Garmin III + vs Magellan 330

[Guest Miles678]

I am currently looking at the Garmin III + and the Magellan 330. Has anyone compared the two? Any ideas on how the mapping stacks up between the two - both on the unit and compatibility/downloadability from a PC? Does anyone out there have any personal experience with both in the field?

 

From what I can tell so far, the G III + only has 144k of memory to the 8m of the Magellan. However, the G III+ appears to be the superior unit.

 

Any thoughts you might have are greatly appreciated.

 

Miles678

 

[This message has been edited by Miles678 (edited 01 May 2001).]

[Guest Quinnow]

I have the garmin III as well as the vista but a friend of mine has the 330. On several times out looking for caches my gps has told me I was within feet when found yet when a friend with the 330 went after the same cache it told him he was 85 feet when he happened to see it out of the corner of his eye at 5 feet away. Though this could most likely be caused by sat reception I have noticed a greater number of sats found on my IIIPlus compared to my vista at the same spot and time. Don't let the little on board memory fool you with the IIIPlus. It's a top shelf unit that takes a back seat to none when compared as far as performance, reception and features. The external antenna that can be removed to add a power antenna is another great feature, not to mention it takes four AA bats that give you around 36 hours use.

 

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Quinn Stone

Rochester, NY.14616

www.Navicache.com

 

[This message has been edited by Quinnow (edited 01 May 2001).]

[Guest Miles678]

Thanks for the info Quinnow. Have you played with importing maps into both units? How do they stack up there? Is there any difference in the quality (amount of data) on the two? What about the accuracy of the on-board maps?

 

BTW, you mentioned that you also had a Vista. How did that stack up to the other two?

 

Miles678

[Guest Quinnow]

well there are several plus and minus factors for each unit. As for the Vista what I like about it is the fact you have 24 megs of memory to play with along with having WAAS feature.

So the Vista ranks very high with me.

As for the IIIPlus, I like the mapping that came with the unit and have found it to be dead on, have I added more maps or edited the ones within?...no, not yet. Though I don't think I will need to either. I have stored many waypoints and routes and find it to be easy to get around in as far as setup. But this unit does not have WAAS, even though I find it to be just as accurate if not a bit more than my Vista with WAAS enabled. I know little about the 330 so it would not be fair to you if I was to give an opinion on that unit, but if you go to www.garmin.com and then go to the "outdoors" link you can compare garmin unit with garmin unit with the "features table" that they have within.

If I did not own either the Vista or the IIIPlus and went out to buy one today, which would I take? most likely the IIIPlus, but it would be a very tough choice to make.

I love them both and use them about the same amount while caching.

If you decide to get one check out www.advancedgps.com they have great prices and no shipping charges. but look around first!

 

By the way...I have hooked both units to the comp using "mapsource" software and they work very well with it. upload and download in a snap.

 

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Quinn Stone

Rochester, NY.14616

www.Navicache.com

 

[This message has been edited by Quinnow (edited 01 May 2001).]

[Guest Miles678]

Quinnow thanks for your patience and help. In case you hadn't already figured it out, I am new to geocaching. However, I have a degree in Cartography and work with computers. Hence my interest in the mapping capabilities of the different units.

 

Here shortly I am going to head out for my first cache. This is a great sport. It combines many of my interests (mapping, geo-coordinates, computers, hiking...)!!

 

I somehow totally missed the new Vista. I had confused the eTrex with the eMap so I had completely written it off because the eMap didn't do everything that I was looking for. The Vista looks like it does though. You helped enlighten me on that score.

 

I read the thread on the different units that everyone had before I started this thread. I didn't see any comparisons between the G III+ and the M 330 so I asked. Now I have reread the thread on the units that everyone has and now I see the significance in the comparisons between the Vista and the III+.

 

Thanks to your advice and some more research I think that I'm going to get a III+. WAAS is nice, but if the III+ is just as accurate without WAAS it becomes a moot point.

 

Thanks for the link to the website. The price on the III+ is very good. However, I saw it at Wal-Mart for about $10 - $15 more. I'll probably end up getting it there. Something about instant gratification...

 

[This message has been edited by Miles678 (edited 01 May 2001).]

 

[This message has been edited by Miles678 (edited 02 May 2001).]

[Guest Miles678]

Quinnow thanks for your patience and help. In case you hadn't already figured it out, I am new to geocaching. However, I have a degree in Cartography and work with computers. Hence my interest in the mapping capabilities of the different units.

 

Here shortly I am going to head out for my first cache. This is a great sport. It combines many of my interests (mapping, geo-coordinates, computers, hiking...)!!

 

I somehow totally missed the new Vista. I had confused the eTrex with the eMap so I had completely written it off because the eMap didn't do everything that I was looking for. The Vista looks like it does though. You helped enlighten me on that score.

 

I read the thread on the different units that everyone had before I started this thread. I didn't see any comparisons between the G III+ and the M 330 so I asked. Now I have reread the thread on the units that everyone has and now I see the significance in the comparisons between the Vista and the III+.

 

Thanks to your advice and some more research I think that I'm going to get a III+. WAAS is nice, but if the III+ is just as accurate without WAAS it becomes a moot point.

 

Thanks for the link to the website. The price on the III+ is very good. However, I saw it at Wal-Mart for about $10 - $15 more. I'll probably end up getting it there. Something about instant gratification...

 

[This message has been edited by Miles678 (edited 01 May 2001).]

 

[This message has been edited by Miles678 (edited 02 May 2001).]

[Guest mcb]

I asked the same question to sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup back in December. I have been a Garmin III+ user for the past two years and a Garmin user for the last 5 years. I was a little bummed when the 330M came out and you could get it for almost $100 less and it came with the map CD. I had to justify my choice as fruitless as this endevor might be. After several exchanges on the newsgroup we generated a table of features. The table was later posted to Jack and Joe's web site.

 

http://joe.mehaffey.com/comparisons.txt

 

When it comes down to it they both are good GPS receivers. The 330M had more memory but the III+ is a far more flexible unit as far as customizable screen display with its many user definable data field. It also has a larger assortment of maps you can download to it. Road and Recreations for US and many other countries, Topo, World and a few others. The 330 until recently had US roads only. It now has a Topo version.

 

What really convinced me that I had bought the correct unit was I downloaded the manuals form Garmin and Magellan?s websites and read them both. This was all I needed to convince myself that the III+ was worth the extra money.

 

mcb

[Guest Miles678]

MCB, Thanks for the info. I completely understand about having to justify the extra money - even after the fact.

 

That comparison helped. That was the kind of thing that I was looking for. I think you are right - the III+ is the better unit.

 

As for the price - I saw them for sale at the same place. The III+ ran $50 more. However, I the III+ at Wal-Mart and it was cheaper than the M330 I saw at the first place.