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Triton 400-- JUNK?


tanman34

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I seen at my local walmart they had this unit marked down from $199. down to 99..

I read some reviews on the internet and it doesn't sound very good lots of problems with these locking up and not hooking up to the computer properly.

Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with these units???

Any info would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks

Tanman34

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I seen at my local walmart they had this unit marked down from $199. down to 99..

I read some reviews on the internet and it doesn't sound very good lots of problems with these locking up and not hooking up to the computer properly.

Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with these units???

Any info would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks

Tanman34

 

I just bought mine for 200 at wal-mart too, it's been great so far. They have resolved a lot of the issues with firmware updates. TritonForums.com is a great site for any type of help.

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I have a Triton 400; I like it!. I've had it about 6 months

 

I download gpx files from geocaching.com and I get all the info on the cache page including the hint, except for the size. It's real accurate, always gets me right to the cache. It's real easy to use, the learning curve is easy. It has geocaching functions of course. The more I use, the more I like it

 

The only problems I've had were my own fault. Hooks up to my computer just fine.

 

I know people complain about Magellans customer service, but there is quite a bit of really good help on the Triton Forum.

 

$99 is a great deal

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I, too, just bought one for $99 at a local Walmart, now I have to figure oujt how to get the topo map into this thing? Any help would be appreciated? Not much of a manual with this machine.

Steve

For the Topo map you will need National Geographic explorer or the National Geographic Topo state series.

From that point I beleive you use Magallan Vantage Point softwaer to load the maps to the GPS.

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I, too, just bought one for $99 at a local Walmart, now I have to figure oujt how to get the topo map into this thing? Any help would be appreciated? Not much of a manual with this machine.

Steve

For the Topo map you will need National Geographic explorer or the National Geographic Topo state series.

From that point I beleive you use Magallan Vantage Point softwaer to load the maps to the GPS.

 

I believe the NG programs load the maps directly their own programs. It doesn't load them through VantagePoint, but VP has to be installed to have all the right drivers for NG to load the maps.

 

Not sure about that though. NG might come with all the drivers it needs to load the maps to the Triton.

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I seen at my local walmart they had this unit marked down from $199. down to 99..

I read some reviews on the internet and it doesn't sound very good lots of problems with these locking up and not hooking up to the computer properly.

Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with these units???

Any info would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks

Tanman34

 

Was this in the US or Canada? I may have to beg the MRs for some money if it's in Canada hehe :D

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I seen at my local walmart they had this unit marked down from $199. down to 99..

I read some reviews on the internet and it doesn't sound very good lots of problems with these locking up and not hooking up to the computer properly.

Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with these units???

Any info would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks

Tanman34

 

Was this in the US or Canada? I may have to beg the MRs for some money if it's in Canada hehe :D

 

Yes, I followed their instructions to the letter and couldn't get the topo maps downloaded. 2 NG discs one eastern US one western US.

Steve

Edited by S.B.
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I see in their instruction card where to put the little memory card but, do you pry the rubber aside to do this? Don't want to ruin this new toy.

Steve

 

Yes, the rubber on the right side. it's hard the first time.

 

The Nat Geo TOPOs load from the Nat Geo software, not VP; in fact it works better if you close VP while doing it; VP like to steal the connection from Nat Geo; you can only connect to one at a time.

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I see in their instruction card where to put the little memory card but, do you pry the rubber aside to do this? Don't want to ruin this new toy.

Steve

 

Yes, the rubber on the right side. it's hard the first time.

 

The Nat Geo TOPOs load from the Nat Geo software, not VP; in fact it works better if you close VP while doing it; VP like to steal the connection from Nat Geo; you can only connect to one at a time.

 

I see the rubber cover but, how do you get it open, pry? Can't get the interface cable to work at all? Nothing comes up when I plug the GPS into the computer? Close VP? I'm not very computer literate, sorry. Does the memory disc have to be in the GPS before you can load topo maps?

