+4 Badgers Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Hi All, My mum has been offered a Magellan Sportrak Color for caching and I couldn't tell her whether it would be any good or not - can't see it on Magellan's site. I use an Etrex Legend so am biased toward Garmin, but if the Magellan is up to the job I could tell her to go ahead and get it - 2nd hand, being offered to her for 100 Euros (she lives abroad). Has anyone any experience of these? Can they be recommended? Or should I just get her a trusty Garmin? Cheers! Link to comment
+ZoomLens Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I had one of these a few years ago and paid an arm and a leg for it. I found it to be an alround good performer and it was fairly easy to program in waypoints. 100 euros seems a good price too for something with a colour screen and the potential for mapping. I did not use it for caching though, so cannot comment from experience. Link to comment
+HazelS Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Back in the olden days when I cached with my ex, we had a Sportrack. It was a little belter under tree cover, MUCH better than the Garmin emap we also had at the time. IIRC, it was a bit fiddley to download waypoints - the cable had to be screwed into the back of the unit and took ages, but well worth it. Good Luck, IMHO, It's not a bad little unit. Link to comment
+Belplasca Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Just before I discovered caching, I had a Sportrack Map - a slightly earlier model than the color, which had 23 MB for maps etc. I used it on a trip round Europe (Dover, Brussels, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Zurich, Besancon, Dover) and the only problems were the time to load the next day's maps, and the screw that held the battery cover in. The screw went into a brass bush - which wore out on the trip! Magellan modified the design, so the Colour won't have that problem. As to the time for loading the maps, that really was a special case. In normal use, you should be able to just use the set that you load into in the unit unless, of course, you want to cache away e.g. on holiday. Like the Garmins, the maps aren't exactly cheap, and the basemap is very basic. But you can get older maps for much less money and they would be fine for caching - on ebay etc. I'm pretty sure that you can't do automatic routing on the Sportrack, but you can certainly set up a series of waypoints, and route that way. Excellent buy for €100 Bob Link to comment
+Flyfishermanbob Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Yes ..I'm a Magellan Sportrak colour user ....lots of nice features ...electronic compass etc.... Reliability is excellent ..... but.... (there is always a but) my biggest complaint was that Magellan dont allow you to switch off Waas.......(unless you go into debug mode) and Magellan units by default accept all Waas signals .... ( even if they are test mode ).... the "Under Tree" reputation is based on an algorithnm used when the signal is ropey/lost.... but its excellent.... Check out the prices on the market..... Magellan appear to have dropped this series in favour of the 100 etc...so you could get a very good price.... though E 100 is hard to compete with.... Oh ..and unlike Garmin, you probably wont hear of legandry aftercare service...possibly because they dont use dodgy glue and flakey screens to start with.... Would I buy another ?.... Yes Yes Yes Link to comment
+4 Badgers Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Thanks for all of your replies - after reading Flyfishermanbob's reply I'm wondering whether I shouldn't swap my trusty Garmin out with mum when I next visit! I've emailed her a link to this thread, so with any luck she'll make the purchase and finally get out there caching. I think the seller is throwing in some maps too, which makes the price even more appealing. Thanks again for your replies. Link to comment
+Mad H@ter Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 (edited) OK, well we have a SporTrak Map which is a very similar unit externally. It has served us well for the time we have had it and yes it does appear to work well under trees (more on that in a min), and now for the "but" , but we have had a few issues and problems as follows: The brass nut in the case to hold the battery compartment stripped, this was repaired under warranty by fitting a new case. The new case is now starting to show the same problem so I am not convinced that this was resolved by Magellan The casing around the assembly screws is starting to crack and according to the Magellan user group on USENET this is a common problem. The removable battery compartment is a little fragile, ours broke. The case is developing a crack where the battery compartment goes in. This is in the area where the nut previously mentioned is The rubber seal on the battery compartment is a very tight fit often making it difficult to remove batteries. This may have also caused previous problem. Backlight turns on automatically when approaching a waymark whether you want it on or not. You then have to manually turn it off. Not a great issue but can effect battery life. Connecting to a PC is fiddly as previously mentioned A lot of people say that it is good under cover, and indeed it does give that appearance. BUT I'm not convinced, I strongly believe that the Magellan's predict using previous speed and direction data where you should be. It has a habit of overshooting waypoints, not a big problem just stop/slow down about 50 feet from waypoint as you are probably there The above may all seem a little negative, but as I said at the beginning it has served us well and has had a VERY good field test. But do make sure you check the case for cracking and that the brass nut is not stripped. Would I buy another ? Probably not unless the price was right. We have received some of the legendary Garmin service so would probably stick with them. Unfortunately we have found Magellan much less helpful, when we wanted to buy a simple battery holder which is obviously a user serviceable item we were told that the whole unit had to be sent back to France, via the outlet we bought it from with original receipt even though it was well out of warranty Edited February 9, 2007 by Phillimore Clan Link to comment
+The Wombles Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 My Sportrak Color suffered a scratched screen when I fell down a hillside, inadvertently surfing on it. It was an upgrade from eMap and eTrex, upgraded after a certain Reviewer used to speak so highly of them - he found over 1,000 caches with it so it must have been good If the price is right then go for it. When I bought mine the price was in the 60Cx bracket, but if it's any less then it sounds like a good buy. Link to comment
+4 Badgers Posted February 10, 2007 Author Share Posted February 10, 2007 And more thanks! Mum's emailed me and is going for it.........am looking forward to checking out her first caching antics!!! Link to comment
+4 Badgers Posted February 16, 2007 Author Share Posted February 16, 2007 Happy to have this thread closed now - Überbadger has done the deed Link to comment
Deceangi Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 As requested topic is closed Link to comment
Recommended Posts