Magellan Meridian Platinum Handheld GPS Receiver

Pros: Expandable memory! Good size. Light weight. Large backlit screen. Electronic compass.
Cons: Eats batteries. Electronic compass needs re-calibration after changing batteries.

My review adds facts about the electronic compass and memory, to that of the review by 'imbroke' (great review!). How I made my decision I had visited http://www.magellangps.com and Garmin's respective websites to compare technical features ...

Pros: Might be good for a hiker, off-road bicyclist or boater.
Cons: Not good for use on roads and highways. Support is no help at all.

Magellan Meridian Platinum is not good for use on streets and highways. To use for road travel every point has to be plotted. There is no turn information. This means that even simple trips take a long time to plot because it has to be plotted waypoint...

Pros: 3 Axis Electronic Compass,Barometer and Large backlit display
Cons: Eats batteries but what GPS doesn't

The Platinum is basically the same as a Meridan Gold except it has two added features. A barometer and electronic 3 axis compass.The three axis compass is a great feature to have it allows you to tell direction without moving.You can hold the Platinum ...

Pros: Lots of functions, fits nicely in the hand
Cons: Uses a lot of battery power. Canadian maps are expensive.

I purchased this GPS to help me navigate while on a 15,000 km North American road trip. I am also a ...

Pros: This GPS is GREAT!!!! has everything I need.
Cons: It doesn't drive my car or pay for dinner

I bought the Magellan Meridian Gold and I had problems with the backlight so I called Tech Support and they sent me another Meridian Gold. To make a long story a little shorter I had 3 Meridian Gold GPS units, all with bad backlights, So I asked if they ...

Pros: nice display, easy to use
Cons: No USB support. Too many breakdowns. Not reliable. Charts are too limited

I purchased a Meridian Marine two years ago. In the first season, the unit had an intermittent problem with the battery power supply. I returned the unit to the dealer, who sent it away to be repaired. At the end of the second season, it seemed to ...

Pros: Nice looks, pretty easy to use, light weight, waterproof
Cons: Getting the hang of it takes a while

I purchased this online and have not had any problems yet with it. I use in mainly for GEOCACHING an ...

Pros: Very easy to use for anyone who is slightly technical.
Cons: No turn by turn directions. Short battery life.

I'm one of those typical men who is always lost and will not ask for directions. I now have the solution to my problems. I bought a Meridian Platinum and can find my way to almost anywhere. This device is a little tricky at first to use, but once you...

Pros: Barometric info is ideal. Altitude gain and loss useful. Extremely accurate.
Cons: As with all other submissions it chews up batteries like there is no tomorrow.

The only GPS I have ever owned but right from the start it was an impressive piece of kit.

I have used it all over the mountainous areas of Great Britain and also in the Alps, Jura, Pyrenees and the Massif Central and hope to take it further afield in the future.

When used in featureless areas (i.e. forests, moorland etc)it's worth it's weight in gold (or should I say Platinum?).

Pros: Mucho memory, easy to use, good screen resolution
Cons: Sort of hard on batteries, 12 VDC power supply has crapped out twice

It seems like every place I look at the reviews of the Magellan unit, there's some very unknowledgeable person saying, "It's awful! I didn't know that routing didn't mean that it wouldn't do all my point-to-point routing at street level and correct the route as I drive."

Look, guys, did you REALLY think that a $300 (lowest price) would do that? I'm not aware of ANY GPS in that price range that has all the features of this unit and that works half as well.

Do you hike a lot? Do you paddle? How about being able to take along over 140 MB of built-in mapping...more than enough to have complete topo maps AND all POIs, including navigational and marine data? Try that with a Garmin or any other unit near the price of the Magellan.

This is definitely the one you want. Just compare the screen resolution to some other units.

BTW, you CAN route your trip at street-level on a separate third-party application and load it to your GPS, but you can't have it automatically update as you follow it.

Pros: 3 Axis Compass, Temperature, Barometric Pressure, Huge Base Map, Completely Customizable User Pages
Cons: Battery Drain medium to high, Serial rather than USB P.C. connectivity kit included.

This is the third handheld GPS that I've had the pleasure to own and I would certainly rank this unit at the top of pack. With the inclusion of the 3 Axis compass and the top notch ease of use and completely customizable user pages, temperature and barometric pressure gage this is sure to be a winner around the hiking trail and campsite. Don't forget that now with the street level mapping software for the U.S. and Canada with Europe coming soon you can take this unit darn near anywhere! Simply download the naval base maps and voila, instant marine GPS. Brilliant Product!

Pros: Great for marine use. 8-10 hour battery life with no backlight.
Cons: Only one map can be used at a time. B/W screen.

This unit is amazing. I loaded into the GPS, the BlueNav CD for Puget Sound area (Seattle, WA) and it shows incredible detail of underwater hazards, coastline and lots of port information like fuel, water, first aid locations. Only one map can be used on the unit at a time, which means you must stay in that area or bring a laptop with you for uploading a new map. You can program your trip beforehand on your desktop PC and then upload it to the GPS. You can also make your own waypoints on the GPS and download them to the PC. The unit has 9 different screens, but you can turn off the ones you don't need. I use 4 in my case. The buttons are very intuitive as well. The Tide/Current tables take 60 seconds to load the locations and then another 30 seconds to display a specific location. The graphing feature is amazing in the Tide/Current display. It gives a 24 hour window of the tide in a biorhythm type format. I really like the road screen view for most of my trips. It floats as well and has a 2 level backlight.

The screen is much larger than the comparable Garmin unit. This is why I bought it. You will wreck your car trying to squint at the little screens on those units. However, it is very easy to get lost in the menu system. Map downloads are pretty slow. (With a 64 mb card, mine took 52 minutes to download 4 maps. The best I can tell, when you download a new map, all of your other ones go away unless you reload them along with the new one.(There goes another 52 minutes!) This burns a lot of time. The unit needs to come on with a map mode on the screen since that is what is used most. Needs to have single button labeled "Map" or something like that so you can get back to the map in one step after getting lost in the menu system.

This is the one I bought after I learned enough to know what to look for. My first GPSr was a Garmin Venture; I liked it well but it lost satellite lock under foliage. The plat is a champ in this regard. It also has more bells and whistles, which led me to conclude it was the best GPSr in this price range. Rechargeable batteries and a card reader are good accessories to alleviate problems cited in previous review. The steep learning curve in finding one's way around the menus & buttons is a worthwhile price to pay for the range of features. My only real gripe is the lack of an Estimated Time of Arrival for route end (ETA provided for next waypoint only)...this may eventually be fixed in firmware update. Electronic compass is nice, but eats batteries (can be disabled until needed). Software is not top-notch, but adequate IMHO; get MapSend Streets *or* Topo, they overlap considerably in features. I love this unit!

We had two Magellan Platinum units, identical. Set them up identical. We rode horses about 12 feet apart on same trails same time and got different readings...one said North when it was east and didn't work in the rain when typing waypoint names. We held the units in our hand with atenna pointing up, just to be sure. Lost satalite connection six times on the mountain..the other lost only once. I am returning the one in exchange for another Platinum.This one is a dud. Overall tho, we liked the Platinum working with the NG regional map because it is interactive and did make GREAT maps.Suggestion: MapSend Topo is not functional or interactive..had to spend another hundred bucks and buy National Geographics regional map to customize trails and name them. Also a bright color covering and not black would be easier to Find if drop't in brushy area. Needs a hole to hook strap to. A cell phone type case would be wonderful too and help keep face from scratches.