It's Time: Magellan Triton 500 ($150.00 Costco Online)

[dogtrainer1]

Apparently the Magellan Triton series is relatively stable. This might be a good time to take advantage of Costco's discount price of $150.00 for the Triton 500 (offer expires June 1, 2008).

 

If anyone thinks that the Triton 500 is not stable enough (at this point in time) then this speak up.

[+Miragee]

Welcome to the Forums!

 

I don't know about the Triton 500, but several people who have gotten the 400 have had problems. A friend's locked up three hours after he received it from Magellan as a replacement for his Explorist that stopped working. I know Costco has a great return policy, but Magellan's Customer Service is dreadful.

[sanramonhunter]

I've got a 500 and it is stable. Only had one lockup, and that was while I was entering my personal info. For $150 it's a good price, but it's not the easiest GPSr to use. The controls are more complex then they need to be and some screens are a pain to get to. Hasn't Costco changed thier return policy on electronics (Not lifetime now)? If I were you I'd give it a shot and if you don't like it you will have at least 60 days to return it.

[+Marky]

Some of the reasons I was excited about the Triton was the Camera on the 2000, and the touch screen. Both of these were implemented poorly, in my opinion. At least the 500 doesn't have a touch screen to confuse things. Other than the price, the only reason to consider the Triton 500 is if you are a big fan of NG Topo. I can come up with no other reasons to get one.

 

--Marky

[+jws2go]

I wonder if the third party map list would also include Delorme's Topo USA 2007, which shows an export option to Maggies. I may give one a try anyway. The price is right, and I like Magellan products.

[bmirak]

Costco's lifetime return policy ended in early 2007. Returns are limited to 90 days for electronics,

 

http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2007/02/2...urn-policy.html

 

I bought a very expensive camera from Costco in the summer of 2006. I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, but went with Costco specifically because of the lifetime return policy (better than any warranty, right?) I'm going to be ticked if my camera breaks down a few years from now and Costco won't honor the return policy that was in place when I bought the camera.

[poodlenuts]

after all I have read about the Magellan Triton series I wouldnt touch one with a 10 foot poll.

 

there still not working right

http://www.tritonforum.com/forum/

[dogtrainer1]

Costco's lifetime return policy ended in early 2007. Returns are limited to 90 days for electronics,

 

http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2007/02/2...urn-policy.html

 

I bought a very expensive camera from Costco in the summer of 2006. I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, but went with Costco specifically because of the lifetime return policy (better than any warranty, right?) I'm going to be ticked if my camera breaks down a few years from now and Costco won't honor the return policy that was in place when I bought the camera.

 

The above is not completely true. The GPS does have a lifetime return policy according to Costco's website:

 

http://www.costco.com/Service/FeaturePageL...ductNo=11204333

 

"Merchandise: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. Exceptions: Televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD / MP3 players and cellular phones must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund."

 

As you can see, the GPS is not one of the exceptions.

 

There is only three days left (sale ends June 1) before the bargin priced Trition 500 disapears.

[+gpsblake]

dogtrainer,

 

I own both Triton 500 and Garmin products. If you're primary use for the unit is **GEOCACHING**, it's does that okay but like others have said, you've got to press a whole lot of buttons to switch to a different geocache.

 

If you are going to use the unit for **ANYTHING** else, honestly, it's junk. Here's just some things that are wrong or not fixed on my unit.

 

[*]Odometer is still inaccurate although it's better than it's been. **MAJOR**

[*]Too many outdoornav.exe errors that can crash the unit - **MAJOR**

[*]unit defaults to 300 foot view on maps when unit is turned off

[*]beeps are too quiet to be heard

[*]time disappears when satellites aren't being picked up

[*]synching the unit is really slow when a few hundred geocaches or waypoints are being synched

[*]still no WAAS indicator (poster on this forum indicates it is picking up WAAS but the unit doesn't show this)

[*]many reports of NGS maps being inaccurate on the unit (I don't own NGS maps so can't confirm or deny myself)

[*]Yellow Tracklog will disappear at times on map screen, especially when I cancel a route, waypoint, or geocache. It will then at times, reappear in it's entirety. Tracklog appears to be unaffected.

