Is Santa going to bring you a GPS?

Garmin Oregon 400t

We have used GPS receivers since Garmin came out with their GPS III+ and have not taken a long auto or motorcycle trip without one in years. The advances in GPS receiver technology has been astounding, making paper road maps almost obsolete.

Wildland firefighters rely on them for requesting helicopter or air tanker support, for emergency extrication, recording the location of new fires or spot fires on existing fires, measuring the acreage of fires, as well as navigating to a fire.

Garmin has been one of the leaders in GPS receivers, if not THE default supplier of GPS units. The user interface on their newer units has become very intuitive and easy to use.

One particular new Garmin receiver that would be of interest to wildland firefighters and anyone else who spends a lot of time out of doors is the Oregon 400t. It has an amazing suite of features, including:

• Topo maps for the entire United States.
• 3-d map view.
• Shaded base map for the entire world.
• The maps include national, state and local parks and forests.
• Swaps waypoints and routes wirelessly with other Garmin units.
• Electronic compass that works even when you are stationary.
• Area calculation.
• Waterproof.
  

Google product search has a list of sellers of the Oregon 400t, with prices ranging from $439 to $700. Suggested retail price is $600. Walmart sells it for $485.