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Magellan MapSend question - which turned into a broader question!


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Can anyone explain to me the difference between the following products? (the prices I quote seem to be the street prices I can find)

 

MapSend Streets USA ($30)

MapSend Streets and Destinations USA ($80)

MapSend Topo with streets USA ($80)

 

Here is my dilema...

 

I found the following deals:

 

Meridian Yellow with cable and the MapSend Streets CD for $109 after the $50 rebate (but GPSr unit and a Mapsend CD).

 

Meridian Yellow with cable, a 16MB SD card, and the MapSend Streets and Destinations OR Topo for $179 after the $50 rebate.

 

I also found the Topo Cd for 42.15 and Streets and Destinations for $46.91 after the $25 rebate (a different rebate for just the softward) on Amazon. I can locally buy a 32MB SD card for less than $25.

 

So...if I go the two separate rebates route I can get:

Meridian yellow with cable, 32MB card, MapSend Streets basic AND (Topo or Streets & Destinations) for about $175.

 

Would this be good? Is 32MB enough? Is there something else I should look at? Will I be able to read the maps on the screen? (I am not all that young anymore and use reading glasses!). I am beginning to think I should just get the basic etrex and be done with it!!!!

 

HELP!!!!

 

"I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference"

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All three packages have the same streets. The difference is that Streets & Dest has POIs (Points of Interest) and Topo has a different set of POIs along with topology information (elevations). I have a 64mb memory card and I can store all of Florida (Streets & Dest) and all of Maryland (Streets & dest) as well as Florida and Maryland with Topo. Unless you travel a lot and need many states loaded at the same time, I think 32mb is sufficient.

 

I hope this helps.

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Thanks jetskier!

 

I live in Louisiana, and our elevation is basically FLAT, so do you think the Topo would be of any use to me? (in fact, I live at a spot of negative elevation!)

 

By the way - you live in my favorite town!

 

"I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference"

 

[This message was edited by Life Journey on April 25, 2003 at 11:42 AM.]

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Actually topo and S&D contain a little bit more mapping detail. But this is in the form of trails (4x4, trails, and low maintance roads).

 

This adds a few more roads to my area that did not appear on the plain mapsend streets (But the only time I would ever use most of them would be for hunting, and such).

 

Also the version of mapsend basic is 1.1. And it has a few more bugs, which can get annoying.

 

Wyatt W.

 

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

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I think that most of your questions have already been answered, but I'll add my $0.02. (Refund line forms to the left...)

 

While contour lines are nice, Topo also adds more water lines. When you're trying to figure the approach to a cache, knowing which side of a creek it's *probably* is on is quite helpful. (It will lie to you sometimes.)

 

The latter two packages you mention differ from the first in the code base, too, and not just the map data. While I haven't fondled S&D, I own both Topo and Streets/USA. Topo adds "advanced" options such as the ability to print maps that Streets/USA won't do. If I were to pick one package, it'd be Topo. The difference between Topo & S&D seems minimal and both is a pure superset of Streets/USA. Since I care more about where bridges are than where gas stations are, Topo is the one for me.

 

If you travel a lot and need *many* states, another option is to have multiple SD cards. With some practice, they can be flipped in and out in less time than it takes the unit to power on, so if you want to keep one chip loaded with map set X and another with map set Y, it's practical to do with Meridian.

 

As for whether it's worth it over a mapless unit, I'd answer an emphatic "yes", but it surely depends on your own usage patterns, needs, and so on. If you plan to use it mostly in conjunction with a laptop for navigating on the road or don't care about navigating on the road at all (maybe you're a fisherman and just want to get back to where you were) then the advantages of a mapping unit will be largely lost on you.

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quote:
Originally posted by Life Journey:

Thanks jetskier!

 

I live in Louisiana, and our elevation is basically FLAT, so do you think the Topo would be of any use to me? (in fact, I live at a spot of negative elevation!)

 

By the way - you live in my favorite town!

 

"I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference"

 

[This message was edited by Life Journey on April 25, 2003 at 11:42 AM.]


