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Magellan Crossover 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Road and Trail Navigator
By: Magellan Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 91
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 On: 2008-04-09
Pros - Great Battery life, very intuitive to use, quite fast in tracking location, good street by street voice directions, ability to turn off touch screen is great (saves battery & means can leave in pocket etc without accidentally touching screen.
Cons - No ability to save tracks, offload tracks (to Computer/mapping program), no ability to pre plan an exact route (on computer or mapping program) and upload to unit
Summary - I am using the unit on a motocycle, in my pocket, using the voice directions via headphones. I wish I had known this infomration before purchase. Maybe I would have chosen the Garmin? This lack of feature means really difficult to pre route a specific trip, with every turn pre planned.
However, this unit is great if using in a car to find out WHERE AM I? and HOW DO I GET TO FROM HERE. POIs are very good. From a strange place, I could easily find the nearest Chevron, Super 8 Motel, Chinese restaruant etc.
If I could upload a pre planned route, and save & offload tracks, this would be the perfect GPS
 On: 2008-04-07
Product performed well... if you have fat fingers you may have some difficulty with access to virtual buttons close to the edge of the screen.
Screen was easy to see even in bright daylight. Audible directions were clear and concise. Some remaining issues with the use pc downloads and utilities but I havnt spent much time there.
 On: 2008-04-06
A friend of mine has had the crossover for a couple of years now and final picked one up.
Its a wonderful product, picks up signials with ease, varrious applications are proving to be reliable. Within the past few weeks I used it in LA, NY, TX, NC hiking, boating, and driving vehicles.
If your thinking of getting one, go for it.
Best,
H
 On: 2008-04-02
Magellan Crossover 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Road and Trail Navigator THIS MAGELLAN CROSSOVER GPS WORKS FAIRLY WELL BUT HAS EXTREMELY OUTDATED UNITED STATES MAPS. THEY ADVERTISE THAT THE UNITS COME WITH UP-TO-DATE MAPS OF THE UNITED STATES BUT THATS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. I JUST RECEIVED A NEW UNIT ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO (MARCH 14, 2008) AND FOUND LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF STREETS AND HIGHWAYS THAT THE UNIT DOESNT EVEN KNOW EXIST. AND YET THOSE SAME STREETS AND HIGHWAYS HAVE BEEN ON THEIR MAP SUPPLIERS WEBSITE (NAVTECH) FOR SEVERAL YEARS. MAGELLAN CUSTOMER SERVICE IS AWARE THAT THEIR MAPS ARE OUTDATED AND, IN ESSENCE, INDICATE THATS ITS JUST YOUR TOUGH LUCK. BOTH TOM/TOM AND GARMIN GPS UNITS HAVE FAR MORE UP-TO-DATE MAPS THAN MAGELLAN. IF I HAD IT TO DO OVER AGAIN I WOULD BUY EITHER TOM/TOM OR GARMIN AND WOULD RECOMMEND YOU DO THE SAME.
On: 2008-03-31
I went out looking for a single GPS unit that would do it all, and I found it. The Magellan Crossover. I was extremely pleased with this unit. The touch screen navigation was simple and easy to understand. The topography maps that are included are great and the basemap is huge, stuffed with information. I would recommend this GPS unit to any explorer that is looking for a good, reliable unit that does it all. ... OK.. now for the one flaw that makes this unit not the Perfect GPS. The basemap cant be updated, at least that I could find, and trust me I searched. I work as a consultant in Bend, OR. A growing city with lots of new roads, that my GPS has no clue about :-(
On: 2008-03-27
From the minute we opened our new Crossover we were pleased. It is exactly as described. Very vibrant colors, and crisp and clear directions. In our first two trips it worked flawlesly, and on the third trip it only lost its satalite signal once. I would recomend this to everyone who enjoys going on the back roads.
On: 2008-03-27
The Magellan Crossover does not perform well in off-road applications. E.g. I can not download my tracks and waypoints into my PC like I could with my old Garmin III+ and Mapsource maps.
Also the songs and pictures I uploaded to memory (purchased separately) were lost. I do not know if the problem was the memory or the GPS.
It is a good on-road GPS for the automobile. But there are several GPSs dedicated to on-road use that are just as good and less expensive.
On: 2008-03-24
I was given the Crossover by my wife for Xmas 2007, she bought it here. It locks up frequently during use, requiring a hard reset and resulting in the loss of all data. In the Ventura County area of California the directions it gives will evenutally get you where your going, but the routing is poor, often routing you several miles out of the way and onto the most congested roads. At one point it had me drive right past a freeway onramp and down the frontage road to the next onramp where it finally directed me onto the freeway!! The map data is OK, but I noticed it labels several local driveways as streets and is missing some streets altogether (these are not new streets either, one has been there since I was a child). For use in Geocaching it is almost worthless, when you get within 50 feet of the waypoint the screen announces "you are near your destination" and it stops giving you directions. You then have to go to compass mode and wander around until the correct lat. and long. show on the compass readout. And you better hope it doesnt lock up during that time (which it has about 50% of the time for me.) A major disappointment, not worth the money at all. Magellans customer service is poor, they recently offered a $80.00 "map and firmware upgrade" but cant tell me if it fixes any of these problems.
 On: 2008-03-17
This unit does get you to your destination as long at it is on the maps that are provided. The problem is the maps are several years old and to get new maps costs a additional $75. Also the "great" TOPO system it has does not include TOPOs for the USA. They do have TOPOs for Mexico and Canada but not the USA. One other problem is when you call customer service it is in India and I for one can not understand what they are saying at all. They would not transfer me to to the USA either.
All together I dont think I would buy this product again, hopefully there will be a better crossover soon.
On: 2008-03-11
I really love this little boxMagellan Crossover 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Road and Trail Navigator. I have been house hunting in Pinellas County Florida and it has brought me to about 30 houses without fail. In addition, this little box has maps for hiking/biking and even water travel. The marine charts are a separate download and I have not used them yet. In fact, the trail function also has more detailed maps for download, but it comes with basic maps for the lower 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
It takes a bit of time to get used to using this little box for your navigator, but it is well worth it. Once you get it figured out, youll be saving lots of time by not having to download and print maps from maps.google.com.
On: 2008-03-10
I have had the Magellan Crossover GPS for about two weeks and have discovered that I could not easily give it up. I upgraded to the new firmware that was on the Magellan site before using it. I call the pleasant voice that provides direction, Alicia, the name of our favorite travel agent. Alicia got me nicely around town, even when I purposely tried to confuse her. Ignoring her advice, I would go off in a different direction and Alicia always would give me directions as to how to get back on the original route unless I went too far off. Then she would recalculate a new route from where I was to where I wanted to go. Most impressive. On a trip from Sarasota to Charleston and then on to Myrtle Beach, Alicia was a lifesaver many times. Especially when finding an address that was difficult to get to by looking at the AAA maps. Her directions were easy to follow and always worked. She did make a few mistakes. Once saying to turn left when the proper turn direction was right. The screen direction was correct though. On the way back she managed to find us routes to and from restaurants and other Points of Interest that I would not have been able to find using maps alone. With the 8 hour battery life I often did not bother to plug the unit into the cigarette lighter socket and never had any problem with Alicias voice going away. Will I take Alicia on other trips to new locations? You bet, she is one very smart woman. Will I take the unit with me hiking this summer? You bet. Will I take the unit with me kayaking in the Everglades next winter to keep from getting lost? You bet. Until then Alicia will be guiding me in the car, saving me time, and getting me easily to where I will want to go.
On: 2008-03-10
I ordered with Expedited shipping and received product in 3 days. It does not state that in the product description that product comes with both car adaptor and wall charger, but it does, so need to buy a separate car charger unless you want two of them.
It has excellent battery life. It will hold charge 8 to 9 hours with no problems during continuous use. I have used it extensively for driving, snowboard backcountry, and hiking backcountry with met expectations every time. I have yet to use the Marine GPS functions.
I am sure a person could find short comings with each of the individual GPS functions (driving, hiking, and marine) when compared to single purpose GPS device; but for someone looking for a shotgun approach to their GPS needs, this unit did it for me.
