cachethenation Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Ok I bought a Sportrak Pro from Wal-Mart for just under $300 after I read it was the most accurate consumer gps. Now after a lot of research and opinions posted on this site I decided to change over to a Meridian Yellow when I found it on outpost.com for $99. I mean the same model was selling at Wal-Mart for $219! So anyway I got the Meridian in a couple days ago and have been playing with it ever since. You may wonder why I even decided to compare these two models because they aren't really in the same class with one being entry level and the other top of the line, but they really are very comparable. Pros for the Meridian are: 1. Larger Screen 2. SD Card compatible 3. 3 times cheaper and pretty much all the same features. I actually haven't noticed anything different yet as far as features and software goes! Pros for Sportrak Pro: 1. Smaller and lighter(but not much) 2. Built-in basemap is much more detailed 9mb compared to the merdian's 2mb. 3. Battery compartment seems more waterproof even though they both seem to be waterproof to the same standard. Worth $200 difference to be smaller? If your planning on getting detailed mapsend streets cd's then thats pretty much what it boils down to. I just wanted to inform everyone of the differences and of the great deal that can be had with the meridian gps for 99.00 while it lasts. Their performance is identical and with the sd card compatible meridian I can use my usb sd card reader/writer and skip the ancient serial connection. Plus I'm not limited to 32mb of memory. I got Meridian Yellow GPS, Mapsend Topo, 32MB SD Card, and a SD reader/writer for half of what my Sportrak Pro cost. I think the only thing I really miss about the Pro is the battery compartment. I think I would feel way safer dropping the Sportrak Pro in the water rather then the meridian, but like I pointed out before they are both tested to the same waterproof standards so hopefully it will be ok. I hope this helps anyone that is considering getting into gps. It can be done cheap with most of the bells and whistles! Nathan & Anne Quote Link to comment
+FangFour Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Wow..we must be twins. Like you I have the SporTrack Pro but when I saw Outpost had the Yellow for 99.99 I had to get it. My comparisons of the two units is right on with yours. However, there are a couple of others I'd like to share: 1. The Meridain locks on to satellites much quicker, even inside my house. 2. I'm not quite sure of how well the Meridian is waterproofed as I can see light through the crack between to access door and the body. 3. When using the units side by side with good reception, they are dead on with each other. Under tree cover, around mountians or in a canyon they can be off by several feet. I uploded the Meridian to firmware 4.02 and have 4.03 on the SporTrak. Have noticed the satellite screen with 4.02 go blank for no reason after getting a good lock. Have heard of the issue with other users too. But all in all I'm very plesased with the Yellow. For the price I think it's the best buy out there. Going to buy a 32mb SD card for it today. Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Meridian waterproofing: it is spooky to look from the side and see daylight coming through, but if you look at the seal around the battery compartment you'll see that it is designed to be waterproof where it counts. Sevaral users have purposefully or inadvertantly verified this. Take a look at 64MB SD cards, too...they tend to be priced close to the 32's. Max Often wrong but seldom in doubt Quote Link to comment
+Caching In Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Do You Mean Green? I see the "Green" going for $99.99, and the "Yellow" listed for $119.99 at Outpost. I have the Pro myself and love it, I am however, looking for something for my dad. (So when we go out caching, I get to actually hold a GPS ) Quote Link to comment
+FangFour Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Embra, You're right about the SD cards...bought a PNY 64mb for slightly more than a 32. Also got a Dazzle 8in1 read/writer for about 50.00. Much nicer to dll maps to the card than using the data cable that came with the unit. Quote Link to comment
cachethenation Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Caching In:_Do You Mean Green?_ I see the "Green" going for $99.99, and the "Yellow" listed for $119.99 at Outpost. I have the Pro myself and love it, I am however, looking for something for my dad. (So when we go out caching, I get to actually hold a GPS ) Nope I bought my yellow on special for $99, maybe it's not that price anymore, but even for 119 still the best value in a gps by far. Nathan & Anne Quote Link to comment
Mordax Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 I just picked up the Green with 2nd day air for $105.94 total. Good deal... thanks for the info on the sale. Quote Link to comment
Jed Clampet Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 I couldn't pass up the $99.00 Meridian Green on Outpost either! 105.00 and some change for 2 day shipping. I am new to the hobby and this is my first GPS - didn't want a unit that was too expensive. Looks like it will do more than I would expect for that price. Brett Quote Link to comment
cachethenation Posted March 5, 2003 Author Share Posted March 5, 2003 Well it seems that this is still a hot topic and I wanted to bump this for newer users. Also I wanted to update this as now I've experienced the Mapsend Topo Software. Before I was raving about how I liked the Meridian Yellow just as much as the Sportrak Pro for a third of the cost, and now that I've used the software I think I like it even better. I've uploaded all the maps, points of interest, and topo information from St. Louis down to Pensacola Beach, FL and it fit onto a 32mb sd card! It also took about 20 seconds to write all this information onto the card once it was compiled from mapsend. Probably would've taken about 20-30 minutes with a serial connection. Also I've figured out how to transfer and edit waypoints directly to the sd card from Mapsend Topo and I love this. It's also a very cool feature to just save your waypoints for around the house onto your computer as a backup and then load others for a vacation then back to home waypoints when you return. This makes it easier to find waypoints when there are less to look through and is also a very good way of organizing them. I love the address search feature on the gps once you have a detailed street map loaded. I've used it a few times and who needs auto routing! It was very easy to follow the arrows and get to my destination. I didn't need it to point out that I need to take a right on a certain street when it was pointing in that general direction. Just takes a little common sense. Now I know you may take a few wrong turns doing it this way, but I've been recently looking to buy a car out of the classifieds here and when people start to give me directions I stop them and ask for their address. I then input it on the gps and I'm off. I haven't had a problem yet. Oh and as far as the waterproof worries I had in my original post, well I unintentionally proved that my Meridian Yellow was up for the task as I dropped it in a rather deep mud puddle and it didn't even turn off! In conclusion, I'm very pleased with my Meridian Yellow and surprised that you can get this much functionality out of a entry level model. It has features that even the Pro model can't match with the constantly expanding memory and the ability to skip the slow outdated serial tranfers and I'll say it once more at HALF the cost! Nathan & Anne Quote Link to comment
DeoLexRex Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 New to GPS, just went on my first cache yesterday. Would someone give me the exact model of the Meridian Yellow? Quote Link to comment
+Cachetrotters Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 The model of either the yellow or green is Meridian GPS. Might want to check recent prices. don Quote Link to comment
+EScout Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 Some comments: The yellow and green are the same model. The battery compartment has a black rubber seal around it. With the software programs, EasyGPS and GPSBabel, and an SD card, you can create, save and move waypoint files, from: this site's .loc files, waypoints created on the GPSr, waypoints entered manually in EasyGPS, waypoints from just about any other program. I got my Green at Frys for $99.99 about 2 months ago. Quote Link to comment
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