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Cellular forums Home > Archive > Magellan GPS > August 2006 > Explorist vs Meridian
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Explorist vs Meridian
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| Jay Seigfreid 2006-08-02, 10:33 pm |
| The screen on my Meridian is about gone. So, I am in the market for a new
GPS. Mine is a Green and has served me well. The Explorist appears, in
pictures, to be about the same size as the Meridian. As I have all of the
cables for the meridian, would they work with the Explorist? I have been
watching Ebay for Meridian auctions but think the price for the Gold is a
tad too pricey.
Thanks
Jay
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| Ron Hunter 2006-08-02, 10:33 pm |
| Jay Seigfreid wrote:
> The screen on my Meridian is about gone. So, I am in the market for a new
> GPS. Mine is a Green and has served me well. The Explorist appears, in
> pictures, to be about the same size as the Meridian. As I have all of the
> cables for the meridian, would they work with the Explorist? I have been
> watching Ebay for Meridian auctions but think the price for the Gold is a
> tad too pricey.
> Thanks
> Jay
>
>
I believe the eXplorist is a bit smaller, and no, the cables probably
won't work, but then my 400 came with the cables, and a charger for the
lithium ion battery.
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| On Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:15:22 GMT, Jay Seigfreid wrote:
> The screen on my Meridian is about gone. So, I am in the market for a new
> GPS. Mine is a Green and has served me well. The Explorist appears, in
> pictures, to be about the same size as the Meridian. As I have all of the
> cables for the meridian, would they work with the Explorist? I have been
> watching Ebay for Meridian auctions but think the price for the Gold is a
> tad too pricey.
> Thanks
> Jay
How much is too pricey? I got a Merigold on ebay for $125 and I love it.
Actually have seen them auctioned for less since then. Right now, there are
a bunch of new condition "buy it now" for $122. What did you expect to pay
for an Explorist?
Bill
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| Jay Seigfreid 2006-08-04, 10:33 pm |
|
"Bill" <0@none.net> wrote in message
news:xdb9ju6rqnrq.lt18bpudpafq.dlg@40tude.net...
> On Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:15:22 GMT, Jay Seigfreid wrote:
>
new[color=darkred]
the[color=darkred]
been[color=darkred]
a[color=darkred]
>
> How much is too pricey? I got a Merigold on ebay for $125 and I love it.
> Actually have seen them auctioned for less since then. Right now, there
are
> a bunch of new condition "buy it now" for $122. What did you expect to pay
> for an Explorist?
>
> Bill.
I was thinking less than $100 as the Meridian is now obsolete. The buy it
now @ ~ $125 is tempting but . . .
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| GPS25253 2006-08-27, 3:33 pm |
| The Explorist is much smaller than the Meridian. It's also a patch antenna
while the Meridians were a quad-helix. The software in the Explorist seems
have gone downhill over the Meridian with less features. The one advantage
that the Explorist is it is a USB connection while the Meridians are serial.
That only matters really if you uploading maps to the unit.
Magellan really has fumbled the ball over the past two years and only offers
one type of unit on the market. Hopefully with Magellan getting new owners,
they will again develop a range of units to compete with Garmin.
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| Jack Erbes 2006-08-27, 10:33 pm |
| Jay Seigfreid wrote:
> The screen on my Meridian is about gone. So, I am in the market for a new
> GPS. Mine is a Green and has served me well. The Explorist appears, in
> pictures, to be about the same size as the Meridian. As I have all of the
> cables for the meridian, would they work with the Explorist? I have been
> watching Ebay for Meridian auctions but think the price for the Gold is a
> tad too pricey.
The Meridian cables won't work on the eXplorist, different connectors.
I'm a long time (and once loyal) user of Meridians but I recently gave
up on Magellan. The eXplorist is not an upgrade for a Meridian owner,
it is either a sidegrade or a downgrade depending you what features you
use and what optional mapping software you have.
I bought a Garmin 76Cx and am *very* happy with it. It cost me about
$300 during a rebate that has now ended, to add street level detail
mapping package will cost me another $100 or so when I get around to
doing it.
The Garmins are so much better on hardware (SiRF III chip set, display,
etc.) and software features (autorouting on the basemap roads, multiple
destination routing, etc.) that it makes Magellan look silly after you
have used them both.
