phantom4099

I had the same probelm when I used my power/data 315 cable for my meridian. It seems some of the older cables don't supply enough power, but it seems some of the newer 315 cables do (I think the newer ones have a gray box). I called magellan and told them what I was doing with the cable, and they sent me a new one free. I don't think I had any more probelms with it, but I eventually quit using it because I got just a plain cig cable for my meridian. Wyatt W.

I read that heavy storms have been know to effect survey GPS by 2cm. Wyatt W.

The box in the Alarm message area displays past alarms (e.g. arrival alarms, anchor alarms, and maybe low battery alarms) and the time they went off. It is useful if you want to know when you arrived at a waypoint, or not sure what the last message was. You can also delete past alarms, this is useful because it seems the unit will not beep twice for a arrival of any one waypoint (e.g. if you tell it to go "home" (or any waypoint) it will go off once you get there, but if you select another goto then back to "home" it will not beep once you near that waypoint (unless you shut the unit off first, or delete the message). Wyatt W.

I used a program that would predict the number of satelittes visible, them most I ever saw on that was 14. You also have two WAAS satellites, so that means the most you could use at one time is 16 (maybe they are planning ahead for the third WAAS satellite). There is probably no functional diffrence between 12 and 18 channel units (except a possibly faster lock on time- and I doubt it), so most of this is just marketing. Wyatt W.

Actually I sat with a stopwatch and timed my Meridian Platinum (v5.12), and my GPS V (v2.50)-I need to get a life. It appears that the Magellan will tell you on average a few seconds sooner than the GPS V (the Meridian always alarmed first). I have owned a Meridian since they were released in October 01 (and before that a 330, and a 315), and the GPS V for several months now. From what I can tell the Magellans DO hold a better lock. Wyatt W.

Does not sound like to good of a deal if they trade you units. Example: you may have paid $125 (or whatever) dollars for the green, now magellan wants to keep your green and make you pay $209 for a platnium (which by the way you can find for a similar price on the internet, so you would have two GPS for around the same amount of money), that would mean you will pay $334 dollars for the platnium (bad deal). Wyatt W.

I got really tired once (this is not the first time I wrecked something while sleepy) and tested my remanufactured Meridian gold in the sink. The unit leaked because some of the screws were lose, but luckly I got the unit to work after drying it out (I eventual got the unit replaced because of bluespots). I had to rinse my unit off a few times because I spilt some pop on it, but no damage was done this time. Wyatt W.

With city select 5.0 Virginia took around 31 maps (I think, its hard to see the state lines), and 50.2 mb (with routing off it was 37.9mb). Wyatt W.

I Usually don't say anything about reception since it fairly subjective, but I find that the Magellan units do hold a lock better. In a car my GPS V has to be placed really near to a window, while a Magellan unit could be happy to report a correct location (unit hooked to a laptop running USAphotomap) in most places inside the same vehicle where the V looses lock (further testing needed to be done out side when the trees have leaves). I suppose this depends on what you started on first. If your first unit was a Garmin you would think the Magellan system is weird, and vice versa. I personally think the Magellan units are more multifunctional. Lets say you have a Platinum you could load mapsend topo to do outdoor activities, then switch to mapsend Directroute and use the unit in the car, and you can use the same unit with Mapsend bluenav (and the marine firmware) to access marine data (including tides). The unit also includes most screens need for these activities: map screen for driving, road screen for marine navigation, compass screen for finding caches, etc… Yes I agree Garmin does have more customized field, but main of the items are really aimed at a specific group of users so the average geocacher will have no need for them. Also Magellan seems to be adding more customization each firmware released (e.g. total distance, Max speed, Average speed, a selectable EPE field). I know Magellan listens to their customers because the people in the Yahoo meridian group had a say in how they wanted the power button guard to be implemented, and the unlimited waypoint/routes/track was also a suggested by a geocacher, I also helped to fix an error in the basemap/firmware when the meridian series first came out. One more thing, you can use yard with Magellan units Lets see one of Garmins top line of units (76s, vista, legend, map 76, etc..) autoroute at all. All the Magellan units the benefit from DirectRoute were never designed to autoroute, so the fact that they can is a bonus (also you can fit in most of your trip on a meridian, so there is less need for it). However it would still be nice if Magellan released a basemap that autoroute (uh yeah, we can change our basemaps), or at least include one in future products The higher resolution screen is defiantly a big plus for Garmin, I hope Magellan follows suit. Although, this seems to be less important to me after owning both for a while. Not quite sure what you mean by this. As consumers I think we all should be mad at Garmin, they could have raised the bar and forced Magellan into making even Greater machines, and themselves into adding more functionality into future handhelds. Wyatt W. Its late, I am tired, so sorry if this is rude or just does not make sense.

Your unit lost the basemap, not sure what causes it to do it by it self (but it is possible to delete it with code 95-don't do that unless you have a basemap available). At one time you could download the basemap from the web and upload them to your unit, but Magellan cracked down on that. Maybe some one on this group has one available that the could email you. Wyatt W.

The unit should let you change which map you want visible, so you should be able to load City Select and your metroguide maps at the same time. Wyatt W.

I don't know if I would go with durability excuses from Garmin, I really don't remember anyone having a problem with the SD card or slot (well at least after they get a good card, and the right firmware). Its more likely Garmin did a little survey to figure out the smallest amount of memory they can put into a unit to make people get rid of their old units, but not to much that they won't look at the new ones coming out in a year or two (maybe they may even add 128mb next, yep ehh! ). I think Garmins is a smart company and have pretty good engineers, so I think they could have overcome most problems if they really wanted to add external memory. Wyatt W.

