If you’re an outdoors type, you’ve got to check out the new Garmin Oregon Series GPS. I swear by my current Garmin, and this new Oregon series looks to be even better. We’ll follow up with another review, once we get our hands on one.

The Garmin Oregon series of handheld GPS devices for outdoor, marine and fitness enthusiasts, combines an intuitive touchscreen interface, rugged, resilient design and a variety of preloaded mapping options.

“The Oregon’s vibrant screen is responsive to the touch of your finger, yet resistant to the forces of nature,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Combining the touchscreen interface of our iconic automotive devices with the preloaded features of the acclaimed Colorado series makes this the ultimate outdoor handheld.”

Easy to learn and simple to use, the waterproof Oregon features a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, preloaded mapping and a high-resolution, color 3-inch screen that reacts as users tap or drag through menus and options. On a mountain or an ocean, satellite reception is even faster than before thanks to Garmin’s new HotFix™ feature, which automatically calculates and stores critical satellite information and can use that information to quickly calculate a position without waiting for data collection from the satellites.

The Oregon 400t gives hikers preloaded U.S. topographic maps in state-of-the-art 3D elevation perspective. The Oregon 400i offers anglers shoreline details, depth contours and boat ramps for U.S. inland lakes and navigable rivers. The Oregon 400c is a saltwater specialist, providing chart coverage for the coastal U.S. and Bahamas. The Oregon 300 features a worldwide basemap with shaded relief. The Oregon 200 provides a basemap that can be easily supplemented with additional mapping or charts for your adventures on land or at sea.

Garmin knows its users have many interests, so the Oregon lets you customize five profiles -automotive, marine, recreation, fitness or geocaching making the most beneficial features for each activity the easiest to access through quick shortcuts.

The Oregon series plays well with others, as the 400t, 400c, 400i and 300 allow for wireless exchange of tracks, waypoints and geocaches between other Oregon units and Colorado models. Each of these models is equipped with a barometric altimeter and electronic compass and is compatible with Garmin’s heart-rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors.

Geocaching is even easier with the Oregon, which quickly downloads online information for every cache, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description, so that you don’t have to tote printouts with you. Cachers and collectors will be hunting for a limited-edition geocoin minted to commemorate the launch of the Oregon series. Oregon users can experience Wherigo™, the newest GPS-based activity from Groundspeak, the people who made geocaching a worldwide phenomenon. Wherigo (pronounced “where I go”) is a toolset for creating and completing adventure games, historical tours or other innovative activities in the real world.

Weighing only 6.8 ounces with 16 hours of life from two AA batteries, the Oregon has a microSD card slot that is ideal for loading additional MapSource detail.