Garmin Vs. Magellan

January 20, 2006

I have a Magellan Meridian Platinum GPS that I use for Geocaching, off trail hiking, and automobile use while travlling. As this unit is no longer supported by Magellan, I am looking at the available models with simular features. I am concerned that Magellan seems to charge top dollar for everything, give minimal service and support, and providing maps are missing obvious roads that have been there for some time. I have heard many things about Garmin being easier to use, more accurate maps, and better service levels. Any Opinions?

11.3k · January 20, 2006

Well . . . I love my Garmin Vista C. I have the City Select maps on it and find the auto-routing feature to be very, very helpful.

Recently while caching with someone who has a Magellan, he was looking 30 or 40 feet away from where I was looking . . . and I found the cache. <_<

Here is his log for a cache of mine he was trying to find . . .

January 20, 2006

I'm a tireless researcher on this kind of stuff and I ended up going with Garmin (60cs). I simply read just about everything I could on this site, gps reviews dot net, epinions, amazon reviews, etc. I ultimately came to he conclusion that it came down to price and whether or not you needed the option of added memory cards. Though it's difficult to compare apples to apples between the two vendors it SEEMS to me that Garmins cost a bit more. It SEEMS to me that Garmin customers overall are a little more happy with their customer service department than magellan's customers. though obviously you can find really good and really bad experiences from either vendor. I didn't make a graph or a chart, I just read hundreds of reviews and lurked in yahoo groups and Groundspeak etc. my opinion is that garmin users are overall happier with their product. My wife actually got me an explorist 500 which was ultimately exchanged for the garmin 60cs. I really went back and forth. I think it's probably true (again, from reading - I do not have a magellan unit) that the Garmin's auotoroute a little better - or at least that's what a lot of the experts say. And it SEEMS like Magellan folks worry about the future of their parent organization a great deal and wonder if the support will be there in the future. The new gramin units WITH the new chipset AND added memory seem to me that they are taking away the last advantages Magellan had - good reception and more memory). This is an important time for Magellan to see how they'll answer.

These are the opinions of one dude who reads a lot and hasn't been doing this that long. Your mileage may vary. I have been walking in the rain this morning though, and my pants are a little damp - so I could probably do with a little flaming.

I'm adding this - I have little doubt that I could be happy with a Magellan if I had one. They obviously make good receivers. I'm just describing what I gleaned from the research I did and my thought process for the choice I made.

Edited January 20, 2006 by OxygenDestroyer

January 20, 2006

Here are some basic, common opinions about the units and how they compare:

- Magellan hand-helds, on the average, will get and hold a sat lock better than the equivalent Garmins

- Garmin's mapping software for the PC is easier to use and has a better set of tools than the equivalent Magellan software.

- Garmin's autoroute....Magellan's don't

- If you need to store a lot of map information on a handheld, get a Magellan. The SD-card storage facility and file structure can't be beat.

Finally....one final piece of factual information. Each brand has a loyal following that will tout that brand's virtues. Obviously, both are great brands.

Me...I have a Garmin 2610 that I use for my SUV and motorcycle. It gets me to the parking lot. Then, I pull out my Magellan Explorist 500 and go huntin'.

5k · January 20, 2006

- Garmin's autoroute....Magellan's don't

This statement is incorrect. (and has too much punctuation)

In fact, I may be mistaken, but I think besides the GPSV, the Meridian series was the first handheld to offer autorouting.

In any case, of Magellan handheld GPSs, the Meridian and Explorist series have autorouting capabilities (excepting the base models of those series).

What would make the statement accurate is to say:

- Garmins autoroute....Magellans don't very well

Jamie

January 20, 2006

I agree with jamie - again, from what I've read. Of course there are Magellan units that autoroute. It just seems like the consensus is that Garmin's autoroute better and choose more intuitive routes.

20.7k · January 20, 2006

Garmin has very good customer service.

Magellan is French.

