Why not Magellan?

[Chacifer]

In light of recent questions asked in this thread and because of my own curiousity, I want to know why more people aren't using Magellan GPS's in the U.S.

I've been reading some product reviews, especially for the Magellan Meridian Color, and it seems like a good unit overall, not to mention you can expand the memory with SD cards and it's not that expensive.

Is it because there is a lack of aftermarket accessories (mounts for example)? Is it because of some defect in the software/hardware? Or are we all just sheep, buying Garmin because everyone else has it?

[Slimie]

I've got just the one you're talking about, and for the cost it's outstanding! One of the best things is that you can swap the basemaps easily, this meant that I could buy a Meridian in the USA (where $ = £), and change the basemap for a European one. Now that DirectRoute is available for Europe I have a GPSR that will plot a route and give me directions (on the screen, not spoken) for much less than £300. Although the routes tend to favour motorways, it's not too much of a problem!
Have a look at the Meridian user group on Yahoo if you're interested, like this place it can seem a bit negative as most posts are about problems!
I'm really very impressed with the Meridian Colour!

Simon

[Slimie]

PS - I've got a RAM handlebar mount for the Meridian on my GS, so no problems there, and two SD cards. One has the maps of the UK, the other Europe.

Simon.

[ZZR_Ron]

I was in the other thread as well, the Magellan bar mount is
available at my local Wal-Mart, and I live well...in the middle of nowhere.

[Stobie]

I have a Meridian Color, and like it a lot. It's got the most features, best display, and most potential memory of anything out there that's not the size of a small TV. The price is right, too.

[topes]

I read some reviews on-line. The fact that you can add memory is very cool. All the complaints I read had to do with the fact that it doesn't have a USB port. Users claim downloading through the serial port is extremely slow. I looked at them at my local Academy store. The battery cover is held on by two rather cheesey looking latches. Now, those latches may actually last forever but they look cheesey.

[mleir]

I started with the Map 330 and moved to the SportTrak Pro. The reason for the upgrade was because the 330 had the antenea break twice. They replaced it, after alot of pounding sand, with the Sport Trak Pro.

I just upgraded my GPS V with a 2610....

They both have pluses and minuses.

Magellan was faster to upload regions to the GPS than the GPS V buy a huge margin (have not tried with the 2610 yet).
You ahve better control of the exact area you upload. In the Magellan software you click and drag to make a selection. Garmin you click predetermined regions to upload (ex: Minneapolis is made up of 4 regions).

Magellan, at the time, had no turn by turn routing. I now understand that you can do turn by turn routing inside you downloaded regions, otherwise its as the crow flies.

This becomes a huge issue crossing mountains. If you ahve not downloaded the detail map, your ETA (other side of the mountain) is calculated by a straight line to the destination. A 30 min ETA could become 1.5 hours. Also Magellan calculates the ETA by your current speed. Garmin uses your overall average, which is much better IMHO.

Garmin keeps track of the little things like overall ave, stopped time, moving time.

Magellan makes a decent GPS. I just think that Garmin has a better product for motorvehicles. Once I get my 2Gig flash card I will have every single road downloaded and available on my GPS.

[mac62]

We're sheep.

[Castle]

I've got a SporTrak Pro on a RAM mount and am happy with it. The buttons are easier to use than the comparable Garmin unit. Planning a trip on such a device is painful as it requires inputting a lot of waypoints. I generally use the moving map to tell me where I am and what is near - far easier than trying to look at a map on the tankbag. I really like the speed and direction readouts.

Now for the caveat..... I didn't have to pay for my SporTrak Pro and I didn't have a choice of which GPS to acquire. It appears that, with the exception of the new Magellan Roadmate, the fancy Garmins have better features. FWIW, StrikingViking has been using a Meridian color.

[B.E. Coyote]

I use the Meridian Gold and love it for the price. Like someone mentioned it doesn't have a usb connection, but for downloading maps you can still use a reg usb sd card reader. It'svery durable and suited to being outdoors on a bike.

[Jabba]

I needed the big screen- waited for the 276C for that reason. I'm freakin' blind- and the smaller screened stuff is next to useless on the bike for that reason. I never even bothered to mount my GPS 48 for that reason. I know that Garmin has great Cust. service- and that made me a little more comfortable with the brand- but I'd have tried a Magellan if they'd had the features I wanted.

[Chacifer]

Originally Posted by mleir

Also Magellan calculates the ETA by your current speed. Garmin uses your overall average, which is much better IMHO.

Garmin keeps track of the little things like overall ave, stopped time, moving time.

Do the Magellan GPS's not keep track of these numbers? This is what I'm trying to determine. I really like the price of Magellan, but I want features like keeping track of average speed, time on the road, etc. Plus a unit into which I can put road preferences. IE, telll it not to calculate the most direct route, but rather the most fun route.

I've never had a GPS, or even played with one really, but I do enjoy gadgets a lot.

[Frank Warner]

Originally Posted by Castle

Planning a trip on such a device is painful as it requires inputting a lot of waypoints.

True of all the GPS units that I've seen. If you want to do routes on teh GPS you're better off using a PC to do the planning on a PC map and then downloading the waypoints and routes to the GPS. Saves a lot of work.

The Garmins are popular because they were the better units sometime ago. With the maps avalible here in OZ the Magellans are a better thing. As to the detail of how it dertermines ETAs you are best off asking a dealer - if they know - or Magellan via email. You may find different modles do the calculation differently. Later models usually have the better thunking.

Good luck - like Motorcycles it won't stop with the purchase of the GPS - then you'll have to buy the PC prorgram, digital maps, power cables, conversion programs .. news groups to read ...

[mleir]

Originally Posted by Chacifer

Do the Magellan GPS's not keep track of these numbers? This is what I'm trying to determine. I really like the price of Magellan, but I want features like keeping track of average speed, time on the road, etc. Plus a unit into which I can put road preferences. IE, telll it not to calculate the most direct route, but rather the most fun route.

I've never had a GPS, or even played with one really, but I do enjoy gadgets a lot.

The Magellan's I had did not. Double cehck with the retailer or Magellan, but I dont; think they do.

[Freddie Rides]

In my opinion, a GPS is only as good as the maps you can upload into it. A squiggly line showing where you've been without context is next to worthless; and figuring out what's up using lat/long coordinates is absolutely worthless. In this regard Garmin and Magellan both suck!! Hello, you guys listening!? Why is it that Mexico and Canada are black holes when it comes to accurate, detailed vector maps?? And the rest of South America??

I have a Garmin because I think it sucks marginally less.