I have a Magellan 315, and Platinum (I have at one time owned a Gold, and a 330), I also own the Garmin V. I like that Magellan is not quite as limiting on their units. They are the first company with expandable memory (Garmin only had one handheld (in the late 90’s) that used their special memory, although most of their newer car units have expandable memory). I pretty sure Garmin will never do something like Magellan did with Directroute (If you currently have a Garmin unit that does not autoroute, you will have to buy a new one to get it). Magellan also made their Map 330 WAAS compliant back 2001 (with Garmin you have to buy a new unit). The 3-axis compass on a meridian is easier to use since you don't have to hold the unit completely Horizontal. Although Magellan does not release as many updates as Garmin they still do, and often times it add new functionality (example of meridian updates:. switching maps with a meridian, unlimited waypoint/tracks/routes with the meridian, routing, new customized fields, etc...). I have good results with Magellan technical support; they always answered the phone in a timely matter, polite, and helpful. If you need repairs done they are quick, and usually include free items. I also had out of warranty work done free, and received a free new power/data ($40 at the time) cable for my 315 when I mentioned there might be a small problem (it was not powering a gold-I told them this). I have not had much experience with Garmins customer support, but when I did call and ask about the status of a shipment I was lied to twice (along with a few misleading emails). Overall I am thinking of selling the V, and purchasing directroute for my Platinum. Wyatt W.

I have an Ipaq 3955, the only thing I wish it had was bluetooth (although I own nothing else with bluetooth). I do not have place to connect to wifi, so I don't need that in a PDA. I like the 3955 because it has a larger screen than most of the newer PocketPC, and it seems the quality of HPs screens went down slightly after the 1910 (3955 is older). I can also use all (or at least most) of the a**. made for the 2210, 38xx, and 54xx, and 55xx of series of Ipaqs, and hook up any number of sleeves (gps, camera, bluetooth, PC card, CF cards, scanners, Wifi, etc...). Wyatt W.

They might think you are refering to a mouse type GPS reciever (like the Delorme earthmate-which is probable supported). Wyatt W.

Don't worry, only Metroguide 4.01 routed on a GPS unit. The newer metroguide 5.xx only routes on a PC. Wyatt W.

The meridian marine is similar to the Gold, except the basemap contains marine POI's (approx 1mb worth), and it is a diffrent color. The platnium has the same basemap as the gold, but it also contains a eletric comapss and eletronic temp. The "deals" magellan listed are not very good, you can buy a new unit for around the price they listed. So what is the matter with your 330? Some one here may be able to help you with that unit. Wyatt W.

I use both the Garmin V, and the Meridian Platinum. I use the platinum outside of the car way more than the Garmin, mostly because it holds a lock better and the E compass (or northfinder) is easier to follow. The GPS V has a nice high-resolution screen (although it has more of a greenish cast, so it makes it harder to see w/o the backlight), and the track log is allot better than that offered by Magellan (just to bad you can't save the tracklog on the V like you can on the Meridian). Although I am thinking of selling the V and buying directroute for the meridian just because I want some extra cash to buy a R/C airplane. Wyatt W.

Microsoft Streets and Trips is fairly cheap (can buy it new for around $20-30), and the routes it creates are as good, or better than most other software. It has a simple GPS interface, it will just show you where you are. And it also includes microsoft pocket streets for Pocket PC. I sure there are better programs, but this does a very nice job for the price. Wyatt W.

If you ask Magllen real nice them may send a unit to you, then you can send your old unit in once you get the new one. Wyatt W.

I just thought it would be neat to compare the two in speed, route decisions, recalc times, map accuracy, easy of following, etc... The regions whould not even have to be an area that I use to judge most of that, and I was kind of making light of it (not really expecting anyone to do what I hinted). Wyatt W.

Huh, in that case it would be possible to test out a region, say to compare to the Garmin V routing (hint, hint ). Wyatt W.

Looking at the 60 manual it looks like you can use the standard round cable for serial interface. It also has a seperate USB port, so you can load maps faster. Wyatt W.

The best I can figure by dowing some math with mapsend TOPO is the sportrack topo includes all the elevation data for all of the continetnal USA, all of HI, and most of Alaska (about 80%). But the unit will not contain the smaller streets (trails), POI (I think) or wateways that you find in Mapsend TOPO or S&D. It will come with the standard major highways-interstates, airports, park, and waterways that you may find in a sportrack pro's basemap. Wyatt W. I hate the work involed with spell check.

I decided to get my first unit when I heard SA was turned off (Magellan 315-June 8, 2000). I had looked at GPS units before SA was turned off, but did not think 100 meters of accuracy was that great so I waited. Shortly after my purchase I started to look for games to download to my GPS (at the time I thought there may be games that you can download into it like you can with graphing cals) and I accidentally came to the geocaching site. I looked at it and noticed that there was no cache anywhere near me (or even in my state), and forgot about the site. In October of 2001 some one at the yahoo M330, or Meridian group posted a link to Clayjars review of his meridian gold (I was waiting anxiously for it to arriving in the mail, so I wanted to know as much about it as I could). Since then I managed to visit the site almost daily, and even do a few caches (FYI- Eastern South Dakota still does not have many caches). Wyatt W.