2.3k · January 20, 2006

Another statement in the Original post I think is wrong is that magellan charges top dollar for everything. I am hearing about the eXplorist 500 selling for around $200 recently. This is a very good price for a full featured, color GPSr, and may be the most GPSr for the money.

January 20, 2006

Yep - I definitely agree that you get more features for your money with magellan

24.7k · January 20, 2006

I have a Magellan Meridian Platinum GPS that I use for Geocaching, off trail hiking, and automobile use while travlling. As this unit is no longer supported by Magellan, I am looking at the available models with simular features. I am concerned that Magellan seems to charge top dollar for everything, give minimal service and support, and providing maps are missing obvious roads that have been there for some time. I have heard many things about Garmin being easier to use, more accurate maps, and better service levels. Any Opinions?

I'm a Garmin fan. Having said that you will find that Garmin maps are missing some roads, charge top dollar for everthing, gives the same level of service and support that you are used to from Magellen.

What you will find that Garmin does better is that they do have an easier interface (but since you are used to Magellen it won't be easier for you...) and their auto routing software is implemented better in the hand held GPS.

That's about it. I really don't think you have a compelling reason to change unless you just want to change.

January 20, 2006

When I made the statement about Autorouting, I was referring to the ability of the GPS to automatically come up with a new route if you stray from the activated route. My Explorist doesn't do that. You have to manually hit the "Goto" button twice to get it to re-route you. My understanding is that the Garmin handhelds will do this automatically. I know for a fact that my Garmin 2610 does this...and it does it frequently, as I don't always like the routes it comes up with.

Edited January 20, 2006 by Guitar4Him

2.4k · January 20, 2006

I agree with Renegade Knight. Colorado Two hasn't identified any particular feature he'd like to have that isn't on his Platinum nor anything that's particularly annoying about that unit. Just because it's no longer likely to get firmware upgrades from Magellan doesn't make it any less usable and it works with their latest maps.

My advice would be to keep using it until there's something very specific you'd really like to have on some other model. Newer and better models will keep getting introduced so waiting will usually result in having even better options from which to choose.

January 20, 2006

When I made the statement about Autorouting, I was referring to the ability of the GPS to automatically come up with a new route if you stray from the activated route. My Explorist doesn't do that. You have to manually hit the "Goto" button twice to get it to re-route you. My understanding is that the Garmins will do this automatically.

My Garmin 60cs does automatic recalculation when you miss a turn. It only takes a few seconds and works very well. I can also set it to do U Turns or not. Its not perfect, and has made some mistakes, but I've been very impressed with the auto routing capability. I didn't really believe it would be useful at all, but it has far exceeded my original expectations.

January 20, 2006

Garmin has very good customer service.

Magellan is French.

OH LORD! That explains everything!

Doc

5.3k · January 21, 2006

Garmin has very good customer service.

Magellan is French.

And Garmins head quarters are in the Cayman Islands so that they can dodge US taxes, Thales is not in the Caymans.

Garmin

BTW Depending in how busy they are Garmin can have some bad customer service also

Edited January 21, 2006 by JohnnyVegas

1.4k · January 21, 2006

Magellan hand-helds, on the average, will get and hold a sat lock better than the equivalent Garmins

I've been away from this site for about a year and a new round of models have come out. But before I do remember reading posts that Magellan tended to come from the factory with a particular feature set that would tend to hide loss of lock from the user for awhile. It gave a false impression that it was locked when it fact it would lead you astray.

Just repeating from old posts.

Garmin does charge top dollar, but you can find cheaper accessories like cables and whatnot.

January 21, 2006

JohnnyVegas, thanks for the info on Garmins Caymans trick. I went back and looked at the users manual for my eTrex Vista C and they list Olathe Kansas as their address. I am sensitive to the offshore tax dodges, but they are hard to keep up with. I am about to purchase a second unit, type not decided yet. This may not be the deciding factor, but it will play a part. Again, thanks.

