Magellan Handhelds - A Dying Breed?

[+Knight2000]

personaly i think magellan is still ahead on many features and so is garmin im just amazed at the high prices of garmin though. what garmin needs are more channels, stronger rubber, cheaper maps and units, i would love mp3 and since i use my gps for biking i see the spedometer on the garmin 60cx is a little slow. and when will they make satilite photos for maps that goes for both of them it would be nice to know where the un mapped swamps are. The two companies should come together and make an incredible unit but thats never going to happen.

Just my opinion.

 

But i will gladly pay higher prices if it means they will stand behind their product.

[+Fuzzywhip]

Breaks my heart to see Magellan go the way they have in the last year or so.

 

When I started in 2006, I bought an eXplorist 100 as that is all my budget would allow. I picked Magellan over Garmin as I had owned a Magellan before.

 

I very much exjoyed using the 100 for geocaching and found it a good basic model. Easy to use, good accuracy, good battery life, etc.

 

Just recently, I started to ponder upgrading to a better GPSr. As my budget is quite limited, I was stuck with few options.

 

I had tried a Garmin Legend just before Christmas, but found the lettering too small to read easily.

 

I tried an eXplorist 210, which feels just like my 100. But when I realised how much the maps were going to cost, I returned the unit.

 

I went back to using my 100 until things change. Recently, a nice package of a Legend and Topo software came out which made me reconsider my upgrade options.

 

After reading user reports about poor customer service from Magellan and the poor customer response, I decided to vote with my money to a company that respects its users more. So I bought a Garmin.

 

I will miss using my eXplorist 100, but now I can at least be relieved that I picked a company that respects their customers and customers' needs.

Edited July 14, 2007 by Fuzzywhip

[johnedoe]

I just bought a 210 that came in a bundle deal.....ups cord, cigarrette lighter power adapter, belt carry case, and a pretty good map bundle all for $169.00

been using the heck out of it and really like it. nice unit......

as to customer support, I had qustions regarding downloading maps from mapsend.....they were extreamly helpfull and courtious......

Edited July 16, 2007 by johnedoe

[+trainlove]

 

Basemaps are available if one knows how to go about finding them. But warnings about the dangers of messing up the firmware with basemap uploads and firmware uploads are quite explicit about what to do and not do when doing them. The yahoo usergroup Magellan_meridian explain how one can retrieve their basemap from their GPS before doing anything and therefore not require one ot have to find someone elses basemap.

 

I'm a Magellan owner and love my Gold. Sure I have 2 older Garmins, a GPS12 and GPS48 for when my Gold has fimware issues such as not having the correct time, being off by 12 seconds is enough to make a cache hunt a chore unless you have discovered the hints that I distribute within my profile.