Magellan's new ownership may save them and may even get me back in the
fold some day but it is probably going to take them years to do it.
Jack
--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)
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| Ron Hunter 2006-08-27, 10:33 pm |
| GPS25253 wrote:
> The Explorist is much smaller than the Meridian. It's also a patch antenna
> while the Meridians were a quad-helix. The software in the Explorist seems
> have gone downhill over the Meridian with less features. The one advantage
> that the Explorist is it is a USB connection while the Meridians are serial.
> That only matters really if you uploading maps to the unit.
>
> Magellan really has fumbled the ball over the past two years and only offers
> one type of unit on the market. Hopefully with Magellan getting new owners,
> they will again develop a range of units to compete with Garmin.
>
>
The eXplorist 400 and up have flash cards as well. MUCH better than
transferring data from the unit via USB, but that is also available for
simple interfacing with software like MS Streets and Trips. All I have
to do is plug in the unit to my laptop, and tell MSST to use it, and
there is a nice red dot where I am on the map. No muss, no fuss, and
quite accurate. It even charges the Lithium Ion battery from the USB
interface...
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| GPS25253 2006-08-28, 10:33 pm |
| >>
> The eXplorist 400 and up have flash cards as well.
The MeriGold and MeriPlat had flash cards also. Well before Garmin had them.
I'm just disappointed that Magellan didn't come out or simply update the
software and processor in the Meridian series. It was a great GPS.
Garmin & Lowrance has well passed Magellan when it comes to GPS and variety.
Like I said, hopefully with new owners, they will invest into making
Magellan a good brand once again.
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| GPS25253 2006-08-28, 10:33 pm |
| The one advantage Magellan did have was SD card capability long before
Garmin did. The Explorist actually has LESS SOFTWARE features than the
Meridian units have.
Sad really because when the Meridians came out on the market, they were a
great GPS unit.
Magellan really screwed up when they made the 400/500/600 without the
ability to run off regular batteries. They screwed up with the 100/200/300
series by making them not able to communicate with your computer.
I guess one area is that the 400/500/600 can do is recharge off the USB but
takes hours to complete the charge. I can recharge my NIMH batteries in 15
minutes but have to take the batteries out of the unit.
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| Ron Hunter 2006-08-29, 4:33 am |
| GPS25253 wrote:
> The one advantage Magellan did have was SD card capability long before
> Garmin did. The Explorist actually has LESS SOFTWARE features than the
> Meridian units have.
>
> Sad really because when the Meridians came out on the market, they were a
> great GPS unit.
>
> Magellan really screwed up when they made the 400/500/600 without the
> ability to run off regular batteries. They screwed up with the 100/200/300
> series by making them not able to communicate with your computer.
>
> I guess one area is that the 400/500/600 can do is recharge off the USB but
> takes hours to complete the charge. I can recharge my NIMH batteries in 15
> minutes but have to take the batteries out of the unit.
>
>
So far, I have found the rechargeable lithium ion battery to be a
distinct advantage. But then I am not away from line power for long
periods of time as some may be. It depends on just how you use your
GPS. Were I a hiker, or something like that, I would have bought a
different machine.
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| Pieter Litchfield 2006-08-29, 10:33 pm |
| I'd agree with some of the criticisms, having owned a SporTrak Pro, a
Meridian Color, and an Explorist 600. However, the Explorist 600 has a
"tree -like" directory system somewhat like the Windows operating system
employs which makes it easy to find and use files. I appreciate the ability
to save track log files to the SD card and then remove the card to a reader
for use on a PC. This is very handy, and the Explorist file layout is a big
step up from the meridian system.
However, the crappy file transfer and translation utilities more than make
up for any advances in the Ex600 file structure. For Magellan to expect
that the casual GPS user (and what other kind buys retail GPS's?) should
have to learn the steps necessary to move files back and forth to, for
example, MapSend Topo USA and other PV based software is surprising and
wrong.
"Ron Hunter" <rphunter@charter.net> wrote in message
news:2_adnSkcw- DNa27ZnZ2dnUVZ_uudnZ
2d@giganews.com...
> GPS25253 wrote:
> So far, I have found the rechargeable lithium ion battery to be a distinct
> advantage. But then I am not away from line power for long periods of
> time as some may be. It depends on just how you use your GPS. Were I a
> hiker, or something like that, I would have bought a different machine.
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