Gear

has any one of you got a magellan gps sportrak map. Are they any good and can you use them with other software. I may be getting one for my b day and was looking at the etrex range when the bloke in the shop said that the magellan's are better value for money for what you get and they tend to have better signal. Any comments would be very helpful. Many thanks

do i take it that no one has this gps, or r u all of hiking in some sunny country

I have a Spotrak Pro and it's great. Talks fine to memory-map and anquet maps software, although memory map will not break the route into 30 WP chunks that the Magellan requires. It will also only write to route 1. Anquet does not have these probelms. It's an issue with memory map, not the gps. It's tough as old boots and I've not had any real problems with it besides a returned unit that drained the power very quickly (less than 3 hours). I had a replacement inside 5 days.

All in all a great GPS unit for walking, cycling and anything else you'd care to throw at it. Also talks to iPaq with appropriate cables.

HTH.

V

I've just got a SporTrak Pro for test on the site, right now it's sitting on the window sill looking for satellites. More when we've used it properly.

Incidentally, as a GPS user, would you be interested if we introduced a routes database system where people could upload and share GPS routes on the site?

From what I've seen so far with GPSs most 3rd party software seems to be compatible with Garmin and can be made to work on Magellans.

I would be inclined on this basis to go for a Garmin one, but then again I might be doing Magellan a complete injustice.

Routes database would be a great idea. Problem is that some map software (I'm thinking of Anquet sepcifically) has proprietory formats, not ideal for sharing files.

More software is becoming compatible with Magellan all the time. Most of the major software is already. With the Sportrak, Magellan has managed to produce a handheld unit that competes, or is arguably better, than the Garmin eTrex range. This has led to more software being compatible with both. This kind of software is still not fully developed, and you will find some annoying quirks (as I said with memory map, it wouldn't be hard to point out that your route was more than 30 WPs and hence needed to be broken. Anquet does this automatically).

Interesting, the routes database is definitely something we're looking at. I guess we'd need to look at a lowest common demominator format, if possible.

If you ask the mapping companies nicely they may tell you how to convert between them. I can't be hard ;-)

Don't worry.
I'm sure your doctor can help.

PMSL @ Adrain's comment. Like your style mate! LOL :D