24.7k · January 21, 2006

... I do remember reading posts that Magellan tended to come from the factory with a particular feature set that would tend to hide loss of lock from the user for awhile. It gave a false impression that it was locked when it fact it would lead you astray....

That was an observed fact between a GPS V and a Sport Track Pro.

Night Stalker and I got into a debate over which direction we should go on a windy mountain road with a lot of tree cover. He won the debate since his job was to navigate. We soon had to turn around and go back the way mine was telling me.

The only difference was that the Sport Track Pro would give you a guess of your position when it in fact had no frigging clue becaue it had lost it's lock and forgot to mention that. On a straight road maybe this didn't matter. On a twisty mountain road it did. A change of settings on the GPS and it would tell you it had lost lock. Once we knew when it was loosing lock it was comperable to the GPS V. Not to shabby, but not as good as it first seemed.

Since then both Magellan and Garmin have improved reception and I can't wait to hear first hand if the new chipset in the Garmins X GPSs is as good as they say.

However the OP really has no reason to change brands.

4.5k · January 21, 2006

I did an analysis 5 years ago and and bought a Vista because I thought Garmin was the better company. I still do. However, recently, I've been using a PPC with SIrf III chipset GPS and with the PPC's unlimited memory, have all the maps, auto routing, paperless caching, 3500 caches, etc. would probably say it was the best combo (aside from it's vulnerability in the woods). With Garmin now having the x models with the Sirf III and SD memories, AND the stronger platform, the x models now makes a strong competition for a PPC setup - something I'm sure Garmin was thinking about with this new setup as well as competing with Magellan.

2.9k · January 21, 2006

That was an observed fact between a GPS V and a Sport Track Pro.

Night Stalker and I got into a debate over which direction we should go on a windy mountain road with a lot of tree cover. He won the debate since his job was to navigate. We soon had to turn around and go back the way mine was telling me.

The only difference was that the Sport Track Pro would give you a guess of your position when it in fact had no frigging clue becaue it had lost it's lock and forgot to mention that. On a straight road maybe this didn't matter. On a twisty mountain road it did. A change of settings on the GPS and it would tell you it had lost lock. Once we knew when it was loosing lock it was comperable to the GPS V. Not to shabby, but not as good as it first seemed.

Since then both Magellan and Garmin have improved reception and I can't wait to hear first hand if the new chipset in the Garmins X GPSs is as good as they say.

However the OP really has no reason to change brands.

I have the SporTrak Color, which would be simular to the SporTrak Pro but with color. The default settings, are that the Alarms are turned OFF, but the Key Beep is ON. I turned ON the alarm for GPS FIX, and the ARRIVAL Alarm, to beep within 100 feet. So the SporTrak GPS units if setup right, still would be decent for geocaching. I've had this SporTrak Color for over a year now, but don't use it much.

MY all time favorite GPS is the GPS Map60C, and it works good for Running, Jogging, Hiking, and it has a Good Trip Information Screen, which makes it better for Outdoor Fitness activities, that you cannot do with a Magellan. On the Garmin, it tells you Trip Time(Elapsed time), Time stopped, Time Moving, Moving average Speed, Total Average Speed. Also each time you turn a Garmin OFF then back on that starts a new Track segment in your Active tracklog.

The Explorist 500 on the other hand is the best choice for storing multiple Waypoint Files(POI) on it's memory card, and you can store many Track files on the card too.

I would have to say that neither Garmin or Magellan seem to overlap that much, because Garmin has the best Trip Computer information, but Magellan Explorists units are the best electronic File Cabinates you can get.

-

Geoff

January 21, 2006

Garmin has very good customer service.

Magellan is French.

5.3k · January 21, 2006

Just keep uning your plainum untill it dies.

Well having delt with both Garmin and Magellan for many years I have both have given me good service. As far as warranty service, with any manufacture the turn aroun time depends on how much work they have when an item arrives for service. I have seen turn around times as short as a week or as long as 5 weeks. The five week turn around was not a GPS.

