Firmware - x00

Garmin Oregon 200, 300, 400i, 400c, 400t Software Summary
Garmin Store Updates and Download pages
Garmin Support Updates and Download pages (Webupdater only)
GCD based upgrades
Garmin Computer Software
PC Software
Mac Software
Detailed Version History

Garmin Oregon 200, 300, 400i, 400c, 400t Software Summary



There has never been an issue with loading the software image for one x00 model of Oregon onto a different x00 model. The software images for the 200, 300, 400i, 400t and 400c have been identical. The software images for the x50 Oregon (550 and 550t) are different from the x00 images. The history of these images can be found on the x50 Firmware page.

Garmin Store Updates and Download pages

Garmin Oregon 200
Garmin Oregon 300
Garmin Oregon 400c
Garmin Oregon 400i
Garmin Oregon 400t

Garmin Support Updates and Download pages (Webupdater only)

Garmin Oregon 400t

GCD based upgrades

Some software releases below are linked directly to a GCD file for that release.

Each Software Version below is linked to that version's gcd file. Normally I would recommend upgrading through Webupdater but if for some reason you can't (e.g. you are trying to downgrade) then you can update using the following procedure:

Software Version
GPS Software Version
Date
Wherigo Player
Comments
4.20
5.00
05/18/11
Player: v.4.20
Engine: v.2.11
Bugfixes and improvements
4.17 (beta)
5.00
04/08/11
Player: v.4.12
Engine:v.2.11
Fixes for issues introduced with 4.16 beta
4.16 (beta)
5.00
03/16/11
Player: v.4.12
Engine: v.2.11
Some bugfixes and improvements
4.12 (beta)
5.00
12/22/10
Player: v.4.12
Engine: v.2.11
Even more bugfixes
4.11 (beta)
5.00
12/18/10
Player: v.4.12
Engine: v.2.11
Bugfixes
4.10
4.52
10/15/10
Player: v.4.10
Engine: v.2.11
Chirp(TM) support, custom maps bug fix
4.00
4.52
09/23/10
Player: v.4.00
Engine: v.2.11
Fixes for trip odometer distance calculation, minor bug fixes
3.90
4.52
09/03/10
Player: v.3.90
Engine: v.2.11
Official release of beta 3.81 to 3.85
3.85 (beta)
4.52
08/11/10
Player: v.3.85
Engine: v.2.11
Added Geocache multicache support
3.82 (beta)
4.46
06/04/10
Player: v.3.82
Engine: v.2.11
Added Geocache filtering, Fixed issue syncing with BaseCamp.
3.81 (beta)
4.46
05/28/10
Player: v.3.80
Engine: v.2.11
WAAS improvements, BirdsEye brightness control, Low speed data field improvements
3.80
4.34
04/12/10
Player: v.3.80
Engine: v.2.11
Bugfixes
3.70
4.34
03/29/10
Player: v.3.70
Engine: v.2.11
Support for custom symbols and Garmin BirdsEye added
3.60
3.70
01/29/10
Player: v.3.6
Engine: v.2.11
Bugfixes
3.50
3.70
01/13/10
Player: v.3.5
Engine: v.2.11
Added Elevation profile of upcoming route
Added new dashboards options (compass, elevation,...)
3.42 (beta)
3.70
12/22/09
Player: v.3.42
Engine: v.2.11

