The navigator with the photographic memory–Oregon 550t combines rugged outdoor touchscreen navigation with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. Add preloaded U.S. topo maps, along with high-sensitivity
GPS, barometric altimeter, 3-axis electronic compass and microSD card slot. The result? A multipurpose device that will make your biggest adventures even more memorable.

Take Pictures and Save Locations

Capture locations and memories with Oregon 550t’s 3.2 megapixel autofocus digital camera with 4x digital zoom. Each photo is automatically geotagged with the location of where it was taken, allowing you to navigate back to that exact spot in the future. Snap and view pictures in landscape or portrait orientation. With 850 MB of internal memory, you’ll never miss a photo opportunity. To store online, simply connect Oregon 550 via USB and log into my.Garmin.com to upload and store your photos at Picasa, a popular online photo sharing community for friends and families around the world. For more storage, insert a microSD card; you can even view pictures from other devices on microSD with Oregon’s picture viewer.

Touch and Go
Oregon 550t makes rugged navigation effortless with a tough, 3-inch diagonal, sunlight-readable, color touchscreen display. The interface is easy to use, so youÕll spend more time enjoying the outdoors and less time searching for information. Both durable and waterproof, Oregon 550t is built to withstand the elements. Bumps, dust, dirt, humidity and water are no match for this rugged navigator.

Explore the Terrain
Oregon 550t comes with built-in U.S. topographic data for the continental U.S. and a worldwide basemap with shaded relief–all the tools for serious climbing or hiking. Map detail includes national, state and local parks and forests, along with terrain contours, elevation information, trails, rivers, lakes and points of interest.

Get Your Bearings
Oregon 550t has a built-in 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass, which shows your heading even when youÕre standing still, without holding it level. Its barometric altimeter tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude, and you can even use it to plot barometric pressure over time, which can help you keep an eye on changing weather conditions. And with its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix satellite prediction, Oregon 550t locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons.

Find Fun
Go paperless with Oregon 550t by quickly downloading information from Geocaching.com for up to 5000 caches, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description. No more manually entering coordinates and paper print outs. Slim and lightweight, Oregon is the perfect companion for all your outdoor pursuits.

Share Wirelessly
With Oregon 550t you can share your waypoints, tracks, routes and geocaches wirelessly other Oregon and Colorado users. Now you can send your favorite route to a friend to enjoy or the location of a cache to find. Sharing data is easy. Just touch “send” to transfer your information to similar devices.

Screen Brightness

Under normal outdoor conditions, the Oregon 550T’s screen is clearly visible, and acceptably bright.

In bright, direct sunlight, the screen is still visible, but only with the backlighting set to maximum.

What’s in the Box
Oregon 550t, AA battery charger, 2 AA NiMH batteries, carabiner clip, USB cable, owner’s manual on disk, and quick start manual

Conclusion

Rugged, easy to use, and equipped with a built-in 3.2 megapixel camera, Garmin’s Oregon 550T is a luxurious handheld GPS that easily handles any outdoor adventure.

Hold the oRegon 550T in your hand and the hardware quality is obvious. Constructed of scratch-resistant gray plastic, the device feels well made. A black non-slip rubber stripe along the sides makes it easier to grip, and a metal mounting spine on the rear of the GPS accommodates the included Carabiner clip.

The built-in 3.2 megapixel digital camera offers decent image quality, on par with most current cell phone cameras. It’s not something you’d want to take family portraits with, but it’s good enough for Geocaching or posting pictures on the web. A nice benefit of the integrated camera is that all photographs taken with the 550T are automatically geotagged with GPS positioning information. Geocoded images can even be saved to the address book, and used as a destination.

The LCD display is brighter than the Oregon 400, and screen readability was generally good.

The oRegon 550T is waterproof (rated to IPX7), and the USB port is protected by a rubber flap.

Battery life was solid, with the included rechargeable batteries routinely getting between 10 and 15 hours of use between charges. Regular AA batteries can also be used, if desired.

The Oregon 550T comes pre-configured with profiles for Recreation, Geocaching, Automotive, Marine, Fitness, and Camera, You can also create your own custom profile. A profile is a saved arrangement of icons and available options that are tailored to a specific activity, and designed to place the most commonly used icons for that activity on the main menu page.

Navigating with the Oregon 550T feels intuitive. The profiles are well laid out, and the interface is relatively easy to use, especially compared to other outdoor handheld GPS devices on the market.

The 3-axis electronic compass is a nice navigation tool. The bearing indicator always points to the destination, regardless of how you are holding the GPS. You can also customize the compass screen to show only the data elements you care to see.

The trip computer is a great tool that you’ll likely find yourself using almost as much as the compass.

Garmin’s free BaseCamp software makes it easy to manage maps and waypoints on the Oregon. You’ll need to buy a MicroSD memory card if you plan to install lots of optional maps, though the Oregon does include a generous 850MB of available internal storage.

Those willing to pay the $29.95 subscription fee can download an unlimited number of detailed, high resolution satellite images via Garmin BirdsEye, and transfer them to the Oregon.

The Oregon 550T comes preloaded with Digital Elevation Model (MED) maps, making it possible for the GPS to render 3D terrain models. Additional maps can be purchased for use on the water, or for turn-by-turn routing in a vehicle (albeit without text-to-speech).

Overall there’s much to like on the Oregon 550T. This is a highly capable, rugged, and versatile GPS that’s a good fit for novices and experts alike.

Amazon already has it for $519

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