Magellan SporTrak Map Handheld GPS – Customer Reviews
Can't beat it for the price
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I've had my sportrak for over 18 months now and bought it mainly for a fishing trip to northern Ontario on my boat.I went places I never would have gone before with it as everything starts looking the same when you are on a big body of water with no landmarks (no civilization) It works great.I have the mapsend CD and have used it on many roadtrips and it's saved us a lot of aggravation especially on the way back.I really like the fact that I can store many waypoints especially to mark good fishing spots.
1/15/2006 12:00 AM | Rating:
careful, it's already obsolete
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Nice working unit but I wouldn't buy one now. The new topo software for the sportrak units (topo 3d USA) doesn't work with the sportrak map. The older mapsend topo USA is no longer in production. Kinda stinks that the software is obsolete while they are still selling the hardware.
8/23/2005 12:00 AM | Rating:
Very Disappointed to say the least.
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I have had a Sportrak Map for almost 3 years now.At first I was very pleased with the unit.That changed about a year ago.
The unit started to "lose" the satellite almanac.The satellite status screen would show a blank.I went to the Magellan website, and the site recommended a total memory clear.I did that and it did nothing but remove everything I had programmed into the unit.
Next I did a software update, as recommended by the Magellan website.This made the problem worse.The unit wouldn't "remember" where any satellite was.After sending an e-mail to Magellan, I sent the unit to them for repair.Magellan said the satellite almanac had to be re-installed.
Upon receipt of the "repaired" unit, I now found that the GPS receiver took at least 10-15 minutes to establish its position, this under clear skies with no obstructions.In addition, I found that the EPE, estimated probability of error, or how far off the unit thinks it might be, had increased from 10-20 feet to upwards of 300-600 feet.To be sure, the unit would at first, after "finding" itself, give an EPE of 10 feet or so.After about 20-30 minutes of use the EPE would climb to astronomical numbers, rendering the GPSr useless.
There are also reports on the Geocaching.com website forums of sportraks having stress cracks on the rear where the screws hold the front and back together.These cracks compromise the watertight integrity of the unit.
After checking the Geocaching.com website and the geocaching forums, I found this situation to be more commonplace than I had imagined.In addition, I found out about a trait specific to Magellan units called "boomerang".What this means is that after you enter a waypoint, when you navigate to that waypoint you will have to walk at least 100 feet past the waypoint and then wait for the GPS unit to decide to locate itself and track back to the entered point.Whether this is due to position "averaging" or just a bug, the result is aggravation.
In addition, this boomerang effect means that when you try to use the backtrack feature, the unit will lead you all over the place as it has no real idea where it was, and is just making a best guess.I don't need a GPS to make a guess for me, I can do that on my own!
I wouldn't recommend this unit, and in fact I have edited my "So you want to.." guide to reflect my disappointment with the unit.
Don't buy it, don't even consider it.You will waste your money.6/22/2005 12:00 AM | Rating:
Great value for a starter unit
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After much e-researching, I chose the Magellan Sportrak Map for my first ever GPS for geocaching with my wife and daughter, and I have been very pleased!
This unit worked right away without any glitches.The manual is pretty straight forward, and the unit has a built-in Help feature that's just as good as the manual for figuring things out.
The Map and Compass features are really great for geocaching.And you can hook this unit up to your computer and download waypoints right from your computer to the Sportrak Map, a great feature for geocaching. Adding and editing waypoints manually is fairly easy as well.
It has generally placed me close enough to geocaches to make the game very satisfying.
There isn't a whole lot of map detail in the basic unit as it comes from Magellan, but there is enough to get you around.If you want more map detail, you'll need to buy the Magellan MapSend Topo CD or look for other software compatible with the Sportrak.
I definitely recommend buying rechargeable AA batteries as well.
For a starter unit for geocaching, I'm very happy with my purchase.5/1/2005 12:00 AM | Rating:
Great Handheld very durable
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I took this product to Iraq with me it got me out of a jam a time or two. It took a beating and still works perfectly. It even floats you just can't beat it.
3/7/2005 12:00 AM | Rating: