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Help On A Used Gps


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I apologize if this has been beaten to death but a search didn't get me the results I was looking for.

 

I'm new to this and have been watching Ebay for used units for quite some time. I've seen several that were a couple of years old and wondered if they were worth looking at. The use will be limited to geocaching, hiking, hunting and fishing. The units I've been watching are Magellan 300, 315, 2000, 2000XL and 3000. I've tried to find reviews of these on the net but since most of the reviews are as old as the units I'm not geting much. Basically what I'm asking is will any of these units serve for what I am doing? Are there any units I should stay away from? Would I just be better off and spend the extra $50 and get an Etrex or something comparable?

 

Thank in advance!

 

Rich

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I can comment on the 315. I have one that I don't really use. It turned into a backup for my Meridian Gold. The 315 is a decent unit overall. It feels very solid, and well built. The actual LCD interface looks a bit outdated, compared to the newer units. Even the Meridian Gold, which is somewhat "old" also, looks a thousand times better, and is somewhat easier to navigate the menus.

 

Overall though, for caching use, a 315 will work just fine. The antenna is great, and it's got the little arrow to point you to the cache. you can use a computer interface as well, to load in coords. It will hold the name of the cache, as well as the GCXXXX number, which is very helpful. It seems to have good battery life. If you are looking for a basic unit, this will do you fine, if the price is right. For a used one in great condition, I wouldnt pay more than 50 bucks. For a brand new one, maybe around 75, you can find them that cheap.

 

Between that, and the eTrex yellow, I'm not sure what I would go for. If it was between the 315 and the Legend, I would get the legend. I may go for the yellow, just because it's newer. There may be more "support" for it, with accessories, and customer service, though, the 315 has been used by many people, and you can find anything you need for it.

 

Magellan definitely still endorses it. I actually received one with a missing battery cover, in a trade, and Magellan sent me a new one.

There is also a "new" firmware update for them, though it is still a couple years old.

 

You'll be happy either way.

 

sorry for the rambling... <_<

Edited by SBPhishy
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My first GPSr was a Magellan 4000XL. While it has a bunch of great features and (I recall) something like 7 seperate navigation screens, it really took a while to gain/hold satellite lock while in the woods. It did have 12 channel capacity, but wan't a "parallel receiver". Meaning it didn't process the satellite info simultaneously. So I'm going to assume any lower numbered (3000, 2000) units will be as bad if not worse. But I don't mean the 3xx series, my last unit was a 315, it worked great & I'd highly recommend it.

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I got a Magellan 2000xl off eBay for less than $40 inc. shipping. Buddies thought I was nuts. I don't need mapping, 50,000 routes etc.... This unit works just fine for caching, and I have had no problems with it under (fairly) heavy tree cover. Depends what you want - this is the bare minimum, but it works just fine for caching - some folks can't imagine a unit without mapping...to each his own...

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