caljeanmid

The Magellan Triton 400
handheld GPS with National Geographic TOPO!Explorer deluxe mapping software is wonderful. But too often it leaves you full of wonder about how to get it to do what you need it to. It does work and do its job, but it is "not ready for prime time". The software is confusing and inconsistent. I recommend it only for experienced and patient power users.
I bought a handheld unit because I want to use it in a kayak, boat, auto, and bike. I had previously used another brand, which I usually plugged into a power point (formerly called a cigarette lighter socket). I would stick or mount it on the car or boat dash and see my speed and any other data I wanted while I drove or operated the boat. And I would take it hiking. I would enter an icon where I parked the car and then turn it off, turning it back on occasionally when I wanted to check my location or return to the car. The unit had a 2-hour battery life and used four AA cells.
The Triton has two AA cells and an eight hour battery life. And it takes lithium-metal hydride rechargeable cells or any other AA cell. FWIW an AA "battery" is really a cell. A true battery is a gang of cells. So the Triton’s battery consists of two standard AA cells.
Software installation was buggy and took many hours of struggle. After downloading the User’s Manual and browsing the Magellan and Nat Geo web wiki help, I determined that I should have installed the software BEFORE I connected the Triton to my computer running Windows XP. I uninstalled and reinstalled the software twice. In the process somewhere, the computer went online and downloaded the latest version of the software. But VantagePoint still would not load. It would give the error message "Error - Unable to create DirectX device. VantagePoint will be closed." I went to the MS Knowledge base and looked up DirectX. Then I did a Start - Run - dxdiag to verify that I did, indeed, have DirectX functioning on my computer.
I phoned Magellan tech support and he had me run dxdiag again and we talked about it. He said my problem was with my video driver. We looked at Start - Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager. No display adapter appeared on the list, but there was a yellow question mark under Other Devices. After we hung up, I looked there and saw that I was using a generic video driver. I opened it and right clicked. I clicked on Properties and Update and in a minute or two I had installed the proper video driver. Then Display appeared on the list of hardware and VantagePoint loaded.
The VantagePoint program changed the resolution of my screen and threw my two dozen desktop icons around. I reset the program to the high resolution that I preferred. Then I repositioned my desktop icons. VantagePoint did not further disturb my desktop. But its utility remained mostly a mystery. I did get it to load a basemap to the Triton, but it was worse than the one already on it, so I deleted it from the GPS.
I bought a iPod USB power adapter from Radio Shack and plugged my Triton into it and to the power point socket of my auto. I did not need the iPod cables that came with it. The Triton USB cable plugged directly in to it, without needing further adapters. There are two other brands of less expensive USB adapters available, somewhere, that also do not need further cables, but I did not find them in local stores. I set up Marine mode on the Triton to NOT turn off the screen backlight. I defined Hiking mode to turn off the backlight, to save the battery, after 30 seconds. And to turn off the unit after an hour of not touching any buttons. So now I could use the unit in the field, or plugged in to my car, with optimal battery life in either case.
The Triton users manual says to not use it while driving and I found that to be good advice. I would generally set it up before I started out. Attempting to punch one of the tiny buttons while wearing gloves or while driving often produced unintended results.
I was disappointed that the unit would open with the 300 ft screen. My previous GPS would open with whatever screen I had been using the last time I turned it off. But the Triton is smaller than my previous unit, so it was easier to stick to the dash with reusable plastic adhesive. I could now call up the large print screen and observe my speed and three other items of my choosing as I drove.

Now to National Geographic.
I fired up Topo!Explorer and signed in and tried to register online. The software would not accept my serial "number" which was really four groups of four letters. I emailed my serial "number" to Nat Geo. Three days later I phoned and left a message. Within an hour I got an email and a phone call saying they had accepted and registered me. Now I could get online and look at the SuperQuads quadrangle and other maps. I had been given credits to buy 25 of them. I downloaded the latest version of the Topo!Explorer software and started to install the map of half of my state on my GPS. It took the computer a half hour (!) to organize and install the info. It filled up the 256K SD memory chip that had come packaged with my Triton. I could not tell whether the data came from the web site or was on the CD I got with the Triton, but I suspect it was on the CD. The map of my state sometimes appears to be saved in the following hidden directory: C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Application Data\TOPO! Explorer\temp. And sometimes not.
Back to Radio Shack to buy a 4 gig SD memory chip that would have room for some SuperQuad maps. Before I installed any, I searched the users manual. It said nothing about SD chips. Neither did the Magellan web site give any useful information in the FAQs. I did a search and found that the Triton would only accept 2 gig chips. So back to Radio Shack where I exchanged my unopened chip package. Fortunately, both the 2 gig and 4 gig chips were on sale for about half price.
To download my state base map, I had to connect my GPS to my computer with the supplied USB cable. There was some juggling as to when the GPS should be turned on for the computer software to find it. It turned out that I had to turn on the GPS AFTER loading the Topo!Explorer. But finally I was able to double click on the map of the US and zoom in to my state. Then define the portion I wished to download. The 100K (scale 100,000:10 , 15 minute quadrangle) less detailed maps were free, but the 24K (7 minute quadrangle) most detailed (SuperQuad) maps required previously spending some credits to buy. I downloaded 15 quadrangles, one at a time. I decided to trick the program to give me exactly one quadrangle by clicking and dragging the border of the selection square. That would appear to put it into quadrangle border mode. It appears that I had to be careful remember to give each download a unique name for my GPS units sake. Sometimes the download would crash the program, but then I would just close Topo!Explorer with an Alt-F4 and reload it and try again. I am accustomed to my computer responding instantly to my mouse clicks, but I found that often it would take a second or two for the Nat Geo software to respond to a mouse click.
The maps were still not on my GPS, which was good, as it turned out, because I had to purchase the other SD chip. I finally figured out how to put them on my GPS with the new chip. I selected a range of quadrangles and the screen showed, in green, which ones I had already paid for. I downloaded the group, giving it a local name. It apparently downloaded the SuperQuads I had purchased at high resolution and the rest of the area at the lower resolution.
Activating them took a lot of experimentation. The Nat Geo wiki help web site was wrong in what my GPS would display.
For that matter, the Triton menue system is inconsistent and confusing. You can bring up a menue in several different ways and have no clue which way will work when you are on any given screen.
1. You can hit the Menu button. (Duh!) But that does not work for all screens.
2. In some screens, you hit the Enter button to bring up a different menue than the Menue button would bring up.
3. In some screens a block will be highlighted when you hit the Enter button. You can hit Enter again to bring up the next menue. Or you can cursor to another block and hit Enter.
4. In some screens, the GoTo button will bring up a menue.
The Nat Geo wiki said to activate the maps you:
1. Disconnect your Triton from your PC.
2. Click the "Menu", then "View", then "Maps" buttons in order to show a list of maps stored on your Triton. Scroll down to the "Detail Maps" section and locate the map your just transferred by name. To activate - click the square icon box to the left of the map name. You can have only one detail map active at a time. Active maps do not have a red line through their icon box.
This is mostly wrong. There is no Detail Maps choice in version 1.52 of the firmware. Maybe there was in earlier versions. But you do have a National Geographic Maps-TOPO! bar. You cursor to that and hit enter and nothing happens except it toggles between selected and deselected. However, if you hit Menu you get a bar that says Detail Maps. You hit Enter and see the name of one map with check boxes at the bottom of the screen for red trashcan and green go check. You could delete the displayed map there, if you had to. But clicking on all other logical buttons is to no avail until you happen to hit Enter again. Then, viola, the name of another installed map is revealed and you can green check it or trash it. There is no square icon or red line. And you apparently can have several maps activated at one time. But, as I alluded to earlier, it is convenient to have all you SuperQuads loaded together under one name, like local supers.rmp, and select them as the active map.

