Magellan Software is Terrible
Razor2
1) The manual that has any info in it is on A CD
2) There mapping software is absolutely terrible Mapsend Streets and
Destinations is nowhere close to being accurate and there is nothing else
you can download to the receiver. Microsoft Streets and trips, Delorme, and
Rand McNally all have better maps. Cheaper too. But you need a PC to run
them. You can buy an SD card for the Meridian but with there mapping
software I can't see any point to it.
3) There customer service is terrible.
If you do decide to buy any accessories for a Magellan product check
Amazon.com. They are by far the cheapest and have the most accurate software
reviews
Ųyvind Steinnes
"Razor2" <Cob...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:x5f29.384$Re1....@eagle.america.net...
> I would think long and hard about buying a Magellan product:
> 1) The manual that has any info in it is on A CD
I think this is a very good thing. I hate all the flimsy paper manuals that
is realy big and have a many language from Arabian to Zulu, I only need one
language. And for each language there are actualy just a small amount of
info. When its on CD I can choose which language I want and copy it to my PC
and read it there. And I can choose to write it out on my printer if I want
to (but I dont).
But I think there should be more software with the GPS. Like an small
program for downloading waypoints and tracks from the GPS. Like the EasyGPS
program. Is there any programs with the Garmin products?
> 2) There mapping software is absolutely terrible Mapsend Streets and
> Destinations is nowhere close to being accurate and there is nothing else
> you can download to the receiver. Microsoft Streets and trips, Delorme,
and
> Rand McNally all have better maps. Cheaper too. But you need a PC to run
> them. You can buy an SD card for the Meridian but with there mapping
> software I can't see any point to it.
Have not tried Mapsend software yet because it has not map for my country
(Norway)
But I have a SD card mostly for saving tracks and waypoints on long travels
at this time.
> 3) There customer service is terrible.
> If you do decide to buy any accessories for a Magellan product check
> Amazon.com. They are by far the cheapest and have the most accurate
software
> reviews
I'm overall happy whit my Magellan Meridian Gold. It works fine and I can do
more then I had espected it to do from the begining. Since either Magellan
or Garmin or any other GPS with map covers my country I bought the one that
looked best for me but will get an map for my country in the future. And a
unit that was cheap and yet advanced enough. And at last, I had a suplier
here in my town. For Garmin I had to order by mail or internet.
Regards from an happy Magellan user
Øyvind Steinnes
69º41.803N 018º52.496E
Ben David
little kiddies with not much idea of anything, as it is disastrous, sloppy
programming and inaccurate rip-off garbage.
--
"Razor2" <Cob...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:x5f29.384$Re1....@eagle.america.net...
Mike
CUSTOMERS NEEDS..
All marketing is driven by 1 of only 2 practices.. either the manufacturer
tries to meet the customers needs OR they you try to convince the customer,
they actually want and need what the manufacturer makes..a bit sad but it
would appear that both Garmin and Magellan have adopted the latter practice
to base their business model on..
When was the last time you were actually asked what features you would like
to see in any new product ???
Manufacturers absolve themselves from any 'guilt' by insisting they did
market research..with the right sort of questions they can get the answer
they wanted in the first place..
Joe Mehaffey
Troll--An individual who regularly posts specious arguments, flames,
or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for
no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls
are recognizable by the fact that they have no real interest in learning
about the topic at hand--they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the
ugly creatures after which they are named, they exhibit no redeeming
characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of
life on the Net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll."
Trolls, of course, exploit something all newbies have in common: the
desperate desire to fit in with their new community (in this case the
GPS discussion community).
Fits Ben David's childish behavior to a T
--
Got a Question about GPS technology? Looking for a GPS FAQ site?
See: http://joe.mehaffey.com
Eric Lehman
the Microsoft Streets and trips, Delorme so I cannot compare. I do have the
Rand McNally and it does have nice maps. I have used the unit all over the
US and far east for both work and pleasure in both the air and on water and
many different cars and have had great fun, wish there were more map
packages, want to try out the UK package since I always have a hard time
knowing where I am in London.
Eric
"Razor2" <Cob...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:x5f29.384$Re1....@eagle.america.net...
