ok let try this question another way which gps you shouldnt get

[tanzu2007]

onyx 200 just seen to be great gps for telling where you been . not where your going. can,t even get a log at web site. and with out maps oynx 200 well great for telling where been which i guess is ok.

[+Renegade Knight]

Any GPS that you can't connect to the computer to download waypoints is not a good GPS for caching.

 

Anything with the name Cobra attached.

[+KI4AOA]

I am going to go out on a limb and say the magellan explorist series. Please don't flame me!

Unless you get a really really good deal. To me the waas issue is the biggest reason.

[+trainlove]

Anything with the name Cobra attached.

 

I second this motion.

3 Years ago I was unfortunate to have tried Cobra's 1000 unit. After a few weeks I returned it for a full refund.

 

If you are stuck with one you can ask for a refund because it does not do what you want, I wanted UTM, and MGRS and Maidenhead coordinate formats.

[Source_GPS]

Anything with the name Cobra attached.

 

I second this motion.

3 Years ago I was unfortunate to have tried Cobra's 1000 unit. After a few weeks I returned it for a full refund.

 

If you are stuck with one you can ask for a refund because it does not do what you want, I wanted UTM, and MGRS and Maidenhead coordinate formats.

 

The good news is Cobra announced a few weeks ago that they are no longer in the GPS business... They have settled one patent infringement law suit against them, 3 more pending and the division is being dissolved.

Edited February 15, 2008 by Source_GPS

[+hukilaulau]

I am going to go out on a limb and say the magellan explorist series. Please don't flame me!

Unless you get a really really good deal. To me the waas issue is the biggest reason.

The waas issue? I've used an explorist of one type or another for 3+ years and 1465 caches and have found them extremely accurate. The WORST unit I've ever used was an etrex legend. Spun around in circles whenever i got close to a cache.

[+briansnat]

Other than the Cobras, I've never heard of a really bad unit. Some may not be appropriate for certain conditions or might not have the features a particular user is looking for, but that doesn't make it bad.

 

For example the Legend that Hukilaulau complains about is used with great success by many. It was my unit for the first 2 years of geocaching and did a great job for me.

Edited February 15, 2008 by briansnat

[+Prime Suspect]

The good news is Cobra announced a few weeks ago that they are no longer in the GPS business... They have settled one patent infringement law suit against them, 3 more pending and the division is being dissolved.

If they were going to steal technology, why didn't they steal good technology. In the words of Click & Clack, "somebody needs a dope slap".

[+hukilaulau]

Other than the Cobras, I've never heard of a really bad unit. Some may not be appropriate for certain conditions or might not have the features a particular user is looking for, but that doesn't make it bad.

 

For example the Legend that Hukilaulau complains about is used with great success by many. It was my unit for the first 2 years of geocaching and did a great job for me.

yep. I would agree. What I really meant was that it's mostly personal preference. I know lots of people start out with and love the legend. sorry i didn't make that clear. Guess I was still trying to figure out that "WAAS issue" statement.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I am going to go out on a limb and say the magellan explorist series. Please don't flame me!

Unless you get a really really good deal. To me the waas issue is the biggest reason.

OK I get to use one of my newimages

I have had over 2000 finds with My explorist 500

WAAS is a good thing, I find people that have issues with WAAS have been victums of bad information

Reg. WAAS

The Explorist 100, 200 and 300 are not good choices because they are not made for a computer interface.

But the 210, 500, 500LE, 600 and XL, are all very good choices.

I just got a New Explorist 500LE to replace one the was stolen in a truck break in Wed. night. The total price after Tax, and shipping

$137.51 from Costco's website

edit due to pre coffee typos

Edited February 16, 2008 by JohnnyVegas

[+hogrod]

I found Magellan to have very poor quality and buggy unit software. It's really nice to have your gps self delete all waypoints and reset to factory condition in the woods. I had this happen with one of my meridian golds and an explorist 200(I've owned 5 Magellans).

 

thats not even talking about the non-existent customer service.

 

On the flip side I switched from all my Magellan GPS to a Garmin LegendC. it was a great gps, except for you had to hold it properly to maintain signal in the woods(screen up toward the sky). The newer H model etrex's fix this issue with their high sensitivity chipset.