On: 2008-03-09
This would be a spectacular GPS if Magellan would update the maps for it. I wont recommend it until they do!! I have been misled by the Crossover several times. On the somewhat newer bridges in my area, it looks as though the car is a boat crossing a bridge-less body of water. However, the off-road feature works well.
On: 2008-02-27
I was very interested in this unit because of the cross-functionality: road navigation and outdoor/topographic maps. I am very pleased with the road navigation mode. I am very disappointed with the topographic maps. The built in maps have a 90 meter resolution and very little detail - they are close to worthless, particularly in relatively flat Ohio. According to the manual with the unit, 30 meter maps with much more detail are available on the website for the Continental US (loaded on SD memory cards). This is not true - there are no such maps currently available, and customer service was more than vague about when and if such maps would be available.
Quite frankly, without this ability, the unit is not worth the extra cost. If I was going to do it over I would buy a cheaper road navigation unit and a topographic unit separately.
On: 2008-02-20
It is working great. I like the announcement of the street to make the upcoming turns. No problem so far.
On: 2008-02-10
On the magellan 2500t crossover GPS. If you go into an electronics store, look at the disply of all GPS brands for sale. Usually displayed towards center of the store. If all units are turned on, the Magellan will be the only one strong enough to pick up satellite signal indoors. I own this unit but wanted a garmin. I beleive the Magellan is easier to use and far superior to any other brand. I constantly compare all brands even tho I am satisfied with what I have. I use off road for quad riding and street navigation. For over a year of use, it has never failed me. Flawless
On: 2008-02-02
I have had my unit for almost a year, so I though I would weigh in with my evaluation. Overall, this product has met my expectations. The advantages of this unit (the ability to operate it in auto, marine or land mode) are also the primary disadvantages in that it is not going to the best in any one of those categories.
For auto use, the unit is top notch. While it may not be the best AUTO unit available, it provides more than adequate service given the other features it has. Signal aquisition, accuracy, voice information seem to be on par with most other auto units I have seen. On the downside, not allowing the mp3 player to work with voice naviagtaion on is one feature this unit lacks that seems to be industry standard.
For marine use, the unit works well. Waypoints are easy to manage, point to point navaigation works well and the marine maps you can purchase add all the detail one would need, IN A UNIT THAT ALSO FUNCTIONS AS AN AUTOMOTIVE GPS. Sure, there are $500-1000+ marine only units that update quicker and offer better mapping and resolution, but can you also move them to your car in a matter of seconds and have them function as a full blown auto gps? For the small boater who wants basic marine and fishing functionality, this unit is great. It has proven to be very durable, waterproof and accurate in sending me back to my favorite fishing spots.
As a hunting/hiking unit, this product probably falls short for those in need of high quality topo features. Sure it will give you all the basics like speed, course, elevation and gps position on an adequate background topo map with elevation lines, but the built in topo map may not have enough elevation detail for some needs. For my rare uses of this mode, walking in a local park, biking on a trail or hunting in the woods near my house, the unit has worked very well. However, I can see that if one has a specialized need for a quaility handheld hiking unit (where size, weight and topo quality are issues), one would probably be better off buying a separate $200 auto unit and a $200 handheld unit. You would, of course, be losing the excellent marine features.
Overall, for those boaters interested in a gps unit functioning for both their car AND boat, this unit is hard to beat. At this point, I would not hesitate to buy this product again should my unit become damaged.
On: 2008-01-31
Car GPS portion works at acceptable level- "3.5 star". Not as refined as Garmin or TomTom but it works.
Marine GPS map is nearly useless. It shows gps points and water boundary lines. No bathymetric charts, no road ways other than freeways, no lakes and no rivers. -"0 star"
Outdoor topo map is very basic. A large lake longer than 5 miles with 13k acres doesnt show up in 2miles scale map. Very Basic - "3 star"
Manual is a basic operation instructions. Not much of substantive content in CD-ROM pdf manual - "1 star"
Customer support is "0 star"
SD interface horrible. I could only get 15MB out of 2GB Lexar card. Called tech support. After ~15minutes wait, a tech support says nothing larger than 1GB card and only SanDisk & Toshiba cards are supported. I couldnt get sincere admission of the SD problem. I want to know if firmware upgrade will be coming soon? or it has a hardware problem which requires return for repair. Only response was use 1GB SanDisk/Toshiba card.
SD card based maps and downloadable maps may not be available yet due to same SD card problem.
Not recommended to buy yet. Xover seems to be released for sale soon after initial beta prototype for 2007 Xmas season.
On: 2008-01-28
I purchased the Crossover ~1-14-2008 and the product arrived quickly as usual with Amazon. I wanted this unit so I can load the lakes maps and use it as a marine GPS as well as in the vehicle. For the most part the vehicle part works well. I rent cars with neverlost so I am familiar with the interface and it seems to be on par with that product.
There is not a marine chart included. I live on a lake and the base marine map doe not show any water. I find this a bit strange to say the least. If you are planning to use it for marine as well, be prepared to buy a maps upgrade, Make sure to buy the SD card and not the online software. (Read below)
The once thing I can say is the support from Magellan is horrible. I purchased the Lakes maps for download on the Magellan site since I wanted to test it out over the weekend. Well, the site let me proceed with my purchase BUT it never let me download the maps. It has been 2 weeks and I still have not been able to download the maps from the web site. After several calls they determined that their server was down for maintenance.
It would not be such a big deal if they followed through with their promises. The first call, I was told it would take 24-48 hours to send me the link. So I waited. Then I called back, and they told me the servers were being upgraded over the weekend. So, I waited, and then called back and they said 24-48 hours and the link will be emailed to me. This is crazy.... The best part is that they will not let me cancel the order.
This is a case study on why outsourcing is not a good idea. The people that answer the phones barely speak English, and they do not have a grasp of what my problem is. I have to spell out my name each time I get transferred. It is very frustrating to say the least.
I do think the product itself is worth the money, but the support is not so good. There are other units out there that have more capability, BUT they cost twice as much. Do you homework and see what fits your needs.
Make sure you search the web for Magellan support issues...
On: 2008-01-19
I dont have any major complaints with the GPS unit - but I just wanted to warn prospective buyers that the traffic kit thats advertised as a possible add on to this unit doent work for me in Baltimore/DC or several of the other cities that are listed in the coverage map. Go to the traffic kit and read the reviews there for more info.
On: 2008-01-18
If youre thinking of getting one of these to use on the trail, forget it. The topo maps that come with it are so poor in detail as to be useless unless you just want a walk in a city. No rivers, lakes or major topo features. A check with Magellans update calendar indicates nothing scheduled for the Crossover in the near future (not needed because its new). Email requests for info on ANY compatible maps go unanswered. I sent mine back and will go with a Garmin.
On: 2008-01-09
Well after having a hard time findging this item, it finally arrived at my house last week. The first thing the instructions say to do is to charge the unit in your house. Well, my wall adapter came with no US (or Europe for that matter) regional attachement. So why bother sending a wall charger. No problem though, I just charged it in the car. Then I went to mount the unit in the car, and the cradle I got was completely the wrong size for the unit. So now I cannot mount it in the car. I called Magellan several times, and no one could understand my English. I was first told that I would have buy those accecories myself. The second call I was told to return it to the store (online purchase) and exchange for a new one (even though the box says not to) because the correct parts would take 3-5 weeks to get to me from Magellan. I explained I would have to mail it back, and have a new mailed to me, so it would take 3+ weeks anyway. Another call to Magellan and they told me they could send me the parts, but their system was down, so I would have to call back when the system was back up and running. Well guess what...the item is going back for good. Sorry Magellan, but you lost a customer.
As far as the product itself, I was looking to upgrade from my Explorist in which I had both fishing lake maps and the turn by turn software. From my brief usage of the Crossover, the navigation seems pretty good, but I could not zoom over to my lake map to see how that might look on the larger screen. It looked like I was going to have to wait until I got to the lake. The built in topo map does seem all too detailed, but is pretty cool to have it built in. And the fact that the screen is large than the Explorist is a plus. It is bulky to carry in a pocket, but I would just be moving it from car to boat.
Bottom line is, I will be looking at the new Garmin series which is similar. The main problem is that I will have to buy new lake maps, but I had to that when I went from the Meridian to the Explorist. You would think with all of the horrible customer service problem with Magellan, they would get it right, but alas they have not.