Steve

Edited by S.B.
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You may have to pry the rubber up the first time; here's a couple pics so you can see what to expect...

 

See my flap on the lower right? It's been worked a little, so it's easy to see now...

 

t400flap1.jpg

 

When you open the flap, it looks like this...

 

t400flap2.jpg

 

As far as the cable, lets start at the beginning and make sure you can connect to VP first.

 

Is VP installed?

 

is the cable connected to both the computer and the back of the Triton securely?

 

Can you connect to VP?

 

Oh, are you using windows XP or Vista?

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If you have the TOPO maps installed, you aren't accessing the net, just the Nat Geo software; yes, install the card first; you may have to format it too; to do that...

 

View->Setting->Memory->Format SD Card

 

When you're ready to install the TOPO maps frpm Nat Geo, close VP.

 

PS.

 

I assume you connected to VP ok?

Edited by SkellyCA
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OK, Through a little playing around, I got it on "Connect to PC". Please help guide me on the rest of what I need to know about this thing? Can I now connect the cable to both the computer and my GPS and download the topo maps? Do I need to change the settings after downloading maps and do I need to remove the chip when not using maps?

Steve

Edited by S.B.
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Nothing but: Waiting to Connect to PC comes up with nothing on the pc screen or the GPS screen except this message. Has to be a bad cable or blank discs? Anybody got a US direct phone number for Magallen? Please, I would like to talk to them and see what can be done here? Maybe request a manual, also?

My thanks and deep appreciation to all who attempted to educate this ignorant man, about these things.

Steve

Edited by S.B.
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Anybody got a US direct phone number for Magallen? Please, I would like to talk to them and see what can be done here? Maybe request a manual, also?

 

Ummm...have you tried the Magellan website?

http://www.magellangps.com

 

Pretty much all the info you're seeking is available there, including the manual:

http://www.magellangps.com/assets/manuals/...A400_500_UM.pdf

 

I'm currently speaking to this computer but, not getting anywhere with their preanswered questions? Haven't searched the site yet but, is there a US phone number listed on it?

Steve

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I'm up. Here os the link to the Triton Forums, very good help there...

 

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

 

Download the manual here...

 

http://www.jungleghost.com

 

Lets see...

 

Run VP

Connect the GPS to the computer, then turn it on.

In VP, click on My GPS

Where is says...Connectivity, the left icon will be red when you are connected

 

Is it red?

 

No you don't have to change settings after downloading maps

No you don't have to remove the SD card when not using the maps

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I seen at my local walmart they had this unit marked down from $199. down to 99..

I read some reviews on the internet and it doesn't sound very good lots of problems with these locking up and not hooking up to the computer properly.

Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with these units???

Any info would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks

Tanman34

 

Ok, I went down today and bought the triton 400 value pack . For 99., 105 out the door.

I hope everything goes good but for 100.00 bucks you aint out much if things dont turn out good.

I wanted to give it a test run as soon as I got and fortunately for me there are several caches very close to walmart that I haven't found yet. I entered the numbers in manually and it is telling me they are 20 miles away. So after a quick double check of everything couldn't resolve the problem quickly so we went ahead and went hunting with my 72. We ended up find 5 of 6 with the 72. We never could figure out what was going on with the triton. I dont know if this is the problem but the time is wrong by 6 hours and I havent figured out how to set that. With no manual. I just noticed that there is supposed to a manual on the cd rom disk that came with it

. But I kinda thought the time would be automatically set by the satelittes??????

 

After i eat I am gonna check out the disk and some of this other info you guys posted on here.

I have high hopes it is just figureing it all out... and not equpment errror!!

 

I got mine at Sun City Center, Florida walmamrt they only have one left.

 

Thanks for all the info and I am sure I will have more ??????

 

Tanman34

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I seen at my local walmart they had this unit marked down from $199. down to 99..

