MaggieMagellan

MTalvola,

No, it should be a simple update. Let me know how it goes.

HumVee

Maggie, the Magellan Triton series looks like interesting handheld GPS units. What would you say their selling points are, over comparably priced Garmin or Lowrance handheld GPS units? Also, is it true that they run a modified Windows CE operating system? That's what gmt says (specifically about the 1500) in this post: Running other software on 60Cx

BTW...maybe we should consider starting a new discussion thread, rather than continuing to hijack Rambo's post?

MTalvola

Nah, sorry. I already have a much newer GPS. I also found some places that still have a SporTrak compatible version of Mapsend Topo for sale. Just not sure if I want to drop the $50 or so on it. I probably won't because it's really not that important for what I do.

Frankly, I'm surprised my old SporTrak works as well as it does. I never really used it all that much and it spent years in a box in the gargae that was packed up for a move and never unpacked. Anyway, I ran across it and now use it myself for geocaching when the wife uses the "good GPS", as she calls it, because I let her take the lead. She doesn't get as bored that way. Anyway, that's when I noticed this "line problem".

I really DO appreciate your help, but... As for getting a Triton and that ol' Magellan customer service... Just look at all the unhappy people in this ONE thread. I remember calling Magellan about something years ago and never got through. Are you the same Maggie on the "Ask Maggie" link on Magellan's website? I asked this exact same question about the line not moving/updating many weeks ago and never got a response. I even asked twice. This type of customer NO-service is not satisfactory and does not bode well for Magellan. Why is this such a problem? The single biggest thing that would keep me from getting another Magellan is this reportedly (time and time again) poor customer service, which I've experienced personally over the phone AND email. I appreciate your "fix" for my problem (if it works...we'll see), but I had to log on to a GPS forum (not many people would do that), just happen so see a thread bitching about Magellan's customer service and bam...just happen to see a post out of the blue asking my same question. Then you showed up, somehow, and provided help. Obviously, that was not the norm and you can't help everyone via this method. Magellan needs to get their customer service issues fixed on their end and through the proper, professional "normal" channels their customers would be expected to use. Telephone and email contact via your website.

Again, notice that I am by FAR from being the only one who has been less than thrilled with Magellan's service aside from the help in this thread, which was definitely an anomaly.

MTalvola

GOOD question! Does Lowrance even have any new fancy handheld units out? I never hear about them anymore.

At least the issue of Magellan's "customer service" is still alive and well...

MTalvola

Maggie, I hope you're actually female and not some fat dude in CS because you deserve many kisses!

I received my cable today and the link you provided, and subsequent download, to the updated SporTrak Pro firmware worked perfectly! Very smooth, quick and NO problems. I wish I could say all my Garmin updates went as smoothly, but that's "beyond the scope of this course".

Seriously... I was a bit skeptical of using an old COM 1, 2, etc type port/cable because of the driver issue and I'd never done a Magellan update before. The firmware download started up automatically and didn't even take 10 minutes to finish. What REALLY impressed me was it updated the base map and there is a lot more detail around my area. Even my tiny little town is shown by name now along with most of the nearby prominent bodies of water. A FREE map update with firmware? Not even Garmin does that. Again...

Thanks again for your wonderful customer support here, MaggieMagellan. I, probably along with MANY others, would love to see this type of support continue throughout the Magellan product line AND be more available. If you can do it for a model that first came out in 2001, you can do it for your models being purchased off the shelves today!

HumVee

Lowrance came out with their Endura series of handhelds about a year ago. They incorporate a touch screen as well as traditional control pad and buttons (a design choice that rather baffled me). Sadly, these new handhelds have not faired well in reviews (either the few professional reviews I've seen or user reviews on forums or retailers like Amazon [1, 2]).

About the one bright point (pun intended) is that their backlighting gets brighter than most of the Garmin Oregons & Dakotas - making them a little easier to see in daylight. I say most, because the Oregon 550t came out more recently, and may hold the edge there. Of course, talking about "better" daylight visibility on any of these new touch screen GPS handhelds is a sore point with me. None of them hold a candle to daylight visibility on older GPS models like our 60CSx's & 76CSx's. That's been the main reason why I haven't run out and purchased a Dakota or Oregon yet....

MTalvola

I'm just really happy with ordering a $5 cable and with MaggieMagellan's help that I got an old GPS unit updated at no cost for update/firmware/map service. A free update that fixed a PROBLEM with updating a present position ----> selected waypoint/destination line. And, that was ONE of many upgrades. Good on Magellan!