On: 2008-01-08
I received this product as a gift. It malfunctioned after a few days and magellan authorized a return repair stating it would be returned within "10 to 12 Days". In the meantime, they advertise a fishing marine map which can be downloaded. I purchased the chart for $99 but the download link was never provided. Many, many calls to technical support have provided no solution. They state that the download server is not functioning but refuse to stop selling the "downloads" to unsuspecting customers. In the meantime, after over a month, they "lost" my original Crossover GPS. They have said repeatedly that they would send me a new one "within 4 or 5 days", but never have, and will not provide any additional information. STAY AWAY FROM THIS CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION!!!
On: 2008-01-02
Very easy to use and it made rapid route calculations when we decided to change course. I didnt think it would work as well as it does, and Im very pleased. Points of interest like food and gas come in handy.
On: 2008-01-01
Good product does a ton... easy to use after a learning the ins and outs a little big but still very handy... good instructions does have trouble in tall buildings (NYC) Overall a good investment.
On: 2007-12-28
I got a Magellan Roadmate 360 product as a very nice gift 2 years ago, this Christmas the power port got wonky so I emailed Magellan for information on where to take it for repair. I got an email back saying they no longer support this "older model" and that the best I can do is to try to trade it in for a refurb at a price. I called Customer service to see what the deal was, and I was on hold/transferred/on hold etc....after 20 min I decided I have no wish to provide this company with any more of my money. I realize that technology changes swiftly, but this is a minor repair and the thing was over $500 and is only 2 years old. I can get a computer repaired after 2years. They Really dislike to have to deal with customers and I would recommend you not purchase any products due to complete lack of support/customer care!
On: 2007-12-25
I keep learning new things this little box can do. I love it! I dont know how I ever got along without it.
BUT it cannot "find" my house - just my street. If I try to plug in my address, it doesnt even take me to my street, but the nest one over.
I live in the country and go to peoples homes to fix their computers. It is "wrong" about 10 percent of the time, but usually can at least get me close.
There are streets that were built in the last 3-4 years it doesnt have. We all know fast food places change hands all the time. You cant update this information. And some things are just plain wrong. I could accept the problems if we could occasionally get upgrades to fix them, but if we can, I havent discovered this yet.
The attachment kit for the car is ugly and cumbersome. I went to a fabric shop and got some velcro tape. Put the hooked strip (actually two, one for the driver, one for the passenger) in the car and put the soft side strip on the back of the unit and it has been great. Easy to get in and out so I dont have it in the car to get stolen. Now I can do this to other cars as well.
It isnt as intuitive as I would like, and it does hang up from time to time for no reason. I guess they are still really refining these things.
It needs a one click volume button.
We have used it for hiking, geocaching, bringing pictures to family, listening to music in the car, and finding alternate ways on long trips. When using long non-interstate trips, it is often grossly off in its time estimates and maps out ridiculous routes. When I trusted it to take me on a 90 minute trip I take all the time, it took three hours to get there. Another time it said it would take three hours for a trip that took less than two.
The voice (we call her Gladys) is sometimes difficult to understand because she doesnt pause in the right place and often mispronounces things.
So it isnt as smart as it thinks it is! The 90% of the time she does work is well worth it. All in all, a great little machine as long as you dont expect perfection.
On: 2007-12-24
I keep learning new things this little box can do. I love it! I dont know how I ever got along without it.
BUT it cannot "find" my house - just my street. If I try to plug in my address, it doesnt even take me to my street, but the nest one over.
I live in the country and go to peoples homes to fix their computers. It is "wrong" about 10 percent of the time, but usually can at least get me close.
There are streets that were built in the last 3-4 years it doesnt have. We all know fast food places change hands all the time. You cant update this information. And some things are just plain wrong. I could accept the problems if we could occasionally get upgrades to fix them, but if we can, I havent discovered this yet.
The attachment kit for the car is ugly and cumbersome. I went to a fabric shop and got some velcro tape. Put the hooked strip (actually two, one for the driver, one for the passenger) in the car and put the soft side strip on the back of the unit and it has been great. Easy to get in and out so I dont have it in the car to get stolen. Now I can do this to other cars as well.
It isnt as intuitive as I would like, and it does hang up from time to time for no reason. I guess they are still really refining these things.
It needs a one click volume button.
We have used it for hiking, geocaching, bringing pictures to family, listening to music in the car, and finding alternate ways on long trips. When using long non-interstate trips, it is often grossly off in its time estimates and maps out ridiculous routes. When I trusted it to take me on a 90 minute trip I take all the time, it took three hours to get there. Another time it said it would take three hours for a trip that took less than two.
The voice (we call her Gladys) is sometimes difficult to understand because she doesnt pause in the right place and often mispronounces things.
So it isnt as smart as it thinks it is! The 90% of the time she does work is well worth it. All in all, a great little machine as long as you dont expect perfection.
On: 2007-12-12
Seems to work OK but has some minor problems. In my opinion, the POI editor is horrible but I dont operate by Lat/Long - I use addresses. The supplied POI list is very skimpy. It also does not seem to convert CSV format POI lists seem to be able to the Magellan proprietary format either, though it claims it will. I also havent been able to get an update for the 2006 map that does not shows roads I know have been there for over two years. Hopefully I can get Magellan to correct those deficiencies. It also disagrees with what I know about getting around town but for all that Im glad I bought it. I like being able to add Way-points that are based on Lat/Long It helps for walking tours finding your way back next time. The Vehicle Nav system can also find them. That is its real selling point. You dont need a separate GPS system to walk and ride. Id like to see a 30 or 60 Gig upgrade with an Aircraft Nav system added to the box but this one does fine and I do recommend it within its limits.
On: 2007-12-10
Although this item has some nice features, I returned it because it does not read out speed or elevation, two basic items I want to know, especially when driving my motorhome in the mountains. My Garmin Streetpilot 2610 can display these all the time on the main screen, which is the map, and also displays distance to next turn, distance to destination, and ETA at destination. Unfortunately, the Streetpilot does not hold map data for the entire US (requires downloads from PC for different regions), is too large to carry in a pocket, and does not have internal batteries, otherwise I would not even be considering a replacement. What I am looking for is something with the readouts, commands logic and screens of the Streetpilot, but with the size and self-contained power of the Crossover. And I dont need all the other items now in many GPS units, such as Bluetooth, MP3, pictures, etc. All I am after is a navigational instrument.
On: 2007-11-29
I am so impressed with this GPS system. Accurate, and delivery was quick. Its almost as if it found its own way to me.
On: 2007-11-17
Before you make your purchase, pick up the phone and call customer support. You will find it is in India and it is worthless. They will lie to you about shipments you have been promised, know nothing of the products and are completely useless. To test this report, I challenge you to try to find anyone in the USA to speak to. Every phone number is routed to India as if there is no US presence at all. DO NOT waste your money. Buy anything but a Magellan. Call (909)394-500 to verify that what I am telling you is true.
On: 2007-11-16
Before you make your purchase, pick up the phone and call customer support. You will find it is in India and it is worthless. They will lie to you about shipments you have been promised, know nothing of the products and are completely useless. To test this report, I challenge you to try to find anyone in the USA to speak to. Every phone number is routed to India as if there is no US presence at all. DO NOT waste your money. Buy anything but a Magellan. Call (909)394-500 to verify that what I am telling you is true.
On: 2007-11-13
I just purchased the Crossover GPS for my husband. He loves it. The big screen and ease of use is wonderful. My complaint is with Magellans customer service and tech support. Due to their web issues, I was unable to download MapSend Lakes West, and ended up spending a total of more than five hours on the phone over four days before I found someone that would help me. Their reps would say "Let me pull up the file, hold on one moment," then I would get stuck back on hold for 10-15 more minutes, then a new person would come on the line. Whenever I asked for a supervisor, they told me there were no supervisors available. I was repeatedly transferred back and forth between tech support and customer service. They did not help me until I told them I was going to dispute the charge with my credit card company. I would much prefer to own a product from a company that takes care of customers the first time!!
On: 2007-11-03
I purchased the GPS a few days before our annual trek from Illinois to Florida. It was very useful on each leg of the trip. Easy to program for each days segment, there were warning bells before turns and audible voice signals before exits and entrances. I am very happy with the product. Also, it can be removed and used in more than one car or used for hiking.
