15 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
My favorite gadget!
Date of Review: Apr 29, 2007
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this unit to anyone looking for a GPS receiver in this price range. Functionality improves with purchase of accessories and software.
This unit was purchased as a replacement for my Magellan Meridian Gold series.
I was quite surprised when I got it to notice how much smaller and lighter it is. I don't know the specifics but the screen seems almost the same size and the color screen makes it much easier to read.
I am used to the screens and menus from my Meridian but I can see some definite differences most of which are a great improvement.
The receiver is really good, it will pick up my location sitting in my office with all the doors and windows closed. I know my old unit needed to be near a window.
I did notice a couple of screens missing, but to be honest I never used them anyway. I have really grown accustomed to the Magellan interface and find it easy to get to the features I need.
I really like the SD slot. I put a 1GB card in it for $20 and it will let me put in maps with the MapSend? Topo 3D program that can cover almost the entire Eastern half of the country! My Meridian had a 16 MB card that wouldn't load enough detail maps to get me one state over.
I have the optional rechargeable battery pack coming, the USB and 12V adapter cable, which I plan to put to good use.
This unit has some nice features for Geocaching as well, although I haven't really started doing it. I found it easy to download cache points into the unit once I figured out how to use the software.
I'll confess the MapSend? software is not the easiest to figure out, but with an investment of a little time you can easily find your way around and load the maps you want into this unit. Like most units I have seen, they are not worth much without some sort of mapping software to load the type of detail you want into the unit.
This unit gives me exactly what I need, lots of maps and a location where I am. That is all I need to get where I want to be.
I really like the tracking feature that keeps track of heading and speed that lets you download it to a PC to see where you have been and how fast you got there.
All in all I am really happy with this unit. To be fair I haven't used it a great deal yet but based on what I see and what I know this unit will do it is perfect for me.
I love knowing that I can plug it into my car and drive all I want without having to replace the batteries like I did in my old one. I am also looking forward to using this for geocaching... if I can ever make the time to do it.
I paid about $350 for the unit, map software, cables, and a carrying case. I am very happy with my purchase.