I read some reviews on the internet and it doesn't sound very good lots of problems with these locking up and not hooking up to the computer properly.

Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with these units???

Any info would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks

Tanman34

 

Ok, I went down today and bought the triton 400 value pack . For 99., 105 out the door.

I hope everything goes good but for 100.00 bucks you aint out much if things dont turn out good.

I wanted to give it a test run as soon as I got and fortunately for me there are several caches very close to walmart that I haven't found yet. I entered the numbers in manually and it is telling me they are 20 miles away. So after a quick double check of everything couldn't resolve the problem quickly so we went ahead and went hunting with my 72. We ended up find 5 of 6 with the 72. We never could figure out what was going on with the triton. I dont know if this is the problem but the time is wrong by 6 hours and I havent figured out how to set that. With no manual. I just noticed that there is supposed to a manual on the cd rom disk that came with it

. But I kinda thought the time would be automatically set by the satelittes??????

 

After i eat I am gonna check out the disk and some of this other info you guys posted on here.

I have high hopes it is just figureing it all out... and not equpment errror!!

 

I got mine at Sun City Center, Florida walmamrt they only have one left.

 

Thanks for all the info and I am sure I will have more ??????

 

Tanman34

I also ment to say that that at so far I am very impressed with its ant. reception. I did not notice it loosing reception even once. and next to my shop is a auto body shop and I went inside the paint booth and it did not loose signal till I got all the way in the front with my back to the open door. And it would have signal for 5 - 10 seconds and then loose it for 2 seconds top. Something I am not used to with the 72, it drops signal easily!

 

Tanman34

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Actually, I didn't know VP had to be downloaded to my computer, once I did this, everything went well. Disc 1 seemed to be all the software with disc 2 being states? I still don't see much difference in the graphics, is there suppose to be?

Steve

 

So now it connects to VP?

 

Thew difference between the graphics between what and what?

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Actually, I didn't know VP had to be downloaded to my computer, once I did this, everything went well. Disc 1 seemed to be all the software with disc 2 being states? I still don't see much difference in the graphics, is there suppose to be?

Steve

 

So now it connects to VP?

 

Thew difference between the graphics between what and what?

 

Between before downloading NG discs and after downloading NG discs. It actually runs through VP on the compouter at least disc 1 did.

Steve

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since it connects to VP now, you should be able to connect to the Nat Geo TOPO's

 

Install Nat Geo and the maps on your computer

Close Vantage Point

Open Nat Geo

Connect your GPS to the computer, turn it on

Click the Handhelds

Click Magellan Triton Inport-Export

Select the area on the map; The red rectangle is what will be exported; you can resize and move it around; before exporting, zoom in all the way; You'll have to play with it to get used to it

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since it connects to VP now, you should be able to connect to the Nat Geo TOPO's

 

Install Nat Geo and the maps on your computer

Close Vantage Point

Open Nat Geo

Connect your GPS to the computer, turn it on

Click the Handhelds

Click Magellan Triton Inport-Export

Select the area on the map; The red rectangle is what will be exported; you can resize and move it around; before exporting, zoom in all the way; You'll have to play with it to get used to it

 

Hope you have better luck with NG maps than I did. I uninstalled, and reinstalled them, and never could get the maps to work. Little red box...? Mine never did have that. I actually like the gpsr though. DH says we can't keep both though (BTW...I bought a Delorme Pn-20 earlier this week, so the Triton is going back). The maps on the pn are wonderful. I haven't figured out how to add gc's yet, but anything that picks up the gas station and side road street names in my little 1 traffic lite town, has to be powerful!

 

Jststmpit

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since it connects to VP now, you should be able to connect to the Nat Geo TOPO's

 

Install Nat Geo and the maps on your computer

Close Vantage Point

Open Nat Geo

Connect your GPS to the computer, turn it on

Click the Handhelds

Click Magellan Triton Inport-Export

Select the area on the map; The red rectangle is what will be exported; you can resize and move it around; before exporting, zoom in all the way; You'll have to play with it to get used to it

 

Where do I get the Nat Geo maps from? Is this something you buy?

