Setting up a Garmin Dakota and Oregon GPS

Purpose of visit:

• Training on Garmin Dakota and Oregon range
• Introduction to Garmin’s new GB Discoverer All of Great Britain 1:50K Maps
• How to set up a GPS and to enjoy the peaks!

Loving Outdoors were recently invited to learn all about the Garmin GPS range, in particular focusing on the Dakota and Oregon series. GPS Training, which host various outdoor training events across the UK were at hand to provide us with all the knowledge we needed.

Scott and Joe from Loving Outdoors headed out last week to report…

The event was held in a picturesque Cumbrian location, Mungrisdale Village. Nestled between some fabulous peaks and walking routes. We arrived to some fresh coffee and biscuits, perfect after a long drive from Manchester. The two organisers Peter and Pete were brilliant, very friendly and knew all about using GPS technology on the hills. Just in case they got asked a difficult question, Matt from Garmin was on hand.

So what did we learn?

Well using a GPS is a must nowadays for anyone who is serious about walking outdoors. Yes, you can use a map and compass and both are still recommended for navigating challenging peaks but they have there limitations. The Garmin Dakota’s and Oregon’s come packed with useful features helping you to stay on track, monitor progress and alert the emergency services of your exact location should you get lost.

Are they simple to use?

In one word yes. Within 5 minutes of picking up the Garmin GPS we were outside navigating to Way points. A new feature on the Garmin’s is the Tap and Go that means you can tap anywhere on the screen and click GO. No need to enter lengthy British Grid coordinates. You can also view the compass on the map page, go Geo caching, check your altitude, sunset and sunrise and hundreds more. We loved the fact it could be used on a bike or in a car too, allowing you to change your “dashboard” to suit your transportation mode.

Introduction to Garmin’s new GB Discoverer All of Great Britain 1:50K Map on one MicroSD card: Quick Review >>

During our visit we were also introduced to Garmin’s new mapping that covers the whole of the UK in 1:50K. Previously if you wanted the whole of the UK you needed to buy three regions each priced at over £120. They would also come on three separate MicroSD cards. Now you can get the full UK mapping, with all regions, in 1:50K for less than £200, on one MicroSD card! They include all the National Parks, of course, but also the Navteq road map data. So you can use it in the car, navigating at street level (so straight to someones front door in the UK). It also includes hundreds of thousands of Points of Interest with phone numbers! So if you don’t know the address of telephone number of KFC or Sainsbury’s you can do a simple search.

It is a fantastic map, perfect for many needs. Imagine using it to drive around the UK in the car, to navigate up Ben Nevis on foot and then to cycle around the Cotswold on a bicycle! And it is not just us that thinks this, Ed Leigh part of the England ski team does too. Oh and by the way, a Garmin Dakota is the same as a Garmin Oregon. It is just smaller, same features!

How to set up a Garmin Dakota or Garmin Oregon. IMPORTANT!

Since GPS devices are so intelligent, probably why the Army use them, they come with a host of features. Garmin GPS devices are built in Taiwan and the States so often they are not set up for UK use. So now, drum roll, we are going to tell you how to set one up out of the box. If you ignore this the chances are your Dakota or Oregon will not be working properly, that includes navigation, GPS accuracy and compass direction. Be warned.

So here goes:

• 1) First begin by resetting the device to delete any data and to start from scratch. You can do this by going into SETUP and clicking RESET. Make sure you reset all options. If you have Way points saved you can probably leave this setting.

• 2) Now whilst in SETUP got to POSITION FORMAT and make sure this is set to British Grid.

• 3) Still in SETUP go to SYSTEM and select WAAS enabled. WAAS was previously turned off globally and is a better satellite system. It has since been turned on and is available now for use with consumer GPS devices. It improves accuracy by 5 times over normal settings!

• 4) Finally in SETUP go to HEADING. Change Display to Numeric (If you are using this for military purposes change it to Mills). Make sure North Reference is in Magnetic and Compass is set to Auto. Finally Calibrate the compass.

• 5) You are now done and probably have the most set up GPS on the planet

• 6) Other features are more for personal preference.

TIP OF THE DAY

Garmin Dakota’s and Oregon’s use Lithium Batteries which can be very expensive. We would recommend Nickel-Metal Hydride as they are cheaper, last much longer and have a better life span.