Jean Dawson
On: 2007-10-25
Reliable generally works as advertised.
The expansion slot on my unit will not read my memory card.I dont have to use the memory slot since I did not purchase for that purpose but instead for its GPS properties.
Promised expansion maps with higher resolution (extra cost accessory item to be used for walk about)have never been made available. These are NOT needed for travel by auto.
The Hertz Car Never Lost unit worked well for me in rental cars and since it was made by Magellan I picked their device.
I also wanted to use in the "walk about" mode as well as for travel in my auto so the Crossover variety seemed to fit that need.
The unit has never shut down on me as others have reported. When signal is obscured it remembers last data for a time and reacquires its signal quickly. The POIs are okay but limited.
I moved to a new city and the unit has saved me many times from being lost or has provided me with new ways to get from point A to B. This is what I bought the unit for and it has worked well for this purpose.
Overall I am pleased with the unit.
On: 2007-10-24
Just got this unit a couple of weeks ago and overall I love it.
The street nav mode is excellent. I dont really have any complaints on it. Of course its not 100% perfect, but I realize map data is always a year or two behind.
Havent used the marine mode.
Hiking mode is great with one exception. The unit likes to lock up once in awhile. While geocaching, Ill realize the screen isnt updating and I have to reset it and then find that Ive gone right by the cache. Other than this annoying flaw I love it.
One other really minor complaint when using for geocaching, is that once you get close to your waypoint, the information telling you how far you are goes away, so if you start to wander too far you dont realize it and have to retell it which waypoint you want headings to. The arrow pointer is also kind of big and covers up the x of the waypoint when you get close.
I have figured out a fairly easy way to load waypoints into the hiking mode. Convert your data into a .upt file and put it on an SD card. You can then load them into the unit. Does have a memory limit of 250 waypoints, but I just create different files for different areas when geocaching and load the one I need. I also load my data into the supplied POI PC application which will convert them to .mgln files and let you load them into the unit so I get the same waypoints as POI points in the street nav side.
Havent really used the tracks feature, but it allows you to track where you have been and backtrack if you need to.
On: 2007-10-24
Reliable generally works as advertised.
The expansion slot on my unit will not read my memory card.I dont have to use the memory slot since I did not purchase for that purpose but instead for its GPS properties.
Promised expansion maps with higher resolution (extra cost accessory item to be used for walk about)have never been made available. These are NOT needed for travel by auto.
The Hertz Car Never Lost unit worked well for me in rental cars and since it was made by Magellan I picked their device.
I also wanted to use in the "walk about" mode as well as for travel in my auto so the Crossover variety seemed to fit that need.
The unit has never shut down on me as others have reported. When signal is obscured it remembers last data for a time and reacquires its signal quickly. The POIs are okay but limited.
I moved to a new city and the unit has saved me many times from being lost or has provided me with new ways to get from point A to B. This is what I bought the unit for and it has worked well for this purpose.
Overall I am pleased with the unit.
On: 2007-10-21
Magellan Crossover Vehicle GPS with Topographic Maps (Green)
I just spent two weeks crisscrossing North America from Florida to Nova Scotia to Texas. I bought the dash mount after reading several negative reviews on the suction cup and would recommend it. Overall I was very impressed. They do need to update the supplied GPS info. since several POIs (points of interest) especially gas stations either had been converted to something else or were abandoned. I also came across parts of the country where, although the green line one follows is correct, the verbal information given was not. In parts of Canada it showed me driving in fields when the new highway hadnt been input! It is very forgiving as well since a wrong turn is immediately recognised and a new route calculated. In short.... I would have been lost without it!
On: 2007-10-19
This GPS has a few limitations, namely the size of the memory. But, all in all, it was a good purchase. Its hard to find a better value for the functions available.
On: 2007-10-19
I have owned this for over a month now and overall I am very pleased. There are some things, though ...
Fist the good stuff. Mostly I got it because it has just about everything - text to speech, serf II for great gps acquisition (I can get 4 bars from my den and not near a window), traffic (I didnt get the subscription), and auto, marine, and off-road options for a really versatile little box. The non-slip cover that comes with it works great in my car sitting on the dash or actually wedged in this spot on the console, I dont even need to install the mount (doubly nice because then thieves are not alerted that you have something in there). Did I mention being able to set up routes with multiple waypoints? I mean, something without that is pretty worthless to me and most of them dont have that. Also in 2D mode you can drag the map to pan to areas that are not visible at your current zoom level. A really nice feature but I dont think its documented. Overall its relatively easy to use but some of the features are not intuitive, it can take some digging and as a last resort going to the manual to find out how to do something. The manual is nicely written using a "how-to" style. Im rather pleased with the overall operation and so far have not had the hanging-up that some other people have mentioned.
Now the not-so-good. The software came with an older version (1.62 in my case) and when I went to the website to get the update I wound up in a loop back to where I started. I wrote them and they said when it asked for version, I needed to enter "1.68" in order to avoid the loop. They said it was a bug and hopefully fixed soon. The install of the new version was pretty easy just following the directions. The downside is that the manual is not updated so many of the "how-to"s are not entirely correct. "A" for effort, though. The voice prompts are clear and the volume easily adjustable.
When you switch modes (off-road, marine, or road) it has to reboot, which takes about a minute or so, not really a problem unless youre just playing with it.
The auto-navigation routes it gives are sometimes misleading and of course the database is from 2005 and so far no updates are posted. That may be a big negative but I dont know how often the others are updated. One of the nav quirks is that it doesnt always tell you to turn when you need to nor even turn the right way. For example, lets say Main Street intersects East River Road, yet Main is the one that turns and going straight on the road that was called Main actually takes you on East River. Well a) it doesnt tell you to turn, it figures that you will just stay on Main wherever that goes, and b) if you were supposed to turn on East River it will tell you to turn left (assuming Main turns right), even though you actually need to go straight. Granted it usually shows the turn if you look at the map, but unless you do that all the time it can take you by surprise. If you do incorrectly go straight and wind up on East River, though, you will hear "Calculating route ..." in short order so it does at least let you know you didnt go where it expected.
Many times it can get you 99.8% of the way to your destination, but it gets kind of flaky when you get very near. For example once it took us to the Mariott in Hartford, but when we got to the traffic light next to the hotel it told us to turn left when the hotel was clearly on the right. Maybe "B" for effort this time. Dont rely on it to know exactly where a particular house is - it can get you close but its unlikely it can get you in the driveway. Ok, maybe thats too much to expect, but sometimes its several hundred feet off but Im sure they do some kind of linear interpolation of the addresses otherwise the database would be too large.
It would be nice if you could enter the street for a destination without knowing the city. For example, you can enter an intersection as a waypoint but you need to know what city that intersection is in and sometimes roads can span multiple cities. Also it would be nice if I could identify the intersection by picking it from the map view. Again, I suppose Im expecting too much.
A couple of nit-picky things:
o the screen is not very viewable in direct sunlight, no matter what it says.
o sometimes you need to be looking at the screen - for example in a multi-destination route it is necessary to "resume" the trip after you pass a waypoint and there is no voice prompt to do so.
o it seems to take a really long time, maybe 5 minutes, to pick up the satellites if it has been off for a while. My advice - turn it on about 10 or 15 minutes before you need it.
Well so far Im pretty pleased overall. There are some negative things but I suppose all of them will have that. It has nice battery life and I think will go the 6 or 8 hours it says between charges. Its relatively intuitive and has a very rich set of features and additional maps that can be downloaded. So far I am very glad that I got it and frankly it was the only unit that had all of the features that I wanted.
On: 2007-10-19
Great idea to have topo and roads on the same unit, but topo maps are 90 meter (so topo lines about every 300 feet of elevation) and other map features such as streams are missing. I couldnt find a way to get any map upgrades--an FAQ on their website says none are available, although the instruction manual claims you can use programmed SD cards for upgrades (and even shows pictures of how much better the upgraded maps look on the unit). Thats pretty deceptive. I bought this to replace my old sportrak pro, which has great downloadable maps and navagation features, but is slow and has a poor screen. This unit might be great for driving, but dont buy this if you also intend to use it in a serious way for outdoors or hiking. Im returning mine today.
