Customer Reviews:
 Critical Deficiency July 12, 2004
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
I returned this unit because of an inaccurate trip odometer and will probably replace it with the Garmin GPSMap. The accuracy of the odometer on my Sportrak was off by about 20% at walking speeds. Try the following test: drive a one mile course away from and back to your home with the unit on the car dashboard. You will find quite close agreement (within a couple of percent) of the odometer reading on your car and the Sportrak. Now walk the same course holding the unit in your hand. My unit would record approximately 0.8 miles on the odometer on the same 1 mile course. I have conducted this experiment with a Garmin unit (the Foretrex 201) and found this unit to have the same accuracy at walking speeds as at highway speeds. Since I wish to use the system for mostly walking speed trips the Sportrak was unacceptable to me.
 I'm happy!! June 11, 2004
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
After lots of research, I finally decided to purchase this Magellan over the Garmin Legend. The decision was based mostly on other websites and reviews questioning the sensitivity of the Garmin. I can't say anything about that, but I know I can usually get enough signal on the 1st floor of my 2 floor house (and I'm away from any windows). In the open, I can usually get 100% signal from 6 satellites and a little from a 7th (it only needs sufficient signal from 3). It's a little bigger than the Garmin, but being an RF engineer, I know that generally, the larger the better the antenna performance. I can't wait to take mine on a hike. FYI The unit comes programmed with fairly detailed maps of the US and very general maps of the rest of the world. If you want more, I guess you have to buy the CD.Update: I compared my unit to my friend's Garmin Legend and from the window at work, the Magellan did seem to perform better.
I managed to lock on to 3 satellites, while the Garmin only two.
The most accurate GPS May 14, 2004
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
The is the most accurate GPS I have ever tested.
It is a good overall unit.
 on upgrading your firmware, be careful April 14, 2004
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
One word of caution. It's very easy to upgrade the firmware on the Magellans. But nowhere on the "readmes" for the sportrak pro upgrade did it tell the user to keep both the com port and the GPS at 4800 baud (esp. since the GPS can be set for 115,200! You can totally hose the flash memory and firmware by running the upgrade at ANY baud rate > 4800. You CAN go through an arcane series of "keystokes" to get the GPS back into "upgrade" mode..but it's a pain..
Delighted with the Sportrak Pro April 13, 2004
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
After a fair bit of research, ended up getting a Sportrak Pro and have not been in the least bit disappointed. Picked up the whole trail walking in the hills/woods under fairly leafed out tree cover of the Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill. And the accuracy is uncanny. Visiting friends @ Emerald Isle (off the NC coast) this weekend, I took a WAAS reading in their driveway. After uploading the waypoints and downloading the right aerial photo, I'll be, if the waypoint wasn't right there smack in their drive. We also determined that the odometer in his new Camry was off by 3.2% (agreeing w/in .015 miles of the milepoint markers on HW 58 over a 10 mile drive).
One of the main reasons i got a GPS was to see how much improvement over conventional geocoding a GPS provides (and, as a bonus, compare geocoding package accuracy.) If a study needs pinpoint accuracy (ie being off by .5 miles or more makes a difference - it won't in many cases), a WAAS enabled GPS is the way to go, no doubt about it.BTW - in reference to a prior review: the internal map(s) are likely what're off somewhat- not the GPS. Every reading I've verified with aerial photos or other methods has been accurate w/in feet, not meters. But it's still fun to follow a drive w/ an amazing degree of accuracy (as a passenger!), even if you appear to be 50 feet off the hway sometimes~~.
|
