Comments from a new Oregon 700 geocaching user
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 8:32 am
1. There is no Geocache Active dashboard just Geocache Nearest. Hence if I wish to navigate to a cache I now have to do this:
Click the dashboard
Wait for the list to load (more of this in a moment since it can take many seconds)
Select the cache
Hit GO
On the 550
Click on the cache that is in the dashboard to show its description
Hit GO
I would estimate that at least 95% of the time I wish to go to the nearest.
@Garmin - I would expect this dashboard to still exist in a new GPS but I probably would be OK if the performance issue was addressed
2. The 700 supports many caches, however this is a little disengenious since the time taken to load a list increases with size making the feature much less useful e.g.
2 secs 5000 loaded (similar or slightly slower than 550)
4 secs 18000 loaded
20 secs 80000 loaded
In combination with the dashboard in my first point this makes operation excruciating and the large number of caches useless.
@Garmin - I expect it to take longer to load more new caches but the time to list to be efficient. Please resolve.
3. GGZ format for caches - as far as I can see this saves some space over GPX files but gives no performance benefit whatsoever. Both formats seem to take the same time to load.
4. Filtering. On the Oregon 550 you had the following
Find a cache defaults to Not found under all circumstances (I use this at least 95% of the time, not a great surprise since I am finding caches)
Show found is a Specific Button (I use this about 5% of the time to see what I have found that day).
Other filters set up as required (I use this very rarely to look for specific caches)
Now for me and I suspect other cachers this is perfect but the 700 has combined all these into one filter screen without have the implicit Not Found filter and found buttons. If I use a different filter to "not found" I have to remember to reset when I continue my expedition.
@Garmin - This is downgraded functionality
5. Keyboard operation
On the 700 when I switch to numeric I have to go via special characters to get back to alpha mode.
@Garmin Would be great to return to alpha in 1 keystroke
Am I being unreasonable here? Have I missed a better way to do things?
Click the dashboard
Wait for the list to load (more of this in a moment since it can take many seconds)
Select the cache
Hit GO
On the 550
Click on the cache that is in the dashboard to show its description
Hit GO
I would estimate that at least 95% of the time I wish to go to the nearest.
@Garmin - I would expect this dashboard to still exist in a new GPS but I probably would be OK if the performance issue was addressed
2. The 700 supports many caches, however this is a little disengenious since the time taken to load a list increases with size making the feature much less useful e.g.
2 secs 5000 loaded (similar or slightly slower than 550)
4 secs 18000 loaded
20 secs 80000 loaded
In combination with the dashboard in my first point this makes operation excruciating and the large number of caches useless.
@Garmin - I expect it to take longer to load more new caches but the time to list to be efficient. Please resolve.
3. GGZ format for caches - as far as I can see this saves some space over GPX files but gives no performance benefit whatsoever. Both formats seem to take the same time to load.
4. Filtering. On the Oregon 550 you had the following
Find a cache defaults to Not found under all circumstances (I use this at least 95% of the time, not a great surprise since I am finding caches)
Show found is a Specific Button (I use this about 5% of the time to see what I have found that day).
Other filters set up as required (I use this very rarely to look for specific caches)
Now for me and I suspect other cachers this is perfect but the 700 has combined all these into one filter screen without have the implicit Not Found filter and found buttons. If I use a different filter to "not found" I have to remember to reset when I continue my expedition.
@Garmin - This is downgraded functionality
5. Keyboard operation
On the 700 when I switch to numeric I have to go via special characters to get back to alpha mode.
@Garmin Would be great to return to alpha in 1 keystroke
Am I being unreasonable here? Have I missed a better way to do things?