly recharging and changing out AAs is a grind. For others, recharging (and eventually, re-purchasing) internal lithium-ion batteries ($27 for the uPro) is just as bad, especially considering that the battery can leave you high and dry mid-round if you forget to charge it the night before. To each his own.

Display: The SG3 is monochrome, so it doesn’t stand a chance. Its display is dim and boring, but it does give you a button on the side for a backlight. The screen sizes on the SG3 and uPro are nearly identical. The Garmin’s touchscreen display is nearly iPhone-big, and drop-dead gorgeous…when you’re at home. Take it outside, and it washes out to the point of uselessness. Worse yet, to save power, the display times out a few seconds after you touch it, making it even dimmer. You touch the screen to wake it up, but when you touch the screen, the unit thinks you want to measure a distance, so the measurement feature pops up. You need to hit the “Done” button to exit that. There’s no way to increase the screen timeout or disable the screen dimming feature. Also, since the Garmin is a touchscreen, it’s a massive fingerprint magnet, so it only looks pretty for the first hole. The uPro wins the display contest handily, with a bright and functional screen. You can play two ways: graphically (Pro Mode), showing the course via aerial photography, or with big, bright alphanumeric text (Basic Mode). Since golf courses have very low contrast (lots of green color and not much else), I defaulted to the Basic Mode for easy readability. For the aerial view, you can always hit the Pro Mode button on the side of the unit, as it’s much more useful around the green. The uPro’s default setting is to power-save the display after (I think) 45 seconds. Unlike the Garmin, which dims its display, the uPro goes blank until you hit a button, which is an enormous buzzkill. Fortunately, you can get around this. You can change to a longer timeout, or disable standby altogether. As the uPro has a very bright display, what I did was take the backlight down to 25% (from a default 70%), and disabled standby completely. I easily completed a round with plenty of battery life to spare this way. The uPro and the Garmin use a reflective LCD technology that actually makes the display brighter in direct sunlight. The uPro’s version of this technology worked far better than the Garmin’s. The only time the Garmin display looked remotely readable was when you aimed it directly at the sun.

Just for fun, I took along my iPod Touch 2G, to compare all the displays outdoors. I figured that the iPod’s conventional LCD wouldn’t compete with the reflective technology of the Garmin and the uPro. Wrong. The iPod destroyed both of them. It wasn’t even close. So, if you have an iPhone (the iPod Touch won’t do GPS), you may want to look into the golf GPS apps at the App Store. If you do decide to use an iPhone, just remember, it won’t stand up to being dropped, kicked, and tossed around like these three ruggedized units, and it for sure ain’t the least bit water-resistant.

Hole-to-Hole: The simpler SkyCaddie wins here. It automatically advances to the next hole. If there’s any confusion (you’re playing past the current hole, for example), it’ll ask you if you want to move to the next hole. If you’re starting on Number 10, for example, the SkyCaddie makes that selection easier as well, with a grid from which you can select holes via cursor. The Callaway Auto Hole Advance is kind of a drag. If you’re anywhere near the green, Auto-Advance jumps to the next hole. You can’t measure your 40-yard pitch to the current green. And when they say Auto, they mean Auto. In Auto-Advance mode, there’s no way to back up to the current hole, or any previous hole, for that matter. The only way out is to go to either Manual Advance, or Manual A
dvance With Prompt (it asks you to press the center button to advance). Hitting a button on each hole is tedious. The Garmin Auto-Advances sequentially, but if you jump around (skipping a couple of holes to get around slow play), you need to touch the screen arrows for each hole advance.

Settings: The Garmin gives you almost nothing to customize, as it is both very intelligently designed and extremely automated. It would have been nice to be able to crank the screen brightness, or at least extend the timeout. Both the SG3 and the uPro give you a host of settings to mess with, including screen brightness (contrast only with the SG3), hole advance preferences, and much more.

