Magellan Direct Route

[+parson11]

Recently Walmart was closing out Magellan Meridian Gold units for $120.00 and Geko 101 for $40.00.

 

I purchased the Gold at that price and am well pleased, but am wondering how much more street detail I will get if I purchase Direct Route software. I use Mapopolis on the IPAQ Pocket PC for routing and use present gps position from the Gold.

How about a review from those that are using Direct Route software.

Much thanks

[robertlipe]

Golds for $120? Sweet.

 

Link to my review of DirectRoute is below.

[+Solar Max]

I think the telltale sign that I am hooked on DirectRoute came last weekend, when my SD card (With DirectRoute AND MapSend maps) went south. I was back to paper maps, and that was a real jolt. I had no idea how dependent I had become on DirectRoute. It's that good.

 

Having said that, here are some annoyances to expect:

 

1) When approaching a turn, or say a left then another quick right, the turn alarm stays on for a long time. I usually hit the ENTER key to stop the beeping.

2) The software sometimes creates a zig-zag, when it could avoid one. By that I mean, if the route requires a left turn, the software may turn left one block early, then plot a right, then another left just to get on the street it should have turned on in the first place. I get around this by looking at the route on the map screen in advance, and try to see where it might want to zig-zag, then I just turn at the appropriate place.

3) Re-routing is sometimes moot, as it will want you to backtrack to its original planned route. Follow the route to avoid this one, or stop navigating, and press a new GoTo to the same waypoint.

 

These are not big complaints, in my opinion. They are easy to live with. Last weekend was terrible without the software, so I am just happy that DirectRoute is back on another SD card in my MeriPlat.

[+Z_Statman]

I am new to geocaching and have the Meridian Color that came with DR. While I do like it, my biggest concern is that the maps are outdated here in Central Florida, so perhaps in other areas as well.

 

In talking to tech, they said that it want be until Oct 2004 before an update is released.

 

On numerous occasions I have been routed a much longer way to a site than I know exists, even taking 'major' roads.

Edited April 4, 2004 by Z_Statman

[+UncleRMC]

I bought my Meridian Gold as a package at Costco for $350.00 It came with Topo, DirectRoute, 2/32MB SD cards and a car windshield mount with 12v and serial adapter.

 

All that being said, I use the Topo all the time. The DR software does not do as good a job routing as Mapopolis does. I did use DR for about a month, but finally gave up on it.

 

I use the Gold for finding the caches, but the ipaq for routing and paperless cache info and note keeping (GPXsonar).

[+Stunod]

Direct Route works well for me...the only issue I have with it is the unfriendly user interface for entering a destination address.

[+embra]

My sense of the consensus is that DR is a flawed but still useful product; I would recommend the purchase. I am hopeful that the expected October upgrade will not only update the maps, but also address many of the complaints about the first release. This could be a really great program with some focused tweaking.

 

Another complaint that arose for some was difficulty getting their hardware to work with the copy protection scheme. I think the majority of users did not have this difficulty, but, uh, more than one person wasn't able to start the program because their CD or DVD drive wouldn't recognize the program disk when prompted to insert it. There is a hack out there to work around that particular problem.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I got my direct route CD a few days ago, so far I like it, but I have been to busy to use it much, THe only weekend in that past 6 months that I have had no time for any of my toys

[+ThisWayOut]

Great price for the Merigold. Wht Walmart did you prchase that at?

[+parson11]

The responses have certainly been helpfull! I would like to know a little more about my original question which was how much more detail do you see of the streets? Does it get down to your home street address or just more of the main roads. Does it show any trails or bike paths?

 

I purchased the Magellan Gold at my local Orland Park, IL Walmart on closeout. I noticed other Walmarts still had the higher price on their units so it could have been the manager of that store was closing out his selected stock.

[+embra]

In my area DR lacks a few dead-end roads at the most obscure end of the spectrum, but it seems to have 99.8% of the roads around. High marks on this account: it's one of the best around.

 

The focus is roads, though. You'd do better for trails with MapSend Topo, but that's not so hot, either. There's just not much of any software around that I've seen which has good hiking/biking information. National Geographic Topo (which will exchange tracks and waypoints with your Meridian, but not maps) is the most promising, in that they maintain an online exhange site for users to upload and download tracks of such information that they contribute.

[+ThisWayOut]

Thanks for the info on where you bought the Merigold.

 

I agree with Embra. I don't depend on the DR SW for anything more then over-the-road routing. For that, I am quite pleased (except for some of the anoyances they built into the new firmware. The road accuracy is much better then those found in MS Topo.

[robertlipe]

I agree with most of the responses so far. The DR maps definitely focus on roads over obscure 4x4 or bike trails; those actually get better coverage with Topo. But since I've had DR, I've only swapped back to Topo a few times as MOST of the roads I need are there and the ones that are missing are usually minor enough that I don't need them on screen.

 

I just finished a 45 cache day (solo) with DR and I love it and hate it. They could not touch the PC side of things, but make me a happy man just by FIXING THE STUPID 5.12 BUGS. I went through two sets of fresh 2100's in about 12 hours because I forgot to run the backlight timer down to 30 secs which meant it was essentially on all day long. Every waypoint had to be entered three times (once for a strtee route goto, once for the point-to-point goto, and once to delete it so I could see where to go from here. The unit spontaneously reset three times, as it's prone to do with 5.12. The current UI will wear you out asking you redundant questions and making you enter the same steps repeatedly.

