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Comparing Garmin 60cs To Magellin Meridian Color


Dakota450

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Can anyone tell me their opinions on these 2 units? It sounds like the 60CS will have a better screen(256 color vs 16), altimeter, compass, but no expandable memory. What about adding your routes into permanent storage in the database. I ride several completely different areas so can you just offload an area that you have in the memory and then download the area you are going to? How about operation in the Pacific NW thick woods? I will be using it for trail riding on a motorcycle. I had my mind set on the Magellan Meridian color but I have read that the color screens are hard to read in the sun and it sounds like the 60CS has solved that problem. I will be using a TOPO program and want mapping capability as most of the trails that I will be riding are not mapped.

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I have the Meridian Color - in direct sunlight it is GREAT! I can even turn off the backlight then.

 

When it is silhouetted against bright light it is harder to see, but that goes for any such device.

 

I am not sure you would need more than 16 colors for a map. I think the deciding factor on screen usage would be resolution or how big the pixels are. Also how well it displays its brand of maps.

 

Assuming the displays were equal, I would be tempted to get the garmin 60cs - but it costs a lot more than the street price of my Meridian Color.

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keep in mind also that the mericolor (great unit that it is) is essentially a merigold with a color screen (yes some other minor differences). that said, the 60cs has a lot more functionality in it than the color ie ecompass, baroalti, much greater customization, etc etc you can read about it on the garmin website. the other big thing and this i have yet to confirm is the autorouting - all garmins that are capable of autorouting/turnxturn (spiii, gpsv, sp2610, iq) can autoroute on any existing map - even the built-in basemaps - they do not require special software to provide that functionality - it is built into the units' intelligence. i am hoping that the 60 can also do this so if i want autorouting i won't need to buy city select (unless i want the absolute best quality street mapping).

 

the mericolor won't autoroute unless you buy magellans directroute software and the even stranger thing is once you do that the magellan will still only route on this software and not on the built-in basemap (from Manuel in TS at Magellan)! if you live in the usa that's not too bad but if you live somewhere else on the planet where the maps aren't quite so available for your area you just might appreciate the ability to autoroute on whatever map the unit happens to have.

 

but as i say - need to confirm this on the garmin. might be assuming something that is not correct.

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Thats funny, my V needs city select or metrogiude 4.01 to autoroute any where thats not covered with the basemap. So in that sence its the same as direct route. The basemap limitation on the meridan is not quite as bad as one would think, because a user can cover more area with detailed maps because of the upgradeable memory.

 

Also the direct route software is cheaper than garmins city select (which you will have to buy to get autorouting anywhere not covered with a basemap).

 

Wyatt W.

Edited by phantom4099
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keep in mind also that the mericolor (great unit that it is) is essentially a merigold with a color screen (yes some other minor differences).  that said, the 60cs has a lot more functionality in it than the color ie ecompass, baroalti, much greater customization, etc etc

I would rather compare the GPSMAP 60CS to the Magellan SporTrak Color, which has more features than the MeriColor (but lacks a card reader).

 

Cornix

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For Autorouting, I think that the 60CS is better than the MeriColor, because the 60CS has 56 megs of memory and the MeriColor is limited to one map loaded at a time. When you drive out of one mapset to another with the MeriColor, that may affect the Autorouting. At least, when you do get to an area and select another mapset on the SD Memory card, you can re-select Autorouting. Too large a mapset may slow down the Mericolor too.

 

The 60CS is to compete with the Sportrak Color, and have and added benefit of larger memory and USB interface. If you had a laptop, then go with a 60CS. Really quick to reload the 56 meg memory with the USB.

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Thats funny, my V needs city select or metrogiude 4.01 to autoroute any where thats not covered with the basemap. So in that sence its the same as direct route. The basemap limitation on the meridan is not quite as bad as one would think, because a user can cover more area with detailed maps because of the upgradeable memory.

 

Also the direct route software is cheaper than garmins city select (which you will have to buy to get autorouting anywhere not covered with a basemap).

 

Wyatt W.

You obviously do not understand how to use your V, on the basemap, try searching for exits, and routing to them, or you have it route you tocities, for ADRESS routing you need the add on maps, but your V will autoroute on the basemap as well, aren't you the same guy that got your memory confused as 16mb too????

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I see a few misconceptions (or unclear messaging) in the above posts. The Meridians have an SD card slot. You can use Direct route to create single 64MB maps and load as many of those as you like onto the SD card. With the 60CS you'll need a computer with you. With 64MB maps you aren't likely to run out of space too quickly & if you do - the 54MB of maps would likely have run out on the 60CS and there is no other map to load?

