What's In A Name

2.5k · September 21, 2005

Everyone here in the GPS units and software forums seems to have thier favorite brand name. Magellan, Garmin, Lowrance, and many other brands. I'm pretty much a Lowrance guy myself, but I like and use my Garmin quite a bit.

Most of the people here seem to have loyalty to some brand or another, so what's your brand?

22k · September 21, 2005

Garmin. I haven't had a chance to try out the others so I don't say bad things about them.

I currently own a Legend, Vista, GPS V, and a 76cs.

2.2k · September 21, 2005

Im a Garmin man to the bone. I use a 60CS

I own a Magellan Explorist 500 only because I won it. I never would have spent money on one.

Edited September 21, 2005 by WH

3.3k · September 21, 2005

GARMIN

First a Legend

2nd eMap

3rd 60C

5.3k · September 21, 2005

I have not had a chance to try the lowarnce.

I use a Magellan Explorist 500, meridian Gold and Sport track color.

September 21, 2005

I started my GPS'ing with a couple of Magellans & was generally satisfied. But when upgrade-time came along I gave an impartial review of all consumer brands on the market & see where I could get best performance for my money. Lowrance models floated to the top of the considerations list so I gave one a try (before then I new NOTHING about Lowrance)

..I've been a happy camper ever since

September 21, 2005

Well I started out with a Magellan Meri. Plat. but it dident measure up to what is is abvetised to do, and there maps are older than dinosaurs. But Garmin seems to be a better company all around. And if you look on these forums, you will find way more complaints about Magellans than Garmins (if any :lol: ), and they have constant new and inovative ideahs. All i own is a Magellan but I think I am still a Garmin man

5.3k · September 21, 2005

Well I started out with a Magellan Meri. Plat. but it dident measure up to what is is abvetised to do, and there maps are older than dinosaurs. But Garmin seems to be a better company all around. And if you look on these forums, you will find way more complaints about Magellans than Garmins (if any ), and they have constant new and inovative ideahs. All i own is a Magellan but I think I am still a Garmin man

Magellan is now using the same map data that Garmin uses, the new maps are much better, but there is not a map in the world that is flawless, paper or digital. In one of the early version of Garmins city select for my area there was a road that was in the wrong place, no big deal.

Garmins (if any ), and they have constant new and inovative ideahs

You could say the same thing about Magellan, SD card memory, file structure that allows saving several waypoint/caches files, and several map sets. The road mate 760 with blue tooth conectivity to transfer files form a pock PC. Magellans traixial compass in most of their models that offer a Magnetic compassthis means you do not have to hold the GPS level for the copass to be correct.

Garmin offers none of these features. You need to study up a bit.

All GPSrs have electronic compasses, it is the Magnetic compass that works when stionary.

Edited September 21, 2005 by JohnnyVegas

2.5k · September 21, 2005

I am a Lowrance guy because it is what I have, when I needed a Aviation unit (Pre-caching) I was impressed by the package deal Lowrance offers, all accessories and Mapping software were included with the unit. At the time Garmin offered none of this with the Avaition GPS V, a compareable unit. (I believe Garmin now sells package deals.) It was also in my price range and included all the features I wanted.

Edited September 21, 2005 by Airmapper

2.6k · September 21, 2005

:lol:

Well here we go again

2.2k · September 21, 2005

From the Garmin website regarding the GPSMAP 60CS

Electronic compass displays accurate heading while standing still

Barometric sensor with automatic pressure trend recording

Sunlight-readable display with 256-color transreflective TFT display (1.5" W x 2.2" H; 2.6" diagonally); color operating system with new look-and-feel

Faster processor, with auto routing, turn-by-turn directions, and audio alerts along city streets or trails when using MapSource® City Select® or 24K Topo software (optional software)

56 MB of internal memory for storing map detail

Permanent user data storage

Each day’s best hunting and fishing times—along with sunrise/sunset times—on the integrated Outdoor Calendar

Special geocaching navigation mode

Geolocation games, such as Virtual Maze, Nibbons, Geko™ Smak, Memory Race, and Gekoids

Fast map transfer, with support for both USB and serial port interfaces

Detailed basemap with general map data, including highways, major roads, river, lakes, and borders

