Magellan Sportrak Map

[+Jeep_Dog]

I am a fan of Garmin. I purchased a magellan in 2000 that gave me fits since it did not work as advertised, and returned it for a Garmin. Since that time, I never looked back and considered Magellan for purchase.

 

However, a friend of mine has a spare SporTrak Map, new in the box with computer cable, he iswanting to sell. I grabbed it up, but have until Monday to pay and close the deal. I know you will all do cheetah flips over the price - $50.

 

Does anyone have experience with this model, and the pros/cons of it? I currently have a Garmin Venture as my primary GPSr, so already the mapping functions look pretty darn good.

 

Thanks...

[Mr. TSP]

Personally, I'm not into the Garmin vs Magellan debates. Either has their good and bad points. I bought my first GPS based on price, looks, and ease of operation and ended up with a Magellan Sporttrack Map. It was easy to use and learn and worked great.

 

The only problem I had with it was the minute stress cracks in the case which I learned about after I bought it. Mine died after getting caught in a hellacious rain earlier this summer and I think it was because water got into the unit thru these cracks. I tried to use it while it was still wet and it never powered-on after that.

 

I replaced it with a Sporttrack Pro; essentially the same model but with more memory and better basemap.

 

For $50 you can't go wrong.

[+Semper Questio]

I've been using mine since Jan 2004 and have had great experience with it. So far I've cached in Texas flatlands, Washington state woodlands, and in 'concrete jungles' with success and confidence. I have had none of the cracks folks have been reporting with the SporTrak line even after having dropped it several times, getting it in water, and banging it around on rocks, trees, fenceposts, in cars, and such. I also have an ST Topo that I am very happy with. The only reason I'd get a new gizmo is for faster processing and a color TFT screen. Other than that, I'm quite happy with my ST's.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I had one utill it fell out of my pocket along a trail after finding a cache. I liked it. One feature that I used a lot was the trail projection feature that would show my a profile of the terrain in front of me while it was loaded with map send topo.

[+Night Stalker]

I used a SporTrak Pro for a couple of years and it was a great unit. The difference between the Pro and the map is the amount a memory available, and for $50 you can't match it.

[+Jeep_Dog]

Personally, I'm not into the Garmin vs Magellan debates.

First, thank you all for your comments. You are correct, for $50 I cannot go wrong. I used the unit over the weekend, and am quite pleased with it.

 

Now, as for the quote, you will not be seeing me engaging in Garmin vs Magellan arguments, since now I use both. Both manufacturers have some weakness in their units, and now I use a unit from each to offset those weaknesses, and am quite impressed. If my Garmin starts freaking out in woods, I use the Magellan that seems more stable. If moving slowly, and my nav needle hops all over on the Magellan, I yank out the Garmin that seems a bit more stable than the Magellan in these situations. In the case of a pesky urban micro, I used both to find a "ground zero," and found the cache dead in between the two.

 

Yes, indeed, I am now quite a happy cacher, complete with GPSr redundancy now.