The end of Garmin Basecamp

Boyd

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Of course it's up to you, but I wouldn't pay $179 for a refurbished Oregon 450. It's a 10 year old device that was great in its day, but the technology is very old. No GLONASS or Galileo support, slow processor, so-so screen. What would I buy? Don't know, I'm not very interested in any of the current models. I still like my Montana but it also has a broken power button (common issue on Garmin handhelds).

Since you liked the 450, I'd look at the Oregon 700 or 600 if you can find one. I have never used one, but they are very popular. It's probably worth checking out the many smartphone apps before buying anything, most of them have free trials. I think Guy recently replaced his Oregon 450 with a Montana, would be interesting to hear his impressions.
 
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bobpbx

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My Oregon 450 has died, on/off button doesn't work. What do I do now? I have relied on Basecamp for creating routs and archive my trips. I hike and travel in the car. I have OnStar and they consintly give really stupid directions. The 450 was small and easy to use, I will miss it.

It is time for a Montana Ed. Don't get the one with the camera though, not necessary and just clutters up basecamp.

Also, Garmin refurbished my Montana for $180 and they paid shipping both ways.
 
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Boyd

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If you also want to use it in the car, the Montana is definitely a good choice. Get the auto cradle and City Navigator and it will even give you voice prompts. The Garmin 24k topo maps are routeable and will also do that.
 

Boyd

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Just be aware of the return/exchange policy when you buy. The Montana is considerably bigger and heavier than your Oregon 450 and some people have had a very negative reaction to that. I think the bigger screen makes it worth the difference, but it's a very personal thing.

And Garmin doesn't provide any kind of belt clip, the only way to attach something is a lanyard loop on the bottom. I rigged my own with a small nylon tie and an S-Biner which isn't great but it works.

s-biner.jpg


I don't understand why Garmin couldn't have provided some kind of clip like the Oregon. It's a big, heavy pendulum with my home-made clip. :mad:
 

Teegate

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My Oregon 450 has died, on/off button doesn't work. What do I do now? I have relied on Basecamp for creating routs and archive my trips. I hike and travel in the car. I have OnStar and they consintly give really stupid directions. The 450 was small and easy to use, I will miss it.

Ed,

I had the same problem. Garmin offered me a refurbished for $100 and I went with it. Sent the old back and received basically a new one.

I now have the Montana 600. If you want a small one like you have you should stick with the Oregon.
 

Teegate

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I think Guy recently replaced his Oregon 450 with a Montana, would be interesting to hear his impressions.

If he wants the same size GPS the $100 I paid for the refurbished was worth it to me. I acquired the Montana because I got a good deal on it. A refurbished unit. It works perfect except the alarm clock. It crashes it every time. I use the alarm here sometimes so I just bring out the Oregon and use that. And if Jessica wants one she uses it.
 
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Boyd

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$100 is about all I'd pay for an Oregon 450 - that even strikes me as rather high. But it was 2015 when Guy got that deal from Garmin (which I thought was really good). I'd be surprised if they still have any Oregon 450's laying around in 2019. Was just looking at GPSCity, they used to have a nice stock of refurbs and new models. Now there are virtually no touchscreen devices at all. Wonder what's up with that? Garmin just updated three pushbutton handheld devices, but no new touchscreens.

I think we're watching the slow death of handheld GPS devices, Garmin is the only remaining company. I thought seriously about replacing my broken Montana a couple months ago and looked all over the web but didn't find a thing that interested me. The newer version of the Montana is a minor update and usually goes for ~$450 new. I'm not going to spend that much just to replace my 2011 technology. For awhile, there were a lot of Montana refurbs but I haven't seen any recently. Same for the Oregon 600 and 700.

One curious thing about the Oregon 600 vs 700... the Oregon 600 can use 500 custom map tiles, just like the Montana (your Oregon 450 can only use 100 tiles). This lets you load a 5x larger portion of my maps. For some strange reason, the Oregon 700 reverted back to the 100 tile limit.
 

