about the author……..
Ian is a qualified mountain leader and International Mountain Leader aspirant, he lives and works in the Swiss Alps and has hiked and led expeditions and treks in Europe, North Africa and the Himalayas. He spends his time alpine skiing, ski mountaineering, nordic skiing, mountain biking, hiking, climbing, geocaching and messing around with gadgets.

introduction

I’ve had my Oregon 550t for over six months now so it seems a good time to report in on how it’s working out for me. This is not my first Garmin device, I’ve had an Etrex Vista Cx for a few years and been fairly happy with it, I also have more recently acquired one of the Garmin fitness devices in the form of a Forerunner 305 which is a wrist-top GPS linked to a heart rate monitor for activities like running. This isn’t an exhaustive review, there’s some good resources about listing each feature and discussing them, you can download the manual from Garmin for an even better idea. This is really a whistle stop tour through the main points.

I will also add some reviews of the maps themselves and some general positioning regarding the handheld, mapping GPS receiver marketplace at a later date. I think that will be useful, it looks like some of the reviews of receivers and maps don’t give enough context about the state of technology or the market place to really understand the choices we have.

features

The 550t is the flagship handheld mapping GPS from Garmin, it’s intended for activities like trekking and general use in outdoor environments. At the time I got the 550t the nearest model was the Oregon 400t, the basic difference between the two models for me was the capacity for waypoints. I’d found when leading some extended trips that the limit of 500 waypoints on my Etrex Vista Cx was too restrictive, for example on a 16 day trip I was restricted to around 30 waypoints for each day in planning the route and that really isn’t enough in any complex terrain.

My other requirement was that I wanted to be able to use a new device in the car, I’d previously had a built-in GPS system but I decided when we changed the car that this was a luxury and it made more sense to have a single high-end handheld device that I could use for driving, trekking and cycling.

In terms of the Garmin product position the real differences between the 400t and the 550t are these

• the 550t has a far more sophisticated compass, having a built-in 3-axis tilt compensated compass.
• the 550t supports 2000 waypoints (versus 1000)
• the 550t can store 200 routes (versus 50)
• the 550t has a built-in 3.2 megapixel camera
• the 550t has a faster USB interface

The 3-axis tilt compensated compass is an interesting feature. It basically means that you don’t need to hold the device rock steady exactly horizontal, that’s handy not only when handholding the device but also if it’s mounted off the horizontal such as on the handle bars of a bike or in a car mount.

The other main headlines of the 550t specification are :

• 240 x 400 pixels color touch screen
• 850mb internal memory
• microSD card support
• 10,000 point track lock with 200 saved tracks
• pre-loaded topographic maps
• IPX7 waterproof standard (see below)
• 16 hours battery (advertised by Garmin, see below)
• barometric altimeter

a note about IP-X7

IP Code, or International Protection Rating or Ingress Protection Rating from international standard IEC 60529, is a way of describing how ruggard a device is. The code is two part, “X” and “7″. In this case the “X” denotes that the device is not tested for if the enclosure provides against access to hazardous parts (e.g., electrical conductors, moving parts) and the ingress of solid foreign objects.

The next part “7″, gives the level of protection of the equipment inside the enclosure against harmful ingress of water. This runs from 0, providing no protection, to 8 which protects for immersions greater than one metre. A level of 7 denotes protection from significant water ingress up to a depth of one metre. Basically, this means you can’t go swimming with the 550t but it’s most suitable for mountaineering use and will easily withstand use in rain or snow.

maps and mapping

The “t” designation of the 550t model basically means you have some preloaded topographical maps. What’s actually on the device depends on the region you purchase it in. In Europe I have a recreational map of Europe which is actually very good, I’m not sure how much use it really is though as I have the TopoSwiss maps and the European City Navigator maps which cover in different details most places I go.

I also have the complete Topo France maps and the OS GB Snowdonia maps.

The way the device performs in terms of map display and routing is as much about the quality of those maps as the device itself and the firmware. As a result I’ll write about the maps in more detail another time.

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We recently got Camp rewinds for local VF’s after looking at a bunch of other sets on the market.

The main choice comes to whether you want a stitched shock absorber like the Petzl or Black Diamond sets or ones with a friction device like this or the Salewa one for example. I’m not entirely happy with stitched ones, once you fall and tear through the stitching it’s good only for the bin and if you’re halfway up a VF at the time, assuming you’re able to continue, you’ve now got a non-functioning set. I think a lot of people argue that no one falls off a VF so it’s moot but I’m not much convinced by that argument, once I’ve left the ground on anything I try not to fall off

There’s a couple of Eastern European manufacturers knocking out VF sets and some of the local stores have them, they look reasonable, mostly friction devices and UIAA approved but some inferior quality around non-safety components. For example, I looked at one with the squeeze action locking carabiners and the squeeze mechanism felt flimsy, this matters I think as you end up bashing the gear around the crag.

I also felt I liked the squeeze action idea as opposed to the older twist lock and variants, a squeeze action is quicker and easier and there’s no failure case (I can detect) where the gate can be left partly open.

The other feature I liked in the Camp set is the elasticised lanyards, this really helps keep them out of way moving around and lets Camp get a half decent run of dynamic cord into the system without leaving the lanyard a metre over your head. This feature is available on other sets of course.

The only feature I saw on another set, the Petzl, was a extra loop from the harness attachment for resting that allows you to clip to a bit of gear. That looked like a good idea but I’m not sure in practice if it would be much use, it’s easier to keep a belay sling on and use that, it’s longer and I can clip to a couple of bits of gear as a rule so it’s more flexible.

Here’s Julie using the Camp rewind in France :