Good, but not perfect
Written: Jun 04 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quadrifilar antenna,WAAS enabled, back light both display and key pad, SD card.
Cons: Poor display resolution, poor map unless you have addon map.
The Bottom Line: Good unit as a basic GPS.
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| skyview18's Full Review: Magellan Meridian GPS |
Although I end up return this unit to the store (I will explain why), I still give it 4 stars (actually 3.5 but there is no such choice).
I bought this unit with another Garmin eTrex Vista at the same time just to do a side-by-side comparison. You might say the two units aren’t at the same level, Vista is the top of the line for the eTrex, and the Magellan Meridian is the low-end model. Ok, I agree, but for the basic function of a GPS unit, there are almost the same and that’s what I am comparing with.
First, let me tell you why I pick up this one, the difference of this one and the other two model is the memory, the other two all have 16MB memory and this one only had 2MB, is 2MB enough? The answer is NO, but since it has the SD memory card slot support up to 128MB, so you can add additional memory any time you want. The other reason is that since I live in Canada, the base map is useless to me anyway, I have to get the add-on map for Canada before I can really use the map function, and the price difference between this basic model and the one step up Gold model is more than the 64MB SD card I can get locally.
The Good
The unit does what a GPS unit supposes to do, it is very easy to use, it took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to use the unit without the manual.
The build-in quadrifilar antenna can quickly track the satellite in about 10 seconds when you have a clear sky view, it took a bit longer if I put it in my house (about 45 second to a minute and half), and it still be able to keep lock if I am walk with it in side my house. I have been dealing with those computer based GPS card (PCI GPS adapter) for a long time now, and those thing cost about 2000 ~ 3000US, they all came with a big fix mounted antenna, but takes for ever to lock the satellite (I saw once took about 6 hours). The location is very accurate if you had WAAS satellite locked (Most of the time I did, even in side my house, as least the unit say so).
The backlight is very helpful when you were in the dark; the keypad is lighted as well. It has two level of backlight, so you can save some battery power by using the dimmed light, especially in a total darkness the dimmed light is bright enough.
Panning the map is as easy as press the arrow key, not like the Garmin which you have to go through the menu before you can pan the map.
The unit is water proofed make it a great for out door use.
The things not so good
The size of display is 2.2x1.75; well, you might think it is big. Yes it is big but the resolution is only 120x160 so it makes each pixel relatively big as well, the result? When you zoom out, some of the small spot will not be displayed clearly since the resolution is not good enough, I fill it kind like those old cheap handheld game for the kids. If you have problem read the fine display and want display show big number, it maybe OK for you.
The overall size I think is bit big and to be honest, looks ugly. But on the other hand, if you have a big hand, you may like it, since the button is big, you will not miss the button even you have glove on.
The base map is much worse than Garmin on this unit, I live in the Ottawa which is the capital city of Canada, the few things this unit shows on the base map is two major highway (out of date as well), and the airport. When I turn on the Garmin, I was surprised (it also only has base map on it). Most of the major roads, the small towns around, several airports (big and small).
The bottom line
Although I return this unit back to the store at the end, I still recommend this one to the average user, because the good reception it has, it does a good job as a basic GPS unit. Now here is some advice, if you are in Canada, you may want to get the additional map otherwise don’t even consider this unit since you can get basic GPS without map function a lot cheaper, if you do want use the map function than you have to get the add on map since the base map is useless.
The battery last about 10 ~ 12 hours from my experience if you using NiMH battery, if you use it at night with back light on, battery dies very quick. So get some NiMH rechargeable battery, or you will ends up spending hundreds of dollars on batteries. Also make sure bring sufficient battery with you when you plan to go far, since you don’t want run out of battery in the middle of nowhere.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
skyview18
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Location: Ottawa Canada
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 1 member
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