Questions on Meridian series GPSR's

[zilla]

I just gave my Maggie 320 to my son and am now looking at the Meridian series as a replacement..

 

Question #1: Is it worth it to load the Magellan topo maps into the unit?

 

Question #2; The base unit has 2MB mem, Gold/Platinum 16MB mem.. Do you need to add a card just to install the topo map stuff on the Gold/Platinum??

 

Question #3; Any current users out there who can give some likes/dislikes?

 

Thanx!

 

cjsheely@sweetwater.net

zilla

[+Jamie Z]

#1. To me, yes. It's my savior many times, that little map and arrow. I'm horrible with directions, but this little baby has about every little road and path that exists. Of course there are errors and ommissions, but most of the time, it's close enough. Of course, I'm not in a very hilly area, so the actual topo does very little for me, but the trails and backroads included are very useful to me.

 

#2. Yes. If you want to load maps in any of the Meridians, an SD card is required.

 

#3. Likes:

• removable memory cards

Dislikes:

• Size (it's awfully large)
• Lack of any useful beltclip
• Buttons are slow to react
• No "rubberband" heading line

 

The memory cards was the main reason I purchased my Gold. It's a good GPS, and I don't regret its purchase, but there are some minor things I don't like, noted above. I have other dislikes, but I don't want to make it sound like it's a bad unit... because I'm actually quite happy with it.

 

Jamie

[+TeamCNJC]

1) I like the topo maps. The basemaps (see #2) are relatively limited, and the topo maps provide roads in addition to the topo lines and natural features. Topo maps also provide address lookup. The Streets and Destinations provides road and POI information if you're primarily interested in on-road applications.

 

2) The 2Mb for the base unit and the 16Mb for the Gold/Platinum is for the basemap. Naturally, the larger basemaps have more information. Basemaps are updatable, and if you hack around you may be able to find a procedure for replacing the basemap in the Gold/Platinum with the North American marine, Euro land, or Euro marine basemaps. You can't do that with the base unit, though.

 

If you're going to get an SD card and upload detail maps, then you really don't need the updatable basemaps in the Gold/Platinum. However, with the latest firmware, Magellan has split the base unit from the Gold/Platinum firmware. This may mean that future new features may not be supported in the base unit, but this is really just wild conjecture at this point.

 

3) LIKES: Signal lock (better than my Garmin Venture), updatable/removable SD cards, ability to load maps using a card writer (time savings), multiple screens for customization

DISLIKES: Size, lack of clip/lanyard

 

-Craig/TeamCNJC

 

... Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took off through the thorns, chest high, ...

[+infosponge]

I've been extremely happy with mine. The topo maps on the SD card are great, and reception/accuracy are very good.

One negative had recently cropped up...I've dropped it onto a concrete surface a number of times since December. The most recent one damaged the backlight so that it no longer works. I understand others have also had this issue. Everything else is fine, so I haven't sent it in for repairs yet...when I get a break in geocaching time, I'll get it fixed and run on my MAP410 again for a while.

[+infosponge]

I've been extremely happy with mine. The topo maps on the SD card are great, and reception/accuracy are very good.

One negative had recently cropped up...I've dropped it onto a concrete surface a number of times since December. The most recent one damaged the backlight so that it no longer works. I understand others have also had this issue. Everything else is fine, so I haven't sent it in for repairs yet...when I get a break in geocaching time, I'll get it fixed and run on my MAP410 again for a while.

[+phantom4099]

I really like my gold. I downloaded the greens basemap into it once to see what I would have missed if I went with it. The greens basemap lacks alot of towns, lakes, rivers, and coast line detail. The info about towns does not download from mapsend (just the streets), this means that you may not be able to look up some towns in the search data base.

 

Wyatt W.

 

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

[+GeoCraig]

Just got a SporTrak Pro with the Topo maps. Very nice unit. The Topo isn't a topo map, but it does give some idea of terrain. For the few extra dollars from the streets edition, I figure it is worth it. My GPS was $230, MapSendTopo $68, and got a $50 rebate. Got it at www.gpsonsale.com.