Dedicated "mark", "page", "enter", "quit", "menu", "find", and "zoom out/in" buttons; four-position rocker pad

2.4" x 6.1" x 1.3" (W x H x D) unit dimensions

Weighs 5.4 ounces (without batteries), 7.5 ounces (with batteries)

WAAS GPS receiver with accuracy to 10 feet in North America; built-in quad-helix antenna for better satellite reception

20 hours of battery life under typical-use conditions (uses two "AA" batteries)

Multi-platform navigation for easy navigation in a car, in a boat, or on foot

Accepts data from MapSource products (City Select for driving, U.S. Topo and 24K

Topo for hiking, Recreation Lakes for freshwater, and BlueChart® for saltwater applications)

Waterproof to IEC 60529 IPX7 standards (can be submerged in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes)

50 reversible routes, 10,000 track points with TracBack® technology (navigate to any track point on the displayed map), and 1000 waypoints with additional graphical icons for location identification

Proximity alerts for anchor drag, arrival, off-course, proximity waypoint; built-in alarm clock

User-configurable track-line color, waypoint projection, display color scheme, large-numbers option, audio tones, and pages (turn on/off main pages or change the sequence in which they appear)

Elevation computer provides current elevation, ascent/descent rate, minimum and maximum elevation, total ascent and descent, average and maximum ascent and descent rate

Trip computer provides odometer, stopped time, moving average, overall average, total time, max speed, and more

3.3k · September 21, 2005

Well here we go again

This is an entirely new show with a new character (Lowrance). This will be exciting!

2.5k · September 21, 2005

Fill me in here, where are we going again? I think it has something to do with GPS compasses, this is a thread about your favorite brand name. But hey, maybe this will be exciting. We'll see.

September 21, 2005

I have a magellan explorist 600, it replaced my magellan sportrack color

the explorist 600 would be a great unit if it had a good firmware

but overall its performs well untill it locks up 2 miles into woods, making you remove the back cover take out the battery, then reconnect everything, hoping it works on next startupand it saved your track or your just flat lost.

22k · September 21, 2005

Well here we go again

This is an entirely new show with a new character (Lowrance). This will be exciting!

He's just reviewing the chessboard. Checking the current positions.

September 21, 2005

First thing my Uncle (Garmin Legend man)said when he saw my Meridian Gold was "WOW" you're screen is alot bigger and easier to read than mine!! If I had to replace, I would take a hard look at the Lowrance Ifinder, Garmin 76, and another Meridian Gold.

22k · September 21, 2005

First thing my Uncle (Garmin Legend man)said when he saw my Meridian Gold was "WOW" you're screen is alot bigger and easier to read than mine!! If I had to replace, I would take a hard look at the Lowrance Ifinder, Garmin 76, and another Meridian Gold.

He said all that? :lol:

he must not have seen the 60/76cs

2.5k · September 22, 2005

I've mentioned my Lowrance, but I also have a Garmin 72. It's a back to basics GPS, simple and easy to use, and holds signal good. All of my 5 caches were set using the 72, and so far no complaints about the coords, actually a few compliments. I use it in my local area more because it doesn't have mapping on it, I know where I'm going, the GPS will tell me where I'm at. I like the big data screens, there easy to see when your walking around and looking at other things. I also use it Kayaking, I want a waterproof unit in there.

38.2k · September 22, 2005

I guess I'm a Garmin guy. I owned a Legend and currently own a Vista and 60CS. My wife has a Geko that was a gift from me.

I've used a Magellan MeriGold and didn't care for it and a Lowrance iFinder H20 and liked it a lot. I wouldn't mind actually owning an H20, but if I had to choose only one GPS I'd have to say my 60CS.

September 22, 2005

GPS is for sissies. I use a magnetized needle stuck through a cork sideways floating in a dish of water.

2.5k · September 22, 2005

I wonder if that is hard to pack around when your looking for Caches or Benchmarks.

Edited September 22, 2005 by Airmapper

3.3k · September 22, 2005

Fill me in here, where are we going again? I think it has something to do with GPS compasses, this is a thread about your favorite brand name. But hey, maybe this will be exciting. We'll see.

It appeared to be taking the direction of the same old boring Garmin vs. Magellan debate. I figured throwing in the new Lowrance character would make for an exciting plot twist! :huh:

2.5k · September 22, 2005

Ahhhh, I get it, yes that might be an interesting twist. I've only been here a couple weeks, didn't know much about the Garmin vs. Magellan debate.

