Magellan Meridian Handheld GPS Receiver
Magellan Meridian Handheld GPS Receiver
Rugged design GPS receiver equipped with 2MB database of US, including major highways, cities, 7 nav screens and compass screen. Store up to 20 routes, 500 way-points and 2000 track points. Supports nine languages. Unlimited memory capacity with optional secure digital memory cards. Comes in an attractive forest green and brown casing.With 2 MB of built-in map data and a Secure Digital Memory Card slot, the Magellan Meridian Global Positioning System receiver allows you to access and store extensive location information. This rugged handheld GPS unit coordinates data from up to 12 satellites to pinpoint your location anywhere on the globe. The Meridian’s 2 MB base map allows you to access worldwide political boundaries and major cities. Slide in a data card to get even more detail, or use a memory card to store waypoints and routes.
The Meridian is PC compatible and stores up to 500 waypoints and 20 reversible routes with up to 30 legs. It also comes with a quadrifilar helix antenna for optimal satellite signal reception and fast position fixes. WAAS and EGNOS capability adds to the versatility of this receiver, which can be operated in English, French, German, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, or Swedish.
See your exact position on the Meridian’s seven navigation screens and vertical profile graphs that show elevations of the route traveled. The oversized grayscale display allows you to easily see location information and comes with a backlight and backlit keypad for use even in dim light. Waterproof rubber armoring and an ergonomic, compact design add to the Meridian’s functionality.
The Meridian is compatible with Magellan’s MapSend software, including MapSend Streets Europe and the recently released MapSend Topo for the United States. Vehicle, bike, and swivel mounts are sold separately.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Bargain Technology
This GPS receiver is fantastic. Some reviewers haven’t done their homework. For example - I promise that San Francisco is in the database. I don’t know where he was looking. The Power button is selectable for either Confirm Off required, or Cancel to stay connected. The street level mapping with the add-in MapSend data is selectable for Low, Medium, High or Very High resolution. Hidden costs for the software? Magellan has a … rebate if you buy a Meridian and a software title. This unit is extremely accurate, and the maps are pretty good. Don’t try to use this unit for surveying, but for any other use - it’s fantastic. For the price it can’t be beat.
5 Stars nice unit
I bought the Meridian a few months ago and find it to be a handy and fun device. It has quite a few different screens to give you plenty of data on your position, speed, bearing, etc. I use it quite a bit for work since I often need to go out into the field to pinpoint and find specific locations.
I also use a Garmin at work and personally I like the Magellan. The Garmin is smaller which may have benefits to some but, the Garmin screen is smaller and harder to read when you are either walking or driving in a car. I also find the buttons on the Magellan to be easier to use. Both provide more, or less, the same GPS data on their screens for my needs.
Negatives: The maps the Meridian, or Garmin equivalent, come loaded with are not very detailed. No dirt roads or smaller township roads are included. The Magellan and Garmin map CD’s you can purchase for these units are better but still not a USGS 1:24,000 quadrangle which would really be nice for hiking, etc. As far as I know, the most detailed maps you can currently get on the Magellan or Garmin CD’s are 1:100,000 scale. Ask a company rep how much memory you need to save the CD maps that you will be using in the unit. A color screen would also be nice for use with the topo maps but battery life is already quite short (if you are out all day you had better carry an extra set) so that may not be feasible.
2 Stars Good unit with some reservations
This unit gives me a mix of things that I really love and some things that I find hard to live with. On the plus side, you’ll find a unit that performs flawlessly for the level of my use (aimless wandering in the woods, geocaching, etc), an operating system that is exceptionally easy to learn, a rugged case, and a big screen. On the downside, you’ll find that the unit doesn’t fit well in your pocket so you’ll need to compromise with a belt mounted holster. Nonetheless, I would give the unit a high rating if it wasn’t for the annoying “power” button which is very easy to touch by mistake, which causes the GPS to automatically power off. My opinion is that you will be more than happy with it, if you understand these shortcomings.
