Garmin Colorado 300 Reviews

The GPS SuperStore.™ Since 1994.

Canada

1-866-GPS-CITY • Live Chat

Cart (0)

What's New in GPS	What's New in Mounts	Rebates	Testimonials	Reviews	Videos	Gallery	Events

Home > GPS Receivers > Outdoor GPS
Garmin Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver

Customer Reviews and Ratings for Garmin Colorado 300
	Average rating: (4.1/5.0 based on 26 ratings) 15 reviews 1 review 6 reviews 1 review 2 reviews Click here to Add Your Own Review. It's quick and easy. No login required. 80% of our reviewers recommend this item.


Da military Frenchie Winnipeg, MB, Canada Dec 29, 2009	BEST USE INDOORS ONLY Pros: looks cool and that's it! Cons: thumbwheel falls off, dark screen, battery burner Some of the boys I work with (military ones) bought some of these and they aren't too pleased with this unit. It has a BIG screen indeed, but that feature alone chews batteries in no time. Plus, you just can't see anything from it in broad day light. The screen is dark compared to some other units we've owned and tested in the field. And just so you all know, if you ever clip the thumb wheel out of its socket and you get any grit, sand, water or anything else in there, your GPS is toast!! We've seen it twice already. The poorly design allows you to pop the thumb wheel way too easy (if you own one, try it and you'll see), allowing anything contaminants to enter the GPS and turning it into a very cool expensive door stopper or a rear view mirror bling-bling. If you want the best of the best from Garmin, for outdoor use, in any terrain and weather, with the best features and military worthy, go with the GPSMAP 60Cx or 60CSx. You won't be disappointed! Recommend? NO 57 viewers found this helpful.

oneye Erinsville Ontario Nov 26, 2009	COLORADO 300 THE BEST Pros: bright and easy >> love it used on my four wheeler, I have the adaptor to plug it in and as bright as my car GPS. Finding my tree stand in the dark is a breeze. Recommend? YES 48 viewers found this helpful.

Jason R. Delta, BC Aug 17, 2009	OREGON 300: A WORK IN PROGRESS Pros: small, fast, feature rich Cons: gps accuracy, no hard buttons The Garmin Oregon 300 (using firmware 3.10) is the 3rd Garmin GPS in our household. The first being a GPS II+, and the second being a GPS V. The GPS V is a map capable unit that works extremely well, however it is constrained by it's display, available memory and overall interface responsiveness and time to calculate routes. I have found the GPS V receiver to be fast and accurate. The Oregon 300 is a huge improvement over the GPS V with it's display, memory capacity and interface responsiveness however while the Oregon GPS receiver seems very sensitive, it does not seem to be as accurate as the older GPS V. For example with the GPS V and Oregon mounted on the centre of the dashboard while driving, with "lock to road" turned off and using the same map scale, the GPS V and the Oregon do not agree with the vehicles proximity to the road. The GPS V usually displays it's position much closer or on the road compared to the Oregon. With "lock to road" turned on, the Oregon 300 will frequently appear to "jump" to adjacent roads! It is also odd that the Oregon will frequently indicate speed, while the GPS is actually stationary. This diminishes the users confidence regarding the results of actual speed and time calculations. To date I have never seen WAAS work on the Oregon, while it usually becomes active after 1-2 minutes with the GPS V in the same situation. However, enabling WAAS really slows down the GPS V map refresh and route calculations. Obviously I haven’t seen WAAS working on the Oregon to know what impact the feature may have on overall device performance. Apparently the Oregon receiver has far more channels (20) than the GPS V (12), so potentially, enabling WAAS on the Oregon may have minimal impact on other GPS functions. Another issue with the Oregon appears to be elevation accuracy. While driving through mountain summits with elevation posted at the side of the road, the GPS V elevation field is usually +/-2 metres of the posted elevation. The Oregon elevation indicator, even after calibrating the barometer, is frequently +/-20 to 30 metres, and that's on a good day. I have the Oregon set to calibrate the barometer at power up, but it would be nice to just use the GPS signal to calculate elevation, as this method has proved very accurate with the GPS V. In many respects the Oregon touch screen is a step backwards. For example, to cancel a routing activity, while staying on the map, requires the following user actions: GPS V: 1) Press “Menu” Key. 2) Press “Enter” Key for “Stop Navigation”. Oregon: 1) Press “X” for Menu. 2) Press “Where to” for navigation controls. 3) Press “Stop Navigation”. 4) Press “Map” to get back to the map. Plus, now there are more finger prints all over the screen, and more attention has been required to perform the sequence on the Oregon, which is distracting while driving. Having said all that, the Oregon calculates routes very quickly. A route that takes 2 minutes to calculate on the GPS V, takes no more than several seconds (<5) on the Oregon. However, if a route re-calculation is required, sometimes the Oregon will get completely confused, requiring the route calculations be stopped, and the routing process restarted from scratch. The vehicle navigation map view is a nice feature. The Geocaching features of the Oregon look very promising, but it’s too bad that a subscription to the Geocaching.com website is required to get the cache description details directly downloadable to the unit. Considering all the information is accessible on the website, it is a very contrived circumstance to drive subscriptions. I haven’t done a lot of Geocaching with the Oregon, but it appears that once a cache has been found, it is moved to a “found” list, and I haven’t figured out how to revert a cache to “unfound” status. (This is would be really useful for training exercises with Scouting and Guiding groups - which I do.) Garmin GPS units have a reputation for being a bit rough around the edges when they are introduced, but are known to mature as customer feedback for feature improvements and additional time is put into “tuning” the receiver performance with firmware updates. I feel comfortable that the majority of the issues I have mentioned above with the Oregon will be resolved or minimized with future firmware updates, at least, I sure hope so :-) This is a great resource for any Oregon owners: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/ Recommend? YES 71 viewers found this helpful.

