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Garmin Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver GPS
GPS Manufacturer: Garmin
Garmin Model: Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver
Review Category: GPS
Purchase: GPS I purchased this unit using an ebay "Buy It Now" auction at GPS Specials Store, in May of 2008. I wanted to upgrade from my Garmin Etrex Legend with a monochrome screen and eight megabytes of map loading memory. I paid $415 for the unit plus $14 shipping & handling. The 300 model has no extra optional mapping software internally. Additionally, I purchased the optional street level routeable maps, on DVD, by Garmin (City Navigator-North America NT)for $85 and a one gigabyte SD memory card for $12 at Wal-Mart store in Plainfield, Indiana.
Things I like about the Garmin Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver GPS: After using this unit for over a year I can say that it has been very reliable for me. I can get updates for the base software from Garmin's website (after registering unit) until the unit is no longer supported. No extra fee. The DVD's routable mapping software does work great. Exterior controls are simple and work well. The ambidextrose thumb wheel, on top, works well for information entry and is a vast improvement over my Legend's click stick. The internal memory of this unit is 384MB and currently holds routable maps and older Topo maps for six entire states. Folks, the memory still isn't full. Guess I could have held off on the 1GB SD card huh?
What I don't like about the Garmin Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver: Petty grievances I have with the unit are that it will eat regular alkaline batteries in short order. Also, any saved "bread crumb" tracks cannot be deleted by a menu driven deletion. I need to use a computer and find the track file to delete it. I need to be really careful not to delete something important. The electronic compass works well but is only two axis, so keep it level you must. Last, when you plug in the unit to a computer's USB port it turns the gps functions off and turns it into a mass storage device with the internal memory & (sd card) as a disk drive(s).
GPS Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver quality: I'll be honest here and tell you that I have really babied this unit because it took me a long time to save for it. I have maybe dropped it on the floor of my vehicle(no damage done). Outside, I keep it in it's case I bought from Garmin using the 10% off accessory merchandise coupon, included with the unit. The unit is made from tough abs plastic and seems to hold up well. The screen is scratch resistant but not scratchproof.
Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver summary: The Colorado 300 was a good upgrade for me. It works every day, on my job, getting me to new places, finding faster routes than I can think of and finds detours easily. During fishing season I use it to set my trolling speed of my outboard motor. During scouting and hunting season I sit and map likely stand areas on my computer then scout, eyeball, and mark waypoints for trees I want to try hunting from. I really consider this unit to be a vital piece of equipment for my navigational needs. I would definately recommend this unit to anyone looking to get one.
Rating for this Garmin product: 4
Author of this review on Garmin GPS: Indyarcher
Date: 2009-07-27
Usefulness Rating: 3.05833 out of 5.
120 reader(s) voted.
This Garmin GPS review brought to you by Hunting & Fishing Gear Review!
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