3.41 (beta)
3.70
12/08/09
Player: v.3.41
Engine: v.2.11

3.40
3.70
11/25/09
Player: v.3.40
Engine: v.2.11
Added profile support for Garmin Custom Maps
Fixed lockup while using GB Discoverer maps
3.30
3.70
11/17/09
Player: v.3.30
Engine: v.2.11
Improved along road routing performance
3.22 (beta)
3.70
10/8/09
Player v.3.22
Engine v.2.11
Added Garmin Custom Map support
3.20
3.70
9/2/09
Player v.3.20
Engine v.2.11
Official release of 3.15 beta.
3.15 (beta)
3.70
8/18/09
Player v.3.15
Engine v.2.11
Fixes shutdown introduced in 3.12 (possibly 3.10).
3.13 (beta)
3.70
8/7/09
Player v.3.13
Engine v.2.11
Fixes issues introduced in 3.12
3.12 (beta)
3.70
7/31/09
Player: v.3.12
Engine: v.2.11
New GPS firmware to improve accuracy at slow speeds under cover.
3.10
3.40
7/29/09
Player: v.3.10
Engine: v.2.11
First non-beta release since 12/08. Very similar to 3.01b, rolls up all beta features and fixes.
3.01 (beta)
3.40
7/01/09
Player: v.3.01
Engine: v.2.11
Fix shutdown crash
2.99 (beta)
3.40
6/22/09
Player: v.2.99
Engine: v.2.11
Adds multi .img support, but has shutdown crash
2.98 (beta)
3.40
5/15/09
Player: v.2.98
Engine: v.2.11
Resolved GPS receiver issue
2.97 (beta)
2.80
4/30/09
Player: v.2.97
Engine: v.2.11
Resolved several bugs in 2.96
2.96 (beta)
2.80
4/25/09
Player: v.2.96
Engine: v.2.11
Added Waypoint Averaging, Sight' N Go, MOB
2.95 (beta)
2.80
4/1/09
Player: v.2.95
Engine: v.2.11
Odometer gets big data fields and new dashboards
2.94 (beta)
2.80
3/25/09
Player: v.2.94
Engine: v.2.11
Adds waypoint editing from waypoint page, multi-point map picker
2.93 (beta)
2.70
3/10/09
Player: v.2.93
Engine: v.2.11
Improved GPS reception and Spanner enhancements
2.90
2.58


Release only available on new handhelds similar to 2.85/2.86
2.86 (beta)
2.63
2/3/09
Player: v.2.86
Engine: v.2.11
Minor fixes and clean up after 2.85, big issues with GPS accuracy
2.85 (beta)
2.58
01/21/09
Player: v.2.85
Engine: v.2.11
Fixes issues in 2.7/2.8, Custom POI database support, battery meter
2.80
2.58
12/12/08
Player: v.2.80
Engine: v.2.11
Fixes issues introduced in 2.7
2.70
2.58
12/08/08
Player: v.2.70
Engine: v.2.11
Added GB Discoverer support, marine enhancements, battery saver
2.60
2.55
10/22/08
Player: v.2.60
Engine: v.2.11
Fixes for crashes and freezes at startup
2.50
2.48
9/12/08
Player: v.2.50
Engine: v.2.11
Fixes issues introduced in 2.4
2.40
2.48
9/4/08
Player: v.2.40
Engine: v.2.11

2.30
2.48
8/20/08
Player: v.2.30
Engine: v.2.11

2.20
2.42
7/02/08
Player: v.2.20
Engine: v.2.11
Released prior to product launch. Available only via Webupdater on Support page.
2.10
2.42
7/08

Provided on 400t at product launch

To determine your current installed Software and GPS Software Versions go to Main Menu->Setup->About... You should see a screen that looks like this which will display both your Software and GPS Software version number.

version.jpg

The Wherigo Player versions are available by selecting Main Menu->Wherigo and pressing the button at the bottom of the screen.

wherigo.jpg

Garmin Computer Software



Garmin also provides several software programs and utilities for the PC and Mac which are of interest to Garmin Oregon users.

