Mini GPS Review : Garmin VS. Magellan

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Jan 20,2008

In the world of Geo-Caching, every foot of accuracy helps, and all the features of certain GPS’s are put to the test.

I own a Magellan Explorist 500le. It is supposed to be accurate within 3 meters, has a colour screen, and the memory it has for maps is as big as the SD card you buy to put in it; which is great.

HOWEVER, the first one I got had problems, and the firmware got corrupted and wouldn’t boot up. ON THE SECOND DAY I OWNED IT! A quick trip to Canadian Tire to replace it, and I haven’t had problems like that one since. (Over a year now)

The software inside has a glitch : When 2 or more cache names’s first 20 characters or so are identical, it will think there’s just 1 cache and only save the 1 set of coordinates ! Example : The Super Cool Cache #1, The Super Cool Cache #2, The Super Cool Cache #3, you save all 3 sets of coordinates in the gps, drive all the way out to the area where the 3 “super cool cache” series is, open your GPS and you only have 1 of the cache’s in there even though you put all 3 ! You need to manually put the cache’s in your GPS and change the names in order to do have them all in there. This has been a problem on a few occasions for me. Very disappointing.

The software needed to put maps and upload cache files to the GPS is also rather complicated. I’m a techie, I don’t usually say things like that, but they really managed to make it tough. It took me a few hours to understand what software does what, and It’s always a pain to remember how it works since I don’t often need to put in new maps or batches of cache’s these days.

The compass isn’t great either, you need to be moving for it to tell you a direction. Basically : It’ll tell you the direction you’re moving, but not the direction you’re facing. So you can’t stand there with the GPS on compass mode, and turn around in a circle and have it update the direction of North. Kinda wierd.

Now the Garmin :

My Geo-Caching partner in crime, Incomer, has a Garmin. I’ve noticed among the geo-caching community that the Garmin is more popular. We’ve probably found about 50 cache’s together. About 30 in one shot once.

He says the software to add cache’s and maps is very user friendly and easy to figure out. He doesn’t need to convert the files from geocaching.com to another format before uploading to his GPS.

Also, his compass works the way it should. When you change the direction it points, it updates the compass accordingly, like compass’s usually do. No need to walk in a direction for a few meters in order to get a reading. ALTHOUGH, I should mention that that’s not in ALL garmin’s, and he says he payed a few extra bucks for the model that had that feature.

He almost always puts his hand on the cache’s before me. So much so, that we made a rule that when he see’s it, he steps away and lets me look for a bit without giving away where it is …. unless I ask ofcourse. This leads me to believe that the Garmin is more accurate, because his would point to cache holder A, while mine would point 10 feet over at cache holder B, (sometimes MUCH further than 10 feet) and generally his GPS is the right one.

However, I’ve hidden 6-7 cache’s myself. Alot of people have a hard time finding my cache’s and say that their GPS’s pointed them a little away from where it was. Other’s left comments in the logs saying “Well I had no problems, the coordinates where RIGHT ON, the owner must have had a magellan”. Hmmmm, that’s interesting I thought, but it makes sense ! Cache’s hidden with Magellan’s are easier found by people that use Magellan’s, and it most likely works the same with the Garmin !! (Bummer for me though having a Magellan and most geo-cacher’s Garmin’s)

All in All, I’d say the Garmin is better, and my next GPS will be a Garmin. However, i’m very happy with this one and have no intention of upgrading until it breaks. I enjoy that it’s not RIGHT ON for the cache’s, because I really enjoy searching for it, not just being pointed directly to it every time. When using my Magellan in the car to get real time directions, it’s more than accurate enough.

Thanks for reading, please visit www.techienation.com for other techie posts. Feel free to send me an email or leave a comment here if you have any questions / suggestions.

digitalmind @ techienation . com (remove the spaces)