On: 2007-10-18
Great idea to have topo and roads on the same unit, but topo maps are 90 meter (so topo lines about every 300 feet of elevation) and other map features such as streams are missing. I couldnt find a way to get any map upgrades--an FAQ on their website says none are available, although the instruction manual claims you can use programmed SD cards for upgrades (and even shows pictures of how much better the upgraded maps look on the unit). Thats pretty deceptive. I bought this to replace my old sportrak pro, which has great downloadable maps and navagation features, but is slow and has a poor screen. This unit might be great for driving, but dont buy this if you also intend to use it in a serious way for outdoors or hiking. Im returning mine today.
On: 2007-10-18
I have owned this for over a month now and overall I am very pleased. There are some things, though ...
Fist the good stuff. Mostly I got it because it has just about everything - text to speech, serf II for great gps acquisition (I can get 4 bars from my den and not near a window), traffic (I didnt get the subscription), and auto, marine, and off-road options for a really versatile little box. The non-slip cover that comes with it works great in my car sitting on the dash or actually wedged in this spot on the console, I dont even need to install the mount (doubly nice because then thieves are not alerted that you have something in there). Did I mention being able to set up routes with multiple waypoints? I mean, something without that is pretty worthless to me and most of them dont have that. Also in 2D mode you can drag the map to pan to areas that are not visible at your current zoom level. A really nice feature but I dont think its documented. Overall its relatively easy to use but some of the features are not intuitive, it can take some digging and as a last resort going to the manual to find out how to do something. The manual is nicely written using a "how-to" style. Im rather pleased with the overall operation and so far have not had the hanging-up that some other people have mentioned.
Now the not-so-good. The software came with an older version (1.62 in my case) and when I went to the website to get the update I wound up in a loop back to where I started. I wrote them and they said when it asked for version, I needed to enter "1.68" in order to avoid the loop. They said it was a bug and hopefully fixed soon. The install of the new version was pretty easy just following the directions. The downside is that the manual is not updated so many of the "how-to"s are not entirely correct. "A" for effort, though. The voice prompts are clear and the volume easily adjustable.
When you switch modes (off-road, marine, or road) it has to reboot, which takes about a minute or so, not really a problem unless youre just playing with it.
The auto-navigation routes it gives are sometimes misleading and of course the database is from 2005 and so far no updates are posted. That may be a big negative but I dont know how often the others are updated. One of the nav quirks is that it doesnt always tell you to turn when you need to nor even turn the right way. For example, lets say Main Street intersects East River Road, yet Main is the one that turns and going straight on the road that was called Main actually takes you on East River. Well a) it doesnt tell you to turn, it figures that you will just stay on Main wherever that goes, and b) if you were supposed to turn on East River it will tell you to turn left (assuming Main turns right), even though you actually need to go straight. Granted it usually shows the turn if you look at the map, but unless you do that all the time it can take you by surprise. If you do incorrectly go straight and wind up on East River, though, you will hear "Calculating route ..." in short order so it does at least let you know you didnt go where it expected.
Many times it can get you 99.8% of the way to your destination, but it gets kind of flaky when you get very near. For example once it took us to the Mariott in Hartford, but when we got to the traffic light next to the hotel it told us to turn left when the hotel was clearly on the right. Maybe "B" for effort this time. Dont rely on it to know exactly where a particular house is - it can get you close but its unlikely it can get you in the driveway. Ok, maybe thats too much to expect, but sometimes its several hundred feet off but Im sure they do some kind of linear interpolation of the addresses otherwise the database would be too large.
It would be nice if you could enter the street for a destination without knowing the city. For example, you can enter an intersection as a waypoint but you need to know what city that intersection is in and sometimes roads can span multiple cities. Also it would be nice if I could identify the intersection by picking it from the map view. Again, I suppose Im expecting too much.
A couple of nit-picky things:
o the screen is not very viewable in direct sunlight, no matter what it says.
o sometimes you need to be looking at the screen - for example in a multi-destination route it is necessary to "resume" the trip after you pass a waypoint and there is no voice prompt to do so.
o it seems to take a really long time, maybe 5 minutes, to pick up the satellites if it has been off for a while. My advice - turn it on about 10 or 15 minutes before you need it.
Well so far Im pretty pleased overall. There are some negative things but I suppose all of them will have that. It has nice battery life and I think will go the 6 or 8 hours it says between charges. Its relatively intuitive and has a very rich set of features and additional maps that can be downloaded. So far I am very glad that I got it and frankly it was the only unit that had all of the features that I wanted.
On: 2007-09-30
Outstanding product with no issues. The most recent firmware update really improved the interface and useability. Great product.
On: 2007-09-29
This is a great GPS unit, but beware the magellan web site is useless with lots of errors. Their Tech support says they are working on it, the site has been like this for over a month. Phone tech support did help me dowload a update. I bought this unit because of the extra maps for it, but at this time you cannot buy or download them because of their poor web site. You can call sales to buy the preloaded SD card. Magellan cannot give a date when the website will be working- till then you just have to spend a long time on the phone to talk to a tech. 9/29/07
On: 2007-09-25
This is our first experience with GPS, and found the product to be very useful in a cross country trip taken this summer. However, there were a few times it had wrong information. One time it actually sent us to the wrong town for a museum.
On: 2007-09-22
I dont have a lot of experience with GPS units but this seems pretty easy to use and I havent had any problems with it yet. I personally like it very much.Magellan Crossover Vehicle GPS with Topographic Maps (Green)
On: 2007-09-15
I drove cross country, and needed to find a library to make copies, but didnt have time to waste in looking for one. I pulled up library in the POI area and the GPS system found one 1.8 miles through the cornfields of Indiana for me. Impressive!
Ive also taken it on hikes through mountains in Snowmass CO and had no problems with reception on the trail maps. The battery life held up nicely as well! Havent quite figured out how to use the trail information, though, but Im still a novice with it!
On: 2007-09-11
There are no map updates for this product. There are many errors in the existing maps.
You have to purchase the water navigation maps for an additional $200.00.
On: 2007-09-04
Once I started using the unit it was easy and accurate. Had to remember if needed to add stops, have to do them in legs of the entire trip. A good choice for the price.
On: 2007-09-04
I purchased the CrossoverGPS as a replacement for a Magellan Meridian Marine hand held that I had been using for several years and that recently died.
The unit is very nice and I like it. I havent had any major problems with it. There were a couple occasions that I had to reset it. I attributed that to the fact that it runs on Windows CE.
The unit has three different modes, as stated, but I wasnt aware that it actually reboots to switch modes. It only takes about 10-15 seconds, so it isnt a big deal, but I was thinking the modes would inter operate a little more closely. The marine and outdoor modes seem to share waypoints seamlessly, but the driving mode (NAV)is separate. In the outdoor mode, you can move the map to look ahead and/or pick a waypoint on the map. In the driving mode, you cant.
The suction cup mount is very nice. It is sturdy and doesnt allow the unit to wobble as you drive. It did fall off a few times on me though.
My one complaint is that I have had a heck of a time downloading and purchasing the Marine map from Magellan. Every time I would add the map to the shopping cart, the website would say one item has been removed from your cart. I think Ill have to resort to getting the CD instead.
In outdoor mode, you select three data fields to display on the screen, but unless you have a waypoint destination selected, it will only display one of those fields. I find that annoying. My Meridian hand held used to give me a lot more user selectable data fields and I liked that. Also the compass mode takes some getting used to. The compass only displays N,S,E,W. If you want any numerical headings, you have to use one of your three data fields. This is important to me while flying.
Regarding points of interest, it could use a few more. While on vacation in upstate NY, it found some restaurants that I was going to, but missed others. I wish it had more POIs, but I guess you can download more yourself if you have an SD card.
No Marine maps are included, FYI, although the Outdoor mode will show lakes on the map as long as you dont zoom out very much. Of course no POIs or depths will be listed.
In summary, the CrossoverGPS is a very nice unit if you dont need the customization that a hand held offers. Others have suggested that if you really want to use a driving GPS and a portable, then you might be better off with two units. I can see their point; however, if you want a nice color display and to have the detailed maps included, this unit makes sense.
