SporTrak Color Reviews?

June 15, 2003

Does anyone have experience using the new Magellan SporTrak Color? Is it any good?

Also, what is the best price has anyone found for this unit. On various web sites, the price range was $399 to 499.

June 15, 2003

I ordered mine last week for ~$350- from http://www.sureneeds.com

But I'm a newbie just getting started, but this unit seemed to have all the features I wanted (wanted vs. needed).

---

"Seems to be I can't even find my own bum with a GPS..."

5.7k · June 16, 2003

I ordered mine from TigetGPS but it has yet to ship. Price was $349 with a $50 manufacturer's rebate.

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

June 26, 2003

I was able to "sort of " work with one on display in Best Buy today.

I say "sort of" because the model on display was some kind of a demo unit with a permanent simulation in operation. As a result of this, I could not disable the simulation mode or get the unit to initialize. Not exactly helpful when wanting to get the "real" feel of a new gpsr.

Now the screen is interesting. It does seem to have a bit tighter pixel grouping than the Meridian Color, but I could not test the screens reflectability in the Best Buy store's ambient lighting because I could not turn the backlight off. To me, this was caused either by the unit's being plugged into power or because of the demo software.

The SporTrak Color on display was mounted to a solid piece of vinyl covered steel that encased the demo unit like a vice, achieved with two c-style vinyl cover hold-downs that went over the front of the unit. I could not see the actual way the battery door was held in place, alhtough I couldn't help but think that it has a slide-off cover.

If this is the case, I would prefer to see a screw-down cover like my MAP 330 has. Being fair, however, I really do need to handle the thing physically without it being in a shoplift-paranoia'd enviroment. I'm waiting until it's at my local Gander Mountain or West Marine or Boater's World stores. These guys keep them behind locked glass, but don't have 'em clamped down to oblivion . Just ask the friendly clerks!

Okay, my initial impression of the Magellan SporTrak Color is that it is an excellent unit! It's set up like the Meridian Platinum (MeriPlat) in that it has an active 3-Axis compass and barometer. Not as fancy as Garmin's Etrex Vista or GPSmap 76S, but it suffices to give a decent indication of the relative ambient air pressure. I think I also saw a slot for the sensor, but I'm not certain; I'll have to re-look next time I'm in the store.

The trick with the compass on the MeriPlat and the SporTrak Color is that it's a 3-axis compass instead of a 2-axis--the latter of which you must hold level. This works well on the Vista, but is a might cumbersome on the GPSmap 76S--although the latter GPSR is, to me, a very capable and worthy unit; it's display is as sharp as a tack!

One thing I noticed about the SporTrak Color--when scrolling through the displays--is that there is a Tides feature. This is a nice addition that parallels the GPSmap 76S's system. although I think the 76S's display is a bit more graphically-oriented, whereas the SporTrak Color's is more text-based. I only skimmed this feature and will look into it more closely when I can look at a non-demo'd version of the gpsr.

Summarizing, I think that Magellan has put forth a decent unit into the color-display category of gps receivers--something I think is long-overdue. Whether or not the backlight can be turned off and the display viewable in direct sunlight without washing out--a major complaint for the Meridian Color--remains to be seen, at least by this reviewer.

If it passes that test, then I might just want to be the proud new owner of a SporTrak Color. If not, I'm strongly looking at the Vista or GPSmap 76S.

I have the added benefit of already having MapSend Streets and MapSend Topo, but comparing MapSend Topo against MapSource topo, I find that MapSource's topo maps are a bit more detailed. I do like MapSend's 3D database format, as compared to Garmin's MapSource's scanned raster images, but all-in-all, I think Magellan/Thales could take a lesson, at least as to needing an updated topo map series for their handheld gpsr's.

Having more detailed areas of swampland and other such matters like the MapSource software, and combined with their 3D topo database, Magellan could have a 100% better product offering--one I would heartily purchase without reservation.

I hope this review is of use to you. Enjoy your new units.

...Caching In on the Journey

{--Firefishe--}

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

The year is 2003.

The name is S.A. Brown.

BrowNAV (Brown Navigation)

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

June 26, 2003

quote:
Summarizing, I think that Magellan has put forth a decent unit into the color-display category of gps receivers--something I think is long-overdue. Whether or not the backlight can be turned off and the display viewable in direct sunlight without washing out--a major complaint for the Meridian Color--remains to be seen, at least by this reviewer.

I've had mine for over a week and can answer few of your questions.

1. The backlight can be turned off and looks the screen looks nice outdoors. That was one of my concerns and the nice folks at gpscity.com (I live in Vegas where they are based) let me take it outside to see if it washed out or not. When I saw it outside it looked great and I was hooked immediately. The sales guy said that is much better than the Meridian Color.

2. The battery door doesn't slide off. It is a latch type of closure. You use your thumbnail to pull a clip back and then lift up. I know bad description but I hope it helps.

3. Yes, the 3-axis compass is great. I don't know what I did without one.

4. With regards to the tides, it is both textual and graphical. Quite cool....even though I live in the desert.

Overall...I'm real happy with it. It has all of the features (plus the tides) of my Meridian Platinum except the SD card. But, I love it. It is definately my night time GPSr...and getting to be my full time GPSr.

I hope this helps.

Troy

sindigo

June 30, 2003

I was eyeing this unbit on thier website and the one thing i was wondering about is the use of color on the topo maps. If i get this and thier Topo Mapsend does the unit display the topos maps with the expected colors?