PC Software

Garmin USB Driver: 2.3
Communicator: 2.8.1
Mapsource: 6.15.11 (note: 6.13.7 may be more stable)
MapInstall: 3.12.1
POI Loader: 2.5.4
Webupdater: 2.4.2
Spanner: 2.1
BaseCamp: 3.0.1
nRoute (no longer officially supported): 2.7.6

Mac Software

Communicator : 2.9.1
MapInstall: 2.1.0
MapConverter (for Windows) : 2.0.1.0
RoadTrip: 2.0.2
POI Loader: 2.1.0
Webupdater: 2.0.6
BaseCamp: 3.0.1

Detailed Version History


Software 4.20
Software 4.17 (beta)
Software 4.16 (beta)
Software 4.12 (beta)
Software 4.11 (beta)
Software 4.10
Software 4.00
Software 3.90
Software 3.85 (beta)
Software 3.82 (beta)
Software 3.81 (beta)
Software 3.80
Software 3.70
Software 3.60
Software 3.50
Software 3.42 (beta)
Software 3.41 (beta)
Software 3.40
Software 3.30
Software 3.22 (beta)
Software 3.2
Software 3.15 (beta)
Recommended. GPS Firmware update introduced in 3.12 has been very accurate and tracklogs are much less noisy. Issues introduced in 3.12 and 3.13 have been fixed in this release which has been very stable.
Software 3.13 (beta)
Operation with compass has improved but still see shutoffs in automotive mode, particularly when displaying and navigating to custom POIs.
Software 3.12 (beta)
GPS Firmware changes to 3.70.
Software 3.10
This release is very similar to 3.01 beta although there are three items included in Garmin's release notes for 3.10 that have not shown up in any prior beta:

Garmin has also indicated that 3.01 and 3.10 are similar but not identical, citing differences in how GB Discoverer works with multiple map .img files. The complete list of release notes from Garmin is below.

Software 3.01 (beta)
Recommended. This software appears to be stable and the power off issues from 2.99 are fixed . There were some initial reports of people who had problems with certain types of SD cards that were not formatted in FAT32 mode. I also think that some issues may arise when upgrading to 2.99 or 3.01 because people may have additional maps on their units which suddenly become active because of the "any name" map image file support. Before upgrading I would recommend two things

  1. Remove the SD Card
  2. Review and remove any .img files from your \Garmin directory that you don't want to be active. Any file with a .img extension will become an active map with this new software.

After the upgrade reinsert the SD card and verify that the \Garmin directory on the SD card also has only the .img files you want to be active and verify that it is formated as a FAT32 filesystem.

Garmin's release note.
Software 2.99 (beta)
Not Recommended. The ability to have multiple map files on the unit is a great new feature, but unfortunately this release suffers from a crash when the unit is powered off. This crash seems to prevent some (most?) configuration changes from being saved across reboots. Given that there might be profile file corruption involved and I've heard of several of cases where people have bricked their units, I strongly recommend not upgrading to this release.

Software 2.98 (beta)
Recommended. This is a stable release as the major issue associated with not locking satellites has been addressed by Garmin, but receiver accuracy issues still persist under tree cover and WAAS is not functional under tree cover. These lingering issues around GPS receiver performance are similar (maybe slightly better) than before the beta period started (i.e 2.8). As such I would recommend this beta to take advantage of the new features introduced during the beta period but do not expect significantly better GPS receiver performance.
Software 2.97 (beta)
Software 2.96 (beta)
Not recommended. There have been a number of stability issues in this release including:

Same GPS software (2.80) as 2.94 and 2.95 so don't expect much improvement in WAAS or GPS accuracy for this release.

New features are documented on GPSFix.

