Magellan Vs Garmin 2007

[mlilja]

Ok, so I read the topic about Magellan Vs Garmin that was posted in Jan 2004. Does Magellan still have a bad rep? or have they improved. I have read that the Magellan 500 LE is rated by many sites as a best buy. DO you guys agree? I need advice. I like the price with the features of the LE, but I don't want to buy a pile of you know what.

Thanks!

[+Miragee]

Welcome to the Forums!

 

Garmin has excellent GPS units and their mapping software, City Navigator, is said to be the best. They also have excellent customer service.

 

Magellan makes good GPS units and as long as nothing goes wrong with them, so you don't need their largely-non-existent Customer Service, you can't go wrong . . .

[+gpsblake]

The Explorist line is 3 years old and it seems to be that Magellan has totally given up on the handheld GPSr market to focus on auto units.

 

When I first started geocaching, the Magellan MeriPlat was the best unit on the market bar none. Magellan had color before Garmin did and had SD card capability long before Garmin did. And it was widely believed that the Quad-Helix of the Meridians were superior to the patch antennas of the Garmins.

 

How times have changed since..........

 

I haven't heard of Lowrance putting out a new GPSr unit a while either.

 

There was hope when Thales sold Magellan that things would improve.

 

Garmin is the only active company still upgrading their handheld GPSr units.

[+EScout]

I got my eX500 when it first came out in March 2005, so about 2.5 years ago when it leap-frogged over the competition. It was one of the first with a newer generation high-sensitivity receiver in a compact size, Li-Ion battery and charging system, and still has the most advanced file management system. So it has some features that others do not yet have, and at its current price, a great value. Yes, there are items that could and should be improved. A firmware update could keep it competitive for some time.

 

To answer the OP, I have not had to get my 500 serviced and I use it several days a week, for much more than caching.

[DaveHW]

I purchased an XL in Febraury and after using it two or three times discovered I had a dry joint problem. Something any solid state electrical product can suffer from. I returned it to Magellan in France and it was sent back repaired two weeks later. Magellan had also uploaded a European basemap (I had bought a US version on E-Bay). It soon became apparent that the repair had not worked so I returned the unit to Magellan and it was exchanged for a new European Explorist. I think that the service I recieved was good and would purchase Magellan products again. I am located in the UK.

[+Knight2000]

A note on Magellan...

 

I have heard more than one positive experience about Magellan owners overseas (Particularly U.K.)

 

I have heard of one positive experience from a Canadian user.

 

I have heard lots and lots and lots of bad CS experiences for U.S. owners. (Maybe we should call Canada or the U.K. number for help?)

 

Shortly after purchasing a new unit we had problems. I wrote about it here. So far i have been pleasantly surprised by Magellan's response although it took a BBB complaint to get it. Soon i will post how the issue was resolved as our dealings are almost complete.

 

Until then, i will reserve my opinion.

[vagabond]

I've had my 500 for 2 years, last summer the membrane split on the click stick

I emailed Magellan and after 2 weeks I hadn't gotten a reply.

I called their 800 # and within a couple of minutes I had a RMA, I sent the unit of to the Dallas Fort worth area and within 2 week The unit was returned looking like new and with a new Li-on Battery.

I've been using Magellan products for over 5 years and so far have been very happy with them.

[imaroon]

I agree with everyone here about the customer service at Magellan, this poll also shows that Garmin's the leader

[+rtmlee]

My 2 cents....

 

I've been using a Meridian Color for about 3 yeas now. It has been a solid GPSr from day one. I've and 2 issues in that time. The serial cable went bad and had to be replaced. Got one off eBay for $7. I took the unit apart to remove what I thought was a piece of lint behind the acrylic screen protector. Upon reassembling it I cracked the LCD. #$*&^%@!!!!! Mailed it off to Magellan and they replaced the LCD and the acrylic screen (scratched up over the years) for $100. I use MapSend TOPO and it rocks! I also have a bluetooth GPSr that I use with my Palm TX running Geoniche which I find very useful. All that said, I've never owned a Garmin but I hear good things about them. They now have a pretty close relationship with Groundspeak which means there could be some convenience factors they will have over Magellan. But my Meridian Color has never steered me wrong.

[+Walt Jabsco]

I have the Explorist 400 and love it. I just wish I got the 500 or the xl for the color screen.

Not everything with the Magellan is perfect. The software doesn't work right with Vista (but then again, neither does my HP printer, Logitech web cam, or Mustek scanner, and they're going to update the drivers either...).

Even in custom mode, the firmware doesn't allow to set correctly to the new daylight savings date standards. No biggie, but that annoys me.

The power/usb connector on the back of the unit wouldn't be my first choice in design.

But as far as operation, ease of use, and features are concerned, it's great. The buttons are well thought out, reception is great, and fits well in my hand. And it's rugged.

