Inreach Explorer vs Oregon 600T

I find the maps on the inReach+ to be excellent - except for a couple of items - first, the screen is a bit on the small side. Zooming in or out to get the level of detail you need remedies this for the most part. Second, after you have done a number of excursions, you have the clutter of track points and potentially tracks. You can go to "History" and remove tracking information you no longer need. Keep in mind that to have a hand-sized device that has a large number of functions you have to make compromises. That's why I always carry paper maps in addition to the inReach and GPSR.

There was a SciFi movie a few years back where the scientists had a mapping device that rolled up a thin sheet of display material so you could have a map the size of a newspaper that could be rolled up when you needed to see the whole region. There have been experimental versions of this kind of device. Unfortunately there still are a number of obstacles to be overcome to make such a flexible, large size map display. Oh, and the map was transparent so you could hold it up to see through the sheet and match the scene you were looking at.

But one step in that direction that is available is to use Earthmate in your IPhone or Android phone. And there are tablets. Of course, these are bulky, a sacrifice you have to make if you want a large-sized detailed map.

At least in North America, the topo maps on both devices are 1:100000. Contour interval varies by location and is not in any way apparent on the inReach. Not sure about the Oregon 600T. Note that the source of the maps is different. The inReach uses the DeLorme combined topo/road maps. The Oregon uses Garmin maps. I don't know for sure, but the Garmin maps likely do not include roads since Garmin likes to charge extra for routing. (The inReach cannot do road routing unless you draw a route that happens to follow roads. Just pointing out that the maps have road data and were routable on the old DeLorme handhelds.)

I don't know about comparative quality of the GPS hardware. I have never used an Oregon. I have never had a problem with the accuracy of the fix on an inReach device. At least, none that cannot be accounted for by common problems such as obstacles blocking a large portion of the constellation or multi-path effects. Do note that longer intervals between track points on the inReach can result in degradation of track detail.

We'll see if I get moderated for mentioning another manufacturer repeatedly in the post :p