When is see people post saying that a companies tech support sucks on the phone because they were on hold 30 minutes. Well unless they had some one else call the other company at the same time for teck support to see how long it would take to get through it does not mean anything.

If you like having the magnetic compass in you Platinum. the magnetic compass in the Garmin does not work as well. Your platinum has a triaxial compass, this means you do not have to hold it level for it to be accurate. With the magnietic compass in the garmins, unless you hold it level it will not be accurate.

With your magellan you can also load waypoints to your SD card, this you can do with any Garmin, even the new x version will not allow loading waypoints to the memory card.

With both Magellan and the new X versions of the Garmin you can load maps to the memory card.

Just keep uning your plainum untill it dies.

January 21, 2006

When is see people post saying that a companies tech support sucks on the phone because they were on hold 30 minutes. Well unless they had some one else call the other company at the same time for teck support to see how long it would take to get through it does not mean anything.

If it was just 30 minutes you would be perfectly correct, however, READ the posts, it is 1 hour and 30 minutes. I HAVE called both Magellan and Garmin at approximately the same time on two different work days the difference was astounding. Magellan 1 hour and 30 odd minutes, Garmin...less than 10 minutes. This was in the last couple of weeks. Now the truth is, I have found a way to contact Magellan EVERY day and I do it in less than three minutes...I call them every day to rag on them about my unit (they have until Tuesday before I demand a full refund by-the-way, and then I am going with a GARMIN!)

Doc

P.S. I'm sorry people, even though they are a bunch of weasels, I made a promise that I wouldn't reveal how I'm getting through and I keep MY promises (unlike Magellan.)

edited because there is no e in contact!

Edited January 21, 2006 by docdigit

5.3k · January 21, 2006

When is see people post saying that a companies tech support sucks on the phone because they were on hold 30 minutes. Well unless they had some one else call the other company at the same time for teck support to see how long it would take to get through it does not mean anything.

If it was just 30 minutes you would be perfectly correct, however, READ the posts, it is 1 hour and 30 minutes. I HAVE called both Magellan and Garmin at approximately the same time on two different work days the difference was astounding. Magellan 1 hour and 30 odd minutes, Garmin...less than 10 minutes. This was in the last couple of weeks. Now the truth is, I have found a way to contact Magellan EVERY day and I do it in less than three minutes...I call them every day to rag on them about my unit (they have until Tuesday before I demand a full refund by-the-way, and then I am going with a GARMIN!)

Doc

P.S. I'm sorry people, even though they are a bunch of weasels, I made a promise that I wouldn't reveal how I'm getting through and I keep MY promises (unlike Magellan.)

edited because there is no e in contact!

Well in the past week I had to call both magellan and garmin, I never got through in less than 35 min.

January 21, 2006

Treo 650 PalmOne SmartPhone - $150

GlobalSat BT-338 Bluetooth GPS receiver - $120

TomTom Navigator 5 voice promted autorouting software - $100

CacheMate with the CacheNav plugin - $8

Not having to deal with Garmin or Magellan - priceless

January 21, 2006

Isn't the winner the one whose customer/technical/warranty support you NEVER have to deal with?

My Mergold is almost 1 year old and it's been through the mill with my hunting and hiking. Works great.

1.4k · January 21, 2006

A change of settings on the GPS and it would tell you it had lost lock.

Any chance you remember what that menu setting is?

January 21, 2006

Isn't the winner the one whose customer/technical/warranty support you NEVER have to deal with?

5.3k · January 21, 2006

A change of settings on the GPS and it would tell you it had lost lock.

Any chance you remember what that menu setting is?

I think he was referring to setting the alarm for GPS fix (or signal lock or whatever they call it in the menu...I'm going by memory)...menu/setup/alarms/

January 21, 2006

Isn't the winner the one whose customer/technical/warranty support you NEVER have to deal with?

That's definitely the best product!

My Meridian has been super!

