+kayakanimal Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 I currently have the Meridian GPS. Am thinking about getting the Meridian color. Questions... 1. Does it use the same serial cable? 2. Will the MapSend Topo program do routing or do I need to buy he MapSend DirectRoute? 3. The audio prompts...are the "voice" or just "beeps"? Do you own one? On a scale of 1-10 how do you like it? Thanks, Kayakanimal Quote Link to comment
+Stunod Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 1. Yes 2. DirectRoute only for routing 3. Beeps only (but a LOT of them ) I don't own one (I've got a MeriPlat), but I'm sure you will get some opinions Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 I gave up the sensors of the Platinum for the Color. I love it. TOPO and Directroute look amazing in Color. It does have short comings. The screen is nearly black if the back light is off. You need direct sun light to really see it without the back light. Even then the colors are a little muted. The back light makes the batteries die quicker. So I turn the back light timer down to 30 seconds. It is the best of the Meridian line, even without the sensors. Quote Link to comment
+Mechanics Hands Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 I was on the verge of getting a Meri color. I started caching with a freinds Magellan 315 and then his sporttrack pro. I had always disliked the garmins I had seen because of the buttons being on the top. But before I shelled out the money, I had to be sure and I had to ask. Its a little more money, but the Garmin 60 series impressed me. The main thing is that the 60 series has a far better screen. I tested them side by side and the 60 screen was far better. The buttons were on the bottom and had a great feel. With the backlight in dim the screen still was readable and had decent resolution. Also you can fully adjust the brightness and it has an auto feature on the backlight to save battery power that turns the backlight off if idle for a set time. As soon as you hit a button it comes back on. The meri has an on low and off, and as stated before by others its almost black with the light off and hard to read in dim. My friend was shocked when I told him I was ordering a garmin, but it appears to be the best of the current color units (I know many will chime in in support of the magellans, which I still like LOL) The main thing with the meri is the SD cards, and lower price. The question is do you really need all the info of the cards? I could see if you travled frequently across the country, but for most cachers it seems the 56MB will be sufficient. If you decide you want autorouting, causing you to have to buy more software, it might be worthwhile to find a G 60 on display along with the meri color and compare the two. If you decide you can live without the routing capabilities and want to stick with your existing software, then it seems like the meri color would be the best choice overall, especially money wise. It will eat batteries as you have to have the backlight on to see it decently, whereas I am hearing great reports about the 60's and battery life. Its alot of money to spend and it would suck to spend all the money and see the other one and realize you made a mistake. Hope this helps some. Not tryin to push another brand. I could care less about that. Just sharing info about the units I've researched and compared. I'm very glad I got to see the 60cs next to the Meri color as it was a fairly easy choice after that, even though I had my heart set on a Meri. MH Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 Check the Magellan website, if you now have the Streets and destinations you may get a discount on Direct route if they are still making the offer Quote Link to comment
schmism Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 I have the Gold and looked hard at the color. I just didnt get the impression it was THAT much better. Plus being a techie i konw from other devices that you have to pay HUGE money for really good color screens. (or used to) so id rather have a really good gray scale screen with features i wanted than a "nifty" (sorta works) color screen. just my .02 Quote Link to comment
IndianaDave Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 Check the Magellan website, if you now have the Streets and destinations you may get a discount on Direct route if they are still making the offer A good deal indeed! We enjoy our Direct Route. A must have for a Meridian! Quote Link to comment
+Tahoe Skier5000 Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 If you're thinking about a mapping, color GPS, why not look at the Garmin 60c? I tend to think it has a better overall design. High quality screen, and some of the best software Garmin has come up with in awhile. The Meridian color limits you to about 13 hours of battery usage, and that's MAX life. The 60c can run for as long as 30 hours, and the screen quality is better too. From a materials standpoint, Magellan certainly "feels better" than the 60c, but other than that.... Quote Link to comment
dantonac Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 That the Garmin has a longer battery life than the Meridian strikes me as marketting rather than reality. The Meridian uses 2 AA batteries and the Garmin 4. The Garmin gets twice the bat life, but uses twice as many. I haven't seen the color screen of the Garmin, but the Magellan looks nice to me. Given the software being used I don't really see the advantage of 256k color over 16 although I will concede that in theory it is nicer. Last I checked though it also cost more. One again it boils down to individual preference/predjudice. Quote Link to comment
+Marky Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Nobody mentions the poor, neglected Sportrak Color, which is an awesome alternative (and has a better color screen than the Meri Color). I also like the form factor of the Sportrak series when compared to the Meridian series (I have a platinum, so I'm speaking from experience here). You do lose the flexibility and power of removable memory cards. You don't give up much else, since the Sprotrak Color has all the extra sensors. --Marky Quote Link to comment
+Mechanics Hands Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...ndpost&p=956500 Not true abut the Garmin 60 series or the 76cs. They BOTH use only 2 aa (I know because I own a 60cs and the 76cs according to gpsdiscount.com) A friend needed a new gps, and ordered the Sporttrack color and hated it. He was forced to have the backlight on all the time if he wanted to see anything and it was of poor quality. It drained batteries horribly. He sent it back and got the Sportrack pro instead. My 60cs has been sitting on my desk on fresh NHMH batteries now for over 6 hours with the backlight on all the time and I have only lost one power bar off the meter. Also others who have had the 60cs for longer report great battery life, and close if not reaching or exceeding Garmins "marketing" batt life claims. On topic though, if you can get a discount on the direct route software, then the Meri color seems to be the best way to go. Currently gpsdiscount.com has the meri color for $301.48 and getagps.com has the meri color for $306.99 and the traveler pack for 444.99 I dont see gpsdiscount.com having the direct route software though. I was tickled by gpsdiscount.com's service and will use them again if I can. I ordered my 60cs and had it the next day (oklahoma city to arlington TX 24 hours from the time I placed the order) for free shipping as they sent it 2-3 day fedex. If you have to get a completely new setup though, new color GPS and new software, it might be good to look at the 60cs and maybe wait a little longer and spend the extra $100 To me it was well worth it Quote Link to comment
dantonac Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 I stand corrected on the number of AA's used. Sorry. Quote Link to comment
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