On: 2007-08-31
The crossover GPS device performs reliably and has a very usable 2D display. The 3D (flyover) display is less usable, being somewhat inferior to that used by TomTom. The 3D display does not show enough street identifications to help fix your location in unknown areas. My other nit with this device is that it does not appear to support the ability to configure travel speeds for various classes of roadways (freeways, major thoroughfares, residential streets, etc.) and I assume it only uses posted speed limits. This reduces the accuracy of estimated journey times, depending on your driving habits. The included dash mount performs well and provides good stability and adjustment capability. Switching between vehicle navigation, land navigation and water navigation modes is very straightforward. Magellan seems to have a more limited selection of accessories than I have seen for Garmin GPS devices. All in all I am very pleased with this product. Magellan Crossover Vehicle GPS with Topographic Maps (Green)
On: 2007-08-30
Ive only had mine for a month, but ive come across a few cons. Main trip so far was driving from SF to Yosemite and 4 days of backpacking around. Some of this may go away with experience, but lots of these i think are product flaws (hopefully a firmware upgrade will come along soon...):
- it has locked up many times (especially in topo mode when you turn "hold" on/off). Turning unit off and back on seems to fix, but takes a few minutes.
- PC tools are not very user-friendly, i was hoping for some nicer ways to import my waypoints for my backpacking trip, very tedious
- Lots of missing POIs. It didnt know about either of the places i wanted to stop for lunch on the drive out (del taco and in n out, both major chains in CA). We found these the old-fashioned way :).
- as advertised, the pre-loaded topos are lacking. I was surprised that Polly Dome Lakes did not appear at all... these are on much less detailed maps... Im looking fwd to the detailed topos being made available, but it seems i wont be able to use these and my custom POIs at the same time. Need to look into this...
- lots of little usability issues. Not as intuitive as i would hope. Hiking and driving apps are totally separate... Would be nice if you could switch back and forth more easily. For example, when driving dirt roads, sometimes i want the topo view.
- rubber case is flimsy and falls off easily
- sometimes screen becomes unresponsive for 10 seconds, then comes back to life (noticed when zooming around maps a lot)
- when driving, it has picked some pretty strange routes in my hometown. Great when you dont know where you are, but not finding any new shortcuts for me :)
All in all, not bad though. Id be much happier if the locking issue would go away. This is my first gps and i kind of expect that my expecatations are a bit high. Any gps would probably have many of these short-comings. I cant wait until my iphone is talking to my gps over bluetooth and has wi-fi internet access to live POI data, yelp reviews, google maps/earth, etc. :). Give it a few years...
On: 2007-08-23
Being new to GPS we bought this unit initially for use on a trip at St. Louis. I cant say enough about how much less stressed it was trying to drive from place to place, not having to worry at all about how to get there. Also the "Points of interest" features worked great finding places to eat, muesums, parks, etc. One minor thing there that is probably unavoidable on any unit...we were directed to a restaraunt or two that no longer existed. I did have one time in maybe 200 destinations where it just got the spot wrong along a road by about 15 minutes worth. I have yet to know what the issue was. I suspect maybe the address numbers were resetting frequestly along the road or something. Most of the time (like 99.5%) it "just works" for whatever Im trying to do with it.
I think most of the main features are straight forward for someone who is okay using a computer or setting up the home stereo/tv/dvd/vcr etc. Even at that, to learn detailed feature use enough to become second nature took a week or three. Granted I never went through the user guide, which is only on DVD, step by step. Once I used it for a couple weeks though I was able to find most everything without having to dig deep into the user guide, so thats a good thing.
I found once we had the unit home I used it *much* more frequently than I thought I would. Its shown me shortcuts to places. Its allowed me to call a place (on my cell) I knew was somewhere close...get the address...and be on my way to some unplanned spot in a matter of minutes.
I really like that on a long trip it gives you warning of a turn 2 miles out, 1/2 mile, and then seconds before you have to turn.
I have only used it driving so far. I expect the water and land features will be awesome as well. Like the idea that I can mount it on a motorcycle and not worry about water. It seems an excellent comprimise between adequate screen size and portability. Ive used it in multiple vehicles constantly with no more trouble than carrying a wallet or a purse. Just stick it up on the window with the suction cup and plus in the lighter. Done.
Have to say this on Amazon itself too: Amazon had a price $200 (about 2/5) less than the local Best Buy on this model, and the second lowest price returned by zdnet, nexttag and the like, and then product arrived in days. The lowest price was a much less reputable company with low ratings. The whole expecrience has defintely encouraged me to use Amazon more often for stuff other than books...
On: 2007-08-18
Seems to work very well, as advertised, Will have to see how customer service and updates go.
On: 2007-08-17
This GPS was easy to use but while driving thru Arizona and New Mexico on my way to Chicago from Los Angeles, California it could not pick up any GPS satellites. The Magellan Crossover GPS died on me in Chicago. The GPS power failed to turn on. I returned it to the store.
Dell
Torrance, California
On: 2007-08-14
I have a Garmin c340: I used it to find my work site from Lamar, CO south on Colorado 287 to County Road E, about 21 miles south of Lamar. It kept rtrying to turn on every county road because I told it to do shortest route.
I bought a Magellan Crossover GPS 2500T and drove with the Garmin and Magellan side by side. By the time I got to Bosie, OK, I pulled the Garmin off and used just the Magellan. With the Magellan Crossover GPS, it allowed me to choose the most direct route using highways.
On a training trip to Sweetwater, TX (450 miles south east of Lamar), the Magellan took me through the highway from US 287 to I-10 t0 Texas US82 to Sweetwater. The tricky part was through the ring loop through Lubbock, TX. It took me back west then south-east on US82, a drive that would have had me asking directions if I was navigating by maps.
Being from western states, I am used to mountains as point of reference. I have no such reference in the high plains area. With the off road capability, I will map every one of the 200 plus GE wind turbines that I work on. The problem is when I am on call; after sunset, I just have a truck mounted utility spot light to locate the tower, look out for the range cattle and keep from driving off into the field and do ecpological damage to the grasslands. The other part is during the drifting snow, I need to stay on the roads as well so going to the wind turbine is a challenge when I cannot visually drive through the fields normally marked with fences. This off road topo mapped gps will get me there this winter!
On: 2007-08-13
OK, so I cant compare the performance of this GPS system to any other as this was the first time Ive ever used or needed something like this. But I read a lot of reviews, and I do mean a lot of them, for a couple of weeks before making my decision and Im pleased that for a first experience I purchased a Magellan Crossover.
Let me explain, I work in sales. I travel to a lot of large towns/ small cities in my territory that are in Arkansas. I had never been to these towns before. Apparently, the city leaders do not care if one can find their way around them because most of them have terrible city maps available and/or do not bother to put street signs up. This made it a challenge to find my customers even with a map.
So the idea of a GPS came to mind and I took the plunge. This little unit worked exactly the way I wanted for 2 days then stopped working half way through the second day. Not even pressing the reset button helped. (sigh) I called the people I purchased it from and they paid to have it Fed-Exed back to them for replacement. Apparently I got a defective model. Hey, it happens to all of us. So by the end of this week Ill have my replacement and will be ready to roll again.
This was a great time saver for me. I would get to a town, input the first address and it would get me to my first stop. When I was done there I would input the next address and it accurately got me to the next place I needed to be. It literally saved me a couple hours a day in wasted travel time by my not having to stop, get directions from a local (that were usually wrong) and repeating that process over and over.
The screen was bright and easy to read, the voice plenty loud enough. And the unit was easy learn to use. I gave it 5 stars for performance. I cant really fault the manufacturer for a faulty unit. Those things are hard to predict and usually are few and far between.
So, unless the next unit is also defective, at which time I will then have to reconsider and write a more negative review LOL, this little GPS unit is a great buy for a first time user.
[...].
On: 2007-08-13
I have a Garmin c340: I used it to find my work site from Lamar, CO south on Colorado 287 to County Road E, about 21 miles south of Lamar. It kept trying to turn on every county road because I told it to do shortest route.
I bought a Magellan Crossover GPS 2500T and drove with the Garmin and Magellan side by side. On a training trip to Sweetwater, TX (450 miles south east of Lamar); by the time I got to Bosie, OK, I pulled the Garmin off and used just the Magellan. With the Magellan Crossover GPS, it allowed me to choose the most direct route using highways.