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since it connects to VP now, you should be able to connect to the Nat Geo TOPO's

 

Install Nat Geo and the maps on your computer

Close Vantage Point

Open Nat Geo

Connect your GPS to the computer, turn it on

Click the Handhelds

Click Magellan Triton Inport-Export

Select the area on the map; The red rectangle is what will be exported; you can resize and move it around; before exporting, zoom in all the way; You'll have to play with it to get used to it

 

Where do I get the Nat Geo maps from? Is this something you buy?

 

I thought you already had the Nat Geo TOPO's (National Geographic TOPO maps)?

 

Yes, you buy the Nat Geo maps; You can buy them online at the National Geo Graphic site or at some sporting good stores; they sell them by states; I have California

 

Here...

 

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/jump.js...emType=CATEGORY

Edited by SkellyCA
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since it connects to VP now, you should be able to connect to the Nat Geo TOPO's

 

Install Nat Geo and the maps on your computer

Close Vantage Point

Open Nat Geo

Connect your GPS to the computer, turn it on

Click the Handhelds

Click Magellan Triton Inport-Export

Select the area on the map; The red rectangle is what will be exported; you can resize and move it around; before exporting, zoom in all the way; You'll have to play with it to get used to it

 

Where do I get the Nat Geo maps from? Is this something you buy?

 

I thought you already had the Nat Geo TOPO's (National Geographic TOPO maps)?

 

Yes, you buy the Nat Geo maps; You can buy them online at the National Geo Graphic site or at some sporting good stores; they sell them by states; I have California

 

Here...

 

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/jump.js...emType=CATEGORY

 

No, two National Geographic maps disc come with this GPS?

Steve

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since it connects to VP now, you should be able to connect to the Nat Geo TOPO's

 

Install Nat Geo and the maps on your computer

Close Vantage Point

Open Nat Geo

Connect your GPS to the computer, turn it on

Click the Handhelds

Click Magellan Triton Inport-Export

Select the area on the map; The red rectangle is what will be exported; you can resize and move it around; before exporting, zoom in all the way; You'll have to play with it to get used to it

 

Where do I get the Nat Geo maps from? Is this something you buy?

 

I thought you already had the Nat Geo TOPO's (National Geographic TOPO maps)?

 

Yes, you buy the Nat Geo maps; You can buy them online at the National Geo Graphic site or at some sporting good stores; they sell them by states; I have California

 

Here...

 

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/jump.js...emType=CATEGORY

 

No, two National Geographic maps disc come with this GPS?

Steve

 

Now I'm confused; when I bought my T400 I only got one disk; it had Vantage Point and the Nat Geo main program, but not the individual TOPOs. So I'm curious what is on your disks. My California TOPOs have 10 disks for the whole state.

 

Are the TOPOs on your disks, or is it just a trial version?

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since it connects to VP now, you should be able to connect to the Nat Geo TOPO's

 

Install Nat Geo and the maps on your computer

Close Vantage Point

Open Nat Geo

Connect your GPS to the computer, turn it on

Click the Handhelds

Click Magellan Triton Inport-Export

Select the area on the map; The red rectangle is what will be exported; you can resize and move it around; before exporting, zoom in all the way; You'll have to play with it to get used to it

 

Where do I get the Nat Geo maps from? Is this something you buy?

 

I thought you already had the Nat Geo TOPO's (National Geographic TOPO maps)?

 

Yes, you buy the Nat Geo maps; You can buy them online at the National Geo Graphic site or at some sporting good stores; they sell them by states; I have California

 

Here...

 

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/jump.js...emType=CATEGORY

 

No, two National Geographic maps disc come with this GPS?

Steve

 

Now I'm confused; when I bought my T400 I only got one disk; it had Vantage Point and the Nat Geo main program, but not the individual TOPOs. So I'm curious what is on your disks. My California TOPOs have 10 disks for the whole state.

