Meridian Platinum Review

February 21, 2002

I could not possibly hope to match the great review job that Clayjar did. However, I am going to throw in my $0.02 in the Platinum

I received my Meridian Platinum last night. My SD card is not in yet, so I have not had a chance to play with the detailed map. The Platinum shipped with a standard manual, and an additional pamphlet specific to the platinum features.

My previous experience is as a yellow eTrex owner, and a reader of the eTrex Vista manual.

First, the compass is very impressive. Even the calibration procedure is impressive. The calibration procedure begins with placing the unit on a level surface. And just to make sure, the screen shows a bubble level! I have no idea how it does this, but as you tip the unit, you can see the "bubble" move around on the screen. Then, you turn the unit in a complete circle, and finally place it face-down and leave it alone for a few seconds. Then, you are done.

The 3d compass worked like a charm. It worked even when completely vertical (the manual says that you loose some accuracy like this, but I could not tell). Once calibrated, it appeared to be accurate within 10 degrees.

One interesting feature is that the compass is ALWAYS active (not quite, but more details later). If you are moving, the compass screen will point north accurately, but then add a separate line for your velocity vector! This is called COG (for Course Over Ground). Thus, if you were in a boat in the middle of the ocean and just drifting, this unit can tell you which way north is, and which way you are heading (the Vista could only tell you one or the other). This is not quite so useful on land, though. You always know which direction you are walking or driving. This could definately be useful for boating though.

There is an option in the setup menu to turn the compass completely off. If you leave it on, then it is powered whenever a screen needs the information. Thus, the compass will be on when viewing the map and compass screens. If you have "heading" displayed on the other screens, then the compass will be on. Otherwise, it is off. Battery life is rated as 9 hours.

The barometer is just that. The weather screen displays the temperature and current barometric pressure (displayed in terms of Hg). If you press a few buttons, you can get a barometric trend, which would be useful to tell if a storm is coming. It also appears that the GPS altitude is used to calibrate the pressure reading so that you get the equivalent pressure at sea level. As I live in Florida where a mountain is 20 feet high, I cannot really comment on how well this works. I suspect that this feature would be a welcome addition to a boater.

I suspect that Thales might one day add a barometric altimiter feature in a future firmware update. I cannot guarantee it, but it is reasonable to assume.

My overall impression is that I like this unit a *LOT*. I do, however, have some nits to pick. Please note that I have only played with the unit for a couple of hours, and some of my nits about feature deficiency may actually be due to me not knowing how to use it. I list my complaints here in order of decreasing severity.

1) I have not found a way to turn WAAS off. Also, there is no "battery save" mode that I have found. If truly absent, then Thales has done hikers a serious disservice. I would like the option of turning all of the extra goodies off to get >15 hours of battery life.

2) Fix the existing firmware bugs relating to SD card size.

3) I hope that they come out with a "Platinum Plus" version with a higher resolution screen.

4) No external antenna jack.

5) Not only does this unit NOT have a feature similar to "Sight-N-Go" in the Vista, but it does NOT (that I have found) have the ability to project a waypoint. Shame on you, Thales.

6) My eTrex could only show one piece of numeric data at one time. However, you could easily scroll through the list of all available data at the press of a button. The Meridian, on the other hand, is capable of dislplaying more data. But, if you want to see information that is not on the screen, then you have a lot of button presses in order to change the displayed data. It would be nice to be able to specify one of the pieces of data as "floating." Then, the cursor control could be used to select what information is displayed. (I hope this makes sense)

7) I would have liked to see a geocaching icon. Perhaps even the ability to define a custom icon or two.

Other than these slight problem, I would rate this unit as being nearly perfect in what it tries to achieve. Turn-by-turn routing would be nice, but that is probably not practical on a battery-powered unit this size.

If I notice anything else significant, I will let you know.

February 21, 2002

I have a Gold, and I project waypoints using the cursor on the map screen. Say the the

bearing to the cache is 75deg. I go to the map screen and move the

cursor from the present position until it's a ways away from me and

the bearing to the cursor is 75deg. I hold the GOTO key and it

creates a waypoint at the cursor position. Hit the ENTER key to save

the waypoint and you go back to the map screen, but still in cursor

mode, and the cursor over the waypoint. Hit GOTO again and it will

ask if you want to goto the newly created waypoint. Hit ENTER to

confirm.

Thanks for the great review.

