Meridian Gold Vs. Explorist 210

[RMonk]

Hi, I'm new to geocaching and I'm looking to buy my first entry level unit. A friend of mine has been letting me use his yellow Etrex. I really would like a unit that has mapping so I've been looking at the Etrex Legend and the Explorist 210.

 

I thought I had it narrowed down to the Explorist 210. Then I saw the Meridian Gold. I was wondering if someone could tell me the difference between the two Magellan units. I know the Meridian has the expandable memory via the SD card.

 

There are so many specs that I feel like I'm gonna lose it. Just based on the SD card I feel like I should go with the Meridian Gold.

 

Any suggestions.

[+theharvester45]

Save yourself the trouble of upgrading and buy an explorist 600 or the 60csx with proper mapping software....

I started with the magellan meridian gold and bought all of the software for it then upgraded to the explorist 600...

I was already locked into the software so i could not get the 60csx without a whole lot of new software.

Either way both units are very good. i wish i could afford both.

 

happy shopping.

[RMonk]

TY for the advice Harvester. Only issue is cash flow. Right now I'm trying to stay under $175.

[vagabond]

Go with the 210 the meridian line which includes the gold is 5 year old technology.

Although the gold is a good unit I think you'll find that the 210 is a better receiver,it may not do everything the gold does but it should be more accurate

[+CachemanCando]

I started with the magellan meridian gold and bought all of the software for it then upgraded to the explorist 600...

Good advise! Just went thru that thought process myself - I was leaning towards the 210 but ended up ordering a 600 as a second unit to my Meridian Color. The 210 looks like a solid unit, good reviews, and AA batteries were a plus, but already having SD capability, color, and the want to try an electronic compass this time around, the decision was pushed to the 600.

 

I don't mean to hijak this thread, but Harvester, and those of you that have upgraded, since you owned a Meridian and the software, (MS DR 1.0) which I understand isn't compatible with the new eXplorist line, can you load detail maps and POIs to both units from the same computer using MS DR 2.0?

 

My understanding is you may only have one serial number per software package. When I installed the newer version, it wiped out the previos version.

 

What have been your experiences with two units, two versions of purchased software packages, one computer? Seems to me I should be able to use the old version for the Meridian and the newer 2.0 on the eXplorist without breaking any copyrights!

 

Thanks for your input!

[+JohnnyVegas]

You can use the same computer for both the Meridian gold and the explorist. As far as the Explorist 600, There is not need for a magnetic compass in a GPS, it is not all the usefull for geocaching. I use the The explorist 500 and the Meridian gold.

 

It also seems most of the problems I have seen posted re the E600 have not been a problem with the E500.

 

As far as a GPS for a new cacher, I would recomend the exlorist 210, It sells for a bit more than the older Garmin Legend (Blue). It has nore memory for maps and data 22mb for the 210 and 8mb for the Legend.

The 210 uses a USB interface, the legend uses a serial port, the 210 will do auto route the legend will not.

The Explorist also has a better reciever than the E-trex series and will hold a better lock under tree cover.

 

Check your local dealers, magellan should have a rebate $30.00 on the 210 starting this week some time.

[+embra]

I don't mean to hijak this thread, but Harvester, and those of you that have upgraded, since you owned a Meridian and the software, (MS DR 1.0) which I understand isn't compatible with the new eXplorist line, can you load detail maps and POIs to both units from the same computer using MS DR 2.0?

 

My understanding is you may only have one serial number per software package. When I installed the newer version, it wiped out the previos version.

Both DR 1.0 and 2.0 will work with explorists and meridians. They are not USB-aware, so you do need the workaround of another program like Windows Explorer or the Mapsend Conversion Manager to copy the files onto the GPS...a trivial matter. 3.0 does have direct USB communication built in.

 

The licensing agreement is indeed 1 GPS per program, and 3.0 enforces it by locking to a single computer as well. On 1.0 and 2.0 you can change the serial number four times before the program refuses to allow additional changes. A re-install resets the counter. I have some sympathy for Magellan getting stricter with their copy-protection scheme on 3.0, although I think limiting it to a single computer is overkill.

[+Blucruz]

 

The licensing agreement is indeed 1 GPS per program, and 3.0 enforces it by locking to a single computer as well. On 1.0 and 2.0 you can change the serial number four times before the program refuses to allow additional changes. A re-install resets the counter. I have some sympathy for Magellan getting stricter with their copy-protection scheme on 3.0, although I think limiting it to a single computer is overkill.

 

??? I have both a meridian gold and an explorist 210 with version 2 and have been able to switch serial numbers dozens of times without reinstalling. ???

 

As far as comparing the 2 units goes, Meridian by far is a friendlier unit to use in my opinion. The 210's biggest problem I feel is the lack of being able to delete geocaches after you find them. Also the 210's 200 cache limit is restricting compared the limitless waypoints with the meridian if using a sd card.

I would definately go meridian before a 210 but it's a great back up unit.

[RMonk]

Ty for all of the advice. After reading all the posts, I'm leaning towards the Explorist 210 (newer technology, auto-routing etc.)

 

One point concerns me. Blucruz mentioned that you cant delete found caches on the explorist 210. Should this be a consideration given there is a fixed amount of memory?

 

Any further clarification on this point would be appreciated.

[+EScout]

After the firmware update last December, the explorists 400, 500, 600 allow you to mark caches as found. This is better than deleting because it time and date stamps the finds. And you can decide whether to have the found caches display on the map screen. This feature should be added to the 210 in the future.

 

Also, the limit of 200 caches applies to each file. At 30Kb per cache file of 200 caches, you can have many of these in memory.

[+TK421-]

Never mind.... I can't count

Edited May 9, 2006 by TK421-