 

Are the TOPOs on your disks, or is it just a trial version?

 

Don't know, we'll see. I'm downloading them to my harddisc as we speak.

Steve

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Supposedly Magellan issued firmware updates to increase performance and add additional features for the Triton line, as I read on another site.

 

Here are some highlights of the new update:

  • User Experience: Users will now be able to enjoy enhanced features including the ability to load and search 500 waypoints, trails with 5,000 track points, and 20 routes; the implementation of the NMEA communication protocol for both USB and Serial communication; trail functionality; and improvements like the ability to select unique trail color in addition to other user-defined trail attribute definitions; and several other user interface and map display improvements.
  • VantagePoint Software: Users will now be able to take advantage of a Window system trap application that alerts them of new Triton software updates. Additionally, the updated trails functionality and NMEA communication protocol are included in the latest VantagePoint software release to allow users to replay and customize their trails and perform GPS logging.
  • Product Accuracy: The accuracy of location information has been updated with improvements in latitude, longitude, heading, bearing, distance, date, time, elevation and speed. The accuracy of the internal memory and SD Card memory readings has also been improved.
  • Searching: The ability to search for waypoints, geocaches and other place destinations is a vital part of an outdoor GPS device experience. Three areas of search-related improvements are the ability to search user data; the ability to search geographically (”nearest to”) a point of the map; and the ability to search for places within a map.
  • Sensors: Improvements have been made to the functionality and performance of the electronic 3-axis compass and digital barometer; additionally, sensors are only used when necessary, extending the battery life. Two Triton models come equipped with sensors — the Triton 500 and the Triton 2000.
  • PC and GPS Device Communications: A warning message to users trying to connect their Triton device to their PC for the first time will no longer be displayed as a result of an improved PC connection with certified Microsoft Windows USB driver.
  • National Geographic TOPO! Explorer: National Geographic SuperQuads — a unique combination of USGS 1:24,000 topo quads, 4-meter aerial imagery and hybrid maps — are now available on Triton GPS devices through TOPO! Explorer and TOPO! Explorer Deluxe software products. New improvements include automatic Triton software updates, updated map export, complete Triton memory management for both user data and NGMaps and updated online user documentation.
  • Topo USA (powered by AccuTerra): Intermap Technologies branded AccuTerra GPS map data is available to Triton users for online download now, and will soon be available in popular retail outlets. The retail product will be available on “plug ‘n play” SD Cards, which can be simply inserted into compatible Triton devices for instant access to national GPS maps. The vector-based interactive maps include property boundaries for federal, state, and local lands; accurate hiking and motorized trails; and over one million outdoor-specific points of interest. Both regional and complete US coverage is available.

Edited by ryguyMN
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I've been on the phone with Magellan several times in this last week! Bottom line is VP has some problems with Win XP operating systems service pack 3. I was assured that Magellan would come up with a patch and notify me through email to download this patch?

So, if you've bought one of these, contact Magellan and let them know your having problems installing VP? The more complaints the faster the fix? Good luck.

Steve

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I have recently purchased both the DeLorme PN-20 and (because of Wal-Marts sale) a Triton 400. I was always interested in trying these out, seeing as I was very happy with my eXplorist 400. I wanted to compare the PN-20 and the Triton 400 mainly to be used as a geocaching GPSr. Out of the box, it seems to have an issue on restarting after I have shut the unit down. It immediately comes back up to the map screen (no Magellan splash screen) and will not respond to any button presses other than the power button. I have read on the triton forums about the "three fingered" shutdown method, and this seems to semi-work, however i notice that the display is not completely blank when I do this method, however it does power back up normally when I use the on/off button. I updated the firmware to the most recent rev 1.52, but that did not seem to make a difference. Do any of you other Triton 400 owners have this issue or a fix? Thanks!

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