[*]Screen is almost unreadable under any condition unless the backlight is on.

 

Annoyances.

 

[*]No way to mark Geocache as found (work around is to change the icon to something else, like the flag icon)

[*]Hints should be a bottom of geocaching page, not at the top

[*]Lack of being able to use SD card for waypoint/geocache storage, all are stored on the memory of the unit

[*]Lack of memory total for the 200/300 series, let's be honest, you can't upload maps to these units.

[*]No data screens in the map page on the 200-500 series

[*]Short battery life - horrible battery life....

[*]No shortcut way to mark a waypoint unless you are at the map screen (better than what it was though)

[*]No autorouting for the unit

[*]No 3rd party software like easygps, g7towin, GSAK works with the unit. You must use Vantage Point or NGS capable software. Perhaps reason is unit acts like a PDA software wise instead of a traditional GPS unit.

[*]Eight different back light settings is an annoyance, you've got to press the button eight times to turn it completely back off. Off, 50%, 100% is all that is needed.

 

$150 - If I didn't get my Triton as a Christmas present, I wouldn't buy it for $150. That's just my opinion. I'd call just to make sure you can return the unit for life.

[bmirak]

The GPS does have a lifetime return policy according to Costco's website:

 

http://www.costco.com/Service/FeaturePageL...ductNo=11204333

 

"Merchandise: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. Exceptions: Televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD / MP3 players and cellular phones must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund."

 

As you can see, the GPS is not one of the exceptions.

 

Ah, a loophole! Great point, but I would still be a little worried about whether Costco would actually accept a returned GPS a few years down the road.

[+verdugan]

I'll just add to gpsblake's list.

 

I had a Triton 2000. In fact, I had 3 of them (thank god for REI's return policy). I ended up returning the last one for a Colorado 300. Here are some of my reasons:

 

* Next to impossible to calibrate the compass. I couldn't calibrate it one unit. The other unit would take between 10 and 15 tries.

* Lack of maps. The base map is really, really basic. Major highways and that's it. Magellan doesn't offer a better map at the moment. Sure there's the NG maps, but you can only upload small maps. If you upload bigger maps, either it will crash during the upload process, or there will be display errors.

* Almost 6 months later, and some major features are still not enabled.

* Almost 6 months later, and there haven't been any firmware releases for the 2000. I think there's been one for the other units. From reading tritonforums.com it introduced (for some units) really long delays when panning the map.

 

I had lots of hope for the Triton 2000. For me it was all about the NG maps. But in practice, it was painful to use. I remember the first time I used it on a hike, it crashed on me several times. Of course I had back up maps and a compass, but what's the point in taking it if the unit is not dependable.

 

The real reason that I exchanged it for a Colorado is that I have no faith that Magellan will release a firmware. Forget enabling the "coming soon" features, but just fixing what is available. Miniwhip from tritonforum.com has a contact in Magellan. He said the new firmware is very good, but there's no ETA for when it's coming out. I got tired of waiting.

 

As usual, YMMV.

[+embra]

I wonder if the third party map list would also include Delorme's Topo USA 2007, which shows an export option to Maggies. I may give one a try anyway. The price is right, and I like Magellan products.

Delorme maps won't be in a format that the Triton (or any Magellan or Garmin) can use. Waypoints and tracks *might* be able to be exchanged from Topo7, but if they changed the format from prior-compatible models (Meridians, SporTracks, and Explorists), then those won't transfer, either.

 

I used to like Magellan products, but I can't say that currently.

Edited May 29, 2008 by embra

[GARMAN NC]

Apparently the Magellan Triton series is relatively stable. This might be a good time to take advantage of Costco's discount price of $150.00 for the Triton 500 (offer expires June 1, 2008).