February 21, 2002

til it's a ways away from me and

the bearing to the cursor is 75deg. I hold the GOTO key and it

creates a waypoint at the cursor position. Hit the ENTER key to save

the waypoint and you go back to the map screen, but still in cursor

mode, and the cursor over the waypoint. Hit GOTO again and it will

ask if you want to goto the newly created waypoint. Hit ENTER to

confirm.

February 21, 2002

In the typical way, Magellan has improved their firmware and not told anybody about it..... Here is what I have heard (and tried). The Meridian Platinum should have a version of Meridian software that is greater than 3.0 (I think 3.08 is the current one) and....

--- In Magellan_Meridian@y..., "harrkev" wrote:

> 2) Fix the existing firmware bugs relating to SD card size.

These are fixed. MapSend's .ini file needs some tweaking to get it

to create big files, but the unit is supposed to handle files up to

120+ Mbytes

>

> 5) Not only does this unit NOT have a feature similar to "Sight-N-

Go"

> in the Vista, but it does NOT (that I have found) have the ability

to

> project a waypoint. Shame on you, Thales.

>

On the position screen there is a menu option "projection" that can

be used to project a waypoint. It is not "sight and go", but it is

there.

February 21, 2002

Does the newer firmware work in basic Meridian, or is it specific to the Platinum? I don't suppose they've made it available yet. (clickety-click...he check's the web site...nope)

Wouldn't it be cool to have an "Open GPS" that was user-upgradable and more-or-less vendor-neutral? Some combination of Linux PDA + GPSR card might do it, but it wouldn't be as rugged as a commercial GPSR. Still, some really optimum stuff could be done to load custom mods for geocaching and you could trade mods (and fixes) with others.

I have a dream... ;-)

February 21, 2002

I belive some one in the meridian group said that there is a project waypoint option in the menu from the position screen. Correct me if I am wrong.

Wyatt W.

------------------

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

February 21, 2002

Originally posted by jvavrus2000:
In the typical way, Magellan has improved their firmware and not told anybody about it..... Here is what I have heard (and tried). The Meridian Platinum should have a version of Meridian software that is greater than 3.0 (I think 3.08 is the current one) and....

Has there been any improvement to the display (or lack thereof) of EPE (Estimated Position Error)? My Merigold will only display it when non-stationary, and only when no WAAS signals are being received. I need it all the time!

February 22, 2002

Has there been any improvement to the display (or lack thereof) of EPE (Estimated Position Error)? My Merigold will only display it when non-stationary, and only when no WAAS signals are being received. I need it all the time!

Not in 3.08, but I'm told it is coming in a future release.

February 22, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by jvavrus2000:

Not in 3.08, but I'm told it is coming in a future release.

Ahhh....the wonderful feeling of knowing that there is a new firmware version 3.08 out but at the same time wondering when the heck Magellan will actually post it online for the end-user.

[This message has been edited by SergZak (edited 22 February 2002).]

February 22, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by jvavrus2000:

Not in 3.08, but I'm told it is coming in a future release.

Ahhh....the wonderful feeling of knowing that there is a new firmware version 3.08 out but at the same time wondering when the heck Magellan will actually post it online for the end-user.

[This message has been edited by SergZak (edited 22 February 2002).]

February 22, 2002

Now, I have the 128mb SD card. Sweet.

I had all of: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina in there, and still had room left over. Pretty cool.

The accuracy of Streets & Destinations is pretty good. I do other nits to pick...

1) When multiple POIs share the same coordinates (such as restaurants in a mall), then there is no easy way to get to the ones "under" the top one.

2) When selecting the "nearest" POIs, there should be a way to adjust the number of results returned or the search radius. From my house, if I do a search of restaurants, the furthest one that I get is 1.21 miles away. The list is 20 long, but it would be nice to say "closest 50" or "10 miles."

These are just nits. The mapping feature is awesome. I used the POI to find an interesting art museum today. Worked like a charm.

As to my first post:

1) You CAN turn WAAS off. If you use secret menu (NAV-GOTO-PWR), and select "03," then you can turn WAAS off. I did.

2) There is a project option. Good job, Thales.

Now, has anybody found a good case for the Meridian??? Right now, I have a camera bag, but nothing is quite the right size. Everything is either too big or too small. I had hoped to find a small cell phone case with a clear front, but with modern phones being soo small, I have given up hope. I might have to break down and buy the Magellan case.

February 22, 2002

Harr,

Even the Magellan carrying case does not have a window in it. It's simply useful as a carrying case for the thing. Someone on here said that their Meridian still gets a good signal inside the case, but you'll have to take it out to look at it.

