You can not compare Magellan & Garmin.
I had the misfortune to buy a 320 as my first GPS. Mistake 1.
Then as I was new to this all, I emailed Magellan headoffice asking if there was any software availible to use with it. To quote the lengthy reply "None". ( I should be grateful I go that!). The very next day I found Ozi-Explorer.
The battery holder with its springs on the same side was a design flaw as they broke within a couple of months. When I emailed Magellan to suggest a change, there was not even an acknowledgement this time.
18 months later the screen started to flicker then died!
When contacted the Magellan agents were quick to tell me it was out of guarantee! (even though I had not said a word about this) Then they told me the could not fix it as it was sealed. They offered me a reconditioned one at 66% of the purchase price plus my model. How can you recondition if you can not open the model?
I finally discovered that there was a head office. On contacting them, I got the same run around. Finally they agree to look at it. I was then contacted to tell me that I had dropped it! ( The most it could have fallen was 2m from my boat as it was used at sea.) That was by the by, as they touted this GPS as an outdoors model and shock resistant, so a small fall should not have caused harm. When I said it had not been dropped, I was told that the bottom left corner was marked. ( This was a chafe mark from the storage case I kept it in with my Lowrence fish finder). I was offered various obsolete models ( that were fixed position models requiring large power supplies). After another 18 months, the person I was dealing with disappeared from the scene, and no one knew where my GPS was. To this day I ain't got no satisfaction.
(apologies to old Rubberlips - Mick Jagger).
In the end I bought a Garmin Legend as I had heard of their good service. ( A friend's one started malfunctioning after 18 months and they replaced it even though it was out of garantee).
I have had no problems up to now. ( just the rubber surround that has torn from constant use of a power/data cable which the agents say is quite easily remedied)
There is an exellent website, plenty of complementary software, many of which seem to indicate that Garmin is the preferred make.
I am now thinking of upgrading and it will be another Garmin.
To sum up, if you knowingly buy Magellan, you deserve all you get.
