pkkrusty's Full Review: Magellan Meridian Color Handheld GPS Receiver
The more reviews I read of GPS units, the more happy I am with the Meridian series. I currently own two, one green and one gold. I would recommend spending the extra $50 to upgrade. The newer software that comes with the Meridian Gold (5.12) seems a bit more refined than the latest for the MeriGreen (4.20). The tracking is more accurate, less angular, the satellite locks are better, and the 16MB basemap is a hundred times better than the 2MB version that comes with the MeriGreen.
That said, if you are on a budget, you cannot beat the MeriGreen for quality. I've used it for geocaching, flying, in Korea, and it's performed very well in each case. The antenna that Magellan uses is much better than those that Garmin uses. My friends are unable to get sat locks in their houses with eTrex GPS units. I can get and hold them.
The rubber seals make it resistant to water, so you don't have to worry about damage due to rain. The rubberized case is more forgiving than the hard plastic of Garmins. The recessed glass screen protects it. Very well thought out. The expandability using SD cards is one of the best parts. Garmin comes with fixed memory. Once you've filled it up you have to start trading stuff off. With Meridian, just pop in another SD card. Or buy a 256MB card and NEVER run out of space. The ability to track a route and then save it for retrieval later is invaluable. You can use up all 2000 track points and not worry about it.
Basically, Meridian gives you more OPTIONS. You can grow into it as your needs grow. The accuracy using WAAS is great, and even without WAAS I've seen accuracies of 16 feet.
The only drawback is the proprietary map software. It's expensive and you can't edit the maps. They are detailed though. It's like having a street map for every single city and town in the US. Searchable. So handy. You'll never use a map again. Seriously. Just search for the address, put a goto in there, and zoom in as you get close to the target.
Streets and Destinations makes it even easier.
All in all, a GPS unit that can't be beat for the price. Everyone should have one.
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