 

I bought Streets&Dest first and then Topo thinking that Topo would have more trails than S&D, but it didn't. Topo does have some more intersting POIs than S&D. Go to Magellan's website and it'll list the POIs for each product. So far, I mostly only use the S&D, but Topo has some POIs that I'd like to go hunt someday (Springs, Mines, Cliffs, etc).

 

JetSkier

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I have MapSend Streets and Destinations USA and

MapSend Topo with streets USA

 

I use Topo most of the time, the Topo product also has street names included. Topo has Topographic related POI's, Streets and Destinations has POI's that cover items like Restuarants, Gas stations, Hotels etc.

For caching I would think the Topo product would be more usefull.

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quote:
Originally posted by Johnnyvegas:

I have MapSend Streets and Destinations USA and

MapSend Topo with streets USA

 

I use Topo most of the time, the Topo product also has street names included. Topo has Topographic related POI's, Streets and Destinations has POI's that cover items like Restuarants, Gas stations, Hotels etc.

For caching I would think the Topo product would be more usefull.


 

Streets & Dest has street names as well. The only difference are the POIs and the Topo info. For caching in non-flat areas, I agree with Topo being more useful, but in flat areas, like Florida and Louisiana, Topo doesn't do much for you. Also, neither set of POIs have gas stations. It would be nice, but I guess they change too often. You can't go wrong with either one!

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quote:
the one for me.

 

If you travel a lot and need *many* states, another option is to have multiple SD cards. With some practice, they can be flipped in and out in less time than it takes the unit to power on, so if you want to keep one chip loaded with map set X and another with map set Y, it's practical to do with Meridian.

 


 

You probably know this, but I will say it for those who may not. You can store more than one region (as many as you have room for), or map data from both S&D and TOPO (or plain streets) on a single SD card if you have card reader. You can then switch the map data easily with the "card utilities" feature that was added in firmware 3.12 and above.

 

Wyatt W.

 

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

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My Wife and I ride ATVs in the vast uninhabited areas of Calif,Ariz & Nev.,on logging roads ,gold mine access roads, desert washes etc. You could get LOST very fast out there if you did not have a good GPSr mounted to the ATV. I have both the S&D and TOPO but only use the ToPo for our outback ventures.I find that the detail is amazing when it comes to knowing where you are, which fork in the road/4wd trail, which side of the stream to take and not get LOST. Great product, We would not go into the wild areas with out our Meri/Plat loaded with MapSend ToPo.

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quote:
Originally posted by phantom4099:

 

You probably know this, but I will say it for those who may not. You can store more than one region (as many as you have room for), or map data from both S&D and TOPO (or plain streets) on a single SD card if you have card reader.


 

I should have been clearer since the original question was from someone new to this game. Yes, you can have multiple regions per map set and even mulitple map sets per card. But there is still a fixed amount of space on a card. But if you need more maps than you can fit on your card even after that is all accounted for, you can still carry extra cards. So if you are, say, a frequent airline traveller and you have no other reason to take a laptop, you can carry a trainload of detailed maps this way.

 

I agree that for normal people, a 64 or 128MB memory card will hold all you're likely to need. Heck my primary caching unit is a Magellan 330 that has only 8MB of memory and no swappable cards. It's very rare that I curse the limit of even that. (It's more frequent that I curse the length of time it takes to upload the maps serially, but that's a non-issue for Meridian anyway if you have a card reader...)

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I am a newbie and am eagerly awaiting delivery of my new Magellan Meridian Platinum, and Topo CD. I just want to get the transfer process straight. Can you tell me if this process is correct?

1. Format blank SD disk in GPS

2. Install Topo CD to computer

3. Select detail area to be used

4. Copy selected map area to disk using reader

5. Put disk back in GPS and select detail map

 

I would also appreciate any other advice for a newbie. I'm looking forward to my first cache hunt.

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quote:
Originally posted by Morrisk & Family:

1. Format blank SD disk in GPS


No need to format the SD card...they come pre-formatted. One thing to AVOID is formatting with WinXP, as your Meridian will not be able to read the card after an XP format.

 

homer.gif

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

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Formating the card under XP only applies if you use GPS firmware 3.12 and below. 4.02 and above appear to work fine when I formated the card under XP. But it does not really matter if you have 4.02, since you can format it in the GPSr.

 

Wyatt W.

 

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

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