2 Stars Watch the hidden costs!
…I am disappointed with the Meridian GPS. (This being the standard unit and not the Gold or Platinum versions which may be better.) As a GPS it is adequate, however compared to Garmin units the interface is confusing and it is not obvious how to create such simple items such as user defined waypoints. If you are successful in creating a waypoint, creating a route is fairly easy but I had to refer back to the CD manual to figure out how to activate the route. The printed manual contains very limited information, and the manual contained on the CD is cumbersome to navigate and not available for quick reference.
My main complaint with this GPS are the hidden costs associated with using the mapping features. As it comes out of the box, the Meridian GPS contains a 2MB base map that is only marginally useful (showing only major land masses, lakes, and some interstate highways). In order to recreate the image shown on the front of the manual, Magellan neglects to tell you that you will need to buy the MapSend software…and an additional memory card ([cost] depending on capacity) which almost doubles the cost of the GPS. In fact, none of Magellan’s documentation including the box, manual, website, or MapSend documentation ever mentions this limitation. Perhaps the Gold or Platinum versions of the Meridian GPS have memory available for downloading maps, but the standard Meridian GPS does not.
The unit itself is seemingly rugged, but it quite heavy compared to units with similar features from other manufacturers. While this may not be a factor in some applications, if you are hiking you may prefer to look for a lighter GPS.
I would suggest you look hard at the Garmin line of GPS before you settle on this model.
5 Stars Great GPS
This is an awesome GPS. This Meridian GPS is a beautifully sculpted lightweight unit.
It is very accurate with WAAS capability (common 1 yard accuracy). It easily records a track of points of your path. This track may be reversed into a route to find your way back.
It comes with 2MB of memory, although with an inexpensive memory card up to 64MB, you may add topo maps to the unit. I added the maximum 64MB and purchased the MapSend Topo software. I added ALL the topographic (altitude lines, special map features and more) of the entire state of California AND also about 95% of Nevada. This is a huge amount of area! This means that ALL of the Sierras-Yosemite etc.., California Coast and almost all of Nevada is always ready to go in the unit. PLUS, this added card enables you to save tracks which go to about 2000 points. I’ve saved about 20 tracks before. You may also save Waypoints to the card. The card saves the data if you turn off the unit-take out batteries etc.. until you erase it-it’s saved.
I also own National Geographic TOPO! which incedently is wonderful software. It is fully in harmony with it too.
The unit comes with a huge amount of features. It has a two level backlight. The text on the unit is easy to use in “MSCOMIC” font. Included is moon/sun rise/set and hunting/fishing best time indicators for position. It has over half a dozen screens which show what you want-from set up. You may show a huge amount of data: MPH, AVG Speed, Position, Bearing, Turn right/left, velocity to waypoint, and many more!
One of the best features on the unit, is a mapping function. On the map screen which shows the topo lines, there is a way to use the cursor to go to a position on the map which scrolls if off the screen. By putting the cursor at a position, you may create a waypoint at this destination. This enables you to create a “GOTO” to that position. Thus, you may create a route or GOTO in the field from the map. You don’t need Topographic software or the accessory memory card to do this map screen waypont trick in the field-the default GPS will do this.
Pros:
* Waterproof
* Huge, detailed mapping ability
* Lightweight
* Looks good
* VERY accurate with WAAS
* About 15 hours of battery life from rechargeable NIMH 2 AA batteries
* Affordable-I got mine NEW from Ebay for about $120
Cons:
If the unit’s batteries run out while data is in its memory (not the card which saves all data regardless and won’t lose it if power is lost)-it loses it. Best remedy: save your work to the card-just like a PC
Conclusion:
Buy it if you want an upgrade to WAAS and mapping ability-the price is hard to beat. It holds its value well-so if you sell it, you’ll get a good price at Ebay.com or GEOCaching.com. Sure, there may be other brands, although this one is VERY FINE and will do the job whether hiking or GEOCaching.
Filed under: Portable GPS Ratings