Cost of ownership: The Garmin and uPro are color, so they’re not cheap. If you want to compare apples to apples, you could go to the color SkyCaddie SG5, but be advised that the SG3, SG4, and SG5 are virtually identical in functionality, screen size – basically, EVERYTHING – so you’re paying almost $150 more for color alone, which is the cost of a whole 20-inch color TV. (My SG3 is discontinued, so now I’m quoting price from the replacement SG4.) Couple that with the amazing wow factor of both the Garmin and the uPro, and the top-of-the-line color SkyCaddie SG5 is a terrible deal. To the SkyCaddie’s cost of ownership, add their totally outrageous annual membership fees. SkyCaddie also charges ridiculous sums of money for stuff like plastic cart mounts and batteries. The Garmin wins here, hands-down, with all available courses preloaded into memory. No fees whatsoever! For accessories, RAM Mounts makes a rock-solid, relatively reasonably-priced cart mount for the Garmin. The uPro, while not requiring you to pay for a membership, makes you download each course. They’re all free, if you want to use only Basic Mode. But if you want what makes the unit famous and awesome, which is Pro Mode video previews and flyovers of each hole, you need to pay. If you go for a 20-course package, for example, that’s $60. It’s still cheaper for most people than SkyCaddie, because there’s no annual fee. And the more courses you buy, the cheaper it gets per course. However, uPro accessories such as cart mounts are rarely discounted, and you’ll pay more for their little plastic add-ons than you would pay for a complete multi-handset cordless phone system or a new DVD player.

Extras: Each unit has (or will soon have, in the uPro’s case) the ability to track scores and aggregate player information. I don’t use any of that stuff. No amount of button-pushing or touch-screening could beat the ease and speed of marking stuff down with a pencil.

Wow Factor: The SkyCaddie is deadly dull, with zero Wow Factor, but highly functional. One would think the Garmin, with its big, beautiful touchscreen, would win. However, the screen is just too dim to view the image-based interface in normal outdoor lighting. The Callaway uPro, with its unique video flyovers of every hole, is the winner. While the flyovers may not be great outdoors (golf courses are green-on-green-on-green, so there’s little contrast), they’re great for previewing new courses in your home before you travel. Beyond that, the uPro comes with several preloaded video tutorials to help you get the most from the unit, and an earbud is in the box, so you can listen to the video narration. Voice Recognition, to allow you to change settings, holes, etc. by voice command, is built into the Callaway uPro, and they say it’ll be activated by late 2009.

Summary: Not one of these units is perfect, but the Callaway uPro is the runaway winner. It’s simple to use, highly customizable, deadly accurate, super-fast, and gorgeous to view. 2nd place goes to the SkyCaddie, even with its monochrome screen, pokey operation, and 20th Century technology. The Garmin comes in last, even though it’s the most sophisticated, intelligent, beautiful, automated piece, made by people who really know GPS. The thing is just too dim to use outdoors.

uPro w/v3.0 Works like it was advertised–Bugs fixed…., November 5, 2008

Let me start by saying that I have never written a review on a product purchased from Amazon. I did this one, because I struggled with making this purchase based on the reviews I read and thought I might add some additional detail to help the next person.

I purchased the uPro about a month ago. The product is impressive. Many reviews claimed some common complaints: “Pro” Mode too hard to see when out in the bright sun; system crashes, long load times from the PC… I have found many of those issues to be true although exaggerated.

Yes “Pro” mode is more difficult to see in bright sun, but it is not a big issue–yes it is harder because of the detail of the course and terrain that it is showing–however, “Pro” Mode is really what sets this device above its competitors, and it is completely useable in bright light. In fact that is how I use it 90% of the time. uPro actually uses a special screen that actually uses sunlight to enhance its own backlighting.

The unit did crash the first time I used it on the course…twice. However, I realized I did not cycle the power on and off after all of the loading of courses etc. that you need to do when you first register your unit online. Either way, that was the only time it crashed. It has been completey stable since then, and I am even less concerned with it becuase they just put out their newest update v3.0 that was specifically to address some of the stability issues. In short, I found this to also not be a concern.

The first time I loaded the unit with courses it took a LONG time…20 minutes or more. Not a big deal, but annoying nonetheless. The new software cuts this down by 50%, so again I see this as a non-issue.

