Guest infosponge Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 Just got my Meridian (basic, the MeriGreen today...so far I'm very impressed. It locks on fast, even inside. The user interface response is very snappy...none of the waiting that I was used to with my MAP 410, which will now become my mounted car or kayak GPS. I also am blown away by how responsive it is...no more auto-averaging issues. If I shift my weight from one foot to another, that's enough to break out of averaging immediately. I'll post a detailed review after I've had some time to use it cacheing, etc. Quote Link to comment
Guest JamieZ Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 I-Sponge, Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about it. I'm waiting for my gold in the mail. I ordered it Friday... That was six days ago, from cyber-marine. Hopefully, it will be here today. I struggled between the base Meridian and the Gold. Ultimately, I think I was swayed by ClayJar, when he said that he felt better having the larger basemap in case he goes somewhere other than the area in which he has topo's loaded. Has anyone printed out the Meridian users manual? It seems to me it could be printed two to a page, and then two-sided like a book. Is there some way to get my printer to do that? Sponge, did you get any accessories with your Meridian--software, memory, power cords or anything? I haven't seen any talk about Meridian accessories (other than the software.) Jamie Quote Link to comment
Guest infosponge Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 The package comes with a computer data cable and a printed and CD-ROM owners manual. I ordered mine from thegpsstore.com and got it in two days. I also ordered the MapSend Topo software, and a 32-Mb SD card (not Magellans, I got a SanDisk brand at necxdirect.com). I also struggled with the MeriGreen vs. the MeriGold. I figured I can have most of my roaming areas stored on an SD card (or cards) and save the $ off the MeriGold. Since I was going to buy the software and memory card anyway, it seemed more economical to go with the smaller basemap. Just based on a quick look, standing outside my front door, the 2Mb basemap is less detailed than my MAP 410's. It has the major highways and all the name-able towns around here, but that's about it. My MAP 410 also had coastal navigation aids and some smaller roads. I'm sure that once the quirks with large memory cards are worked out by Magellan, I won't be sorry with my decision. I'll be able to load a heck of a lot into a 128Mb or larger card, or even have a "deck" of cards pre-loaded with different regions on them for wherever I might travel. Prices on these things will keep going down. - Tim (infosponge) Quote Link to comment
Guest Rangertrek Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 I ordered a Meridian Gold last week from thegpstore and yesterday was the first chance to actually look for a cache. The unit indicated we were 11 feet from the site when we found it. Nice unit, we like it alot. Looking forward to learning all that it will do. I locked on sats in my living room and tracked me through the house. Hard to beat that. Question? - when a region is loaded on an sd card and selected, is this used instead of the base info in the unit? Even when selecting goto points? Quote Link to comment
Guest cchang Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 infosponge, What version is the Topo that you ordered? Is it the fixed version which overcomes the 32MB upload limit problem? Quote Link to comment
Guest ClayJar Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 ut not all (the more you zoom out and the lower your detail settings, the more likely you'll hit basemap ). Quote Link to comment
Guest alexm Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 quote:Originally posted by cchang:infosponge, What version is the Topo that you ordered? Is it the fixed version which overcomes the 32MB upload limit problem? According to Magellan, the bug is nside the Meridian's firmware, not in Mapsend Topo. I would like to see a "Meridian Aware" Mapsend Topo hit the shelves (and the free software support upgrades site) though... ... Quote Link to comment
Guest infosponge Posted December 21, 2001 Share Posted December 21, 2001 The version I have does not have any 32Mb size fixes. (There's a description of the problem at http://www.magellangps.com) It's not specifically Meridian-aware, but it works. My USB SD Card reader won't be here until Monday, but I used the serial port to upload ~8Mb of region data and it took about 10 minutes. Could be worse. The unit seems to work great with Exper tGPS for managing my geocaching waypoints. I downloaded all the info from my MAP 410 into ExpertGPS and then uploaded it to the MeriGreen. I'm going to test it on a cache today...time for me to go and check a few of my caches that haven't been visited in a while. So far, I'm very impressed with how sensitive it is...although I've noticed that holding the unit vertically increases the sensitivity. My MAP 410 has a swing-up antenna for that reason, I suppose. - Tim (infosponge) Quote Link to comment
Guest Ranz Posted December 21, 2001 Share Posted December 21, 2001 You guys are killing me... I have a Merigold sitting in a box under festive wraps and I am not allowed to fold, spindle, or triangulate until Christmas morning. My 315 has been great but I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on this thing. Don't think I have felt like this on Christmas since I was around eight. Have fun Meridians, I be joining your ranks soon. (If I can stand the wait) [This message has been edited by Ranz (edited 21 December 2001).] Quote Link to comment