Barb Lac La Biche, Alberta Aug 15, 2009	GREAT OUTDOOR GPS Pros: geocaching incorporated Cons: battery life Bought the Corado 300 a month ago and took it with me to France to do some Geocaching. It worked well. No glitches so far. Still need to play with it to figure out all the options. Recommend? YES 68 viewers found this helpful.

Jason Edmonton, AB Jul 5, 2009	VERY GOOD GPSR FOR GEOCACHING Overall I like the Colorado 300 and would definitely recommend it for geocaching. It has all of the features that we use while out on the trails. The screen is dimmer than the 60CSx, but has a much higher level of detail. We've found that the screen is very good in bright light, but needs to be brightened when in the car between caches. The loading of GPX files from GSAK works very well, and all of the geocaching logs and hints are moved over. We've found this completely eliminates our need to take paper with us out on the trails. We are getting very good life out of new NiMH rechargeable batteries (~4-5 hours of continuous use). The roller wheel allows for one hand use, and with a little customization of the menus, everything is within a few clicks of the button. We would prefer to have had a lanyard instead of the carbiner. We're very happy with the unit. We'll see if get the same live out of this one as our 10 year old Garmin Legend! Recommend? YES 86 viewers found this helpful.

gnorthern Oregon Jun 28, 2009	EASY FOR A PERSON NEW PERSON Pros: intuitive Cons: spelling things with the wheel (it is not precise) I quickly learned how to do everything I wanted to do. This included using waypoints, routes, maps, and finding destinations. I even easily found my first geocache today that I downloaded from geocaching.com. I should warn you to register immediately since that automatically upgrades your software and fixes bugs. Recommend? YES 69 viewers found this helpful.

Pade Europe Jun 17, 2009	OK BUT SOME DISSAPOINTMENTS Pros: geocaching, fast screens Cons: garmin quality control, if that exists Shipment was OK, but there are severe problems with the device. After about week my Garmin stopped working totally. Now I wait from Garmin support center RMA number to be able to send it to repairing. In Europe Garmin daughter companies do not tough devices bought from USA so I have to sent it to USA or Canada. Earlier I had 76CSplus. It was several years old, but there were some points where it was better waypoint averaging, you could more broadly tailor-made screens etc. However in the one week that my Colorado worked, it was OK for my purpose: Geocaching and boating. Recommend? YES 78 viewers found this helpful.

Ron Southern Utah Jun 7, 2009	4TH GPS UNIT Pros: ease of use, options, graphics, topo add-on, style Cons: must change settings for different types batteries Best one so far. I love the ease of navigation from one setting to the next. Very user friendly. I can not figure out how to manually type in coordinates but there has to be a way. Also, it does not allow to erase a single way point without erasing all waypoints. The dark screen comment is actually a plus in sunlight and is easy to convert to a back-lit screen. Rugged, very pleased. Need to figure out a few things since it is still a bit new. Recommend? YES 93 viewers found this helpful.

armorguy Metro Atlanta Apr 6, 2009	GREAT HANDHELD GPS Pros: highly water resistant, good screen Cons: getting used to the thumbwheel I bought the Colorado to replace by GPS60CSx which had been stolen from my truck. I like to Colorado's form factor, large screen, and the ability to really fine tune the backlight (yes, a quirky thing but important to me). As a semi-avid geocacher I really like the caching functions on the Colorado (direct import of GPX files, etc.). The major issue for me is getting used to the totally different user interface. The blackberry inspired thumbwheel takes some getting used to but now that I have figured out where things are it's making more sense. Recommend? YES 81 viewers found this helpful.