The unit is extremely accurate. I am a 5 handicap and know my clubs/yardages pretty well. I compared uPro to my buddies playing with SkyCaddie and they are both showing the same yardages +/- 1 yard. I have another friend that uses a laser rangefinder, but now when we play together, he constantly wants me to give him yardages off the uPro, because we found them to be just as accurate but with infinitely less hassle. Try holding a rangefinder pointed at a pin that is 175-195 yards away in the wind…not easy and not timely.

The unit has a small form factor…much smaller than the skycaddie and certainly less than a laser rangefinder. However, the screen is about the same size.

uPro’s customer service I found to be VERY responsive. I emailed back and forth with them several times and in some detail PRIOR to even making the purchase to see how they addressed the issues and just as a measure of how they would deal with me…even when I wasn’t a customer. I give them very high marks for service. Customer Service is an area where SkyCaddie is known to be very poor. That was a major factor in me staying away from SkyCaddie in the first place.

I would and have recommended this to my friends at the club and I would recommend the product to anyone considering it.

Still the winner and even better!, August 18, 2008

Since I wrote this in August, uPro has contiued to perform wonderfully. The company just upgraded the software for even more stable performance, and I saw this review if you have any questions about mine: http://thehackersparadise.com/home/?p=505#more-505

I had been in the market for my first GPS rangefinder, and have read tons of reviews for the uPro, SkyCaddie, and SonoCaddie and Garmin. The uPro clearly seemed to have the best features; however I was a little concerned about some of the reviews so I went to the uPro web site and then called them. After some discussion with one of their very helpful customer service representatives, I went with the uPro and wanted to share my experience.
INSTALLATION
I received my uPro, and went to register with their website. I have a Dell laptop running the hated Vista but had absolutely no problem. Course download was a bit slow but still was only about 10 minutes.
On course availability – I live in Orange County, California. Within 5 miles there are 8 courses available, and within 10 miles there are at least 22. For other less golf-intense areas, the company says they are mapping over 1000 courses a month. I found a course which was not already mapped and called that my home course. I thought they had missed the 4-day guarantee, but then they explained that the 1st day of the guarantee starts the day AFTER you make the request. This seems more like a 4.5 day guarantee, but in either case, got the course and have played it a couple times since with great results.
* I also like the onetime fee for purchasing courses. I know that some of the units come with all the courses included, but after seeing the flyovers and the actual satellite images on the uPro, I can’t imagine ever going back. They are awesome.
The unit comes with an ONLINE manual. My Dell laptop does the same thing – maybe I’m used to it, but this did not represent a problem for me.
USABILITY
* The uPro itself really is small enough to fit easily in a pocket. It is about the size of my LG Chocolate phone, which I have no problem just slipping it into my pants pocket. The display is easy to see in direct sunlight, and gets even better if you shade it or get the reflection at the right angle
* Responsiveness during play is also excellent – from the time that I take it out of my pocket, I can use the measure mode to do a layup measurement in just a couple of seconds. I have never been so confident about where I’m hitting my ball and what club I’m using as I do when I use my uPro
It is simply no contest. SkyCaddie, Garmin, and Sonocaddie – Pack your bags!

Good, but unique features not that usable on the course, June 2, 2009

Like all Golf GPS devices, the Calloway UPro is intended to provide golfers with range information and in basic mode, the distance to the green or hazards is displayed in much the same way as many rival GPS units. Where the UPro distinguishes itself from the pack is through the use of satellite imagery: In pro mode, the user is given a bird’s eye view of the hole and where he is on it. This, coupled with the ability to measure from current position to any point on the hole, means the UPro promises unparalleled course management capability in real time. Overall the UPro delivers on the promise, but for me the potential is offset by the difficulty of trying to use it on the course.

Out of the Box Experience

The first thing that strikes you about the UPro is its small size. It slips comfortably in and out of the pocket and does not dig you in the thigh as you take your stance (unless you are one of the younger tour pros who seem to like to wear skin tight pants on the golf course, but then a credit card would pose problems for those guys).

Initial set up of the unit was straightforward: the “getting started” leaflet and the player’s guide were easy to follow and for those who like a little more handholding, the website has a couple of interactive demos. Hooking the UPro up to the computer , registering and downloading courses was neither problematic not unacceptably slow over a broadband connection; the synchronization software seemed a little rough around the edges, but did it’s job.

