Handheld GPS Reviews - Customer reviews - Garmin Colorado 400T Portable GPS System With Preloaded Topographic Maps

Manufacturer: Garmin

List Price: $639.99
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Used Price: $553.84

Average Customer Rating: -

Product details

Offers (85)

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Spotlight customer reviews:

Name: Grant Fritchey
Location: MA
Date: 2008-02-20
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Wonderful for the Amateur
Comment: I'm not one of those extreme high-end geocachers. I just love a walk in the woods. However, I want to find the cache when I go to look for it. Last year I upgraded from a Garmin Explorer to a 60CSX and was in love. Unfortunately that got stolen. I've saved my money and now have the Colorado 400t. It's everything my 60CSX was and more. The new rocker control is a lot easier to use than the controls on the 60CSX or the Explorer. The accuracy is fantastic. With the City maps plugged in the road navigation is wonderful. This really is the best GPS unit I've used for hiking & caching. I'm really impressed with the ability to swap between profiles, using the Automotive until I hit the trail and then switching back to the Geocaching mode. Start up time & satellite acquisition are good. They're now supporting SD instead of the mini-SD cards and that's a good choice on Garmin's part. A lot of the new interfaces are improved over the old ones plus, like the old ones they're customizable.
Like everyone else, the fact that only one cache at a time is visible is a pain, but all the other features quickly wash that away. I haven't found the maps to be inaccurate, but then I mainly use it for off-road hiking and the hills, mountains & streams are pretty solidly in place, even in Massachusetts. It is a little dim in bright sunlight.
Despite these small shortcomings, this is a wonderful GPS unit. I intend to get years of use (and hang on to it more tightly).

UPDATE: Garmin released a software patch that fixed the problem with displaying multiple cache's. That's one less of the few and small negatives to worry about. I'm still loving this GPS unit.

Name: David W. Ranck
Location: Ledyard, CT USA
Date: 2008-04-07
Customer Rating: -

Summary: A Great MultiPurpose GPS
Comment: I've had my 400t for a couple of weeks now and have had it on several day hikes. I've also used it in the car hooked up with the car kit. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase. Is it perfect? No, but the last firmware update dealt with the most egregious issues and it seems to be improving all the time. The shaded topo maps are great-looking and extra features like those for geocaching are a welcome addition. The rock-and-roll controller works well when operating the unit with one hand.

I would suggest using either high-capacity (2500 mA or higher) NimH or lithium batteries for maximum battery life. In addition, make certain to set the battery type correctly. If set incorrectly, the unit may indicate low battery, even when the batteries have life left in them.

My biggest complaint is the woeful inadequacy of the manual. It is more of a quick start guide than a detailed manual. There is an online Wiki that can be helpful, but Garmin should release a much better document.

Name: Gary Anderson
Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA
Date: 2008-03-28
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Best GPS I Ever Owned
Comment: This is an extremely cool GPS.

The screen is gorgeous. Big and sharp. The Topo 2008 maps look so cool with shading and 3-D.

The new control wheel really makes it easy to use. Far easier than any other Garmin unit.

It is well built, looks very cool and feels really good in your hand.

The recent firmware updates have solved most of the problems early buyers encountered when it first came out. I have no real complaints or problems that bother me.

I use it for hiking, biking, and driving. I put a 8GB SD card in and was able to load a lot of maps. I am really enjoying using it on my weekend explorations here in New Mexico.

I highly recommend it. Well worth the price.

Name: Heidi Voeltner
Location: Stockton, CA United States
Date: 2008-05-09
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Paperless JOY
Comment: I have had my Colorado for almost two months now and I thoroughly enjoy it. I download all my caches from the website with hints, logs, etc all ready for my use. I completely appreciate the fact that I do not have to print out caches. I have found the accuracy to be very good in my area and have not had any technical problems. I absolutely love this item and would recommend it to anyone. I realize the price is high but it is well worth it to only have to carry one item and have all the information right there. I would buy it again in a second.

Name: J. Robison
Location: San Ramon, CA USA
Date: 2008-06-11
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Great product once I got a good unit...
Comment: After reading the reviews, both pro and con I decided to give the 400t a try. After all, a company like Garmin would surely have resolved such blantant faults as were encountered by some of the reviewers, right? Well, yes and no. The unit I bought was horrible. The promise was there, but so was the ridiculously poor battery life 4-6 hours with 2650mAh batteries, constant self-rebooting and shut-down, and freezing requiring the batteries to be removed to reset the unit. I installed the latest OS (2.51 beta) with no improvement. I called customer support who suggested I return the unit, which I suspected was just a lame response to my problem. Well, I was wrong! The new unit is great - battery life of 14-16 hours, no rebooting or freezing, and everything works great. As others have noted, the manual clearly lacks the necessary detail to fully understand some of the advanced capabilities, but that can be dealt with. Clearly, there is a hardware issue with earlier units and if you experience any of the known problems you should immediately exchange the unit for a newer model. However, once past that issue I was very pleased with the unit. Note that the preloaded US Topo map has inaccurate street locations. I purchased City Maps 2008 and everything is now dead-on. Note that the unit can use multiple maps at the same time, such as topo info from the base map and street info from City Maps. I also have the National Parks West, 24k Topo and have all three active most of the time. However, once off the road I shut off City Maps so the topo lines from the base and topo maps display rather than just the elevation shading which is the only elevation info that displays when City Maps is on. Excellent turn-by-turn navigation with routing and ETA times far more accurate than than the factory unit in my Expedition. After my initial dismay with the first unit, I have been extremely pleased with the replacement exceding all expectations.

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