Anyone own a Magellan GPS?

[outback jack]

Anyone in AUS have any expierances with the handheld magellan triton 400/500 models or any other suitable bike models. Are the maps any good for offroad etc. Did a quick search but didn't find to much in the archives.

[What's his Face]

i got a explorist 500 with discover australia in it and am happy

it does have its limitaions though compared to the new fangled ones

it doesnt tell you to turn left and right when you want to go some where

and i can't find a hardwire kit for it only cigarette lighter plugs which dont last long on a bike ( but the battery last for a day and a half so i just charge it at night)

other wise the mapping seems good
i can be goin through some snotty single track in the middle of nowhere and it is telling me it is a road

thay are pretty tough little gadgets and the best part is they are cheap

good luck

[SafariBerg]

Originally Posted by outback jack

Anyone in AUS have any expierances with the handheld magellan triton 400/500 models or any other suitable bike models. Are the maps any good for offroad etc. Did a quick search but didn't find to much in the archives.

total crap bought one early this year had endless problems after much hassel with the retailer finally managed to get refund and bought a Garmin 76cx, no issues ever since just smiles.

[fetid_swamp]

meridian colour with oliverk shonky maps (natmap 250k) and DAST &
explorist 500 with oliverk shonky maps (natmap 250k) and DAS.

both have been faultless, rugged performers. many 10's of thousands of k's used and am very happy.
cheap too. can be tricky to setup but that is true for the garmin hand helds too as i've had to help their users too.

triton series have a bad rep. i would stay away.

[chadley]

I have an explorist 500 that I bought in the states a couple of years ago, and bought a bike mount from GPS Oz (I think Burnie is a member here).
If you can afford the DAST Topo (about $300 on top, but don't quote me) then you've got a great system.
Unfortunately the distributor for Magellan in Australia is a bit hard to get on with, especially if you don't buy the unit in Oz, and I also believe that there is a bit more digital mapping software for the Garmin that is also a bit cheaper.
If you have a look at www.gpsaustralia.net/forums there is quite a lot of info, you just have to search around and maybe ask some questions.
I've had Magellan before, and I like the product. Otherwise I would have bought a Garmin.
The Johhny Appleseed site is also good for a bit of research.

Good luck

[Dukehunt]

heve explorist 500 with DAST, has been excellent, only selling due to eyes not being as good as they were and can't be bothered to carry glasses all the time whilst riding.

[ShanefromOz]

Hi I have a Magellan – Meridian Color with 3 sets of maps loaded 1 Base maps for Australia 2 Discover Australia & 3 Great desert Tracks I have never had a problem with it in fact its more accurate than my new Zumo the meridian show more tracks and in more detail maps are better and show more detail but I need the Zumo for work to navigate for me .[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
it does have its limitations though compared to the new fangled ones
it doesn’t tell you to turn left and right when you want to go some where
This is for sale its in good nick all the maps are loaded the unit is ready to go, never been in a fall water proof (floats)
It comes with the maps on disk for back up, 1Gb SD card, bike mount, car mount, power lead (cig lighter) if you want it hard wired just cut the cig lighter of and hard wire easy as, computer lead, User manual (Hard copy),and a soft carry case. That’s all I think
Make me a offer a reasonable one
Cheers
Shane

[hoyks]

I have triton 400 running shonkymaps. I have had it for 2 years now.

First thoughts; 'what have I done '. There was no Aus support and it didn't work real well.

Since then there was new a software upgrade and shonkymaps were released. So it is 100% better, it gets a non committal ‘alright’ rating now. It acquires quickly and tracks your trip to ridiculous accuracy so you can see speed heading and altitude on the map when you get home, feature I have used once.

Down side is it sucks down the batteries as you need the back light on to see the screen, I run it off the bikes power through the USB cord. The screen is small so you have to slow to see things clearly and the buttons are small and difficult to push with gloved fingers.
You can save routes to the unit at home, but starting a route from ½ way along is a bit of a pain as there is no easy way to do it, same as going from B to A instead of A to B, it doesn’t cope well.

Magellan is keen to hang onto their intellectual property, so most on line applications like Google and yellow pages maps aren’t compatible.

[outback jack]

Thanks for the feed back, all good info regarding different models. Does anyone know which has the bigger screen between Garmin or Magellan handhelds, or which is easier to read and operate.

[GodSilla]

Garmin 60 and 70 series have a transflective TFT screen (or some such wanky name) that is actually BRIGHTER in direct sunlight, where the magellan tritons I have seen the LCD screen washes out in full sunlight so you can hardly see anything.
The other comment, and this is anecdotal, is that the tritons aren't so rugged and a few have had misery from them.

Personally, I chose the 60 series handheld from Garmin, couldn't be happier, it's one tough little nugget and does everything I need, plus a whole lot more. Excellent battery life too (replaceable AA's can last 24 hours plus) and easy to use the bike battery power, IPX7 waterproof and hardened from the factory.

BurnieM may have some definitive info on the tritons.

[paddyhannen]

Originally Posted by GodSilla

Garmin 60 and 70 series have a transflective TFT screen (or some such wanky name) that is actually BRIGHTER in direct sunlight, where the magellan tritons I have seen the LCD screen washes out in full sunlight so you can hardly see anything.
The other comment, and this is anecdotal, is that the tritons aren't so rugged and a few have had misery from them.

Personally, I chose the 60 series handheld from Garmin, couldn't be happier, it's one tough little nugget and does everything I need, plus a whole lot more. Excellent battery life too (replaceable AA's can last 24 hours plus) and easy to use the bike battery power, IPX7 waterproof and hardened from the factory.

BurnieM may have some definitive info on the tritons.

Just bought a triton 1500, have been round magellans for years, mate had some problems at the end of his explorists life but its been bashed constantly for 7 or so years now so euthinasia is probably in order.
SAS boys run the magellans,which seems to mean more available software. doesent need to be pretty, as long as it works.

[rattlecan]

I'm tossing two Explorist XL's in the trash today with all associated cables, chargers, mounts etc. Junk. Since Magellan no longer repairs their own crap, I figure, why trade these in for something else that will probably break? Too bad, because I really liked some features and the topo software, just can't keep one working.