Navigating around the various modes and functions is easy and generally intuititive using either dedicated keys on the multi-function four way key.

One point to note here is a GPS is only as good as the maps it uses and at the time I purchased my UPro, my local course was not mapped. Calloway offer a guarantee that courses deemed eligible for mapping and registered as a local course will be mapped within 4 business days of registration. I have to admit that I was extremely skeptical about this claim as my local course is not hugely popular, although it was deemed eligible for mapping. I was delighted to find that on the fourth business day after registration; my course was mapped and available for download. The mapping appears to be accurate distance wise and the ability to get free basic mode maps and purchase individual pro mode maps is, for me, preferable to the more common subscription model.

Golfing from your Armchair

One major advantage the UPro has over the competition is the ability to run in preview mode away from the course. You can measure distances from point to point on the satellite maps of the course using the “any point” feature and use the flyover feature to give you an overall impression of the hole. These features allow the user gain familiarity with a course and develop a strategy for playing it; this feature is particularly useful if you are going to play a course which is completely new to you. These features form the heart of pro mode and they have a definite ability to draw “oohs and ahhs” from your golfing buddies, especially flyover mode which should have some cheesy muzak playing in the background as you fly over to complete the “watching on TV” effect.

Golfing on the Course

Oddly, I’ve found that pro mode is not that useful out on the course. Basic mode provides all the information that you typically need – at a glance – while playing (distance to the green and hazards) and the mark function, which allows you to measure the actual length of your shot, is only accessible from basic mode.

While swapping between basic and pro modes is easy, using advanced pro mode features, such as layup measurement, is a little time consuming and not that easy to do accurately due to the small size of the screen. The problems get a little worse in bright sunlight as, despite Calloway’s claims to the contrary, it was impossible to get the satellite maps used in pro mode to display with enough contrast to allow you to easily distinguish features. This is not surprising as golf courses are shades of green on green. Basic mode displays, which are mostly black on white, display well in strong sunlight, so this is not an issue for basic mode.

Auto hole advance is another feature, common to both pro and basic modes, that doesn’t quite live up to expectations on the course. If you happen to be close to an adjacent hole with your shot, UPro will happily change the hole it thinks you are playing, which can throw you for a loop. Auto advance with prompt is just plain annoying with its constant nagging about changing holes, so manual advance seems to be the only sure fire way of moving holes only when you want to. Manual hole advance is quicker and simpler to use in basic mode (one key stroke) than in Pro mode (3 key strokes via 2 menus)…another reason to stick with basic mode while playing.

Conclusion

Given that UPro has much the same price point as its high end rivals but has greater functional capability, the decision to buy it was a no-brainer which I do not regret. That having been said, the features currently unique to UPro, most of which come under the pro mode umbrella, are nice to haves which are not (currently) particularly easy to use while playing, even though they do add value to the product for pre-play use.

Best of current generation of golf GPS, November 7, 2008

I only play a moderate amount of golf and living in New England definitely reduces the local golf season to around six months. So it took me a while before I comitted to buying a GPS or rangefinder. The important things to me were 1) size, 2) ease of use, 3) accuracy and 4) overall lowest cost (aka, best value). At first I leaned towards the rangefinders but they are really bulky and a real pain for me to use especially when there is no line of sight. A GPS was my next option but I was very wary of annual “membership” fees. Also GPS technology keeps improving and I didn’t want to buy the latest thing only to find out in three months that something much better had come out.

The uPro GPS addressed all my issues. First of all, it is hands-down the most advanced unit out there by at least a generation if not two. The size is the smallest out there and slips easily into a pocket. The GPS chip is from uBlox (not affiliated with uPro or uPlay) using their well acclaimed uBlox 5 chip which reportedly acquires a signal in one second from a cold start! The cost of the unit is on the high end but all the “Basic” course mode information is free (just download from the website) which is better already than most competitors. The “Pro” mode costs extra but can be as little as $2.50 when bought as a bundle credit. This is where the unit shines as it utilizes the satellite/aerial photo for many of its competitive advantages: video flyovers, measuring from any point on the course, constantly updated distances to the current flag position, etc. Amazing.