In summary

Now the Triton 400 works, after a week of struggle and experimentation. No modern software should be so inconvenient and difficult to install. The documentation is poor, wrong, or non-existent and the needed operational strokes are inconsistent. But it works. You see the SuperQuad detail at the 300, 500, and 800 ft zooms and the 100K (coarser) topo maps at the 1/4 mile and ½ mile zooms. At zooms larger or smaller than those displays, you lose the topo maps and just see the base map. I am familiar with the 15 minute and 7 minute USGS topographic maps, which are available from, for example, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources web site. I think I wold prefer to use them to plan trips. You can even view or print the 100K maps from your TOPO!EXPLORER CD for anywhere the United States, if that is the version you purchased, but you cannot view or print the 24K superQuads detail without purchasing them separately. If you want a driving map from Detroit to New York through Toronto, you must find some other map source that includes Canada.
I observed, on the Magellan web site, that other maps, such as street maps, were available for purchase in the $75-$175 range. And they say that some, but not all, features of them may work on the Triton. I will see if the maps from my old GPS of another brand can be loaded from the CD that came with that one. The Triton apparently can load maps of several formats. A major problem will be getting the VantagePoint software to find the maps on my HD or CD. Once VantagePoint has found the maps, it will apparently swap them to and from the Triton.
Review by Cal Lamoreaux, released to the Public Domain. November 23, 2008

dav

Great review, Cal. Thanks.

I wanted a Magellan Triton 400 when they first came out... but was not seeing good reviews and opted for a Garmin nüvi 750 for now. Better suited to my current needs.

Odd that none of these are being produced "ready to use" yet. The Triton 400, the Garmin Colorado, the Garmin Oregon - all are having severe teething pains.

Manufacturers just feeling to much heat to get new products to market, instead of making sure they work, first.

caljeanmid

Well, it DOES WORK very well. After a week of struggles, I am thrilled with it. I do have a few recommendations for changes. But the Help documentation has not kept up with the firmware revision. The downloadable user's manual is severely deficient. And the operating system is inconsistent, as if different people have written different parts of the code with no overall supervision.

CascadeMtnMan

This is the first review that has helped me at all with my Triton 400. I have owned it for two months, and have not been able to do anything with it but admire its sleek form as it lay on my desk. I bought it from a big box store (my bad!) just at closing time, and the salesperson (haha!) didn't know much about the product, so I believed what I read on the box (my second mistake). I based my choice on the claim that it is compatible with National Geographic Topo, and I had recently bought the software for my state (a hundred dollars). I am able to view 7 1/2 minute maps for the entire state on my pc and print them out with ease. But I sometimes would like to know my exact location on the map, especially when in dense fog or whiteout conditions. I hike and mountain bike in the summer, snowshoe and ski in the winter and spring, much of the time off trail. But mostly I wanted a way to document where I've been, and keep track of miles and elevation gain. To date I have spent at least 50 stress-filled hours trying to get my pc and gps to work together, to no avail. I will try the steps given in this review, next time I have ten hours to kill, and will keep you updated with my progress. Thanks!

caljeanmid

I suppose it depends on what software you use. Today I plugged the UPS of my Triton into my laptop. Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 recognized it as soon as I told it to search the inputs. Then an icon appeared on my screen and S&T proceeded to follow my route and tell me when to turn.

Only problem is the software did not sense my speed or direction. Not a real problem, as it did track where I was. I assume I need to get a new software driver for the GPS.

I was told that the Univ of Wsconsin has software available that will download tracks, let you edit them, and save them in several formats for other mapping software. We shall look them up. I will start by using the software that came with my Triton and try to save today's track to my PC.