The Magellan took me through the highway from US 287 to I-10 to Texas US82 to Sweetwater. The tricky part was through the ring loop through Lubbock, TX. It took me back west then south-east on US82, a drive that would have had me asking directions if I was navigating by maps.
Being from western states, I am used to mountains as point of reference. I have no such reference in the high plains area. With the off road capability, I will map every one of the 200 plus GE wind turbines that I work on. The problem is when I am on call; after sunset, I just have a truck mounted utility spot light to locate the tower, look out for the range cattle and keep from driving off into the field and do ecpological damage to the grasslands. The other part is during the drifting snow, I need to stay on the roads as well so going to the wind turbine is a challenge when I cannot visually drive through the fields normally marked with fences. This off road topo mapped gps will get me there this winter!
On: 2007-08-10
The device looks nice and can be carried within your pocket. It does what it surpposes to do. In the vechile model, it did said the street names and turn by turn. The major concern is the speed to receive the signal is really slow. After turn on, it took longer time to fully ready to go than the Garmin 550 I used before. If you go through a tunnel, after out, it could take about half minute to regain the signal.
On: 2007-08-06
I have had the Magellan Crossover for a few weeks now and find it to be quite a useful tool. I like the large screen, its easy to see in the daytime and at night. A simple but smart layout of the navagation screen. I am getting almost 8 hours of battery life before recharging. I carry it around with me every day for work use and on the weekend I kayak fresh and saltwater it comes with me there too.If I broke it would buy the same one again.
A great review of this product found here: [...]
On: 2007-08-01
Product works as advertised. It has good visuals and details. The SD chip for the Southern USA lake maps is great for navigating Table Rock Lake after dark.
On: 2007-07-31
I am very pleased with the Magellan Crossover GPS system. It works as well as reasonably expected. On major highways, the spoken directions are clear once you become familiar with its maneuvering instruction set. The vocal directions read exactly the language on the signs where there are forks in the road to guide you timely and exactly in the right direction. Of course there are places where there are several quick change sequences that may be confusing to follow and execute, but that is an inherent problem due to the design of the roads and how quickly drivers can follow directions.
Satellite coverage is great with 20 channels, though it still takes about 2-4 minutes for location detection. Maps are relatively new and accurate at least for S. California, though not perfect. One con is the need to hold the "on" button for at least 10 seconds for a good boot (the Magellan tech said to press it for 20 seconds which is a bit much). Download the latest firmware 2.14 as of July 30, 2007 for a new interface that I think works a lot better than the old one.
On: 2007-07-12
I bought the Crossover when it first became available but it hasnt lived up to the promise. The most notable problem is that front window is made of glass. The manual doesnt mention this and its costing me $150 to get mine repaired. This seems like a MAJOR design flaw in a unit that is sold for "outdoor" use. Also, the promised detailed topographic add-on maps arent available for the unit yet. I wanted to use the unit on my bike but they only offer a motorcycle mount that weighs about as much as my bike. On the plus side, it seems to work well on the road.
On: 2007-07-09
This is the first GPS we have owned and it did more that we ever thought it would. It took a little time to figure out how to use it. However, after we became familiar with the menus, it was no problem getting from one area to another. We were traveling to an unfamiliar city for the first time after receiving the Magellan. We had a stress-free vacation because we didnt get lost once and had complete faith in the GPS system.
On: 2007-06-27
One the whole, I like my M. Crossover. Generally speaking, it does everything I need it for in regard to GPS. I do not use mine for the audio or visual playback and do not care about those functions. To date, I have done nothing with the computer software either and cannot vouch for that aspect.
The best features to me were in having a GPS unit that I could use to plot courses in the car and yet have a GPS that would work well for hiking. I have driven all over north Texas with the unit and had it mark my travels in both the road mode and outdoor (hiking/contour map) mode. I have not used it in the Marine mode. With just a few exceptions, it has had all the roads I have been on. The exceptions were a couple of very small roads in the middle of nowhere and roads in a brand new development. No surprise. Strangely, it had some dirt roads that I would not have expected. So that was really handy.
In the outdoor mode, I have plotted various key points and had it track my progress, both while driving and while hiking. It has done this all relatively well.
Before I go further, let me say that if I lost this unit, I would not hesitate in getting another. However, it is not a perfect unit and has some shortcomings that are a bit of a bother, but not fatal at all. It has been my experience that all GPS units seem to have various shortcomings, often varying depending on the type of intended use of the unit. I do think the Crossover, with its shortcomings, does enough of the cross over functions to cover my needs sufficiently well and I do not currently see any other units on the market that match it in such versatility.
I have run the unit on battery (most of the time) and while charging in the car. I have charged it with the 120v outlet charger as well. They promise 8 hours of run time and so far I have run as much as 6 on full screen brightness and not run out of power. The 8 hour estimate seems good.
On my recreational property, I have plotted the locations of the property corners, gates, and other specific locations. Subsequent return trips have the show very good match between my previous plots and locations, to just a few feet, well within the units specifications. It performs consistently well in this regard, as it should.
The shortcomings...
In the 150+ hours of use with probably 80 or 90 start-ups, I have had it fail to properly boot 4 times. This necessitated the use of the reset switch on the side and after resetting, the unit booted fine.
The green rubber ring around the unit is to help absorb shock if dropped and it probably does help to some extent (I have dropped it once). However, it is prone to slip off when carried in a pocket or pack during periods of lots of motion and the grippy aspect of the rubber can make it hard to extract the unit from a snug pocket if one wants the rubber ring remaining on the unit.
The on screen controls vary with the mode that it is in and as such, the features I like in one mode are not in the same place in the other mode and that can be a bit annoying if you go between modes on a regular basis. This is especially true of the brightness function that is onscreen on the map page in the outdoor mode but not in the car mode.
You cant plot points in the car mode, but if you are in the car mode, the map does not show the icons for gas/food etc. that it does in the outdoor mode. That seemed a bit counter-intuitive.
I have medium-sized guy fingers and sometimes find that I have not been able to precisely press an onscreen button properly. Maybe I need more practice or smaller fingers.
Even on the brightest setting and while out in the sunlight, it can be hard to see the image on the screen. As long as sun is not shining directly on the screen in the car, it does well enough.
As with all GPS units I have used or experienced in the past, letting the GPS decide your route from point A to B should not mean that the traveler should blindly accept the route as the best option, even with the various choices given (fastest, shortest, most use of freeways, etc.). It will get you from point A to B, but what it asserts is the best route may actually be much less than optimal.
I dont know of any other way to charge the unit other than with the accessories provided. You cant take the unit on a 2 day hike and use it all the time without running down the battery and you cant change out the battery. It would be nice if there was a separate battery pack that could be jacked in or a solar charger. Otherwise, the unit is somewhat limited to either sporadic use on multi-day hikes or day hiking because of the battery limitation.
Lastly, while it can track something like 14 satellites, it can lose track of them as well. While hiking in Big Bend with the mountains, signals came and went a lot. It was a bit annoying. No doubt this will happen with other units as well, but the access to 14 didnt seem to make it keep track any more often or continually than with other GPS units I have used.
As I noted above, I would buy this unit again if I had to replace the current unit. I harped on the shortcomings because if you have read Magellans promo for the Crossover, then you know what it can do and it has been my experience that it pretty well does what is claimed. I only point out the shortcomings such that other potential buyers can make a better informed decision.
On: 2007-06-26
One the whole, I like my M. Crossover. Generally speaking, it does everything I need it for in regard to GPS. I do not use mine for the audio or visual playback and do not care about those functions. To date, I have done nothing with the computer software either and cannot vouch for that aspect.
The best features to me were in having a GPS unit that I could use to plot courses in the car and yet have a GPS that would work well for hiking. I have driven all over north Texas with the unit and had it mark my travels in both the road mode and outdoor (hiking/contour map) mode. I have not used it in the Marine mode. With just a few exceptions, it has had all the roads I have been on. The exceptions were a couple of very small roads in the middle of nowhere and roads in a brand new development. No surprise. Strangely, it had some dirt roads that I would not have expected. So that was really handy.
In the outdoor mode, I have plotted various key points and had it track my progress, both while driving and while hiking. It has done this all relatively well.
