Which Is Better?

[+SCCS]

Hi Everyone,

My family and I are new to geocaching and we had our first find the other day,great adventure. I have been usings a friends gps unit and what to get my own.

I have narrowed the search down to two models the GARMIN 76cs & MAGELLAN Meridian Color. We do a lot of camping and would like to use the unit for turn by turn directions, finding our way through the forest and geocaching as well.

I have read the other threads about each unit and would like your opinion on which one to get.

Thanks for your help.

SCCS

[+JohnnyVegas]

Hi Everyone,

My family and I are new to geocaching and we had our first find the other day,great adventure. I have been usings a friends gps unit and what to get my own.

I have narrowed the search down to two models the GARMIN 76cs & MAGELLAN Meridian Color. We do a lot of camping and would like to use the unit for turn by turn directions, finding our way through the forest and geocaching as well.

I have read the other threads about each unit and would like your opinion on which one to get.

Thanks for your help.

SCCS

The Meridan color does not have a very good screen, I have one. I wahsed out in daylight and can be hard to see. Now Magellans new color screens are an animnal of of a different color. I have an explorist 500 and I am going to add the new exlorist XL after I recover from the holiday shoping I did. THe new Magellan color screens are very easy to read in daylight and you can set them to three brightness levels. THe Garmin 76CS has a limited amount of memory but it is no big deal; to load new maps when you go to another area. But it should have plenty of memory for most geocachers. THe 76CS doea also have a megnetic compass and a barmetric altimeter, these are two freatures that are not going to make easier to find a cache. WHile the Magellan does not have a barometric altimeter I have used my Meridian gold and explorist with a Suunto watch that has a barometric altimeter and have found both of the GPSrs to be within 10 feet of the Suunto. THis is not enough of a reason to justify the purchase of a GPS with a barometric sensor, you might be better off spending the money on Gas for the geo vehicle, or maybe hiking boots or even sox.

 

You should look at both the Magellan explorsit XL and the Garmin 76C and try them out in your hand so that you can look at the screens side by side.

[+scott9282]

Trying out the units in your hand is the absolute best advice that I will second.

 

As an example, I recently replaced a Magellan SportrakMap that refuses to remember there are satellites in the sky (Thales tried to help, but it's a lost cause, an error of 170 feet is a good day for that thing now.)

 

First I tried a Lowrance iFinder. It didn't seem to fit my hand, and the interface was just not as intuitive for me as I would've liked. I now own a Garmin 60C, which fits perfectly. This after trying a 76C for fit. Just too bulky for me, but that's a personal taste.

 

As far as the "s" part of the 76CS, this stands for the barometric sensor and the electronic compass. Personally I don't need a barometric sensor, since I feel they are, by definition, affected by changes in barometric pressure as well as altitude. And the compass, well I prefer the hand held Silva Ranger Ultra that I currently use. The batteries will never give out on it, and as long as magnetic North stays where it belongs, not too much problems there. Also a nice backup when used with the paper topo maps I print out.

 

Happy caching.

[+JDandDD]

Magellan is slowly (rapidly?) discontinuing its Meridian line in favour of its Explorist line.

 

On the other hand, Garmin is revamping its line with the new x series which look the same but have a new chip set and antenna.

 

So I would recommend that you narrow your search again to the current models not the more out of date equipment.

 

Beyond that, I agree with scott9282, go to a dealer and try them out for fit in your hand, how easy you find the screen to view (I personally find some fonts and screens harder to look at, and some screens are just a bit small for me), and how easy they are for you to use.

 

What's best is what fits you and your use the best.

 

JDandDD

[+BlueDeuce]

I'm not familar with the MAGELLAN Meridian Color.

 

As for the 76cs I would only recommend it over the 60cs if you do a lot of long distance traveling and really need a lot of memory for mapping.

 

Personally I like the 76cs for the road and the Legend for the trail (but then again I don't use topos)

[+Quoddy]

I had the Magellan Meridian Color for a year before switching to a Garmin 60cs which I've now had for 21 months (you probably know that the 60 and 76 are basically the same). For almost all purposes the Garmin far outperforms the Magellan both technically and feature wise. The ONLY thing that's dragging me away from this unit is the "almost out" 60csx. If you want answers on specific areas, just email me.

[+JohnnyVegas]

For almost all purposes the Garmin far outperforms the Magellan both technically and feature wise. .

That is a ridiculous statement.

[+michiganbuck]

I had an old Garmin 12 that would give a wandering waypiont that then could be averaged to pinpoint a target site. Was that wandering caused by Degradation by Selective Availabilty(no longer in is use)? Would that old unit now have no wandering? I sold it, on E-bay to a fellow in Austria who wanted just that kind.

Now I use A Garmin 120. It gives a constant waypoint with no wandering. This unit can often get me within three feet of a target when I have a clear open sky.

Thanks, michiganbuck

Edited January 16, 2006 by michiganbuck

[+GOT GPS?]

For almost all purposes the Garmin far outperforms the Magellan both technically and feature wise. .

That is a ridiculous statement.

Im going to compare Explorist 500 to the Map60Cx:

 

In the following ratings of 10 per item

G=Garmin

M=Magellan

 

1) MMMMGGGGGG <--Quality of the Display

2) MMMGGGGGGG <--The active Tracklog(10,000)

3) MMGGGGGGGG <--Trip Computer Info, like Elasped Time, and Time stopped.

4) MMMMMMMMGG <--The Memory Card, and what you can do with it.

5) MMMMMMMMGG <--Geocaching without a PDA or cheat sheet.

6) MMMMMGGGGG <--Holding onto a signal

7) MMMMGGGGGG <--Ease of upgrade and loading of maps.

8) MMMMMMMGGG <--Long duration away from a computer(Memory card storage, spare batts needed)

9) MMMMGGGGGG <--Customer Support

10)MMMGGGGGGG <--External connections to GPS (USB, Serial, Antenna)

 

Magellan = 48 out of 100

Garmin = 52 out of 100

 

So Garmin 60Cx wins by a hair.

 

This is my best guess using my experience.

 

-

Geoff

Edited January 16, 2006 by GOT GPS?

[+GOT GPS?]

I had an old Garmin 12 that would give a wandering waypiont that then could be averaged to pinpoint a target site. Was that wandering caused by Degradation by Selective Availabilty(no longer in is use)? Would that old unit now have no wandering? I sold it, on E-bay to a fellow in Austria who wanted just that kind.

Now I use A Garmin 120. It gives a constant waypoint with no wandering. This unit can often get me within three feet of a target when I have a clear open sky.

Thanks, michiganbuck

That wandering was eliminated May 2, 2000, and then Geocaching was invented the next day, so no more wandering except under signal eating trees.

 

-

Geoff