Tyrone Ball Buchans NL Mar 18, 2009	NOT FOR ME Pros: temperature guage, driving mode, geocashing Cons: screen was to dark ,no contrast control, I replaced my etex legent c with the colorado 300, this was such a backwards step for me,I could not see the screen on snowmobile at all,it would lock up,it would only show 1 track(needed more then 1)the wheel would not work, have to take out batteries to reset,the goto would leave a line not moving on screen but the arrow would move,big big disappontment for me,I returned it to get the 60csx, now this one it great,now with this being said anyone just getting into gps's then the colorado maybe for you it just wasn't for me. Recommend? NO 94 viewers found this helpful.

Gord Newfoundland, Canada Mar 12, 2009	GARMIN COLORADO 300 Pros: very user friendly Cons: dark screen is a major let down I like the GPS but am extremely disappointed with the dull screen. It is very hard to see, even with the back light on. I should have purchased the 60 CSx. Recommend? NO 87 viewers found this helpful.

Bruce Prince George BC Canada Jan 13, 2009	SCREEN TOO DARK Pros: temperature guage Cons: too dim, not bright enough, big problem for me The unit does everything I wanted it too, but I cant read or see it as the display is so dim. As a result I think I am going to send it back and try another. Also dissapointed in the slim track line, sometimes cant differentiate it from a road? Maybe I am doing something wrong??? Recommend? NO 131 viewers found this helpful.

Ray St Hilaire Calgary Jan 6, 2009	GARMIN COLORADO 300 HANDHELD GPS RECEIVER The order was ready for pickup on time before Xmas. This is my first handheld and I had no problems with the unit. The manual is not very good it could go into much more detail. The manual is basically useless. The Rock n Roller and Shortcut features are great. Although I have only used mine outside with ground covered with snow adding light, I had no problems in seeing the screen even in heavy bush. I would not hesitate to recommend it especially if it on special. Recommend? YES 123 viewers found this helpful.

Paul saunders Cox's Cove Dec 29, 2008	A STEP BACKWARDS FOR FIELD WORK We use garmin GPS's extensively for field work and currently rely on the GPSMAP 76 CSX. The Colorado 300 is a step backwards from this model and it was a big disappointment. The absence of multiple track display and the inability or difficulty to interface with third party software has made this unit unusable for our biological field activities. [Ed. note: Thank you! It is true Garmin made the unit more user friendly so anyone can use it but as a result some of the features used in the field for work were taken out. It is still recommended to use the 60csx or 76csx for field work. Colorado's are recommended for the first time GPS user.] Recommend? YES 136 viewers found this helpful.

Dan Calgary Dec 25, 2008	PLEASANTLY SURPRISED WITH PERFORMANCE -Shipping time was terrific. -Very good price(especially with factory rebate)for product. -Sensitive satellite reception. -Large memory -14.5 hours on batteries with light on. -Great screen resolution with some viewing problems. -Track management weak. -Garmin continues to provide firmware updates. -So far I'm happy with the Colorado. - Recommend? YES 116 viewers found this helpful.

DJ CT Dec 22, 2008	LOVE MY COLORADO... WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS... ) I LOVE this GPS its easy to use. 1. It has a friendly menu system. (Garmin quality!) 2. Has very good sensitivity. 3. Rock n Roller works very well & is convenient. 4. The carabiner is a nice addition to carrying options. Now on the down side... 1. Very difficult screen to see, I have adjusted to it now so that it is tolerable. Optimum is to use backlight on full all the time but it consumes too much power. 2. Goes through batteries like water. About 30% less power out of my lithium's that I got w/ my Garmin Legend. 3. There is now way to tether the GPS when the carabiner is off... (while using RAM mount) 4. TOPO maps are really cool too!! (purchased separately) I have mounted it to my snowmobile for winter and will go to my mountain bike next summer! Recommend? YES 114 viewers found this helpful.

