Help identify an older Magellan GPS please

[+geekhunter]

I was hoping someone could help to identify an older hand held Magellan GPS and give me some advice. This unit is currenty stored in another state, so it's not possible for me to read the model number from it. The unit is an older Magellan and the most notable feature is a thick, bulky antenna on the top that can swivel up to a 90 degree angle from the main unit. The antenna, when flat, runs across the top of the GPS hand held.

 

I'm very new to GPS's and would like to do some geocaching and I'm not sure if I should get someone to send it to me or just get a newer model. When I tried this unit last summer, it really didn't work very well and had serious trouble linking with satellites. This could be due to my lack of knowledge or perhaps the technology is just better now. I would estimate that this unit is 3-4 years old.

 

I KNOW that this isn't much to go on, but thought I'd give it a shot and ask for some advice.

 

Todd

[+sledgehampster]

Check here for old products

http://www.magellangps.com/en/support/oldprod.asp

[AdirondakMud]

The older GPS units were designed for use on water and usually had problems under leaf cover. You may want to test it on land first.

[+phantom4099]

I may be wrong but it sounds like a color track( or the one that is not color more likely), or a map 410. Both of these units are a little older than the 315.

 

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

[+Cachetrotters]

a Meridian XL GPSr (C. 1994) which sounds similar to the one you describe, except the swivel antenna rotates down along the right side. Still works, but notice that while E-W position is good, N-S position is way off compared to my newer Mag's.

 

don

[+geekhunter]

Thanks for all of the help. Getting to the manuals for the older units and the tip from Phantom4099, made it all fall together!

 

I'm quite sure that this was a Map 410. Do you know if this unit is any good? Had a lot of features which I remember were quite difficult to get around, and the ability to lock onto satellites in Oregon was just awful. A few leaves of a tree were enough to cripple it. Am I doing something wrong with this unit or should I get a new one in your opinion?

 

If it's a good unit. I'll ask a friend to find it and ship it to me.

 

Thank you so much for your help!

 

Todd

tcc@dailydoodle.com

[+geekhunter]

Sorry, just remembered one more thing. I believe that this unit was rated as being accurate to within about 50 feet. Are newer units more accurate as they claim?

 

Also, the altimeter didn't seem to work worth W@*&!

 

Is that normal?

 

Todd

[+phantom4099]

The map 410 has a slower processor so the map screen is slower to refresh. This unit is also more for marine use and can download nav charts from mapsend marine (the 330, meridian, and sportrack can not use these maps), the mapsend land (same units can't use it either) does not give detailed streets, it mostly gives point of intrests. Also keep in mind that the memory in the unit is limited (I am thinking 2 mb).

 

Also Mapsend streets, TOPO, Streets and Destinations, Blunav, and world basemaps will not work for this unit either.

 

I belive this unit is 12 channel and has the option to add a external anntana. But even with that and combined with the age of the unit I am not sure how well it will work out doors. The unit is also probaly heavy because it takes 4 batteries (can be run off of two).

 

I think your are probaly better off get getting a newer unit since it will have a warranty and you will get more bang for your buck.

 

As for new units being more accurate they may be if you have a WAAS enabled unit and have a clear view of the sky, other than that there is probaly little diffrence. I know my meridian and 315 are usually just a few feet from each other (some times they give the exact same cords) even with my merdian recieving WAAS signals. But this may be because the 315 has had a update in the past year, and recieved new way of caclulating a fix.

 

Wyatt W.

I have never owned this unit, most my data is from a brief look up I did about 3 years ago when it was magellan only handheld maping unit.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

[+Don&Betty]

I've been using a Mag 410 for a couple years. By all means have it sent to you to try out. It's certainly a quality unit. I'm just not sure its programming is optimized for the more accurate modern satellite signals. And of course, it is not WASS enabled.

 

Though I'm confident its antenna is good (quite good in clear skys, or anywhere), I did get a Mighty Mouse II amplified external antenna for it which is phenominal. Big improvement in the woods. I sometimes carry a telescoping 12-foot-long golf-ball retriever pole to mount the antenna on to give it a higher-up view of the sats in wooded areas. I've also stuck a jar lid under my cap so the antenna will stick (magnetically) to the top of my hat. The MM-2 sticks to the car roof too.

 

The rotating 410 antenna is good for laying the GPS on your dash with the antenna rotated to vertical. Other GPS units won't do that.

 

Be sure to change the settings (doable somehow) to input 3-decimal coordinate inputs. Unfortunately the distance outputs are only 2-decimal. Let me know if you figure how to change that too. If you set it for kilometers instead of miles, the 2 decimal distances will be 33 foot resolution instead of 53 foot resolution. That is, when it says you're within 0.01 km, that means your within 10 meters or 33 feet (which is about as good as GPS can be anyway, so who needs 3-decimal output.) Were it set to miles, the closest it could show is 0.01 mile which is 53 feet.

 

I generally use the compass screen to search, along with a magnetic compass! Hold the compass in one hand and rotate the GPS around in your other hand til the GPS N-S compass screen is in alignment with the N-S magnetic compass needle. Then the cache-direction arrow, and the cache icon, on the GPS compass screen will point right at the actual cache--and the distance to it will be shown as well.

 

The 410 has an auto-averaging system that I think tends to shoot you in the foot. As you are moving in nearer the cache, say within 50-100 feet, the averaging feature seems to keep old data too long. The result is, it keeps on saying 0.01 mi even after you move another 50-100 feet beyond the point it first said was just 0.01 away. It just seems to get confused, with both distance and direction, when it gets that close. I havn't figured it out yet.

 

Some recommend turning it off (or swinging it around at arm's length) (to erase the averaging memory) then turning it back on to start fresh. I sometimes do this in placing a cache, to read only data generated from the GPS being right there at the cache and nowhere else.

 

Anyway, try it. I think you will like it.

 

[This message was edited by Don&Betty on January 15, 2003 at 08:48 PM.]

[+geekhunter]

I really appreciate the help. This forum is just great! While all the tips and tricks to make the 410 work are extremely helpful to get me started, I'm most likely going to make the switch to a more modern unit as soon as I get up enough $$. I know that the Meridian is now available at Outpost.com for $129 which is a heck of a deal! Unfortunately, that's still a little "rich" for me at this time Oh well... I'm still holding out for someone with a unit that has some cosmetic flaw and is looking to update.

 

Todd