 

If I saw any evidence that Magellan was listening to their users about these annoyances (most were reported in Oct/Nov) I'd be less harsh.

[+parson11]

Wow! Thanks for all the info. This is what this forum is all about, gleaning the experience of others.

 

Well I guess the bottom line is this:

 

Having used Direct Route would you have purchased it if you knew what you know now?

 

What price point would you put on this software that you consider would be a fair value?

 

Maybe Magellan could monitor some of these posts to get user feedback.

 

Again you have all been very helpfull to me as well as many that have silently been following this thread.

[TeamAv8r]

"Having used Direct Route would you have purchased it if you knew what you know now?"

 

Yes

 

"What price point would you put on this software that you consider would be a fair value?"

 

Around $100 give or take. I got mine with the Value Traveler pack so all things considered it was less then that. But to buy it seperate I would say around $100.

 

Good luck!

 

Adam

[+Corp Of Discovery]

Did they have any more of the Merigolds or Gekos?

[+parson11]

As of Saturday April 3rd they had some left of the merigold and two of the geko 101's. I tried the Geko and it was very accurate and even worked in the car. It also was very small and handy for recording walkind like a pedometer. I compared the accuracy against the Merigold and it was down to 16 ft most times. What I didn't like about it was the fact that it used AAA batteries and used them up quickly and that there was no pc link for tracking waypoints. But.... for $40 you sure can't beat the price.

[+Corp Of Discovery]

Thanks for the tip, pasron11. I went there today, the Merigolds were gone (not a problem as I already have one) but the 2 Geko's were there and I snatched them up. One will go to my younger son as a birthday present- he's been wanting his own for a while. Other one I plan to carry with me at work for multiple uses. Thanks again, and sorry to derail the thread.

[+SBPhishy]

I like Direct Route a lot. It can be annoying, but overall is great.

 

While I do like it, my biggest concern is that the maps are outdated here in Central Florida, so perhaps in other areas as well.

 

That's strange. It's very accurate around here. As far as I know, this current release of Direct Route came from data that was last updated in November of 2003, so it's still VERY current.

[+parson11]

Well I ordered Direct route Monday from KMART ...$106 total delivered price. It arrived today Thursday April 8th. I tried it while driving my route and found it to be very accurate in representing the streets around here. I loaded most of metro Chicago and south Indiana in about 55 meg on the sd card.

 

I will describe later any observations I make that may be helpfull.

 

Thanks to everybody for the advice!

[geotexZ71]

I've found DirectRoute to be fairly accurate here in the Delaware Valley... I have noted some error in highway representations as overpassing or underpassing and one roadway depicted as continuing when it actually dead ends into a farmer's field! Nevertheless, I feel it was a worthwhile purchase as it was purchased as part of the MeriColor Traveler Pack for $375.

[+Team BigW]

I just got my Direct Route. I installed it onmy PC and was all excited to see what it could do. So far the only thing it can do is tell me 'The appropriate disc is not available in drive D'. It will not recognize the cd in the drive as being the map disc. Do I have a bad disc? This is the same disc I installed from(it is disc 2 the NA map disc). My cd drive reads other discs just fine. In fact I have 2 diffeerent cd drives(as well as brands) on the pc and I get the same result from both of them.

[+SBPhishy]

There have been many problems with the CD not being read by certain drives. I think it has something to do with the copy protection.

 

I emailed you.

[+embra]

I just got my Direct Route. I installed it onmy PC and was all excited to see what it could do.  So far the only thing it can do is tell me 'The appropriate disc is not available in drive D'. It will not recognize the cd in the drive as being the map disc. Do I have a bad disc? This is the same disc I installed from(it is disc 2 the NA map disc). My cd drive reads other discs just fine.  In fact I have 2 diffeerent cd drives(as well as brands) on the pc and I get the same result from both of them.

There are two things you can try...both require that you have the program installed on your hard drive, which it sounds like you were able to do.

 

The first thing is to see if you have Intel Accelerator running. I'm not entirely sure how you can tell; I would try the processes window in Windows Task Manager, accessible through the ctrl-alt-delete three fingered salute. If it is running, some people have reported that disabling it allowed their computer to recognize the disk and therefore cooperate with the copy protection scheme.

 

If that's no help, well, it looks like SBPhishy may have some other suggestions.

Edited April 11, 2004 by embra

[+Team BigW]

Thanks for the assist. As it turns out I am away from my pc now but I will try the fixes when I can. I will let you know how it turns out.

[Vacman]

There is good news. Tthere is a hack for this problem floating around out there somewhere -

I had it installed, lost it....

 

Anyways, this hack will allow you to run the proggy without having to have the cd in the computer.

My situation is/was that I have 2 computers. Here at home, as well as at my office. It was a real pain having to cart the cd-rom back and forth every day. I don't feel guilty for installing it.. after all - I did pay for the software.

Edited April 13, 2004 by Vacman

[+trippy1976]

Golds for $120? Sweet.

 

Link to my review of DirectRoute is below.

very enlightening, thanks!

 

I had been wondering about auto re-routing on a deviation.

[+Team BigW]

Thanks all! I installed the 'hack' and am now able to use the software I paid for.