André PECLARD Nov 15, 2008	COLORADO 300 The shipment went very well and without any problem. The Colorado 300 itself is a disappointment. It is supposed to replace my 60CS and it is not going to work. The Colorado has a dark screen that has to be lighted even in daylight which drains batteries far too rapidly. It also lacks a secondary attachment point for a wrist strap to secure the GPS itself, should the suction cup mount fails or the GPS glide out of it mainly when kayaking or paragliding. (The 60CS has this option) The Colorado also lacks “proximity waypoints” which are found on the 60CS. And finally the possibility to see pictures is disappointing, because the pictures are show in the wrong orientation thus showing a very small picture while leaving a large part of the screen unused. I have not found a way to turn them 90 degrees to have them fit with the whole screen Recommend? YES 138 viewers found this helpful.

André Péclard Nov 11, 2008	MR This Colorado 300 is my fourth Garmin GPS, and it makes me disappointed compared to my 60CS. The Colorado lacks a wrist strap which means I cannot secure it with a "second chance" when on my kayak or the paraglider. Should the cup mount fail (and it has in the past) the GPS will be lost. I also lack the "proximity waypoints" which are very useful in the 60CS. Finally having to use screen lighting even in daylight the battery life seems to be only about half of what the 60CS gave me. I also lack instructions how to load maps into the SD cards, there is very little explained about this in the user's manual. The rock and roller is great as well as the screen resolution when lighted Recommend? YES 126 viewers found this helpful.

koby Oct 27, 2008	i have navigated in the dark before but opening day duck season was foggy and got stuck in the channel of the river. That was when i decided i needed a gps i looked and the colorado 300 was the one i bought and ever sence i have no doubt in my mind where im at or where i am going. I enjoy all of the features, but the only thing that i would enjoy see rising would b the 15hrs on run time. Recommend? YES 113 viewers found this helpful.

Chris Sep 20, 2008	VERY GOOD GPS UNIT I've been using the Colorado 300 for a couple of days so far, previously used Garmin 12, XL12, 60, 72, 60CSx. The Colorado 300 is head and shoulders above these previous models though it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the 60CSx for mapping and sampling over the comming weeks. Pros: Large high resolution colour screen Temperature sensor USB connection Full size SD card slot Carabiner clip attachement Comfortable form factor and placement of rock and roller scroll wheel and 'soft' buttons. Detailed world base map Cons Slow loading background maps when set to 'highest detail' Slow boot up time compared to 60CSx Recommend? YES 123 viewers found this helpful.

Manny Jul 27, 2008	FANTASTIC PRODUCT. TOUGHER THAN EXPECTED. During a recent kayaking trip to South Llano River State Park, I had dropped my Colorado 300 in the river. I thought I had lost it and was very upset. The next morning I decided to see if the unit was still near the area where it was last seen. Sure enough about 100 feet from the location in the clear water about 4 foot deep, there it was and the next question was if it still worked. Pushed the power button and the Garmin logo came up and after about 10 seconds it shut off. Figured that it was the batteries that needed to be replaced I waited until arriving to our campsite to replace the batteries to do an operational test. The battery compartment had a few small drops of water in it and let it air dry for a few minutes before putting new batteries in it. After replacing the batteries the power was turned on and it was acquiring satellites which in then it was good to go. About 20 minutes later I was geocaching to a nearby cache and it led me right on top of the cache, and when I mean on top, the distance to it was 0 feet. I love this GPS. Thank you Garmin for making a great and durable GPS. Recommend? YES 119 viewers found this helpful.

Paul Apr 3, 2008	GARMIN COLORADO 300 This unit is the best GPS I have purchased to date. I have only owned 5 units of which the last two were Garmin but I have used many different makes and models and so far I find my new Colorado 300 the best one to date. Easy to use, easy to navigate menus, clear screen and all in a perfect size package. Thanks Garmin. Recommend? YES 128 viewers found this helpful.

Austin Simpson Feb 22, 2008	This is my 6th Garmin GPS and they just keep getting better. Boot up time could be faster. The software update 2.40 improved the boot time but after using a Garmin 60csx the boot time is slow. A thermometer at last and the higher resolution screen are great. I am a Canadian and a Canada 3D topo map would be the final touch. So far I just love my Colorado 300 and once again thank you Garmin. Recommend? YES 122 viewers found this helpful.

Follow:

Learn:

Videos, Q&A, Reviews

Gallery

Buzz:

Garmin Colorado 300 Handheld GPS Receiver