Garmin or Magellan - Which is better value for money.

weewillie · Post by **weewillie** » 29 June 07 4:53 pm

Hi All,
I've been using a borrowed Garmin Foretrex which has been ok but I've found it a bit clunky to use. I'm looking to buy myself a GPS unit (probably off eBay) and was wondering which is the better value for money to buy and which is generally easiest to use , Magellan or Garmin

Advice please

weewillie

Thomo · Post by **Thomo** » 29 June 07 5:26 pm

wheres that can opener for that tin of worms

I can see its going to be one of "those discussions". Bit like the war between Holden and Ford, Waeco and Engle etc etc.

BRING IT ON...

and I have a Magellan

Mr Router · Post by **Mr Router** » 29 June 07 5:30 pm

Thomo wrote:
and I have a Magellan

Nobody will hold that against you

rhinogeo · Post by **rhinogeo** » 29 June 07 5:37 pm

Mr Router wrote:
Thomo wrote:
and I have a Magellan
Nobody will hold that against you

But we would prefer that you hold it far, far away

Mix · Post by **Mix** » 29 June 07 5:39 pm

o.k. lets play nice and answer the question then the war can go on

the long answer is 'apples and oranges' unless you specify models.

the short answer is Garmin

Aushiker · Post by **Aushiker** » 29 June 07 5:47 pm

+ 1

Andrew

Bunya · Post by **Bunya** » 29 June 07 6:12 pm

According to Team Wibble in Is Nothing Sacred? Book 2006, Chapter 28 July, Verse 1.22pm

Our Satellites, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy GPSr come.
Thy will be done,
On OziExplorer as it is in DiscoverAus.
Give us this day our daily pocket queries.
And forgive us our no finds,
As we forgive those who muggle our caches.
And lead us not into FTF battles,
But deliver us from evil puzzle caches.
For the world is our playground,
and the power,
and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Garmin.

I mean "Magellan" just wouldn't work, would it?

cdmark · Post by **cdmark** » 29 June 07 6:16 pm

We picked up a Magellan 500 with the main reason being that the MIL from Team GraMon had one prior and we managed to take it out a few times with us. We had a look at both the Magellan and Garmin prior to purchasing, however, the places we went (Anaconda, Tricky Dickies etc) didn't really have anyone who knew what they were talking about. It was not even possible to switch the Garmin on to even have a look at the screen display as the units were practically bolted to the display units.<p>
I find the Magellan works well, but keep in mind that I have not played with a Garmin. The basic maps on the Magellan are pretty...well basic. The DiscoverAus maps are pretty good but you are looking at another $200+.<p>
The numbers wear off the Magellan buttons pretty early on, which is not detrimental but pretty poor. The firmware upgrades for the Magellan give additional functions and navigation screens but we have not found them of huge benefit. I do recommend a colour screen as I found it easier to read.<p>
Both Team GraMon and we have had problems with the power/usb cable dying after a few months and not working - flakey connection as the wires appear to work loose from the connector at the GPSr end. This may still be covered under warranty but not sure as we are still negotiating - replacement cable costs $66.00.
I am not overly excited about the screw in connector for the back of the Magellan...although waterproof it is a pain to screw in and I am worried about accidentally cross threading in it.<p>
I have found the Magellan a breeze to use since Team Rubik introduced us to GSAK and uploading waypoints. Obviously you can do this with other units as well. Cheers.

Knot_gillty · Post by **Knot_gillty** » 29 June 07 10:00 pm

I was always told, "if I played with Magellan, I would go blind".

So i bought a Garmin.

Having used both Magellan and Garmin i found the Garmin to be more user friendly.

Udderchaos · Post by **Udderchaos** » 29 June 07 10:36 pm

having had to upload coords to 30 or so gps's at a recent event cache.
I found the any of the colour garmins the easiest. Magellans to be a little tricky to work out and the old GPS3 was a complete pita. Took us ages to delete the coords, then it was plain sailing.

The BW etrex's where fairly easy as well, but not as simple as the 60c's or ExtrexC's

we had to delete all coords stored, upload event coords, then check the upload worked.

Post by **caughtatwork** » 30 June 07 12:12 am

$200.00 for a yellow etrex I find particularly appealing.
I only use it for geocaching.
I don't use mapping.

Having tried a MAP330 (Magellan) I can say that it's far, far easier on my etrex, but they are not necessarily comparable units.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 30 June 07 12:43 am

I had one Magellan Unit for 5 years at one point the down arrow button stopped working, posted it to Magellan and they fixed it free of charge and even overnight posted it back to me as i was going on holidays the next day, i consider that fantastic service so when i went looking for another GPS unit i stayed with Magellan and got the Explorist 600 which I'm very happy with, had it now for 2 years and never had a problem with it, the unit has been in wet weather, spent hundreds of hours sitting in the sun on the cars dashboard and has also been dropped on concrete more times than i can remember and it still doesn't have a mark on it, hasn't faulted and none of the paint on the buttons has worn off.

I haven't used Garmin but i couldn't be any more satisfied with Magellan and the service I've received from them in the past.

Post by **CraigRat** » 30 June 07 8:51 am

Holden!

Mix · Post by **Mix** » 30 June 07 10:15 am

CraigRat wrote:Holden!

Mac

Dooghan · Post by **Dooghan** » 30 June 07 12:55 pm

Mix wrote:
CraigRat wrote:Holden!
Mac

Linux