[+JohnnyVegas]

sounds like operator error to me

I have never had these problems

[Fluxuated]

Guess I've been lucky, on GPS #3 and Never had a problem with any of them, All Garmin.

[+hogrod]

sounds like operator error to me

I have never had these problems

 

yep it must have been operator error.... both the meridian gold and explorist 200 I had issues with would work great 95% of the time. The other 5% the unit would power off and when you would power them back on it would need to be re-initialized and all user waypoints and other data was gone. With the meridian gold you could store the waypoints on the SD card to work around the issue, but I shouldn't have to.

 

list of magellan GPS I owned(bought new):

 

1. Sporttrak map - it powers off when you do a goto any waypoint, boomerang effect.

2. Meridian gold - metal battery contact lost connection with units main board, boomerang effect.

3. explorist 400 - 95% of the time was great, 5% of the time it was off by 200-300ft even with right datum checked, rocker switch stopped working when pushed to the right.

4. meridian gold - very poor claimed EPE but no boomerang effect, unit would reset itself and need to be re-initialized. besides the major issue of the unit resetting itself, it was the best/most accurate Magellan GPS I owned.

5. Explorist 200 - didn't have any issues for almost a year, then it started to loose all waypoints and need to be re-initialized(sometimes).

 

All these units that had PC connectivity had the most current unit software installed. I guess all these issues could be attributed to operator error, but then why don't I have problems with any of my 5 garmin gps receivers? only issue I had with garmin was the rubber came loose from my legendC, which Garmin replaced out of warranty.

[MtnHermit]

OK I get to use one of my newimages

Great "Flame"!!!

[+mazoo]

Any GPS that you can't connect to the computer to download waypoints is not a good GPS for caching.

 

Anything with the name Cobra attached.

 

Has anyone tried the magellan triton 400. I just bought that one and haven't really got it figured out yet. I'm brand new to this gps stuff but want to get into geocaching. I went to buy a Garmin and the salesman talked me into the Magellan. Any comments or suggestions???

[+JohnnyVegas]

sounds like operator error to me

I have never had these problems

 

yep it must have been operator error.... both the meridian gold and explorist 200 I had issues with would work great 95% of the time. The other 5% the unit would power off and when you would power them back on it would need to be re-initialized and all user waypoints and other data was gone. With the meridian gold you could store the waypoints on the SD card to work around the issue, but I shouldn't have to.

 

list of magellan GPS I owned(bought new):

 

1. Sporttrak map - it powers off when you do a goto any waypoint, boomerang effect.

2. Meridian gold - metal battery contact lost connection with units main board, boomerang effect.

3. explorist 400 - 95% of the time was great, 5% of the time it was off by 200-300ft even with right datum checked, rocker switch stopped working when pushed to the right.

4. meridian gold - very poor claimed EPE but no boomerang effect, unit would reset itself and need to be re-initialized. besides the major issue of the unit resetting itself, it was the best/most accurate Magellan GPS I owned.

5. Explorist 200 - didn't have any issues for almost a year, then it started to loose all waypoints and need to be re-initialized(sometimes).

 

All these units that had PC connectivity had the most current unit software installed. I guess all these issues could be attributed to operator error, but then why don't I have problems with any of my 5 garmin gps receivers? only issue I had with garmin was the rubber came loose from my legendC, which Garmin replaced out of warranty.

 

All these units that had PC connectivity

The explorist 200 was not offered my Magellan with PC connectivity

 

I have had

Meridian Gold

Sport track Map

Sport track color

Ecplorist 500

Explorist 500LE

While the Meridian gold, and the two sport tracks have the boomerange effect the reason for this is that those agellans were built in the early days of GPS. The reason for the effect was because they were designed to assume the direction of travel when the GPS signals would be lost in tunnels or in the midst of large cities is cases in which large buildings would block the GPS signal. This is a function the magellan owners new about and it is not a big deal. In the early days of geocaching having coordinates off by at least 20 feet was not uncommon, the experainced cachers would start to look for thing that could hold a cache when they would be about 20-30 feet from ground zero. I am using my old Meridian right now in my truck untill I get a chance to replace Garmin street pilot that was stolen with my Magellan Exp 500.