Bebop
> I enjoy my Magellan and the software packages very much. I have not tried
> the Microsoft Streets and trips,
Streets and trips is more accurate than MapSend, because it's updated
every year. I wish the boneheads at Magellen and Garmin would update
their map yearly or allow their receiver to use other map sources.
--
Bebop
Ben David
commissions, so it does not bother me what the Garmin Shill Mehaffey says.
--
"Joe Mehaffey" <j...@mehaffey.com> wrote in message
news:3D49CA0C...@mehaffey.com...
Don Freeman
news:Omt29.530270$o66.1...@news-server.bigpond.net.au after much
deliberation:
> "Joe Mehaffey" <j...@mehaffey.com> wrote in message
> news:3D49CA0C...@mehaffey.com...
>> Paraphrasing from "The Joy of Linux" by Michael Hall & Brian Proffitt:
>>
>> Troll--An individual who regularly posts specious arguments, flames,
>> or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for
>> Fits Ben David's childish behavior to a T --
> I do not lie and sell my soul as Joe Garmin Shill Mehaffey does for
> commissions, so it does not bother me what the Garmin Shill Mehaffey
> says.
>
And the defense proves the prosecution's case. Is it idicative of trollism
to also suffer from TFMD?
Don "whose Terminial Foot in Mouth Disease is in remission" Freeman
--
This space for rent.
Don Freeman
news:1fg9i60.115gdci1cujfhsN%e...@somewheredot.com after much
deliberation:
Neither one creates nor updates the maps they use. They are licensed from
other sources. My question is: is it possible to get updates for the maps
themselves and use them with the existing mapping software?
Razor2
them. In terms of using the Meridian Gold with the existing software and 16
MB SD card that comes with it - the coordinates may be very accurate.
However, the mapping software that is installed in the unit is not very
detailed so you really can't tell how close you are to a location by looking
at the map. Granted, it should get you in the ballpark. Therefore, I decided
to purchase the software that they offer - MapSend and a 128 MB SD card. The
mapping software is much more detailed than the software that came with the
unit. However, because of this you can make a comparison of where you
actually are against what the receiver shows. I would say that in most cases
it is off by 200-300 yards. Now, the coordinates on the receiver may be dead
on but the map is not. To check it out further I hooked the unit up to a
laptop that has Streets and Trips installed on it and drove around. The
position on the map on the laptop was dead on allowing for the fact that
Street and Trips only updates once every 15 seconds. However, The position
on the MapSend Streets and Destinations map on the GPS screen was way
ff. - not even close. Switch to the computer same story.
Ok if you are walking around town looking for a street and relying on the
GPS screen you're in trouble until you establish a waypoint. Your waypoint
may be exactly correct but it won't match the map.
I guess the point is that I did not get a GPS to hook up to a laptop or a
Palm PC. I have no desire to follow my position while driving on a laptop
computer and I sure as hell don't want to take it on a hike or a bike ride.
So having accurate mapping software in the GPS is important to me. Once I
have been to a location and established a Waypoint then the accuracy of the
map becomes less important. After you have done a trip and established a
lists of way points then you have what you need and you can download it to
various programs and upload it when you need it. If you are trying to pre
establish a route by using their mapping software I don't see how you can do
it. This to me is a very serious shortcoming.
I have since learned that Magellan gets there maps for free and they are not
very accurate. What I would expect is that I could buy and be able to use
accurate mapping software in the GPS. If Magellan doesn't make it then you
should be able to download other correct maps to their units.
I'm taking a months trip to Alaska and I was planning on using the unit on a
number of hikes and back country expeditions. I also have National
Geographic National Parks Software that will allow me to download waypoints
to the Meridian Gold GPS. Of course I can't download the maps. I have every
reason to believe that the National Geographic maps are accurate. When I get
a moment I will compare the waypoints that I pre-establish with the MapSend
software installed on the GPS. My bet is that it will be way off.