Jason Bladzinski

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TomTom and Magellan have angered a lot of people by dropping lifetime map subscriptions. At least Garmin has been better at that, I haven't heard any serious complaints from people with older automotive devices.

I think we are just seeing Garmin adapt to a rapidly changing market and allocate their resources to maximize profit. They probably think Basecamp is already "good enough", and I don't really disagree. But the problem with not being able to send maps to the GPS is outrageous. It just has to be a bug, and not something intentional. If they wanted to stop you from sending maps, they would just discontinue MapInstall, or have it put up a message that third party maps aren't supported.

So I'd guess it's just sloppy coding, because this problem never existed in old versions of the software. And by the time users started complaining, Garmin had already pulled the plug on Basecamp and assigned their programmers to another project. There is no incentive for them to fix this, aside from pleasing people who are using free third party maps instead of buying Garmin products. So they must be aware of the problem, but 7 months later, it hasn't been fixed and Garmin says Basecamp is finished. My interpretation is that Garmin just gave the finger to anyone who wants to use alternative, free maps on their devices.

Now you can downgrade to the old Basecamp, and that is the immediate fix for the problem. But that isn't so easy and the "average guy" won't know how. You can also use Mapsource, Garmin's older software. AFAIK, it still runs on current versions of Windows. This thread discusses the problem and how to downgrade: https://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php?topic=4539.0

I'm not clear on whether the same map installation problem exists with the Mac version, I have heard conflicting stories. But the current 32 bit Basecamp won't work on the next operating system the Apple releases in 2019. Of course, you don't have to upgrade to that new operating system, and probably shouldn't with an older computer anyway. But when Apple releases new Macs, they won't run older operating systems. So, for example, if Apple introduces a new iMac in November 2019, it will only be compatible with 64-bit apps and can't be downgraded to an older operating system.

There are still some work-arounds - for both Windows and Macs - such as running a virtual machine with an old operating system that is compatible with Basecamp. But that can also get complicated, and is more than what the average user will want to do.

So.... my take is that you will probably be able to continue using Basecamp with your existing GPS, although there may be additional hoops to jump through and bugs are not going to be fixed. At some point, Garmin may roll out a web portal that completely replaces basecamp for your older devices. But if you buy a new Garmin handheld, they are going to steer you towards the web portal and at some point, the new devices won't work at all with Basecamp. The link I posted above is specifically for the GPSMap66 handheld which was released a couple months ago. This is what they recommend:

"This web portal allows users multiple feature advantages. We recommend using the Explore Website for management of waypoints, locations, activities, tracks, and routes. "
Smartphone agps is superior now anyway. You can download entire maps of the area for offline use, and most maps and apps are free. I suggest backcountry navigator. Tons of maps to choose from and all the bells and whistles with dropping and creating way points, recording your track through the area, and so on. It's free on the play store or the app store, and like $5 for the payed version that gives you unlimited maps to download. Plus, free updates. Check it out.
 

Boyd

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This is bad news, because the current version of Basecamp/MapInstall cannot send maps to your GPS. When you try, everything seems to work OK, but when you look at the map on the GPS, it has no detail. So you can't send a third party map to your device now, like the maps at GPSFileDepot or my maps. My solution is to offer a separate download of the map file to install on the GPS, avoiding the use of Garmin's software.

Here's an update on this old problem. A couple days ago, Garmin FINALLY released an update to MapInstall that (supposedly) fixes the problem with sending third party maps to your GPS. Have not tested this myself, but if it's true then that is good news - although it took them a year and a half to fix the problem.

It turns out that this problem never affected the maps that I make. It only affected old-style "registry-based" maps for Windows computers. This old system of storing map data was abandoned by Garmin many years ago, however most third-party mapmakers still use it anyway. I switched my maps to Garmin's new format many years ago. The problem never affected Macintosh maps, which have always used Garmin's new format.

Basecamp should automatically ask if you want to update, or you can download directly here:


Again, this is only for Windows computers. I have not tested it myself, so "caveat emptor". ;)
 
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