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Meridian ruggedness...


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After a long hike yesterday I stumbled in the parking lot after getting back to my Jeep. I guess I wasn't used to the hard surface. icon_smile.gif At any rate, my beloved MeriGreen went sailing through the air, hit the ground hard and tumbled end-over-end on the asphalt surface a half-dozen times.

AAAAAAAAAGH!

Well, nary a scratch, the unit was still turned on and working. I must say the rubbery outside and the raised edge along the screen did their job. I expected the worst!

This morning I was driving my daughter somewhere and noticed that I didn't have any street detail! I popped the cover off and sure enough the tumbling fall had dislodged the data card so that it had "ejected". It wasn't going anywhere, since you have to remove the battery to get the card out. I pushed it back in to the click position and turned the unit back on and all was well.

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Cool! icon_cool.gif Isn't great when they actually make the units to take some accidental abuse. My GPSMAP 76 has similar, although not quite as agresive, protection around the edges and the have saved it a time or two when I drop my GPS on a hardwood floor.

 

Cache on

mcb

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Well, I've seen an eTrex bounce 300' down a granite slab and record a track and max speed for the event icon_smile.gif But I have to admit that the Meridian line is much, much sturdier than the GPS315/GPS320.

 

My friend TY did send his Meridian in for repair, but I've seen it take some very hard knocks. His memory card pops out a lot, but like you said, no big deal.

 

-jjf

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My wife RedwoodRed took a couple of spills on out trip to Hillsboro. The Meridian wento flying through the air about 10-15 feet both time. Rugged little unit. I still like the 315 but the maps on the Meri are cool (except the soft I bought was written for the 330).

 

I do have a question I could used answered. When I have it pluged into power, the batts seem to run down. Now I am useing the power cable from the 315 to power it. Does the Meridian take moew "juice" than the 315? I have not gone to the Magellan web site yet to check on my answer....

 

"My gps say's it RIGHT HERE".

http://www.geogadgets.com

1240 plus miles and only 8 caches?

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I had that problem when I was using a 315 cable with the black box (I heard somewhere that there was a defect with the black cable).

 

Can you use the unit with no batteries installed at all? I was able to use it but when I turned the backlight on it would shut it self off.

 

I called Magellan and told them that I had the 315 and the meridian and was using the same cable for both of them, I also told them that I was having problems where my batteries would die. I got them to send me a new 315 cable (gray box) which appeals (just got today- took a week to arrive) to run the unit with backlight on bright and redrawing the map.

 

Wyatt W.

 

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

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I've been using the car mount and power cable in my jeep with the past few days and haven't noticed any battery drain. Maybe there's an issue with the cable where the unit does not realize the external power is available. When you look at the ephemeris/battery page, does it show it being on external power?

 

quote:
Originally posted by Steak N Eggs:

I do have a question I could used answered. When I have it pluged into power, the batts seem to run down. Now I am useing the power cable from the 315 to power it. Does the Meridian take moew "juice" than the 315? I have not gone to the Magellan web site yet to check on my answer....


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Yes it did say power external, I just think my older cable was delevering less power than what was needed when the backlight was on and when it was redrawing the map. The new cable seems to be delivering the right amount.

 

Wyatt W.

 

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

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quote:
Originally posted by Steak N Eggs:

 

[snip]

I do have a question I could used answered. When I have it pluged into power, the batts seem to run down. Now I am useing the power cable from the 315 to power it. Does the Meridian take moew "juice" than the 315? I have not gone to the Magellan web site yet to check on my answer....

 

"My gps say's it RIGHT HERE".

http://www.geogadgets.com

1240 plus miles and only 8 caches?


 

I've seen this on a friend's GPS320 and the adapter cable he uses on his boat. The problem I found on his boat is that the adapter is 'regulated', that is, it does not deliver raw boat power, but power at a fixed, or 'regulated' voltage. In his case, the problem was that the regulated voltage was a bit low at the connector, so the batteries were actually draining.

 

Sorry, I know it's not much help, but it is the only thing close that I can think of.

 

Good Luck,

-jjf

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I thought I would revive this thread with a tale of my own.

 

I actually did it today. I put my MeriPlat on top of the jeep to put the rear seat back in place. Because the seat was out of its hinge, it gave me a little trouble until I got it figured out.

 

I shut the door, hopped in and drove off. A couple of whoop-di-do's and 1/2 mile later the danged thing finally tumbled off! In a matter of two seconds, with a WTF!?!, I saw it bounce on the road in my rear view mirror!

 

I stopped and started backing up to it, a car coming up the hill stopped just short of running it over, and a car coming out of the driveway stopped as my daughter ran out to pick it up.

 

A couple of small scuffs on the rubber armor and all is well. Even the SD card stayed put! No cracks on the screen or display tweaks!!

 

Cheers!

TL

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My 'Takes a beating and keeps on receiving' story...

 

I was heading down a gradual slope and slid on some sandy rocks with my Magellan Meridian in hand, putting my hand out to support myself the GPSr was slamed face first onto the rocks supporting all me weight.

 

I was pleasantly surprised after looking at the display and seeing it working fine without a crack or scratch. It was money well spent on those peel off screen protectors.

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After finnishing a hike from a Cache, and got back to the car; I put away my hiking stick, took off my geocaching bag, and set my Mericolor on the roof of the car...

 

You guessed it I left it sitting on the roof while I drove off. Amazingly enough with the rubber backing it managed to stay on untill I left the park. As I took the turn onto the main street I heard the tumbling of the GPSr falling off the roof. I didn't realize what the noize was until about a mile down the road then it hit me.

 

I just about $@it my pants when I realized what I did and pulled a U-turn. Luckly I found it still laying in the middle of the street right at the park entrance. It has one small scratch on the rubber but everything else still works great!

 

64784_1200.gifBeen there... Done that...

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