5.7k · June 30, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Desdinova:
I was eyeing this unbit on thier website and the one thing i was wondering about is the use of color on the topo maps. If i get this and thier Topo Mapsend does the unit display the topos maps with the expected colors?

I have MapSend Topo, and the Sportrak Color does use color for some of the features (Blue for water, etc.). There is no type of topo shading, just grayish topolines with the typical bolded major lines with textual elevation and thinner minor lines. It looks very, very nice. Much better than the how the Sportrak Pro rendered the topo lines (in my opinion).

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

June 30, 2003

Can anyone post some real pictures of the sportrack color?

Wyatt W.

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

2k · July 2, 2003

I was concerned about the processing overhead with the sportrak color. I have a sportrak pro and notice that with the higher resolutions the refresh rate can be pretty slow. I would think if the underlying technology is the same in both units that the addition of color would slow it down even more.

5.7k · July 2, 2003

Aactually, it seems to me to be faster than the Pro. Maybe it's a faster processor or something.

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

July 7, 2003

I have the sport track pro for a couple of weeks now.no problems so far. my first unit. bought at gpsstore at ocean isle while on vacation. the magellan map software makes it a great car map navigator.

July 8, 2003

I too am still working on making my next GPSr purchase the right one and the SporTrak Color is high on my list. I kind of fell in love with the Meridian Color, but it appears to get mixed reviews and I really like the idea of a 3-axis compass and barometer.

Here's my question: Given the fact that this unit does not allow the use of a SD card. What is the most I can download into the unit? More specifically, I plan to use MapSend Topo, but am really only interested in loading in the state of Oregon. Will the non-expandable memory of the unit allow me to do this? Any advice on this is much appreciated!

5.7k · July 9, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Capt'N Cache:
Here's my question: Given the fact that this unit does not allow the use of a SD card. What is the most I can download into the unit? More specifically, I plan to use MapSend Topo, but am really only interested in loading in the state of Oregon. Will the non-expandable memory of the unit allow me to do this? Any advice on this is much appreciated!

I have most of Northern California in mine. I just went into Mapsend Topo and did a bounding box around the perimeter of Oregon and the map size was 23 megs, just a tad over the limit. If you just bring in the side a bit (cutting off a tad of the coast, or a bit next to Idaho, you can get it below 22megs. So, I'd say yes, you can get about 95% of Orgeon topo (this includes all the street level maps as well) on the Sportrak Color.

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

July 9, 2003

For anyone who has been waiting for the European Basemap version to arrive, stocks arrived today. I've ordered and should get mine tomorrow.

Dave

4.2k · July 9, 2003

Marky,

I'm guessing by your remarks that you just bought a new SporTrak Color to replace your SporTrak Pro.....is that the case?

Any chance you'll be listing your Pro on the Garage Forum? It's time for me to upgrade from my Magellan 2000

July 10, 2003

My European basemap version arrived today and initial impressions are very good. The screen compares well to my Garmin eMap for detail, but the colour adds considerably to the readability.

The antenna appears far superior in that it holds a strong signal lock in the woods when the eMap has very patchy reception.

We'll see how it performs under real conditions this weekend.

Dave

2k · July 11, 2003

I would guess that you won't be able to load the entire state of Oregon on you SporTrak assuming you are using the TOPO map. I can get about 2/3 of Idaho before I run out of memory on my SporTrak. Since you can load 3 files at a time you should be able to cover any area you are planning on visiting without a problem though.

July 14, 2003

Thanks for the replies to my question Marky and Night Stalker! Like I said, I like the features of the Meridian series, but it sounds like there are mixed reviews with the Meridian Color versus the Sport Trak Pro Color. Sure would like the best of both worlds with a SD card option.

July 15, 2003

I actually have all of Oregon in the ST:Color now, albeit in two seperate regions (MapSend Topo).

---

"Seems to be I can't even find my own bum with a GPS..."

5.7k · July 15, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Kealia:
Marky,

I'm guessing by your remarks that you just bought a new SporTrak Color to replace your SporTrak Pro.....is that the case?

Any chance you'll be listing your Pro on the Garage Forum? It's time for me to upgrade from my Magellan 2000

I haven't decided what I am going to do with the Pro yet. I gave my Meridian Platinum to my oldest son (he had to get the LCD fixed, turned out to cost $60 to fix, not bad for a MeriPlat). I kind of like having the Pro as my 'work' GPS (so in case a Cache pops up near work, I can go find it on my lunch break).

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

4.3k · July 16, 2003

quote:
Capt'N Cache: ... unit does not allow the use of a SD card. What is the most I can download?

I found a old trick I used on my old Map330 works for the SporTrak Pro also, frees up another 7-8 meg memory for detail maps.

Get the small North American basemap for a base model like the SporTrak Map or MeriGreen/Yellow. When you load this into your SporTrak Pro instead of the standard/big basemap, you end up with 30 meg for detail maps instead of 19-22 meg.

As for where to get the smaller basemaps,. you might have to that "other" site, the N-word that's not allowed here. Or maybe one of the Yahoo group file sections.

I can load all of Michigan and small bordering areas of Ohio, Illinois, Indy and Wisonsin this way. Downside is loading a 30 meg detail map via RS-232 takes close to an hour, even at highest baud rate.

---

LDR.

SporTrak Color Reviews?

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