Magellan vs Garmin
 

hi,

i am planning to buy gps for use almost everyhwere, bike-car-walking. I have reduced my choises to Magellan Triton 2000 and Garmin 60C sx. primary use will be my morocco trip (including eu).

which one do you recommend? any info and advice appriciated.

There are much more maps available for Garmin units, so unless one has a really good reason to buy Magellan unit I'd stick with Garmin. Also Garmin units receive quite good support in form of firmware and software updates.

I am actually using a Magellan device. My next one will be a Garmin - most travellers use Garmin and it is much easier to exchange Waypointfiles of devices of the same brand. That is the most important reason.

Apart from that, Magellan's service sucks. When my Magellan device failed, Magellan needed more than half a year to have a look onto the damage and to state that it would not be worth repairing it.

Lars

thanks for the advices. i'll stick to garmin then.

there are some points which i have to investigate about garmin 60C sx. can i download map on it (i think yes) and will it help me to show my way especially in europa? i dont need city maps, motorways will do. and also is it be able to show me the directions when i put address on it? i know it is capable to tracking, geocathing, etc...

thanks.

Chosseing a GPS-
Step 1 - Look at the maps avalible for where you want to go .. chose teh manufacture with teh best mps.

In this case the free Morroco topo one is the best.. and they are for the Garmins.

The 60Cx (and 60CSx) will take maps ... for europe you want 'City Navigator Europe' .. it costs but does the find address - auto routing etc etc .. buy it and for get its price. You'll be glad you did in some strange city ..

The 'S' version simply adds a barometer and flux gate compass .. that normally adds top teh cost, and certainly flatens the battery quicker .. I bought the 60Cx.

I did exactly what frank offered..
and it came down to Smellybiker's wanderlust.. by buying garmin 60cx,I could easily down load the wanderlust maps and the camping around the world thing (see sticky thread) it is exactly what i needed. (Now i just need a way to attach it to the bike with out paying for touratech stuff!>

I cound not justify 50£ for an altitude and compass on the CSX! The CX does everything i need costs less and once my small brain figured out how to use the thing it is great.. even started to geochache on my walks (yeah im a geeks.. pss off)...

hi thank for your very precious advices and sharing your experiances. i'll stick with garmin then. i have just visited ebay and there are garmins for reletively good price. and the price differenced between 60S and 60S cx is app 10 quid. has 60C got any compass? should not be electronic.

thanks

CX and CSX are newer units, C and CS older. Go for "X", it has better GPS receiver and faster processor, also memory card support. CX is best value.

See this for 60CS and 60CSX comparison.

60CX is the same as 60CSX, less barometric altimeter (your still get altitude from GPS) and less real compass. Pseudo-compass works when driving but not when standing. In that respect CSX is better.

thanks Rebaseonu, that was a really good web site and good comparision. i think the 60Cx or CSx is just i wanted.

Standing motionless, yes, you will not get a compass reading. Move the unit in any way/turn and you will get a compass reading. The "x" denotes the capacity to take an SD card, a very useful feature (store maps, daily trip logs etc).

Garmin vs Magellan
 

For the record I received a very snotty response to my query about repairing my magellan GPS unit from Magellan themselves.

Basically they told me that they had pulled out of the European market and were only concentrating on the US market.

I responded by thanking him for pulling out of Europe on behalf of all Europeans.

Buy a Magellan only if you have no intentions of venturing out of the united states of america at all, ever and even then its an inferior unit to the Garmin equivalent for RTW travelers.

For the record I want to give a heads up to Tracks4Africa - Mapping Africa, one day at a time , as they are awesome value for money, and I am not affiliated at all.

Consider the Etrex range;
As you mentioned walking, and the etrex legend CX or newer CSX offers phenomenal battery life, double that of the 60 range. They are also considerably cheaper.
Down sides are smaller (relatively) screen, side mounted controls that are a pain to get at with gloves on and an inferior arial, but I have not had any real problems with mine.

check out a post I did on this exact topic at

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...266#post221665


Regards G

I've used a legend C for some time, now i am using the 60Cx.

The side buttons on the e trex range can be a nuisance. Besides, the screen is also smaller (the smaller size of the unit is not really an advantage on the bike). The Legend had fairly good reception, there were very few occasions when it lost a signal, though I must admit I did not use it much under forest cover or in deep canyons.

However, one big advantage of the 60 was the faster processor. Maybe I had a slow map, but it would sometimes take an irritating 25 seconds for the map to redraw at a different level of zoom on the Legend - on the 60 it's a couple of seconds.

thanks for all of your replies. i have bought an 60CSx from e-bay for 202 quid. brand new and 1 year warranty. will arrive next week. i am quite happy with my choise, especially after i read the comments about magellan.