Guest Rangertrek Posted December 21, 2001 Share Posted December 21, 2001 Just four (4) days and counting! The wait will be worth it. Quote Link to comment
Guest infosponge Posted December 21, 2001 Share Posted December 21, 2001 Yeah, I had to talk my wife into an exemption from "The December Rule." (anything you buy for yourself in December has to get a ribbon and wind up under the tree She's a gem. Buying flowers didn't hurt my case any either. I used it to locate and check up on one of my caches this morning and it was a real dream. The user interface has some little quirks that could be made better, but I'm really nit-picking there. It's very responsive and easy to use. I got good sat locks crawling around under heavy, tight tree cover (mangrove swamp and brazillian pepper trees). Quote Link to comment
Guest alexm Posted December 21, 2001 Share Posted December 21, 2001 quote:Originally posted by infosponge:The unit seems to work great with ExpertGPS for managing my geocaching waypoints. I downloaded all the info from my MAP 410 into ExpertGPS and then uploaded it to the MeriGreen. Aside from mis-mapping and "changing" some of the waypoint icons, ExpertGPS (the current version) works fine with the Meridian when it's told it has a MAP330 for a GPS. Rumor has it that the next version has native Meridian support and handles all the waypoint icons properly and uses long (8 character) waypoint names. ... [This message has been edited by alexm (edited 22 December 2001).] Quote Link to comment
Guest ganeesh Posted December 22, 2001 Share Posted December 22, 2001 I hope to be joining the happy owners group meridian gold. Just purchased a few moments ago. Went back and forth between gold and the vista (garmin). I kept hearing tree cover issues with the vista, so the gold it is. Can't wait to get and play with! My first GPS unit! Quote Link to comment
Guest JoeyBob Posted December 27, 2001 Share Posted December 27, 2001 Just bought my MeriGold today, found 2 caches about an hour later. Will be putting the faithful yellow etrex on ebay pretty soon. The interface is a little strange at first, but the mapping features are way cool! JoeyBob Quote Link to comment
Guest hipsterdoofus Posted December 31, 2001 Share Posted December 31, 2001 Bought me a meridan basic yesterday (paid for it anyway, still gotta be shipped to me!) this will be my first GPS and hope with it ability to add on memory that it will last me awhile..can't wait to get it and to start caching with it! Quote Link to comment
Guest TresOkies Posted December 31, 2001 Share Posted December 31, 2001 I'm considering the MeriGold. I have two Garmins and I love them. It's Mapsource that I'm thoroughly annoyed with. Enough to switch (take note Garmin employees lurking here). Some questions... 1. Does mapsend have the stupid unlock codes like some Garmin products? 2. Which mapsend product has the best coverage outside of urban areas? 3. Does the topo cover the entire US? 4. Any problems with the SD cards? Any problems sharing them with a Palm m505? Thanks -E ------------------ N35°32.981 W98°34.631 Quote Link to comment
Guest ClayJar Posted December 31, 2001 Share Posted December 31, 2001 quote:Originally posted by TresOkies:1. Does mapsend have the stupid unlock codes like some Garmin products? No. You have the CD, you have the whole thing. quote:2. Which mapsend product has the best coverage outside of urban areas? The streets are the same all around. MapSend Topo has topo and POI; MapSend Streets & Destinations has more POI. quote:3. Does the topo cover the entire US? Yes. Magellan uses a completely different method of doing their topo maps than Garmin. For a screenshot comparision, see http://www.gpsinformation.net/exe/maptech/mag-topo.html quote:4. Any problems with the SD cards? Any problems sharing them with a Palm m505? There is currently an issue limiting you to 32MB from MapSend Topo on an SD card. It will be patched eventually, but a 32MB limit on uploaded detail isn't really that bad in the meantime. As far as the sharing the card goes, as long as the Palm m505 doesn't mind there being a file named DETAIL00.IMG in the root directory on the card, it's no problem. Quote Link to comment
Guest peter Posted December 31, 2001 Share Posted December 31, 2001 quote:Originally posted by TresOkies:1. Does mapsend have the stupid unlock codes like some Garmin products? 2. Which mapsend product has the best coverage outside of urban areas? 3. Does the topo cover the entire US? 4. Any problems with the SD cards? Any problems sharing them with a Palm m505? 1) No, but then Mapsend has no products equivalent to those from Garmin that have unlock codes. (Those codes for CS/CN are imposed by NavTech which currently has the most detailed maps available for vehicle navigation.) From what I've seen, the Magellan base maps are better than Garmin's, but the new MetroGuide USA is better than Streets & Dest. 2) For streets and businesses: Streets & Destination. For topography: Topo. 3) Yes, same as Garmin's equivalent. The Magellan version has much better street coverage on their topo maps. I feel that the topo contour lines are a little better on Garmin's version. 4) Don't know. Quote Link to comment
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