 

I have also owned and used some of the early Garmin e-treks. These early Garmin offerings of the time had problems with maintaining a look under tree cover. On several occasions it would use my Merian gold or on of my Sport traks sise by side with and e-treks (legend or yellow) when under tree cover the Garmins just did not cut it.

 

I use to run GPS/Geocaching seminars in the early days of GPS. I would see 10-20 people approach a cache area and all start looking in areas that would be 15-30 feet appart, some had magellans some had garmins. none of them started the search within 20 feet of the cache.

 

Ah! the good old days when you had really look for a cache, these new guys have it so easy

[+JohnnyVegas]

Any GPS that you can't connect to the computer to download waypoints is not a good GPS for caching.

 

Anything with the name Cobra attached.

 

Has anyone tried the magellan triton 400. I just bought that one and haven't really got it figured out yet. I'm brand new to this gps stuff but want to get into geocaching. I went to buy a Garmin and the salesman talked me into the Magellan. Any comments or suggestions???

I have been reading the yahoo Tritons forums. Take it back and get the Garmin, the tritons are so full of problem some dealers have sent then back to magellan.

Were did you buy it, did you ask the saleman if he had used one in the feild. Some dealers do not spend the money to train the sales staff, so all the salemans may have to go on is what is on the box.

I was with a freind at an REI a few years ago and he asked to see a Magellan sport trak map, the salesmans words "Magellans do not work" At this point I took my Magellan sport trak map out of my pocket it gave the REI salesman a demo. He then admitted that he had never used a Magellan GPS himself. (but he was telling people they did not work)

 

I was going to buy a triton until I started to read about some of the problems. Once the problem are fixed I may buy a Triton 400.

 

I would also stay away from the Colorado, they are no more a shinning star then the Triton.

Edited February 17, 2008 by JohnnyVegas

[+GOT GPS?]

B&W Vista(July 2001) - The Absolute worst Garmin I had, but when it was new, it seemed to be decent, but when I had it awhile it was crap, with it's signal reception.

 

Garmin Map60Cx(Feb 2006) - The second worst Garmin, because it had some problems with it's receiver and power problems. This GPS unit's battery meter would bounce up ad down, and shut off occationally, and only Duracell coppertop Alkalines would work in it with some stability. The elevation on the tracklogs from the 60Cx was like a rollercoaster even on flat land. This GPS, I never got fixed because it is garbage, and out of warrenty.

 

Garmin Map60CSx(Sept 2007) - Without flaw, once I calibrate the altimeter, the elevations are right-on, and the tracklogs are nice. A great GPS, so avoid the ones that were built in early 2006.

 

Magellan Meridian Platinum(Aprox June 2003) - The Absolute best Magellan I ever owned, with no problems that I could remember, with the best electronic 3-axis compass, and it had no rubber-band effect, and pretty much took me to the caches. The Garmins on the other hand would all cause me to circle around and around in a 40 foot diameter circle. Seemed that with WAAS turned off, the rubberband effect was not bad, because it did not effect me, with my Platinum. I would have probably kept this GPS, but after I sold it, I found the GPS conversion utility by Robertlipe (GPS babel). If I had that utility, I might have kept the Platinum.

 

Magellan eXplorist XL(May 2006) - GPS with the best readable screen, for my eyes are fuzzy, and can't see tiny screens well. This GPS has trouble with the shut-offs, if I access any Tracklog folder on the SD card, that has more than a handfull of tracks. Every time the tracks are accessed, it would imediately shutoff, so I had to keep the number of tracklogs down to less than 6 tracks per folder. Other than that this GPS is very rugged with good buttons, and click-stick, and very waterproof, but this gps will hit the bottom of a lake in an instant, because it is quite heavy(over 10 ounces of weight)

 

Garmin Colorado 400t(Feb 7 2008) - This GPS is very stable with no problems at all, but it's case design, is terrible, and reminds me of an early production model of a Magellan ColorTrak, where it's keypad, and power/data socket on back, both became un-glued. The ColorTrak had some of its parts glued in place. I might return this Colorado 400t basically for it's flawed case design.

Edited in: the ColorTrak was not waterproof, and the Colorado is not either.

Edited February 18, 2008 by GOT GPS?