BTW the best receiver, is the one that cost the LEAST, that way, when the unit dies the day after the warranty expires, you will have lost the least amount of money!

I would have thought the most important features set was reciever performance, not customer service!!

BTW isn't there a thread, about the new Garmin 'x' models and some disturbing info about some new Garmin protocol, that doesn't communicate with 3rd party software?

THAT makes the difference between a good receiver and an altogether useless one!

And on the topic of maps..........maybe in the US the Garmins may be superior to the Magellans, but in Australia, the Magellans maps are by far the best quality!

And Magellans mapping products don't have autorouting capability in Aus, whereas the Garmins do!

5.3k · January 21, 2006

BTW isn't there a thread, about the new Garmin 'x' models and some disturbing info about some new Garmin protocol, that doesn't communicate with 3rd party software?

Yes there is but it is called seleted thread reading syndrome

Thread

Edited January 22, 2006 by JohnnyVegas

January 22, 2006

Yes there is but it is called seleted thread reading syndrome

???

And...?

Either the Garmin 'x' models work or don't work with these programs.

What does "selected thread reading syndrome" mean? :lol:

Yes, I selected a thread to read, and made a reference to it!

(unfortunately I couldn't remember where the thread was!)

It still doesn't explain why Garmin chose to implement their new protocol, and not support backward compatibility.

And why Magellan can keep backward compatibility with respect to communication!!

January 22, 2006

BTW isn't there a thread, about the new Garmin 'x' models and some disturbing info about some new Garmin protocol, that doesn't communicate with 3rd party software?

reason # 17 why i'm not an early adopter. i was sorely tempted by those sexy x units even though i just got my cs recently... but it seems like there is ALWAYS something like that for the latest greatest - i stil want one, but i'll wait 'til the price goes down and all the issues are known - it's early days yet.

5.3k · January 22, 2006

What does "selected thread reading syndrome" mean?

THis is when someone sees a thread that may contain information that they do not want to read about, so they select no to read it.

The thread that covers problems with the new Garmins and third party software has very few post in it. Now we know if the thread was about a Magellan product having a problem with third party software there would have been dozens of threads posted in just a few minutes.

There are lots of Garmin users in the forums, but they seem to turn a blind eye to any problems with Garmin products for some reason. I have even seen one person post out and out lies about using an explorist 600, I called him on this in two threads with no reply.

1.6k · January 22, 2006

What does "selected thread reading syndrome" mean?

Now we know if the thread was about a Magellan product having a problem with third party software there would have been dozens of threads posted in just a few minutes.

Bravo Johnny, bravo! <_<

January 25, 2006

Thanks Everyone for your comments both Garmin and Magellan.

I am very happy with the Magellan Platinum performance, maps, and ease of use. The SD Card takes a bit of fooling to load it up, but I have been able to put multiple maps on the same card (with a SD Card Programmer), which is very important to me. Customer Service on Garmin seems to be better, which I absolutely hate about Magellan. I think I will probably keep the Platinum until it wears out -- probably not long as I have had it fixed once. It's taken hard use, dropped in water, gone hunting, etc.. for four years Will keep watching the Garmin "x" and explorist series to see how they work out -- I'm no longer all that hot on being first.

January 25, 2006

OK here is MY experience.

I got a Etrex Legend and was happy with it for geocaching. Very simple always found sats (even in the worst overcast and fog!!!). But I was looking for something I could load auto routing software into and topo maps. When I saw the Explorist 500 I thought, nice, this will do what I want it to do and an added bonus, I can get a GPS and not need a Palm Pilot because it says that it shows the description and hints. Well it logs only some of the info on the description, and some of the info for the hint (I still needed a PDA, my bad for not looking into it enough).

I liked the unit, how it felt in my hand, how it looked, and what it did. One thing that disappointed me was the fact that there were several major highways and roads in my area not in the base map (The Legend had most of them).

