A Review of the Garmin Colorado 400t

The Garmin Colorado is the third Garmin outdoor handheld which I've owned in the last ten years. I use GPSs for geocaching, hiking, boating and auto navigation and I have used the Garmin Colorado for all of these activities. Currently I use the US Topo2008 maps which come preinstalled on the 400t and the optional City Navigator North America NT 2009 street maps.

This review was written based on Software 2.9 and GPS Software 2.8 and will be updated as improvements are made.

Overall Rating: 3/5
Recommendation: Garmin has finally resolved the GPS accuracy issues. Although the accuracy might not be quite as good as the 60CSx the Colorado is better than the Oregon in this respect. However, the simplicity, ease of use and durability of the Oregon's touch screen make the unit much easier to use than the Colorado. The Colorado does also not seem to be getting the attention that the Oregon is getting with new features and bug fixes. The Colorado is a solid unit for the money, especially now that the receive is fixed but if you can afford the Oregon, go for the touchscreen.

I purchased my Colorado in January 2008 the day it first came out. The first six months, as with many new tech products, has been bumpy. There have been five software releases which have made software stability and functionality better but there is still room for improvement.

The good:

Paperless geocaching mode and fieldnote support. Works well and eliminates the need to carry paper or a Palm/PPC.
Compact, well-balanced case. The design feels sturdy and fits well in your hand.
Lots of memory and preloaded map data. The Colorado has 4GB of internal memory (2.7GB used by Topo2008 maps) and you can expand with an SD card. I use an 8GB SD card and have topographic maps (1:100k) for all of the US and road maps for all of the US and Canada loaded with plenty of room to spare.
Profiles. This powerful new feature allows you to save and recall configuration depending on your mode of use (e.g. auto or hiking) or by user if there are multiple users.
Big, high resolution screen as compared to most handhelds.
Autorouting. The Colorado is based on a Nuvi platform so I guess it makes sense that it is good at autorouting using the optional City Navigator maps. No speech and no touch screen but it makes a decent unit if you don't have money for both.

Mixed bag:

User interface. The Rock'n Roller and soft keys work pretty well for most tasks except text entry. Text entry is very time consuming and I avoid it whenever possible. Garmin has improved some aspects of the user interface by making it more simple but in the process they have removed many of the convenient shortcuts available on the 60csx series that "expert users" enjoyed. Context sensitive setup options are an example. On the 60csx when you entered the altimeter page, for example, you could easily access the setup and calibration functions from this page, not so on the Colorado. The result is a cleaner, simpler interface for new users but a much less optimized interface for power users.

The bad:

Screen readability. As compared to the 60cs(x) the screen is harder to read and you'll probably need to use the backlighting more frequently which affects the next issue. Note that the Colorado is marginally better than the Oregon.
Battery life. You'll need to buy some NiMH batteries and you'll need to buy good ones, 2500mAh or better. If you are willing to invest in batteries and a good charger you'll still only get about 8-12 hours from a pair. Alkaline battery life is very poor -- to the point where it is not really an option.
Waterproofness. IPX7 rated, but many reports of leakage. This may be a design flaw or just a issue with early units, time will tell.
There are many, mostly minor, software features (as of v2.9) that you will find on the 60csx but not the Colorado including waypoint averaging, pan and search on the map page, search by waypoint symbol, calendar based recording of events, personalized startup screen, night/day mode, custom waypoint symbols, barometer recording with the unit off and viewing multiple tracks on map page. Some of these may be added in future releases but Garmin has not been forthcoming about whether they intend to provide all of the functionality of the 60csx or the Oregon on the Colorado.

A list of reviews:

Source	Date	Coverage	Comments
Anatoly Ivanov	5/09	300	The best Oregon/Colorado comparison review I've read. Fair, comprehensive, accurate.
GPS Magazine	1/4/08	400t	The original which was a good review of features but is out of date now.
GPS Tracklog	2/08 (updated 3/08)	300, 400t	Still a great source of information since; author owns and uses a Colorado.
GPS Lodge	3/30/08	400t
Calipidder.com	2/27/08	400t	Based on 24hr impression. Software 2.4
about.com		400t	Mostly a feature list, not much field use.
gpsinformation.net	2/27/08	400t	Based on Software 2.3.
Backpacking Light	4/08	400t	Requires payment to read.
MobileArsenal	5/17/08	400t	One of the better reviews, based on 10 days of usage.
MapToaster	4/08	400t	Good in depth review by an author who has spent some time with the unit. Based on Software 2.51
Modern Hiker	3/26/08	400t
AkillesBlog	2/29/08	400t	Good 60csx comparison.
GpsPasSion	started 2/08	300	Thread of user reviews and discussion on the Colorado
gpsnow.com	various	all	User reviews linked to this page
GeeksToGo	3/31/08	400t
G4TV	415/08	400t