Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service? I pretty much had trouble with
my Magellan Blazer 12 (low-end GPS) for most of the 3 years I had it. I used
it for about a month when I first bought it and it worked fine. Then I let
it sit till last fall when I needed it, but it wouldn't pick up satellites
until a Magellan rep told me how to reset it. It then functioned, although
erratically, until finally croaking completely this summer. When I asked
Magellan for a replacement, they said they'd be happy to give me 40% off one
of their higher-end units. I told them that since the Blazer was obviously a
bad purchase on my part, I had no interest in buying another Magellan unit,
but thought they should replace the one that had given such poor service.
End of discussion. Just wondering if anyone has had some positive
experiences with them. Bernie

In article ,
says...
Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service? I pretty much had trouble with
my Magellan Blazer 12 (low-end GPS) for most of the 3 years I had it. I used
it for about a month when I first bought it and it worked fine. Then I let
it sit till last fall when I needed it, but it wouldn't pick up satellites
until a Magellan rep told me how to reset it. It then functioned, although
erratically, until finally croaking completely this summer. When I asked
Magellan for a replacement, they said they'd be happy to give me 40% off one
of their higher-end units. I told them that since the Blazer was obviously a
bad purchase on my part, I had no interest in buying another Magellan unit,
but thought they should replace the one that had given such poor service.
End of discussion. Just wondering if anyone has had some positive
experiences with them. Bernie



I've had pretty good results with my Magellan GPS 315 (About $120 at a
local discount store about 2 years ago). It has a fairly simple
display with limited resolution B&W graphics. It will accept quite a
number of waypoints and POIs over a serial link from the PC. I've used
it to track a cruise on a charter in the Gulf Islands in BC and on
a trip around Oregon over the 4th of July weekend this year.

It is a great improvement over the Magellan GPS3000 that I purchased
about 6 years ago. It locks up much more rapidly and has lots
more user memory. It seems to run about 12-15 hours on a set
of fresh AA batteries. On longer trips, I generally plug it
into the cigarette lighter outlet. It interfaced well with
Street Atlas 2003, and I could use The Navigator to download
waypoint for cruises.

I have no comparable experience with Garmin or other units in
the same price range, so I can't help you with a unit-by-unit
comparison.

What kind of trouble did you have with your Blazer? Intermittent
failures, lack of features, slow lockup???

Mark Borgerson

'

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 16:59:53 GMT, "Old Salt" wrote
(with possible editing):

Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service? I pretty much had trouble with
my Magellan Blazer 12 (low-end GPS) for most of the 3 years I had it. I used
it for about a month when I first bought it and it worked fine. Then I let
it sit till last fall when I needed it, but it wouldn't pick up satellites
until a Magellan rep told me how to reset it. It then functioned, although
erratically, until finally croaking completely this summer. When I asked
Magellan for a replacement, they said they'd be happy to give me 40% off one
of their higher-end units. I told them that since the Blazer was obviously a
bad purchase on my part, I had no interest in buying another Magellan unit,
but thought they should replace the one that had given such poor service.
End of discussion. Just wondering if anyone has had some positive
experiences with them. Bernie


I haven't had any experience with Magellan, as I have used Garmin
units, both marine and land-based (no significant problems other than
the expense and their policy of charging by region). That said, I was
recently speaking with a captain who claimed extensive experience. He
said he thought Lowrance was best, based on both ease of use and
availability of maps. I _think_ he said there was a way of
downloading US Government charts and somehow converting for use by
Lowrance equipment. I don't KNOW that, but if I were buying another
unit, I'd definitely want to check that out.

--
Larry

I've had the Magellan 315 for a couple of years.
Seems to work fine. I've invested in the cirarette lighter adapter and just
this spring, the computer hookup adapter so I could upgrade the software.
I'll make it do until the new ones have maps as clear as a real chart.
(re palm Pilot with gps adapter and super chart program I saw at boatshow).

Old Salt wrote in message
. ..
Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service? I pretty much had trouble
with
my Magellan Blazer 12 (low-end GPS) for most of the 3 years I had it. I
used
it for about a month when I first bought it and it worked fine. Then I let
it sit till last fall when I needed it, but it wouldn't pick up satellites
until a Magellan rep told me how to reset it. It then functioned, although
erratically, until finally croaking completely this summer. When I asked
Magellan for a replacement, they said they'd be happy to give me 40% off
one
of their higher-end units. I told them that since the Blazer was obviously
a
bad purchase on my part, I had no interest in buying another Magellan
unit,
but thought they should replace the one that had given such poor service.
End of discussion. Just wondering if anyone has had some positive
experiences with them. Bernie

In article ,
says...


Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service?

(Snip)

I recently bought a Magellan Sportrak Pro from The Wiz for $108. The Wiz went
ouit of business and gave stuff away. The day I got the mnachine I somehow
screwed up downloading the latest software. The magellan Tech Support people
were extremely helpful but we could not solve the problem. I had managed to
kill the thing dead. So I ent it back. They reprogrammed it6 with the latest
software and also sent at no charge some auxiliary devices you can use to
plug into a cigarette lighter and mount the thing on a dsahboard. I am more
than happy. It's an amazing gadget.

I also have the 300 and the 315 models and concur with M.B. The 300 is
kinda stupid by today's standards, so it sits in the Zodiac's "crash
box" instead of a Davis sextant. G

The 315 was cheap, cheerful and backlit. I use it without a PC and
with current charts in Lake Ontario, and it is perfectly adequate,
fast to lock and relatively light on battery munching. I am aware that
the Garmin 12 and the 48 are popular, but bells and whistles aren't
needed, and in fact can be a distraction. A fast lock, a readable
display and accurate lat/lon are all 99% of sailors need, and most
$200 handhelds provide that and a bag of chips. A street map of
Phoenix isn't a bonus to me: storing a couple of hundred waypoints and
routes is.

Were I to sail offshore or in more complex waters like Georgian Bay, I
would pop for an integrated plotter/GPS/laptop charting solution. As
it is, I do straight pilotage and use the depth sounder (an Eagle
Fishfinder, actually, set to Great Big Numerical Display) and a
pelorus to confirm location, SOG, etc. The GPS is used for buoyage
confirmation, waypoints and things that keep the crew happy, like
Estimated Time to Aperitifs.

R.


On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 05:18:27 GMT, Mark Borgerson wrote:

In article ,
says...
Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service? I pretty much had trouble with
my Magellan Blazer 12 (low-end GPS) for most of the 3 years I had it. I used
it for about a month when I first bought it and it worked fine. Then I let
it sit till last fall when I needed it, but it wouldn't pick up satellites
until a Magellan rep told me how to reset it. It then functioned, although
erratically, until finally croaking completely this summer. When I asked
Magellan for a replacement, they said they'd be happy to give me 40% off one
of their higher-end units. I told them that since the Blazer was obviously a
bad purchase on my part, I had no interest in buying another Magellan unit,
but thought they should replace the one that had given such poor service.
End of discussion. Just wondering if anyone has had some positive
experiences with them. Bernie



I've had pretty good results with my Magellan GPS 315 (About $120 at a
local discount store about 2 years ago). It has a fairly simple
display with limited resolution B&W graphics. It will accept quite a
number of waypoints and POIs over a serial link from the PC. I've used
it to track a cruise on a charter in the Gulf Islands in BC and on
a trip around Oregon over the 4th of July weekend this year.

It is a great improvement over the Magellan GPS3000 that I purchased
about 6 years ago. It locks up much more rapidly and has lots
more user memory. It seems to run about 12-15 hours on a set
of fresh AA batteries. On longer trips, I generally plug it
into the cigarette lighter outlet. It interfaced well with
Street Atlas 2003, and I could use The Navigator to download
waypoint for cruises.

I have no comparable experience with Garmin or other units in
the same price range, so I can't help you with a unit-by-unit
comparison.

What kind of trouble did you have with your Blazer? Intermittent
failures, lack of features, slow lockup???

Mark Borgerson

'

About 5 years ago I got my father a low end Magellan GPS for Christmas. He
loved it. Of course, he used it about 3 times on land and then put it in a
desk drawer (where it still sits). I'm pretty sure it still has the
original batteries I supplied with it.

Old Salt wrote:

Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service? I pretty much had trouble
with my Magellan Blazer 12 (low-end GPS) for most of the 3 years I had it.
I used it for about a month when I first bought it and it worked fine.
Then I let it sit till last fall when I needed it, but it wouldn't pick up
satellites until a Magellan rep told me how to reset it. It then
functioned, although erratically, until finally croaking completely this
summer. When I asked Magellan for a replacement, they said they'd be happy
to give me 40% off one of their higher-end units. I told them that since
the Blazer was obviously a bad purchase on my part, I had no interest in
buying another Magellan unit, but thought they should replace the one that
had given such poor service. End of discussion. Just wondering if anyone
has had some positive experiences with them. Bernie

--
due to a significant increase in scams being sent to my e-mail address, I am
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