I also have the 300 and the 315 models and concur with M.B. The 300 is
kinda stupid by today's standards, so it sits in the Zodiac's "crash
box" instead of a Davis sextant. G

The 315 was cheap, cheerful and backlit. I use it without a PC and
with current charts in Lake Ontario, and it is perfectly adequate,
fast to lock and relatively light on battery munching. I am aware that
the Garmin 12 and the 48 are popular, but bells and whistles aren't
needed, and in fact can be a distraction. A fast lock, a readable
display and accurate lat/lon are all 99% of sailors need, and most
$200 handhelds provide that and a bag of chips. A street map of
Phoenix isn't a bonus to me: storing a couple of hundred waypoints and
routes is.

Were I to sail offshore or in more complex waters like Georgian Bay, I
would pop for an integrated plotter/GPS/laptop charting solution. As
it is, I do straight pilotage and use the depth sounder (an Eagle
Fishfinder, actually, set to Great Big Numerical Display) and a
pelorus to confirm location, SOG, etc. The GPS is used for buoyage
confirmation, waypoints and things that keep the crew happy, like
Estimated Time to Aperitifs.

R.


On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 05:18:27 GMT, Mark Borgerson wrote:

In article ,
says...
Anybody have anything to say (good, bad or indifferent) about Magellan GPS
units and/or about Magellan customer service? I pretty much had trouble with
my Magellan Blazer 12 (low-end GPS) for most of the 3 years I had it. I used
it for about a month when I first bought it and it worked fine. Then I let
it sit till last fall when I needed it, but it wouldn't pick up satellites
until a Magellan rep told me how to reset it. It then functioned, although
erratically, until finally croaking completely this summer. When I asked
Magellan for a replacement, they said they'd be happy to give me 40% off one
of their higher-end units. I told them that since the Blazer was obviously a
bad purchase on my part, I had no interest in buying another Magellan unit,
but thought they should replace the one that had given such poor service.
End of discussion. Just wondering if anyone has had some positive
experiences with them. Bernie



I've had pretty good results with my Magellan GPS 315 (About $120 at a
local discount store about 2 years ago). It has a fairly simple
display with limited resolution B&W graphics. It will accept quite a
number of waypoints and POIs over a serial link from the PC. I've used
it to track a cruise on a charter in the Gulf Islands in BC and on
a trip around Oregon over the 4th of July weekend this year.

It is a great improvement over the Magellan GPS3000 that I purchased
about 6 years ago. It locks up much more rapidly and has lots
more user memory. It seems to run about 12-15 hours on a set
of fresh AA batteries. On longer trips, I generally plug it
into the cigarette lighter outlet. It interfaced well with
Street Atlas 2003, and I could use The Navigator to download
waypoint for cruises.

I have no comparable experience with Garmin or other units in
the same price range, so I can't help you with a unit-by-unit
comparison.

What kind of trouble did you have with your Blazer? Intermittent
failures, lack of features, slow lockup???

Mark Borgerson

'