I will admit, I have been eyeing the Bushnell Onix200cr for my next gps. It looks like it has some great features. I just don't know anyone who owns one to let me check it out. I don't usually listen to people who's "heard" things good or bad, I go with first hand accounts.

 

The Garmin GPSMAP60csx seems to be the de facto standard on this web site. But you can get the 500Le ($179.00 at Circuitcity.com) and the DirectRoute3.0 Software ($149.00 pretty much everywhere) together ($328) for less than the cost of the 60csx ($342 best reputable price at walmart.com) by itself without any mapping software.

Edited July 21, 2007 by Walt Jabsco

[H assa N]

I also own an eXplorist 400 from Magellan. I don't have any other complains than it not showing coordinates in DD/MM/SS.S but only in DD/MM/SS . Why on earth did they not include a simple simple thing? :S

[imaroon]

Most people say that Garmin make a better product than Magellan. However Magellan do make very good products sometimes much better than Garmin. The only thing that sucks about Magellan is their customer service which they still have a problem with

[+JohnnyVegas]

 

I emailed Magellan and after 2 weeks I hadn't gotten a reply.

I never use e-mail to contact any company of any kind. It seem like with most companies the e-mail goes to a company trash bin. I always use 800 number and talk to real people. In one case I sent an e-mail to a (non-GPS) company and I go my reply 18 months later.

 

I have been using Magellan GPS products for many years. I have gotten good results with magellan customer service the few times I have needed help. Most of my problems have been with me being careless with my gear. I have also used Garmin and I have also had good luck with there service.

 

As far as new hand held units. I really do not know what they could change. They must be happy with the sales of their hand held units. While we are geocachers and for the most part that is what we use our GPSrs for, we are not a very big percentage of the GPS market. With most manufactures money is spent in divisions that make the most profit.

[vagabond]

 

I emailed Magellan and after 2 weeks I hadn't gotten a reply.

I never use e-mail to contact any company of any kind. It seem like with most companies the e-mail goes to a company trash bin. I always use 800 number and talk to real people. In one case I sent an e-mail to a (non-GPS) company and I go my reply 18 months later.

 

I have been using Magellan GPS products for many years. I have gotten good results with magellan customer service the few times I have needed help. Most of my problems have been with me being careless with my gear. I have also used Garmin and I have also had good luck with there service.

 

As far as new hand held units. I really do not know what they could change. They must be happy with the sales of their hand held units. While we are geocachers and for the most part that is what we use our GPSrs for, we are not a very big percentage of the GPS market. With most manufactures money is spent in divisions that make the most profit.

 

You'll notice I said I used the 800 number and had very good results that way.

In over 5 years of using Magellan products that was the only time I've had to use the warranty. Although almost a year to date I have the same problem with my 500, and I'll live with it until the unit dies, at which time I'll probably change to another brand of GPS. I do like the look of the XP but I've gone through the 4 aa battery thing with my

old Lowrance GN 212 and that beast ate batteries like they were candy

[robertlipe]

I also own an eXplorist 400 from Magellan. I don't have any other complains than it not showing coordinates in DD/MM/SS.S but only in DD/MM/SS . Why on earth did they not include a simple simple thing? :S

DD MM SS.SSS is the default out of the box. menu->preferences->map units->coord system -> lat/lon

 

Options include

Deg/Min/MMM

Deg/Min/Sec

Deg.DDDDDD

[WWWG]

I've had a Meridian Color for about 4 years and it has logged about 10,000 road miles of tourist travel. When it was new is was a "wow" every time guided us to a location. I never had maintenance problem with it. It was a bit slow getting re-oriented after getting off an airplane 3 time zones away but other than that it worked fine. I never had to deal with Magellan, Inc so I don't know anything about that.

 

But now it is getting a bit long in the tooth so I'm looking into a replacement. The primary candidates were the Magellan Maestro 3140, the TomTom One and the Garmin 350. The TomTom is out because the maps are old and incomplete and the routing engine is suspect. The Garmin has several serious weaknesses for tourist travel, the inability to construct a multiple-stop route (I'm surprised Garmin allowed themselves to fall behind like that, even the TomTom does multi stop routes) and the extra cost Fodor's travel guides compares poorly to Magellan's built-in AAA travel guides. My main concern about the Magellan is the lousy 2 - 3 hr battery life. That precludes carrying it along on a walking tour of a city unless you are very careful about turning it off while you are walking.

 

I understand all the gripes about Maggies customer service. Their website is very un-informative but I am just buying the GPS unit, not stock in the company. Maybe I'll get lucky a second time and not have to deal with them. If it doesn't work out of the box I'll send it back to Amazon, if it breaks later it could get ugly.

Edited July 24, 2007 by WWWG