Oregon 650 With City Nav Maps

[Ralphieboy]

I just finished 500 miles of testing the Northern Tier Route for AC. I used the Garmin 800 and the Garmin Oregon 650. The 800 worked flawlessly, however the 650 failed to give turn by turn directions and seldom knew what roads we were on. In fairness, I only had the 650 for a couple of days before departing on the trip so it could be a simple case of "operator error" but I don't think so. Anyone ever use an Oregon 650 for bicycle navigation?

[jsieber]

I just finished 500 miles of testing the Northern Tier Route for AC. I used the Garmin 800 and the Garmin Oregon 650. The 800 worked flawlessly, however the 650 failed to give turn by turn directions and seldom knew what roads we were on. In fairness, I only had the 650 for a couple of days before departing on the trip so it could be a simple case of "operator error" but I don't think so. Anyone ever use an Oregon 650 for bicycle navigation?

It sounds like you do not have a "routable" base map installed on the Oregon 650, but you do on your Edge 800. The Oregon 650 will require having the City Navigator maps from Garmin or it could also be possible to install the Open Street Maps on the device as well. That is what I use with my Edge 800. Hope this helps.

[Ralphieboy]

Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention in my original post that the 650 does have Garmin's City Navigator map card installed. that's why I find the situation so puzzling.

[mdxix]

This could be for a number of factors. However, without getting too much into them, we have received very little positive feedback that the turn prompts are reliable.

It has been very common that, when the GPS unit attempt to calculate the turn prompts, it misinterpret the route, hence giving false turn prompts. This is more challenging with City Navigator as it does not contain trails.

I have used various Edge mapping devices (705, 810, & 1000) with routes from various sources (GPSies, Ride with GPS, & Garmin Connect). While they work most of the time, there are enough times that they give me incorrect turn prompts. Instead, I rely on following the visible track on the screen.

[granville]

I have used the Oregon 450 for five tours, by trial and error I have ended up with a system of route planning that works for me. Mostly I do my planning on Google maps (in the UK there is a cycle option), save and converting to gpx tracks. Then I fine tune in Basecamp. Making routes rather than tracks  just seems more difficult and like mdxix I find it easy to follow the line. I have made a few routes on the Oregon whilst on tour but it was a pain in the neck to do the planning on such a small screen and the warning to turn when following a route are just annoying.

How did the visibility of the screens on these devices compare in the daylight? They are different generations and the Oregon should have been easier to view than the 800.

[Ralphieboy]

How did the visibility of the screens on these devices compare in the daylight? They are different generations and the Oregon should have been easier to view than the 800.

The 650 was great in the sun, somewhat better tan the 800, however the 650 never really had any good information to see. it seldom knew where it was.... the 800 on the other and never missed a beat....