The user interface is OK. It took me a little time to figure out the buttons while at home but I’ve now become use to them. I’ve also heard about lock-ups but never experienced one of my own. uPro’s customer service phone number is very helpful and friendly but they apparently do not respond well to e-mail (they never responded to an e-mail question of mine…at all).

The uPro is a very well designed device backed by a company that continues to improve on the software with regular updates that also add features beyond what were available at purchase. The software could use some improvement but it is not at all bad, just not as intuitive as I would like. Overall, I am extremely pleased by this golf GPS and would recommend it to anyone. I think I can safely skip the next couple generational improvements!

Biggest piece of junk I ever bought!, July 12, 2008

Was real excited about this device and it has all kinds of potential! But right now they haven’t worked the bugs out of it. The web is filled with discussion threads from people complaining about this thing locking up. I got mine on the 1st of July and didn’t have any problems initializing it and downloading courses to it. I used it for the first time last weekend and it locked up on the first hole. I pulled the battery, reinstalled it, and it worked great the rest of the day. Although, I have to say the pro-mode is pretty worthless in bright sunlight. Anyway, I figured the lock-up was a fluke and all these people complaining were just doing something wrong. Today, I tried to download another course. It locked up! Now I’m getting error messages saying the device is “corrupt” and there are files missing. I’ll have to call tech support on Monday. If they can’t fix it immediately over the phone, I’m sending it back! Also, before you buy, be sure your courses are available. If not, you could be sitting around for months. This is going to be a great device once they get to the next rev of the firmware. Right now, it’s too buggy. I should have listened.

Love this device!, January 20, 2009

I just love my upro!

The screen could be bigger, but I love how small the device is, so it is a trade off.

The distances seem as accurate as my friends sky caddie. I can guess based on pin position and measuring on the device to within a couple of yards from his laser measurements as well.

Three things I had to do to make the device work great:

1.) Use the device’s calibration. Make sure you do this, it’s easy and increased my accuracy.
2.) Go into the settings menu and turn off power saver. If the power saver kicks in the device has to re-establish sattelite every time it comes back on which slows you down.
3.) Decrease the backlight to 10%. I was only getting 3 and a half hours with the power saver off. I emailed customer service. They called me within 3 hours of my email and told me to cut down the backlight. Now I can get two full rounds out of the device without turning it off.

Not much more to say than, this device makes playing a new course much more fun because you are never surprised with water or a hazard behind a dogleg.

Love this device.

Customer Service A+, December 19, 2008

I have been reading reviews and doing my research on the uPro vs. Sonocaddie. The one feature that the Sonocaddie has that I wish the uPro has is being waterproof. I was wondering if uPro was currently making a waterproof model, so I e-mailed uPro customer service at 8:30pm Pacific time hoping to get a reply in a week or so. I checked my e-mail later that night and they replied back within 20 min. I was extremely impressed with the quick e-mail. For anyone interested about whether uPro is coming out with a waterproof version here is their response:

Thank you for your inquiry.

uPlay does not have any plans to make a “waterproof” version.

With the exception of immersion, the device should be fine if you get caught in a sudden rain storm or sprinkler.

Simply wipe off the device with a soft cloth.

Happy to have U-Pro, June 5, 2009

Had my Upro about 7 weeks and played six rounds. Very pleased. Had a tee shot go long, but into the next fairway. was going to just punch back onto the fairway but looked at the Upro yardage and realized I could shoot for the pin. Made an easy par. Thought to myself “It was worth the money.” The battery life is OK. Gets about two rounds each charge. (battery backup would be nice)Down loading course takes a long time but its not hard. (Go watch TV or something while your waiting) All the courses I’ve looked for in Jersey have been mapped. I don’t use the fly over view much, but it (the pro view) does comes in handy when considering your next shot to or over a large hazard. the upro will give you distances to were you should be shooting. Or you can use the pro view and pick a spot where you want to land your next shot and get your measurement. Works well for those dog legs where your not sure how far to hit to the turn. The yardage measurments are consistence with the markers, within 2 yards or less, usually less.