September 22, 2005

Me: I did an exausting comparison between Garmon, Magellan, and Lowrance. I had a set of conditions that I wanted. These conditions were:

1. Cost - My budget was around 300-400 bucks cdn

2. Mapping / Computer Connectivity - Wanted to add this on.

3. External Antenna Connector

- Did not want to be stuck to internal ant only, being able to upgrade

the antenna is a must for me.

4. Power must be standard, no proprietary battery packs.

- Out in woods, battery dead, do not have 120 V or 14 hours to recharge.

5. Waterproof IPX7

- Not a huge issue, but nice to have in the rain.

6. Internal track, waypoint storage capacity.

7. Non Color was OK, but if I could get color cheaply, I'd look at it.

- I figured for $300-400 there would be no way I could afford color.

Besides that, a color screen ain't going to do me any good if the GPS is

missing the above basic stuff.

That was about it. I then compiled a reely big spreadsheet that knew the prices and features of all the GPS's. Initially I never even heard of Lowrance GPS's. I had it narrowed down to one or two that would barely meet my needs. Usually I had issues with poorly designed power supplies, or no ext antenna port. I was looking at around $400.00 cdn for a GPS.

About 2 weeks in, I then found some data about Lowrance GPS's buried on a website. I located the features list. They came in at around $245.00 CDN for a GPS that met all my pre-thought out wants (the iFinder H2O I think). I thought that I struck gold since there was an obvious price advantage.

I then looked at the 'top of the line' iFinder PhD which came in at $314.00. Ok, so for about $70 bucks I can upgrade to the top of the line GPS that give me:

MP3 player

MP3 recorder

Compass

Barometric Altimeter

etc etc etc

I then was a little worried about this deal being 'too good to be true', after looking at the PhD. It has alot of stuff, is dirt cheap, "what's the catch"? I figured the GPS had to be a pile of "JUNK". Well, lowrance has been around a bazillion years. I then started looking on the net and heard people talking about how well their iFinder xxx GPS's worked. People were happy with their iFinder GPS! Hmm.

I stood on the fence about another week thinking.

So I lept on the PhD.

Is the Lowrance PhD 'perfect', well, I'd have to say, NO. There are issues.

My PhD is not IPX7 waterproof like the literature says (all ruber seals closed, slow submerge in 1-3 inches of water, YOU GET WATER IN THE UNIT, {took 6 hours with my foodsaver and hair dryer to get the water out}). I would imagine it's because of the Barometer or MP3 player.

It is clumbsy to use (so many menus settings and gadgets).

I would expect the H2O to be the more IPX7 model than the Hunt / PhD or MP3 models. But over all, I am very very happy with the unit. There are alot of Plus's and for the $314 cdn, I really can't complain.

Regards,

---- Robb ----

September 22, 2005

I have a Magellan Merid. Gold, and love it. I done close to the same and Megamapper, but not as in depth.

I looked and at Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance etc., searched the reviews, looked at forums. After taking all of this in I decided on the Meridian Gold.

I liked the idea of the SD card, and IPX7 was a have to, butter fingers here. I liked alot of the features that it had, I really wanted color but that was more than I wanted to pay, plus that was one of the things that I could live with out. I did give up the external antenna port, but I don't have any regrets about it. Get great reception even in my house which is rock. Always have atleast 6+ sats I'm recieving from while in my house. The only problem that I have noticed is going in an underground parking garage, or through a tunnel while traveling.

Really like the Magellan Mapsend programs, but I hadn't seen or looked at any other brand of programs either.

As of right now I have now complaints, and wouldn't trade for my Gold, that is right now I wouldn't. When new product lines come out, I probably would.

The way I look at it is like a vehicle, everyone has their own preference, they come with different price tags, and they have different bells and whisles.

22k · September 22, 2005

I then looked at the 'top of the line' iFinder PhD which came in at $314.00. Ok, so for about $70 bucks I can upgrade to the top of the line GPS that give me:

MP3 player

MP3 recorder

.....................

It has an MP3 player and recorder?

6.5k · September 22, 2005

Most of the people here seem to have loyalty to some brand or another, so what's your brand?