Software 2.95 (beta)
Recommended, with cavets. Fixes map crash in 2.94, but GPS accuracy in this release and the previous 2.94 release is not as good as 2.93. Many users experienced significant GPS outages with this release which went away after several days. New features work well, so it will come down whether to can you live with less than perfect GPS accuracy to get access to the new features.
Software 2.94 (beta)
Recommend, with caveats. The major issues with 2.93 seem to have been addressed (battery management and random shutdowns), but a new issue has come up which causes the unit to shutoff in automotive mode when exiting the map page. If you are on 2.93 my feeling is that it is worth upgrading. 2.85 is still the most stable and reliable release. GPS performance in this release seem to be similar to 2.93.
Software 2.93 (beta)
Recommended, with caveats. The GPS reception improvements in this release seem real. The GPS is more responsive and the unit tracks well at slows speeds under cover. The issues with 2.86 seem to have been addressed. Tracklogs, however, have a lot of noise and are about 10-20% longer than they should be. Several issues with Custom POIs have been addressed and Garmin has improved Spanner support to include A301 for direct tracklog transfer using NMEA (PDF). The downside of this release is that some users are reporting decreased battery life and random power downs. It only seems to affect some Oregons and it is a very intermittent issue for people who are seeing it.
Software 2.86 (beta)
Not recommended. Reported "GPS Accuracy" is smaller (i.e. better) in this release however track comparisons between this 2.86 and 2.85 or other GPS's seem to indicate a lot of track variability especially under tree cover. Unit feels much less averaged in this release but to an extent where you can swings on the map and compass page during navigation. Panning on the map page which runs into the zoom control results in a partially drawn map.
Software 2.90
Recommended. Not available for download, Garmin provided this release on new units only but it appears to be very similar if not identical to beta 2.85.
Software 2.85 (beta)
Recommended. This "beta" version of Oregon software seems to be as stable or better than both 2.8 and 2.7. As such, I think it is worth taking if you are having the problems described below in 2.8 with profile changes or if you are a GB Discoverer user. If you are not having issues and aren't dying to get custom POI support or the battery meter improvements with this release I would hang tight until Garmin releases the non-beta version which I'm guessing will be shortly.

The only issues I've experienced or read about include:

This beta release addresses issues introduced in 2.8 around the stability of profile changes. Battery gauge is more accurate with NiMH batteries and map redrawing has changed, although I don't believe it is significantly faster. Users report improvements with GB Discoverer, autorouting roads are no longer shown on top of raster maps and raster maps are easier to read. Custom POI database and category selection works although built in map POIs still do not display categories.

Software 2.8
Not Recommended
Several new issues related to settings and profile configurations not working or being lost have been introduced:
Some of the issues above may be related to a power off crash that can be caused by switching from Geocaching to Automotive profile with an active route. The steps to reproduce the problem are detailed here and in the issues list.
Introduced only 3-4 days after 2.7 to fix new issues introduced in this release.
Software 2.7
Not Recommended (see 2.8)
New bugs introduced in this release: 3D View does not work, relief shading always defaults to "Do not Show" even if set to "Show if Available" after power cycling. Some reported issues with the altimeter page not displaying data, although make sure the Track Log is set to one of the "Record" modes.
Software 2.6
Many users are reporting success with this upgrade. It does introduce a couple of new issues: some configuration options are not saved in the profile and there is a crash when entering coordinates in Demo mode. But the big fix is the first item which has been getting in the way of many users -- the startup crash and freeze. Connection times in mass storage mode are much faster as well.
Software 2.5
This drop appears to fix issues created in Software 2.4 but a lot of people are reporting hangs and freezes after upgrading. These new issues seem happen in the the same places where the out of memory problems were occurring in 2.3. Unless the memory full errors in 2.3 are driving you crazy I would postpone upgrading until Garmin works this out. If you do decide to upgrade I would suggest backing up and removing all gpx files from the unit and performing a master reset before the upgrade to avoid problems during the upgrade. Once you are upgraded if you have problems with a frozen unit that won't boot you'll need to first try a master reset and if that doesn't work a recovery.
Software 2.4
Unless you need a fix for the Memory Full problem this software is not recommended. Version 2.4 was released to fix the Memory Full issues that many Oregon users were seeing. However, this version has broken:
List of issues resolved:
Software 2.3
Given the number of issues resolved and relative stability of the release 2.3 is a recommended update. The only major issues which seem to persist in 2.3 are the Memory Full problems and WAAS is still broken. There was one minor issue introduced in 2.3 related to viewing the elevation plot of a route.
Software 2.2
Software 2.2 was released prior to the 400t product launch and is a recommended upgrade for the Oregon.
Changes made from version 2.10 to 2.20:
Software 2.1
Initial product release on Garmin 400t. No release notes available. Since 2.2 was available when the 400t shipped this release was never really used.