iceweazel Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 With all the GPSrs out there, I'm curious to know if anyone has seen future product handheld announcements from any of the major players? I'm looking for a handheld, but nothing really meets my requirements due to the tiny little memory sizes. My map reqs are around 400-850megs for my trips. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?? Quote Link to comment
Bobthearch Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 (edited) Maybe you could be more selective of which map sections you load into your unit. It isn't necessary to load Any at all into the GPS itself. And I bet 850 MB is more than enough for the entire United States. You really travel over millions of square miles in one day? A rugged laptop would be the perfect thing for what you need. Best Wishes, Bob Edited December 2, 2004 by Bobthearch Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 are you taking mulitple maps sets with you or what?? You might consider looking at a unit that you can swap memory cards in and out (Like a merdian). Then get several of those cards Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Doesn't the Sport Trac topo have topo for the entire USA? Quote Link to comment
+user13371 Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 ...nothing really meets my requirements due to the tiny little memory sizes. My map reqs are around 400-850megs for my trips.... Magellan Meridian and Lowrance iFinder both come to mind. There are several models in both product lines, and all of them use removable SD memory cards. Budget an additional $70 - $80 dollars over the price of the GPS for a 1 gigabyte SD card, and you'll have more than adequate space for maps. Nice thing about this is you can use the same SD card for multiple purposes; PDA, digital camera, etc. Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 With winning lottery ticket, er, rebate, 1G of SD mem for Meridian or iFinder is $50. http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?id=368&arg=3997196 Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Fred Meyers had a 1 gig SD for $39.99 after a $20 rebate, at their after Thanksgiving sale. They were all gone when I got there. Does the Meridian recognize a 1 gig? I thought the limit was 512. Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Does the Meridian recognize a 1 gig? I thought the limit was 512. There are field reports of them working. I really think the stated limit is 'whatever was available when the manual was written'. Quote Link to comment
tubemonkey Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I'm looking for a handheld, but nothing really meets my requirements due to the tiny little memory sizes. My map reqs are around 400-850megs for my trips. Sounds like you need a GPSr with SD capability. With SD cards, you can carry the entire country with you and swap out mapsets as needed. So that means getting either a Magellan or a Lowrance. You can forget Garmin, since they neglected to include this feature in their handhelds. If you can wait, Magellan is supposed to be releasing newer models in their eXplorist line next spring with such features as TFT color, USB, and that all important SD. Why these guys just don't integrate 1GB of flash memory in their GPSr's is beyond me. It's certainly feasible and not that expensive; especially in light of the fact that newer generation GPSr's sell for $300-400 and up. I just picked up three 1GB SD cards at Fred Meyer for $40 each (after $20 rebate) last Friday. I'd certainly pay another $40-50 for a GPSr to get 1GB of memory onboard. Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I'm looking for a handheld, but nothing really meets my requirements due to the tiny little memory sizes. My map reqs are around 400-850megs for my trips. I used two 128meg cards in my Meridian. I loaded one third of the country on them. Waypoints and routes saved to the SD don't take any space. Newegg.com has 512 mag cards for $40 each. Two of those would have plenty of room the whole country. Quote Link to comment
iceweazel Posted December 5, 2004 Author Share Posted December 5, 2004 And I bet 850 MB is more than enough for the entire United States. You really travel over millions of square miles in one day? A rugged laptop would be the perfect thing for what you need. Best Wishes, Bob With the Garmins, without auto-routing its still over a 1gig for the US. And as I do quite a bit of on and off-road travel via motorcycle, a laptop even a ruggedized one is impractical, prone to theft (I'm not on a Goldwing), and downright a waste of space. An 8 hour freeway ride loading trips blocks can be over 500 megs, depending on the citys near your route. It can also be as small as 8 meg if offroad. I was under the impression that cards over 128mb were unusable in the Magellan. But now it seems thats not the case? Mapsend was the limitation from what I understood. I can wait until spring, which is why I asked about future products. a garmin 76cs with an SD port would be perfect. A magellan meridian with usb and large SD useage would be nice as well. Perfect would be something that had a screen which could be set to wide or tall useage. (more stable bike mount sideways) I'm not familiar with the eXplorist line. But I've been using a etrex which appears similar. A larger handheld is OK on the bike, but in the woods a smaller one is nice. Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 I'm not familiar with the eXplorist line. But I've been using a etrex which appears similar. A larger handheld is OK on the bike, but in the woods a smaller one is nice. the current explorist have no data port. you can't change the maps or upload waypoint. Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 I was under the impression that cards over 128mb were unusable in the Magellan. But now it seems thats not the case? Mapsend was the limitation from what I understood. The 4.06 firmware fixed the SD limitation. Up to 512megs at least. It appears that the latest firmware may allow 1 gig. Mapsend was not the limiting factor in regards to the SD size. A magellan meridian with usb and large SD useage would be nice as well. As stated several posts above the Meridian does have large SD capacity. The Meridian has always had USB card reader capabilities. The serial cable is only necessary for loading waypoints and routes. Which is not a significant draw back. Quote Link to comment
Bobthearch Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 a garmin 76cs with an SD port would be perfect. I absolutely agree. But unfortunately Garmin units do not have memory chip capabilities. The Magellan Meridian Platinum is the most similar product that accepts memory chips. Yep, those rugged laptops are expensive, but one advantage is the ability to use better software, such as National Geographic topo maps and others. My Volusia doesn't do well offroad... Ride safe, Bob Quote Link to comment
+Tron_1 Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 There are two Garmin units that come to mind first is the Garmin IQ 3600 which uses Sd cards up to 1gb and is also handheld. I use mine for geocaching. The other which is not handheld but has all the maps in the US preloaded is the Garmin 2620. It has a 2 gb hard drive and additional maps can be loaded (i.e. topo) to it. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I think there were also some old ones that used garmin specific cards Quote Link to comment
+GOT GPS? Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I think there were also some old ones that used garmin specific cards Street Pilot III, and eMap GPS units, are a couple that I remember. Quote Link to comment
+wickedsprint Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 There is a reason they have a basemap... Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Or then ther is this one Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.