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Magellan SportTrak Pro or Meridian Gold?


FangFour

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I'm so new....I haven't been spanked yet! Very first post and looking to get started with a first GPS unit.

 

Did a search on this site and could not find alot of feedback between the SportTrak Pro and Meridian Gold. Both are very close in price range and have similar features. Anyone with firsthand experience with any of these units please give me your advice.

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I'm new also but I chose the Meridian GPS. The only difference between it and Gold was add'l internal memory. I was looking for a "low-end" WAAS capable device. The SportTrak Pro won't take SD cards but has 32M internal RAM. It also includes NA Highways v. US-only in the Meridians. The SporTrak was also about $80 more.

 

My results with the Meridian have been excellent.

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I chose the SporTrak Pro over the Meridian since it is smaller, lighter, and most importantly, has a wrist strap. It doesn't have the memory capacity of the Meridian, but I haven't found that to be an issue yet.

 

Titanium

 

"Some people see the glass as half empty, some see it as half full. I see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be."

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why you've narrowed it down to those two models. Did you look at any of the Garmin offerings? I bought my first GPS back in 1994 and Garmin's offerings were WAY better than anyone else's.

 

Magellan has come a long way, but I still think Garmin has the edge in most markets (higher screen resolutions, better looking maps - autorouting at an unheard of price).

 

I don't want to start a Ford vs. Chevy fight here. Again, I'm just curious why the omission of Garmin.

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I have this model and really like it. Seems to be very accurate. Have only had reception trouble in really heavy tree cover or deep in a valley. Got map send Topo for about 20 or 30 bucks after rebate and use that to download more detail for regions that I am headed to. Haven't had a problem with the limited (non expandable) memory yet, but I would assume at some point as I travel to different regions, I may have to dump one that I went to long ago to add new data. Haven't personally used the other models, just got this on other recommendations. But have been very happy with it. Just one question for Magellan . . . why not USB? Data transfer would be so much quicker

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I bought the Sportrak Pro mainly because of the size, but also because I didn't have to buy the additional memory. I haven't had any problems with downloading large enough maps. In fact with the compression on the TOPO software I am able to load most of the state of Idaho without running out of memory. I also like the Garmin GPS V, but it is more expensive.

 

Lost? Keep Going. You're making good time anyway!!

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I use the Meridian Gold and my Caching buddy uses the sportrak pro. The only differences we have noticed is that the gold doesnt loose signal like the sportrak does under heavey tree cover, Ive actually have yet to loose signal with the gold. the screen is smaller on the sportrak as well but its still a nice GPSr.

For the most part we usually get very close to the same spot. somtimes the sportrak gets a bit closer and visa versa but I think that is mostly due to what and how many sat locks we have at the time.

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I would get the gold since you can have unlimited waypoints/routes/tracks. You could have one set of waypoints for geocaching, one for fav fishing spot, another for contacts, etc... also go days (dare I say years?) with out having to go to a computer to download a track since you can save unlimited number of full tracks to a SD card? The unit it self does not seem to be much bigger than the sporttrak, and you gain alot more useability. Also with new updates the map memorey in the sporttrak will go down as magellan adds more feature to it (not really a big deal to tell the truth). Also with the meridian you can have a wider selection of maps instead of the limit of 4 regions (meridan can have several sets (memorey limiting) of 4 region maps). this would be a problem for me since I have both TOPO and S&D, and I like the ability to change them on the unit without haveing to do the slow download of serial cable. Thats another plus of the meridian, you can get a card reader ad transfer maps much quicker.

 

Wyatt W.

I hope I made this clear, its 5:17am and I am tired.

 

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

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I was in the neighborhood of "The GPS Store" so got to compare a lot of units. I was settling on these two units also and went for the Sport Trac Pro.

The screen was crisper, (blacker blacks, whiter whites) and seemed more readable.

This converted me from the Etrex (yellow and Legend). I now believe what all the magellanites have been saying, Locks on the birds faster and keeps them. From just a week of use I can't believe how clean and accurate the basemap is.

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I did quite a bit of comparison shopping. Liked both units but settled on the pro after reading review at: www.gpsinfo.net

 

Very happy with it so far. Downloaded street level maps for entire state of ohio and still have mem left.

 

 

quote:
Originally posted by FangFour2:

I'm so new....I haven't been spanked yet! Very first post and looking to get started with a first GPS unit.

 

Did a search on this site and could not find alot of feedback between the SportTrak Pro and Meridian Gold. Both are very close in price range and have similar features. Anyone with firsthand experience with any of these units please give me your advice.


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I bought the Meridian Gold because after doing my homework, this was the only unit that came close to my needs. I'm happy with the Gold and never lose a signal, it even works indoors and I don't need to hold it against the window on airplanes. After reading all of the "my Etrex lost it's signal under a tree" logs, I know I made the right decision.

 

I especially like all of the maps it can hold, and seperate waypoint files too. This is especially handy when I travel, I can keep geocache waypoints from different cities seperated, as well as the maps. I keep Streets and destinations maps and Topo maps on the Secure Digital card, and switching between maps is easy. I use the Topo maps when geocaching, and the Streets and Destinations maps when looking for a restaraunt after working up an appetite.

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For Geocaching, I prefer the Magellan Meridian Platinum.

For Driving, I prefer the Garmin GPS V.

 

The Garmin is much better though with trip info like elasped time and distance, whereas the meridian does not have that. Also the Garmin has better track logging.

 

The Meridian is still the best for geocaching though.

 

One funny note:

Why is the keyboards on the Garmins on top, and the Magellans on the bottom??

 

check my profile for gps units that ive had or have now.

 

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5_Rubik.gifMy home page about GPS units and information

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