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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 11 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"In the woods or on the street, it's great!"
Pros: Fast satellite acquisition, fairly easy to use
Cons: Must have entire route active for street-to-street routing--tough for long trips since active routes are limited to 64MB
Summary: I bought a Magellan Meridian Platinum after lots of research--primarily for hunting in unfamiliar areas. Even in dense woods down in a northern Wisconsin valley the longest it took to "find" me was 10-15 seconds and I never lost a signal. I landmarked my camp's location, stuck it in the case on my belt, and wandered about at will. At the end of the day it took me back to camp, in the dark, flawlessly. If you've ever been stuck in unfamilar woods at night with the temperature near zero you'll appreciate how quickly I grew a fondness for my Meridian Platinum. Same story when 4-wheeling in the mountains. Go wherever you want and hit "backtrack" when it's time to head home. I take a compass and topo maps "just in case", but I've never had to use them. I also bought DirectRoute for street use since I didn't want to shelve the unit for 6-10 months a year, and I'm glad I did! I have several SD cards I loaded regional maps onto for the areas I travel most in Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Indiana. One typical example of its street capabilities is a trip I had to make to a business in Colorado Springs. I hit "GOTO", loaded the street address, and took off. It took me there by the scenic route (the shortest route using lots of secondary streets), but when it indicated I was there I was 10 feet from the front door. I'm still playing with it and after owning it for nearly a year I still haven't been able to use its full potential yet. Note that this unit has a lot of capabilities and most can't be figured out just by taking out of the box and firing it up. You need to read the manual, something most people have an aversion to when they buy something new. The detailed manual is on the included CD--print it out and keep it handy until you learn the machine and the menu's logic. I don't know what the problem was with the two units described above in "one better than useless" (or however they worded it), but that's not been my experience at all. I can't vouch for Magellan's customer service since I've had no reason to use it, but two bad units in a row? This is my second Magellan GPS (my first was an ancient 2000XL) and I've never had a problem with either of them. Perhaps more time reading the instructions would alleviate the problems?
