A good workhorse with flexibility
Written: Jun 16 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of functions, fits nicely in the hand
Cons: Uses a lot of battery power. Canadian maps are expensive.
The Bottom Line: Great Receiver, only drawbacks is that it goes through batteries quickly, and maps and charts of Canada are very expensive or unavailable. The latter is true of all GPS receivers.
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| gonavy1326's Full Review: Magellan Meridian Platinum Handheld GPS Receiver |
I purchased this GPS to help me navigate while on a 15,000 km North American road trip. I am also a sailor, so was looking for a GPS that would work for on water navigation as well.
For on land navigation I wanted a GPS that would tie in with an electronic map and routing software. My chosen software was MS Streets & Trips. With the optional car power and serial connection cable the Magellan tied in well with this software on my laptop computer. With the only exception of the ten-second-update rate (a setting in the software not the Magellan) this worked very well and provided me excellent navigation around the continent and in unfamiliar cities.
The ability to quickly change from US, Metric, and Nautical units of measurement was very useful for me. In addition you can change only one of the outputs measurement units, which was also very useful. For instance I was able to have everything in metric units (which I am most use to using), but change my speed to read in miles per hour while in the US which was much easier to read than the small MPH on my car's speedometer. When sailing I can easily change to the nautical units (NM, Kts, and Ft) for easy navigation.
At the time of writing, only US Charts were available for the Magellan. If you are sailing on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway you can get some coverage of the Canadian side but don't expect any details of Canadian harbours or ports.
The preloaded map is rather skimpy on the Canadian side of the boarder. There have been several times when I was driving near water where the GPS map had me in the water, and one time when I crossed on a ferry and the GPS map had me on land the whole time.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
gonavy1326
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Reviews written: 1
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