Jamie

February 22, 2002

Ok, Been playing with my Platinum for 2 days now. I'm not an experienced GPS'er but I'll throw in my two cents as I have done some comparison with a Garmin Etrex Vista.

I haven't had a chance to hike with the Platinum yet, so most of this relates to automobile use.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the Platinum!

The unit is certainly feature rich and does almost everything I can imagine. (built in two-way radio, cell phone and PDA might be desireable additions)

Some distinguishing features:

Waypoint alarm is a very cool feature. When traveling, you don't have to keep nervously looking at your GPS like a true geek (and risk getting into an accident if you are driving). It will remind you when you get to the waypoint (turn, exit, whatever). I turned this on and forgot about it until I hit a waypoint and was startled by a persistent "beep beep beep". Yes, I first instinctively reached for my pager. You can set the alarm proximity range...

The larger screen and buttons are much more usable while driving. With labels on the buttons, it is hard to forget what they do ! Somehow, having an "enter" key seems to aid in menu navigation and data entry. Also, having the buttons on the front is very conducive to auto use. The price for this is a larger unit.

One of the reasons I was swayed to the Meridian is the fact that it actually understands the TOPO information (not just drawing the lines). If you are zoomed in close enough, the cursor info will display elevation as you pan it over the map! Also, you can draw a route and the unit will show you the elevation profile (before you hike it and have already felt the pain)!

The 3 axis compass appears to be more forgiving of the angle you hold the unit (no "hold flat" message). Otherwise, the unit does not seem to make use of the extra two axes except when doing compass calibration. Thales claims that the compass is only powered up when needed for display info. This is not quite as reassuring as the ability to explicitly turn the battery-sucker off on the Etrex.

The compass view is neat as it shows heading (magnetic), direction of travel (gps), bearing (to waypoint) and the positions of the sun and moon (cool, but useful?).

I like the ability to pan the map instantly with the arrow keys without clicking through a menu as the Etrex requires.

The large map storage is sweet. I've got a 64MB card in there and will be testing out MapSend Europe in a week or so. Rumor has it that the 3.08 firmware which shipped on the unit will support larger cards.

The MapSend software is quite slick once you figure it out. I don't quite understand the complaints others have raised about it. Really is like using a map with some extra features. You can do coarse address look-ups, add waypoints, build routes. You can easily get elevation profiles of any street, track or route. Unfortunately does not seem to be able to map your course on the roads (maybe the Streets & Dest. version does this?) Yes, I will agree that it is slow building the files for upload. Also, it did crash on me once.

On the negative side:

The lower res screen is definitely noticable

. I would say that the Etrex display and UI generally looks/acts more sophisticated. The trade-off of ability for aesthetic appeal suits me just fine.

Yes, the size difference is significant, I would estimate that the Plat. occupies 60-100% more volume ! But that means that if feels more rugged to abuse (not gonna test this on purpose). In actuality the weight of the 2 units is not more then 20% different with batteries installed.

The "driving view" screen does not really show streets, it just shows your planned route as a street. I can't decide how useful this is, though it makes for some neat graphics. Also, it only seems to respond to your actual motion direction (not magnetic compass) which can be misleading if you are not moving.

Also noticed the lack of a strap/lanyard attachment. Definitely an oversight as the strap is a good safety to avoid dropping/losing the unit in the field. A nice "belt mount" case with window would be a serious plus but might add to the geek factor.

Uploads to the card are SLOW. The software seems limited to 19600bps. You do the math.

I think a SD card reader is nearly a must. On my first try, my NiMH batteries crapped out before the upload was complete (thought they were fully charged...)

Most of the screens can be customized, but it is a little more work than on the Etrex. Maybe this is good as it is harder to mess things up.

The track-up map positioning is somewhat twitchy when you are moving, almost to the point that it is disconcerting. I noticed this on the Etrex as well.

Also, the waypoint selection screen is taking some time to understand. This may just be a lack of familiarity, but I didn't have this problem on the Etrex.

So far, haven't gotten the software working under Linux

Other note:

The unit has an annoying "key click" beep mode enabled out of the box. You won't take long to find the config. option which disables it.

In response to a previous post:

Correct, there is no "track and go". However, it seems quite simple to have the map in "heading up" mode, point the unit in the desired direction, push the up arrow until you have the cursor the desired distance away (the distance to the cursor is displayed), then hit "goto".

Guess thats about all for now. Will be getting out on the trail on Sunday and may have some more feedback after.

February 22, 2002