Not in Kansas Anymore

Just bought a Garmin Oregon 400t.

It was an extremely confusing and difficult experience.

Everyone I talked to suggested I call the 800 number and talk to their customer tech support line, but I hesitated. My twin brother, Captain John of Ayalasandbox.blogspot.com was sympathetic, even let me use his account to publish this blog, but . . .

Ever tried calling a tech support line? Don't you hate automated attendants. I'd rather go sailing without a GPS unit than talk to a machine, or . . .

And the Garmin Web Site? I spent a couple of useless hours trying to figure out if the Oregon 400t would be compatible with a marine chart. Sure, if I was fishing in Michigan, or Wisconsin, or even Minnesota . . . I could buy an SD card with an inland lake, THAT was clear. But if I'm a blue (salt) water sailor? Don't get me started!

The web site made it clear I could buy an Oregon 400c, but where do I go to get that? My local Best Buy didn't have that model, it was Thursday and I wanted to go sailing the next Sunday. And why did the tech specs say microSD card, but the map product I wanted was SD? Are there compatibility issues here?

After a very frustrating 24 hrs, I had 938 of my OCSC friends telling me to buy either MapSource, or Bluechart, whatever that was. They told me it worked great on their Garmin handhelds, you know, the ones where the unit is twice the size of the screens, the ones with buttons and attennas sticking out.

But hey, they all loved their Garmins, so what if I had to go to West Marine and shell out a bunch of money for maps . . .

So I did, and $139 later, I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Stay tuned as I relate my experience.