rodmansju

thats my luck going good for a change. honestly, if he hadn't knocked more off, i'd have walked away. they were selling them NIB for 150, and this was the last one. nothing included, 15 off doesnt cover what they arent giving me...and i explained that. he probably didn't care.... but...i've now got a nice GPS for less than half of what i planned on paying

I went to the sports authority, and because it was their last unit, no box, nothing, they were offering me 10% off. I told them that there was more than $30 in costs to replace the missing cables, so the manager dropped it another 25%. After tax, it cost me 115 for a demo magellan meridian gold. not bad now, my next question In the manual, i believe it says the SD limit is 64 or 128 cards. The sales are all on 512 cards of late, even saw 1gig for under 60. Can the magellan gold now use cards larger than 128? is it firmware or? thanks!

tossed--- it would be primarily outdoors. Only tasked for car duty in a pinch. if the WAF is high, then a dedicated car unit would be in order. thanks

sorry for another post quickly....but there is another option... would you go for the Meridian Gold, open box, demo unit at 150 -10%, without anything except the unit....or the base Meridian, in box, with everything, for the same price. Out of the box, is the Gold's 16 MB filled, or do they both come with the same basemap? If they do....most of what I add, if not all, was going to be via SD capacity anyways....

So here might be the bigger question. If someone offered you a demo model Meridian Gold, without the strap, CD, manual or cable, for $150....would you do it? The manual, I figure I already downloaded it. The wrist strap, easily remedied The CD? I have no idea what information of value is on there, but I'd guess Magellan has it on the website? The cable is the big piece. Since it's serial, and my intent was to mostly work via the SD cards using my PC card reader....how critical is the cable? IE, can I update the firmware with a card instead of the cable? Or should I search online for a low cost replacement? I held the unit yesterday, its blemish free and I liked the feel. It carries the same warranty/return from what the store told me, so i am covered there. I don't need a box/manual so badly that I would go to Walmart and shell out 200, which is what they list them for, if your store even has them instock. yea, the cable might be 30. but is it needed?

im just hoping i can find a sports authority that has it. its on clearance at 150. the one nearest me has the demo, but thus far, no box/cables. if i can bargain with the manager, perhaps i can get a steal of a deal. i am hoping so, since they had the 2mb meridian at the same price....

as long as the "not too smart" routing doesnt mean sending me too far off the beaten path, i can deal. i won't really depend on it, more use it as a helpful add-on, sometimes just to see what other routes exist. if i end up needing/wanting the full fledged auto gps, well...i'll pony up the dough thanks

for an in-car unit, does it do a pretty good job? I've used the GPS standard on the Lexus truck, its not bad, but I am sure alot higher end. Just want to make sure that the meridian would do a sufficient job of that thanks

I understand I am getting a closeout deal, but for under 150 before adding a cheap SD card and the software.....is that a good GPS for a first GPS? Looking to do geocaching, and benefit from the GPS on hiking, hunting, and trips around my new home in upstate NY.

I called the store to check, and they only had the open box item. So, they kindly offered an additional 10%. so, I'd get a nice GPS worth over 200 in its prime, running off AA batteries....with the trade-offs being a serial rather than USB connection. Easily mitigated by the fact that I have a card reader and don't need the serial connection for much else, right? It almost seems too good to be true...but I did ask them to hold it:)

here's a possible huge deal---but i dont know enough yet to know for sure. I wanted to take a look at some local stores, to see some units. I had been to walmart, most of what they had was in-box. Dicks sporting goods has like 2, bad selection. I just ran out to the local sports authority, and they had two magellan meridians side by side, both with a list price, according to the tag, of 149.99. one of them, as per the tag and the price, was a meridian gold, with the SD expansion I desire..... assuming that price is legit---good deal? thanks

Maybe I worded it wrong-but I do know enough to know that any/all of the GPS units I am debating, can be used/mounted in a number of ways. My question really is, does one do it better than others, or for the price point, a much better job? As nice as the higher end explorists are, I am taking them out of consideration. Running off of a rechargeable unit is not what I want. I want to be able to, if need be, change batteries in the field. And I don't want to invest in spare Li Ions to do that. So now it seems its a matter of the lower end-a garmin limited to the range of 8MB, maybe 24 mb I think the one GPSMap had....or perhaps the pending explorist 210, even tho no SD memory is there, but I like the price I've seen on it and it does have I think 22mb user adressable memory. I think the 210 is the sweet spot of that price range. In my mind, if I am spending more, I want the SD, and I want AA batteries, which means a lowrance I think. I am leaning toward the 210 now. But I've been going back and forth all weekend between the three brands. the iHunt was the winner last night. I'm more concerned for the hiking and hunting....but I think once I have the unit, I would make good use of the turn by turn directions, provided the unit/software could do it. One question about the explorists in general...i have seen a few complaints about the firmware...how often does a manufacturer update firmware? I know some will be better than others, but do magellan/garmin/lowrance have good reps about fixing bugs?

I've hunted the forums, and I'm getting some good info....but I don't know if there are other good sites for reviews and info too, for starters-not that a forum is a bad place for info, but the more info, the merrier.... I am considering a GPS, my first. I am curious about, but have never tried, geocaching. I am about to start hunting, having missed last season despite having tags. And I would love to make use of the unit both in my car, and on a bike or while hiking. I've checked out on the web several models. Forgive if I am looking at things the wrong way, perhaps a vet can enlighten me. I know garmin is the name among names. Being a pseudo-jeep fanboy, their marketing tie in is also sorta nice. But, As far as I know, none on the garmins are affordable and come with expandable memory, yes? I've looked at the explorists, and I like the look-and that some are able to use the SD cards. Ditto the lowrance. Had my eye on the iHunt. The iHunt is probably top of the price line for me. I'd like to keep the entire purchase at sub-200 if possible, but i know the iHunt is over that. I'm thinking a sub-300 is a better bet. So, I want durable, able to handle growth, outdoors, and serve a number of uses. Odds are I might only use it around NY/CT/MA/PA/NJ, but I might actually wander outside of the area from time to time too... The other question I had---since most of these have USB ports--do any of them support USB thumb drives? Or plan to? Because even if Garmin resisted the SD expansion plan, if they implemented working with a USB thumbdrive, well, they are just as cheap as an SD card. In the end, I'll be depending lots on feedback, as most stores around me, while they have the units, or some of them, none are able to be handled. So that kinda makes it a challenge. thanks!