December 10, 2007

More on the Garmin Colorado series

Garmin_colorado_400

UPDATE: Read our Garmin Colorado 300 review, Garmin Colorado 400c review and Garmin Colorado 400t review.

It appears that the Garmin Colorado series is real, and that it may be capable of showing aerial photos (raster imagery), as shown in the image above. It's high time Garmin took this step; after all, DeLorme, Magellan and even Bushnell have beat them to the punch with units that allow for the display of aerial photos and / or USGS topo maps. We forecast back in August that we would soon see a Garmin handheld with this capability.

BassPro.com has let the cat out of the bag with a description and specs for the Garmin Colorado 400 BlueChart GPS, which I cut and pasted at the end of this post since I'm sure Garmin is going to ask them to take it down.

Note the wireless data transfer, already included in the upcoming Edge 605 and 705, and support for the display of detailed geocaching information. It looks like we can expect pre-loaded maps on these devices, and the "rock n' roller" input device is mentioned as well. I know some people think this thing is ugly, but I find the retro styling interesting. There is no mention of a touch screen in the specs.

And don't think this is just going to be available as a marine unit. A report on GPSInformation.net says to expect at least three editions...Topo, Inland Lakes, and Coastal.

UPDATE: There's a little more detail posted at Groundspeak.

From BassPro.com:

Make navigation simple with Garmin's Colorado 400 Bluechart GPS Unit. This full-feature, high-sensitivity Garmin GPS unit is pre-loaded with detailed, up-to-date Coastal U.S. marine charts including charts for the Great Lakes, Hawaii and Alaska.

  • Pre-loaded with detailed Coastal U.S. marine charts including Great Lakes, Hawaii and Alaska 
  • Unique ''Rock 'N' Roller'' input device
  • 65K Color TFT display
  • 240 x 400 pixels
  • 16 hours on AA batteries
  • Accepts SD cards for optional downloaded maps
  • 2-axis electronic compass
  • Altimeter
  • Temperature sensor
  • Waterproof
  • ANT™ Communications to wirelessly exchange routes, tracks, waypoints, and geocaches between two units
  • Paperless Geocaching supports display of detailed geocache information

Via Groundspeak

Dec 10, 2007 10:08:14 AM | Garmin, Hardware

2 Comments

tonka_boy

Excellent post and an excellent site! Two of my sons are right now looking for GPSrs. They will be on this site soon doing their comparisons. Thanks for your hard work! I posted an article and a link to your site at http://geocats.blogspot.com/

Posted by: tonka_boy | December 10, 2007 at 08:51 PM

Rich Owings

Thanks tonka boy. I'm glad you found it helpful. Pretty nice site you have there too.

Posted by: Rich Owings | December 10, 2007 at 09:23 PM

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