Then after a couple caching days, it would not lock sats. I could not get a fix. I tried several "unlocks," but nothing worked. I tried updating the firmware, no help. Fortunately I only had it a week and I sent it back to where I bought it. Hopefully this was a lemon, and when I get it back, it will work as good if not better than the stupid Legend.

All in all I wish that it would have worked better, had better maps, some better solutions to the firmware (which if you read these forums, it appears, Magellan is trying to accomodate).

But the one thing still in the back of my mind is how well the stupid little Legend has performed!!!

I have a buddy with a Vista (Garmin), he has had nothing bad to say about the unit, and I have a friend who has a Sport Trac (Magellan), and she has nothing bad to say about it!!!

Garmin or Magellan??? Good luck deciding!!!

January 28, 2006

As for customer support both times I called magellan I had someone inside of 10 minutes. not bad.

One BIG difference between Magellan and Garmin that you need to consider

MAPS

Magellan - $150

Garmin - $30

Same map data

Chris Taylor

http://www.nerys.com/

Edited January 28, 2006 by nerys

February 3, 2006

As for customer support both times I called magellan I had someone inside of 10 minutes. not bad.

One BIG difference between Magellan and Garmin that you need to consider

MAPS

Magellan - $150

Garmin - $30

Same map data

Chris Taylor

http://www.nerys.com/

Could you please share where we can get the Garmin map softs (talking about autorouting) for 30 bucks...

Looks like Garmin is usually around $130 (or was it a typo?) and Magellan around $80 or even less for the USA autorouting soft (DirectRoute).

Now, if like me you go to Europe a lot, Garmin is $300 ( :wacko: ) and I did not find it cheaper, Magellan is $180 at the most expensive price I've seen.

Garmin autorouting is a little better, granted, but what about the price?

February 3, 2006

Just keep uning your plainum untill it dies.

Mr. Vegas gave me an A+ for having an Meridian also :wacko: I like it so much I bought a Meridian Color for back up. But one thing that concerns me is the software. Will I not be able to get the updated Directroute software anymore?

What does it all mean Basil?

Edited February 3, 2006 by I.R. Geonut

February 4, 2006

??

Just testing to see what the new posts look like after I respond.

Can anyone my question in my previous reply though?

Edited February 4, 2006 by I.R. Geonut

3.3k · February 4, 2006

Garmin vs. Magellan

I never get tired of this topic

(Garmin)

5.3k · February 4, 2006

Mr. Vegas gave me an A+ for having an Meridian also I like it so much I bought a Meridian Color for back up. But one thing that concerns me is the software. Will I not be able to get the updated Directroute software anymore?

Well, it remains to be seen. AFAIK the 3.0 update is still compatible with Meridians that could handle 1.0 and 2.0. It is possible that at some point in the future they may elect to implement features that require firmware upgrades...and if they are no longer upgrading the Meridians, you'll be stuck at an evolutionary deadend.

February 5, 2006

My own experience is with the explorist 600. It had the usual list of hangups and would freeze if you looked at it funny. I spoke with Magellan support sooooo many times and they couldn't believe that their unit was the problem. I referenced them to this forum and explained that I was one of MANY having this problem. Finally I just returned the product and promised myself never to buy a magellan again. That was last fall. Now I just bought a 60csx and it is great! (so far).

In my mind the most important thing about a GPS is that it is dependable, after all some of us use these things to help prevent us from getting lost (novel concept). They should have very strict tolerances for their products otherwise don't bring them to market.

February 5, 2006

I guess I have nothing but good to say for all of the GPS units I have owned since I have never had a problem with any of them. That list includes Garmins, Magellins and DeLormes. It seems funny to me that some of you are so concerned with the amount of time that you spend on the phone for support. I'm guessing that most of you (that have this problem) either dont know what you are doing or that you are REALLY hard on your equipment.

February 5, 2006

Garmin vs. Magellan

I never get tired of this topic

(Garmin)

As a LOWRANCE fan I too never tire of hearing the Gargellan folks arguing

Garmin Vs. Magellan

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