Garmin

When I first wanted to buy a gps for myself it ended up being a garmin, and I've pretty much stayed with them. Currently my primary unit is a GPS V, and it still going strong. Since I'm now using my second unlock maybe i'll consider other units when this one breaks or blows up (or someone comes out with something incrediable).

Sometimes I wish Garmin would come out with a <$1000 expandable memory (non-proprietary) unit. I find it kinda funny Magellan, Lowerance, even whistler can manage this, but not garmin :rolleyes: . (this isn't meant as a anit-garmin, its just obvious they don't want to do this *shrug*)

September 22, 2005

Garmin is build tough.

2.5k · September 22, 2005

That is one thing I have noticed about Lowrance, thier units are not rugged. But I have an Aviation unit, not really designed for the woods, and it came with a waterproof pouch that works well. Since I've got the Garmin 72 I take it anywhere water or the elements will be an issue.

September 23, 2005

I then looked at the 'top of the line' iFinder PhD which came in at $314.00. Ok, so for about $70 bucks I can upgrade to the top of the line GPS that give me:

MP3 player

MP3 recorder

.....................

It has an MP3 player and recorder?

Yes the iFinder PhD has an MP3 player & voice recorder.

The MP3 player is probably of dubious attraction to a Geocacher, but the voice recorder part sounds like a really cool feature! Imagine once at a cache site & you want to note details like what you traded, a nearby view, or whatever.. you can just dictate a note into your GPSr, and then play it back once you get home!

I think this should be a feature other brands should consider including. Also I guess it's only a matter of time before some manufactuer comes out with a GPSr that has a builtin digital camera as well. Just wait & see :rolleyes:

2.5k · September 23, 2005

Garmin has the I- Que, an attempt to mix a PDA and a GPS. I'm not a premium member, but I do know that a mix of the two would be great for pocket quaries. Now if they can combine the PDA / GPS with the cellphone/ digital camera and us cachers would have it made.

6.5k · September 23, 2005

Garmin has the I- Que, an attempt to mix a PDA and a GPS. I'm not a premium member, but I do know that a mix of the two would be great for pocket quaries. Now if they can combine the PDA / GPS with the cellphone/ digital camera and us cachers would have it made.

Even better if they could do it and it be waterproof and drop resistant :rolleyes:

22k · September 23, 2005

I then looked at the 'top of the line' iFinder PhD which came in at $314.00. Ok, so for about $70 bucks I can upgrade to the top of the line GPS that give me:

MP3 player

MP3 recorder

.....................

It has an MP3 player and recorder?

Yes the iFinder PhD has an MP3 player & voice recorder.

The MP3 player is probably of dubious attraction to a Geocacher, but the voice recorder part sounds like a really cool feature! Imagine once at a cache site & you want to note details like what you traded, a nearby view, or whatever.. you can just dictate a note into your GPSr, and then play it back once you get home!

I think this should be a feature other brands should consider including. Also I guess it's only a matter of time before some manufactuer comes out with a GPSr that has a builtin digital camera as well. Just wait & see

Yep, apparently they have cellphones with gps auto-routing. (Nextel. Not sure how good it is)

You glue together a Camera, GPS, PDA, Cellphone and you either have to pay A LOT to get something good, or pay a reasonable price and get something crappy.

Since they are still working on a decent camera in a cellphone I'll wait a bit before buying any morph-technology items.

September 23, 2005

Explorist 500, it's the only unit I ever used and I would buy it again.

September 23, 2005

It has an MP3 player and recorder?

The beasty records my voice on command. But to be honest with you, I didn't REELY check the extension of the the file. It's either Wav or MP3. When I'm back at my computer, I usually play the note back, keypunch the info, then nuke the audio file.

If it's really important if the file is MP3, I can check this out fully, and get back to you. It's easy to get the two mixed up.

I also really screwed up as to what the top of the line non-color lowrance is. It's actually the iFinder HUNT GPS. The main differences between the Hunt and PhD, is the Hunt has way-more waypoints ( 2000 instead of only 1000 ), and it has extra hunt icons, and is more waterproof than the PhD. Does anyone know if the iFinder Hunt comes with headphones?

Regards,

---- Robb ----

Edited September 23, 2005 by megamapper

What's In A Name

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