Garmin Vista compared to the Magellan Meridian Platinum and Lowrance Globelmap 100?

[gm100guy]

I bought my GM100 after owning a Lowrance fish finder. I had no trouble with it and stuck to Lowrance as a name I knew and they have service right in the area I live.

 

I am a happy cutomer and have had great sucess hunting caches and returning to fishing spots or other waypoints that I have marked.

 

I also find the mapping for Canada not bad as it has the major roads that I travel.

 

The unit is a bit big and bulky but then it is harder to misplace. I do agree that it eats power but using rechargable batteries solves that problem.

 

As majbach stated I can get a lock inside my house also, I find it works very will under thick cover and recovers fast when I do lose the signal.

 

Thats my 2 cents worth on this discussion.

 

 

gm100guy

http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm

[gm100guy]

I bought my GM100 after owning a Lowrance fish finder. I had no trouble with it and stuck to Lowrance as a name I knew and they have service right in the area I live.

 

I am a happy cutomer and have had great sucess hunting caches and returning to fishing spots or other waypoints that I have marked.

 

I also find the mapping for Canada not bad as it has the major roads that I travel.

 

The unit is a bit big and bulky but then it is harder to misplace. I do agree that it eats power but using rechargable batteries solves that problem.

 

As majbach stated I can get a lock inside my house also, I find it works very will under thick cover and recovers fast when I do lose the signal.

 

Thats my 2 cents worth on this discussion.

 

 

gm100guy

http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm

[+apersson850]

There is never as much heat to a debate, as when it comes to "my daddy is stronger than your's" or "my {whateveritis} is better than your's".

 

I bought my Vista because I wanted the small size of the unit. It was the smallest one I knew about with that kind of features.

 

Besides, I'm of the opinion that whatever GPSr you own, they'll all become better if you use them a lot. A GPSr is just an advanced measuring device. All such devices show you some information and actually mean something else. The user is the only one who has any chance of judging to what extent the information is correct. Experience with the unit is the only way to get the knowledge it takes to interpret the readings as good as possible.

 

So, it's acutally the pilot, not the device, that gets better with frequent use. Now, when it comes to this particular case, the GPSr actually do get better when you use it, since it will receive more current orbital data from the satellites when you use it.

 

Still, I'm of the opinion that virtually every reasonably modern receiver is better in the hands of an experienced user, than any GTI XLR unit in the hands of a novice.

 

So go out there and practice with your units, whichever they are. In this forum, a promotion to go geocaching is probably likely to be adhered to!

 

Anders

[+apersson850]

There is never as much heat to a debate, as when it comes to "my daddy is stronger than your's" or "my {whateveritis} is better than your's".

 

I bought my Vista because I wanted the small size of the unit. It was the smallest one I knew about with that kind of features.

 

Besides, I'm of the opinion that whatever GPSr you own, they'll all become better if you use them a lot. A GPSr is just an advanced measuring device. All such devices show you some information and actually mean something else. The user is the only one who has any chance of judging to what extent the information is correct. Experience with the unit is the only way to get the knowledge it takes to interpret the readings as good as possible.

 

So, it's acutally the pilot, not the device, that gets better with frequent use. Now, when it comes to this particular case, the GPSr actually do get better when you use it, since it will receive more current orbital data from the satellites when you use it.

 

Still, I'm of the opinion that virtually every reasonably modern receiver is better in the hands of an experienced user, than any GTI XLR unit in the hands of a novice.

 

So go out there and practice with your units, whichever they are. In this forum, a promotion to go geocaching is probably likely to be adhered to!

 

Anders

[+apersson850]

I checked the bahavior of my Vista when driving through tunnels in France. It seems to keep on assuming that you have the same speed and heading as you had, when you lost the signal, for 30 seconds. After that, it will tell you that the reception is lost.

 

This was repeatable several times. I used external power from the car, so it was running in normal mode. I don't know if it's different in battery save mode.

 

Anders

[3fros]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kerry:

So what's your "opinion" of the great auto averaging funtion.

---

 

Perhaps you need to update your firmware. I have the Mag 315 with version 3.15 and auto averaging is no problem.

[+Alan2]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Anders:

I checked the bahavior of my Vista when driving through tunnels in France. It seems to keep on assuming that you have the same speed and heading as you had, when you lost the signal, for 30 seconds. After that, it will tell you that the reception is lost.

 

This was repeatable several times. I used external power from the car, so it was running in normal mode. I don't know if it's different in battery save mode.

 

Anders

---

 

Anders,check the altimeter setting in your track log. You'll see that the last point before going into the tunnel and the first point out of the tunnel will be the altitude recorded in the tunnel. This is really noticeable when you go through a tunnel under a river and the altimeter records minus -40 feet while you're in the tunel wit no satellites. It then shows -40 feet ( or in meters for those people still using the metric system ) on the last and first actual points outside the tunnel.

 

I've mentioned this on previous posts and have asked if skiers travelling down a mountain who have lost lock have notice what appear to be eroneous alttude readings at the wrong time because of this programming setup.

 

Alan

[+Alan2]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Anders:

I checked the bahavior of my Vista when driving through tunnels in France. It seems to keep on assuming that you have the same speed and heading as you had, when you lost the signal, for 30 seconds. After that, it will tell you that the reception is lost.

 

This was repeatable several times. I used external power from the car, so it was running in normal mode. I don't know if it's different in battery save mode.

 

Anders

---

 

Anders,check the altimeter setting in your track log. You'll see that the last point before going into the tunnel and the first point out of the tunnel will be the altitude recorded in the tunnel. This is really noticeable when you go through a tunnel under a river and the altimeter records minus -40 feet while you're in the tunel wit no satellites. It then shows -40 feet ( or in meters for those people still using the metric system ) on the last and first actual points outside the tunnel.

 

I've mentioned this on previous posts and have asked if skiers travelling down a mountain who have lost lock have notice what appear to be eroneous alttude readings at the wrong time because of this programming setup.

 

Alan

[+apersson850]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Alan2:

Anders,check the altimeter setting in your track log.

Alan

---

 

Well, Alan, this was a while ago, so that log is gone since way back.

 

Anders

[jfitzpat]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Anders:

There is never as much heat to a debate, as when it comes to "my daddy is stronger than your's" or "my {whateveritis} is better than your's".

---

 

For the record, my daddy could (have) beat the crap out of your daddy - with one hand behind his back...

 

Now THAT is cleared up... I couldn't agree more about your better with use point. I saw a message in another thread that lamented how, after 5 weeks of ownership, the poster had determined that all eTrex models are utter crap. The complaint list, however, could largely be applied to any of the popular receivers out there.

 

As good as this stuff is getting, I think that it is still a little like video conferencing. The technology still does not match many folk's expectations. Of course, it is easier to blame the equipment that to revise one's expectations.

 

-jjf

[jfitzpat]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Anders:

There is never as much heat to a debate, as when it comes to "my daddy is stronger than your's" or "my {whateveritis} is better than your's".

---

 

For the record, my daddy could (have) beat the crap out of your daddy - with one hand behind his back...

 

Now THAT is cleared up... I couldn't agree more about your better with use point. I saw a message in another thread that lamented how, after 5 weeks of ownership, the poster had determined that all eTrex models are utter crap. The complaint list, however, could largely be applied to any of the popular receivers out there.

 

As good as this stuff is getting, I think that it is still a little like video conferencing. The technology still does not match many folk's expectations. Of course, it is easier to blame the equipment that to revise one's expectations.

 

-jjf