However, I don't know how Lowrance is these days, but I had a LOT of questions/problems with my GlobalMap 100 in the late 90's...and never got any help. This was before the days of on-line updates and "messing around" with the unit and whatnot.

It locked up HARD (got NO help from LR) so I bought a new unit of the same model and returned the old one in that packaging. This was within the warranty period with NO help from the company, but outside the store return policy, so I really had no other recourse... I still have the replacement 10+ years later and it works just fine as a basic "go there" type unit that's nowhere accurate enough for geocaching as it's a "pre selective ability" unit. But it still works and doesn't lock up...

MTalvola

And, addressing your post, HumVee... That's exactly why as a land, air and maritime (military/civilian) GPS user I went for the 60CSx, myself. EXCELLENT daytime display, battery life and ease of use...and lack of BS firmware issues. I honestly have never needed to use a portable GPS unit at night while using the backlight extensively (without external power from a vehicle), but it's a nice feature, batteries notwithstanding. Daytime visibility is MUCH more important without needing the battery sucking backlight in any capacity.

All that fancy, dancy "eye candy" graphics on the Oregons and such really IS cool...and fun... But...is it really "necessary" for navigation? For a handheld, hiking type GPS? With appropriate accuracy, regardless of display, I can find the "gnat's ass" smallest point on a chart (within the EPE of the GPS unit) with nothing more than the compass/bearing/distance page (don't even really need the overall map page) same as with the best of the newest units...which may not even be (suspect) as accurate... However, ANY GPS makes it easy. Try doing it with a paper map and nothing more than a magnetic compass and I'll be impressed. Seriously...I've hiked with some who do it with shooting three or more lines of bearing with a magnetic compass for an intersecting location fix solution. Is it slower? Yes...but it's still WAY cool... I am NOT anti-technology. Rather, understanding the "old school" ways as to how it's actually done and how it correlates to real "overland navigation" and how the basics of GPS makes it so much easier.

HumVee

What does attract me to the Dakotas (well, the 20) and Oregons is the ability to load and access multiple map sets (subject only to storage card capacity). Also, the paperless geocaching, long waypoint names, etc. I think those new refinements are even better than the larger and higher resolution displays - but at this point not enough to win me over from the screen visibility issue. I'm hoping for a next generation garmin that has those features and an excellent display for daylight viewing.

MTalvola

That feature right there directly available in a menu on a 60CSx would be the perfect GPS for my needs... I don't need the rest of the "eye candy", no matter how "cool" it looks...

MaggieMagellan

MTalvola,

Haha, that is great news. I am glad you got it working. BTW, great buy on Amazon. I personally love Amazon and buy all my stuff there.

Please feel free to ask me for any future assistance.

MTalvola

Thanks again, Maggie. I'm in the process of acquiring an older version of Mapsend Topo that "should" work with my SporTrak, so that cable will come in handy again.

And, the pos --> dest line really DOES work after actually driving with it. When I posted before, I hadn't actually used it "for real" yet. I was just happy it showed as a selection after the firmware update.

MTalvola

Well, Mapsend Streets and Topo US 4.20 finally arrived and it installed fine. Pretty slow to upload a region to the SporTrak, but that was to be expected. I'm just wondering why I was limited to a 16MB region when the unit has 32MB internal memory. One of the selling points was the basemap used 9MB so it had 23MB left over for user maps. Also, it seems it's a Mapsend issue because the "exceeded 16MB" error message popped up when I tried to sent it to the GPS, but before it even detected it on the COM port. At that point, there was no way for Mapsource to have known what the free memory available was since it had never been "connected" in the first place. The unit was completely cleared/reset as per the instructions to update the OS firmware, so there wasn't any extraneous stuff taking up space. Weird.


Edited to add: Figured it out. Only about 16MB per region allowed as a Mapsend limit. I can select another small one for up to about 23MB. Sucks on the fixed memory limitation, but it is what it is and it was free and it does actually work after all these years.

MaggieMagellan

Yes, the Triton can run WinCE.

HumVee

Thanks for confirming, Maggie!

MTalvola

HumVee, there's a member named "Boyd" over on forums.gpsreview.net who has tricked his Triton out to the extreme. He runs WinCE and makes his own maps. He's a big user of OziExplorer.

HumVee

Thanks for the info, MTalvola. I'm sure that there's forum members like gmt who will find that information very useful!