 

"Too large a mapset may slow down the Mericolor too." - Earlier Mapsend products were only meant to generate 16MB mapfiles - users tweaked the ini files to allow larger sizes and very large files were very slow. Directroute is designed to create 64MB maps (and I have and there is no slow down).

 

Built in autorouting capability - The Magellans too have autorouting built into the new firmware (v5.xx). No special software required to enable that feature - although it is true the basemap is not currently routable and older Mapsend products did not include routing information (IE, the Mapsend S&D file for a chicago is 1MB, where the DirectRoute (& city select) are over 10MB in size).

 

The new 60CS is actually quite apealing to me and has many great features. Unfortunately I travel A LOT and need the ability to have lots of maps pre-loaded. My 128MB card was just barely big enough with the old Mapsend software, but this new DirectRoute software creates much bigger maps and my card is now too small ;)

 

One other note - the Meridian/Sportrak series is really meant to compete against the Etrex & 76 type GPSr. By adding any autorouting capabilities to the Magellans - they have done a GREAT HUGE MONSTER feature enhancement. We didn't by auto-routing GPS units - but all of a sudden we get a new better mapping product with autorouting thrown in for very little $$$ ($99 upgrade). Way cool.

 

It was interesting that Garmin announce this new series of GPS just as the DirectRoute was coming out. Killer timing on Garmin's part. I love competition and I hope Magellan and Garmin keep trying to one-up each other, creating much more choice for us!

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Thats funny, my V needs city select or metrogiude 4.01 to autoroute any where thats not covered with the basemap. So in that sence its the same as direct route. The basemap limitation on the meridan is not quite as bad as one would think, because a user can cover more area with detailed maps because of the upgradeable memory.

 

Also the direct route software is cheaper than garmins city select (which you will have to buy to get autorouting anywhere not covered with a basemap).

 

Wyatt W.

You obviously do not understand how to use your V, on the basemap, try searching for exits, and routing to them, or you have it route you tocities, for ADRESS routing you need the add on maps, but your V will autoroute on the basemap as well, aren't you the same guy that got your memory confused as 16mb too????

My Quote:

"Thats funny, my V needs city select or metrogiude 4.01 to autoroute any where thats not covered with the basemap" & "Also the direct route software is cheaper than garmins city select (which you will have to buy to get autorouting anywhere not covered with a basemap)."

 

That means I know the basemap will autoroute, but that is limited to the Major highways, and interstate. Any other road requires one of the other two software products I described. So no you can not auto route to an address (out side the Basemap) if you have metroguide 5.0 or version below 4.00, or have Roads and Rec, or TOPO.

 

And no I am not the one that though the V only had 16mb of memory.

 

Wyatt W.

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I often go on road trips and want all the restaurants, gas stations, rest stops and other POIs along the way. I also need basemaps for various countries I visit. The Detailed map alone for OR/WA takes up 44MB. I could upload sections of maps for various locations I plan to visit on each trip or keep my GPS connected to my laptop all the time, but that gets tiresome. It's soo much easier to just make a bunch of maps and put them on a single large SD card. I also get to save all my track histories and load the appropriate user waypoints for each area I visit, just by selecting files off the SD card.

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Ok, am I getting this right? With the upgrade to the Merigold, Megallen has created a unit that directly competes with the 60 series? Color is not important to me, so its not a key feature. Baro and digi compass are a take it or leave it for me as well. So, with the merigold I would get auto routing and expandable SD memory (and it's available now for less $$?)

 

I've got to be missing something here because if you're willing to give up color for expandable memory, you can have a unit today for around half. Of course, this assumes the MapSend Streets works as well as Mapsource

Edited by CacheCreatures
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Online the Meridian Gold goes for around $200 and the new DirectRoute software for $100. So, for $300 you get a mapping GPS w/maps. That's a great deal, plus you get the memory expandability.

 

But of coarse, every GPS seems to have some features that others dont. In comparing the Meridian Gold to the GPSMap 60C, the extra $150-200 in hardware + $50 more in software gets you a more compact unit with slightly smallber, but higher resolution screen. You also get some custom geocaching features, proprietairy games (you can only play with other garmin users), much longer batter life (30hr vs 12hr), direct higher speed USB connectivity (instead of having to pull memory cards and put in USB readers), and a few calculated fields not available on the Meridian. There may be a few others I'm overlooking.

 

Over time, I bet the gap in price between these two products will drop. The gold's price has dropped by about 1/3 in the last 2 years.

 

-Skramblr

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