 

If anyone thinks that the Triton 500 is not stable enough (at this point in time) then this speak up.

 

I can't sit here and let anyone buy magellan without saying this - I don't need to tell you my horror stories just look at other peoples comments about tech service. If this doesn't scare you away from magellan then I wish you the best.

[CoyoteRed]

What has really steamed my shorts about Magellan is no support for once-loyal fans. The formally excellent SporTrak series, though discontinued, could have seen a firmware update simply to update the WAAS satellites. Nope.

 

Then I start researching a hack to fix and discover not only the next generation not receiving WAAS, but the latest as well. Apparently, it's getting fixed while other companies have long since had it fixed.

 

I mean how hard would it have been to go in and change a very few numbers to get the units to pick up the proper satellites? Sure, business strategy probably was "buy a new GPS." I'm the type that keeps something for a long time if it works. The SporTrak worked great until last year. Now, eh. Better than nothing I suppose, but for the same money or little more I can get something that kicks sand in it's face. Only, it doesn't have a Magellan logo on it.

 

So, Magellan's strategy of "buy a new GPS" translates into "go with a better company." I say, "Okay." My next one is a Garmin.

[dogtrainer1]

This is the last day of the sale. I received mine yesterday and was able to test it on a half day hike and I like it! It will save so much time because it integrates National Geographic topo maps; before this product came out I was manually plotting geographic coordinates (off of a GPS) to a physical map to identify (track) my location on a map.

[ryguyMN]

What has really steamed my shorts about Magellan is no support for once-loyal fans. The formally excellent SporTrak series, though discontinued, could have seen a firmware update simply to update the WAAS satellites. Nope.

 

Then I start researching a hack to fix and discover not only the next generation not receiving WAAS, but the latest as well. Apparently, it's getting fixed while other companies have long since had it fixed.

 

I mean how hard would it have been to go in and change a very few numbers to get the units to pick up the proper satellites? Sure, business strategy probably was "buy a new GPS." I'm the type that keeps something for a long time if it works. The SporTrak worked great until last year. Now, eh. Better than nothing I suppose, but for the same money or little more I can get something that kicks sand in it's face. Only, it doesn't have a Magellan logo on it.

 

So, Magellan's strategy of "buy a new GPS" translates into "go with a better company." I say, "Okay." My next one is a Garmin.

 

You nailed it! Instead of fixing the problems for current/older models, Magellan puts out a new model that may contain fix(es) and to get people to plop down $150 - 200 for essentially a firmware update. If buyers are willing to do that, more power to Magellan, but I'm sure as hell not biting on this marketing "strategy".

 

I have a perfectly, good SporTrak which no longer receives WAAS. It was a very accurate and functioning unit and my experience with it sold me on the Magellan line. It's a shame what has become of this company in a span of five years.

 

One other point: It's nice to known that Garmin's engineers are smart enough not to hardcode WAAS satellites to the firmware to allow for flexiblity in sat changes.

Edited June 1, 2008 by ryguyMN

[+Bat-Bubba]

Costco's lifetime return policy ended in early 2007. Returns are limited to 90 days for electronics,

 

http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2007/02/2...urn-policy.html

 

I bought a very expensive camera from Costco in the summer of 2006. I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, but went with Costco specifically because of the lifetime return policy (better than any warranty, right?) I'm going to be ticked if my camera breaks down a few years from now and Costco won't honor the return policy that was in place when I bought the camera.

 

I work at Costco and can tell you that it doesn't matter what the website says, they WILL take it back for a refund. Every Costco I know takes anything back. We recently gave a full refund for a hot tub that the people had for 5 years. The reason for the return was because it faded a little in the sun. Well, duh!! Another return was for a $2000 couch because it didn't go with their new wallpaper.

 

Yes, they will take back a $150 GPSr.