My complaint about the Manual is that they do give you a pocket book size
book called a quick start guide. It has 15 pages written in 7 different
languages. It really is not worth carrying around. The manual that does tell
you the information you are likely to need is on a CD that comes with the
unit. It's Ok I suppose if you have a computer with you at all times that
you might refer to the manual. The point is that I don't want to have to
travel everywhere with a PC when I have my GPS
If anyone has any other suggestions or experiences I would like to hear
them. I'm not a complainer. All I want is to get a fair value for my dollar
and not run in to surprises after the fact. It seems simple to me. A company
that makes a GPS should sell accurate software or allow you to import or
download accurate software. Otherwise the customer is being shortchanged and
short haired.
Searching_Ut
It isn't at all your fault.
Regarding the maps, when dealing with US maps you'll find you get a lot of
differing opinions on which is better, with the differing views all being
correct sometimes. Which product is more up to date, accurate, or "better"
varies greatly with what region or area you're looking at. Personally, I
find Microsoft's street's and trips to be a pretty poor product for my area,
obviously derived from Tiger map data which is the same source of the
Magellan maps in this region. Better choices for me are Delorme, or Garmins
CityNav. Many other areas I've tried to navigate around had different
results though, which means that finding the product with the best maps for
your area doesn't mean you'll prefer them when you navigate somewhere else.
Unfortunately, I've found I can't get good accuracy without refering to
several different products. Knowing in advance which to use though, that's
something I haven't figured out how to know. If it's important (most of the
time it's just for fun) I first build the route with my mapping software,
then view it on an aerial photo map making corrections as required. Except
for city street navigation though, I can't honestly say being off by a few
hundred feet causes me much grief. I just zoom the display out a bit so I
don't notice it and become annoyed. (I did pay a rediculous amount for those
errors you know)
As for your upcoming trip, I also own and use national Geographics TOPO
product for Utah where I do most of my hiking. I've found it to be very
accurate for geographic data, but the USGS maps are fairly old, so trail
data isn't always as accurate as I'd like. Another product I use for
backcountry trip planning is ExpertGPS. It will download TOPO maps from
terraserver as well as aerial photos if they're available for the area
you're looking at. I find the program compliments the NG product greatly.
Sounds like you're off to a fun adventure, and should have good results for
your backcountry part of your trip. Good luck with the roads though ;-)
For what it's worth
Jeff
For a look at some Legend hiking tracklogs check out:
http://searching_ut.home.sprynet.com
wal...@santel.net
just off by a few feet. But most the time I can zoom into 100ft and can not
tell the difference between my track and the road. I know this varies by
regions, some regions surveyed the land better than others (they have our
swimming pool as a water list for our area, and some water that just
occupied a ditch alongside the road).
I have also seen that S&T is generally right on the street lay out, but the
names are all messed up. It contains some roads that are not there (which
caused problems when I actual tried to rely on it), and it has some
important streets missing.
If you don't believe any of this email me at phant...@yahoo.com and I can
send you some screen shots.
Wyatt W
"Searching_Ut" <Search...@sprynet.com> wrote in message
news:o1F29.9544$cI.6...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Searching_Ut
myself in that the different products vary quite a bit on overall accuracy
of both street layout and position, depending on what area, or region you're
looking at. It makes it tough to know what product will be best for you, or
what one will be most accurate for someone else that will be using it in
different areas than you.
I've got to hand it to you for offering data supporting your findings. As
you've probably noticed, a lot of the people who post either can't, or
aren't willing to give any support to their comments, even when specifically
requested. Personally, I think it would be great if there were a good
website somewhere that people could post specifics on map accuracy from the
different products they use. I would think it would be quite beneficial for
people looking for mapping products to fit their individual needs. Only down
side is that most GPS users are kind of locked in to individual products
that have the capability of uploading maps to the receivers they own.
For what it's worth
Jeff
http://searching_ut.home.sprynet.com
<wal...@santel.net> wrote in message
news:ukn8j3d...@corp.supernews.com...
Bill Michaelson
logs and share them with others?
Would you pay a subscription service to vet update submissions and keep
them available on a central server?
If the service worked well, what would it be worth?
Thomas Ho
"Eric Lehman" <ELE...@cfl.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Fal29.183742$XH.43...@twister.tampabay.rr.com...