Before I go further, let me say that if I lost this unit, I would not hesitate in getting another. However, it is not a perfect unit and has some shortcomings that are a bit of a bother, but not fatal at all. It has been my experience that all GPS units seem to have various shortcomings, often varying depending on the type of intended use of the unit. I do think the Crossover, with its shortcomings, does enough of the cross over functions to cover my needs sufficiently well and I do not currently see any other units on the market that match it in such versatility.
I have run the unit on battery (most of the time) and while charging in the car. I have charged it with the 120v outlet charger as well. They promise 8 hours of run time and so far I have run as much as 6 on full screen brightness and not run out of power. The 8 hour estimate seems good.
On my recreational property, I have plotted the locations of the property corners, gates, and other specific locations. Subsequent return trips have the show very good match between my previous plots and locations, to just a few feet, well within the units specifications. It performs consistently well in this regard, as it should.
The shortcomings...
In the 150+ hours of use with probably 80 or 90 start-ups, I have had it fail to properly boot 4 times. This necessitated the use of the reset switch on the side and after resetting, the unit booted fine.
The green rubber ring around the unit is to help absorb shock if dropped and it probably does help to some extent (I have dropped it once). However, it is prone to slip off when carried in a pocket or pack during periods of lots of motion and the grippy aspect of the rubber can make it hard to extract the unit from a snug pocket if one wants the rubber ring remaining on the unit.
The on screen controls vary with the mode that it is in and as such, the features I like in one mode are not in the same place in the other mode and that can be a bit annoying if you go between modes on a regular basis. This is especially true of the brightness function that is onscreen on the map page in the outdoor mode but not in the car mode.
You cant plot points in the car mode, but if you are in the car mode, the map does not show the icons for gas/food etc. that it does in the outdoor mode. That seemed a bit counter-intuitive.
I have medium-sized guy fingers and sometimes find that I have not been able to precisely press an onscreen button properly. Maybe I need more practice or smaller fingers.
Even on the brightest setting and while out in the sunlight, it can be hard to see the image on the screen. As long as sun is not shining directly on the screen in the car, it does well enough.
As with all GPS units I have used or experienced in the past, letting the GPS decide your route from point A to B should not mean that the traveler should blindly accept the route as the best option, even with the various choices given (fastest, shortest, most use of freeways, etc.). It will get you from point A to B, but what it asserts is the best route may actually be much less than optimal.
I dont know of any other way to charge the unit other than with the accessories provided. You cant take the unit on a 2 day hike and use it all the time without running down the battery and you cant change out the battery. It would be nice if there was a separate battery pack that could be jacked in or a solar charger. Otherwise, the unit is somewhat limited to either sporadic use on multi-day hikes or day hiking because of the battery limitation.
Lastly, while it can track something like 14 satellites, it can lose track of them as well. While hiking in Big Bend with the mountains, signals came and went a lot. It was a bit annoying. No doubt this will happen with other units as well, but the access to 14 didnt seem to make it keep track any more often or continually than with other GPS units I have used.
As I noted above, I would buy this unit again if I had to replace the current unit. I harped on the shortcomings because if you have read Magellans promo for the Crossover, then you know what it can do and it has been my experience that it pretty well does what is claimed. I only point out the shortcomings such that other potential buyers can make a better informed decision.
On: 2007-06-14
The GPS unit and included software is a bargain in todays market.
TOPO software prices alone, pay for it.
On: 2007-06-10
I guess I had higher expectations for this product. I bought it to use for road travel as well as hiking an Geocaching.
For the on-road use there were several things that annoyed me. First, there was a delay at some times when pushing buttons. I did not now if I had pushed it or not. Also, to mute it you have to go into a sub-menu then hit a mute button, then save. Should be a single click.
One of the first times I used it by blindly following the directions, it had me take an exit only to immediately take a turn on to the entrance ramp to get back on the same road.
The voice feedback is good, but it reads out every letter when typing in a street name. If I am typing, I am obviously looking at the screen and I dont need it to repeat each letter back to me. Also, for several of the street names it was difficult to understand. I knew the street name but I could not recognize it from its verbalization.
For hiking use, I could not figure out how to download the coordinate files (loc or gpx) into the system. Maybe there is a way, but after an hour I gave up. It should not be that hard for something advertised as a hiking system. Also, It was not clear to me when I bought it that it includes 90 m (contour lines) topo maps, but the 30 m map is extra. Ill stick with my $100 model for hiking.
For many people this product might be ok but I expected better usability. It almost seems like a knock-off of a well designed product (a lot of advertised features but hard to use), but if thats the case it should be half the price.
The pouch (extra accessory) is very nice and well made.
On: 2007-06-09
great GPS easy to use compact and detailed. this unit came with all we needed windshield mount (really good one, too!) car adapter and ac adapter-- and you can remove the gross green rubber cover when you dont need the extra protection. battery lasts and lasts -- best one Magellan put out
On: 2007-05-30
After purchasing this unit & using it in various applications I have found it to fulfill all my needs. I purchased this unit because of the preloaded Street & Topo maps. I do quite a bit of motorcycle travel and hiking. We have also begun Geo-Caching and found this GPS to work fantastic for that purpose. You can program in a cache location and use the Street maps to drive to the area, then flip over to the Topo maps to hike to the location.
The only downfall I have is that there is no mapping software to install on the comupter in order to layout routes and such, and the multi-stop routing is no mare than stringing all of the legs of a trip together in a row. I would much prefer to have a routing software similar to Streets & Trips that you could do on your computer then upload. But as it is everything is still very usable and reliable.
If you are looking to do Streets & Topo on the same unit, this product can not be beat. Especially for the money.
ALSO: It seems very durable, as I have dropped it and once tossed it over a car by accident. It still works flawlessly.
On: 2007-05-29
Just got mine 3 days ago. The road mapping works pretty good. It has tried to take me down some dead end roads in town, but paper maps show the roads as through streets too, GIGO! The battery seems to give 7-8 hours of life. POIs are a bit disappointing, in town maybe 30% of gas stations, restaurants, etc are shown. Could be because I live in a small kinda rural town, 9K people. One thing I cant figure out is how to show all the POIs. For example find all hotels near Kalispell MT, the GPS says >25, but it only displays 25. How do I see the rest? I looked at the topo maps and it seems that what everyone else has said is true. I did a 110 mile trip on Hwy 101 today and it kept good satellite lock and position in heavy foliage with me holding it in my lap in the back of a van. Waiting for motorcycle mount so I can use it in bike. Plan to use it in the car also, but bought it primarily for motorcycle use.
On: 2007-05-25
I love this GPS...for one thing it has a large enough screen that I can see the map without pulling over and putting on reading glasses. Very friendly verbal driving directions. I like that the color scheme automatically changes in the evening making it not so bright then. My only complaint is that the green rubber protection piece (which can come off) is a bit loose. A tighter fit would be better. It comes with the car cigarette adapter which was not clear from the Amazon page.
On: 2007-05-22
Id actually give this 4 1/2 stars out of 5 if I could. It can provide navigation and mapping capabilities for roadway, water, or off-road hiking (Im not a boater so I cant judge the waterway aspect) which makes for wonderful versatility. The road navigation works very well and is fairly easy to use. The topographic maps that come pre-loaded for hiking are not as detailed as I would like -- according to the users manual, one can purchase (at considerable cost) more detailed 30-meter topos on SD chips to replace the 90-meter maps that are programmed in, but actually these are not yet on the market (as of mid-May 2007 I was told it would be "a few months" before they would be available for purchase). The device can not export waypoints and tracks to other more sophisticated mapping programs such as Topo USA. The unit lacks a magnetic compass (but rather calculates directional bearings based on your movement) which is a slight disadvantage if you turn on the unit while standing still and want to know which way is north, for example. Satelite reception is excellent. Battery life is excellent. It is a bit on the heavy side to carry into the field. All in all it is a great product, with the caveat that if you are into serious hiking or mapping you may need a separate GPS unit dedicated to this purpose -- I plan to hold on to my Garmin ETREK for this reason.
On: 2007-05-18
Great unit on and off road so far. Still trying to figure out how to exchange data with computer. Not sure it interfaces well with MapSend.
On: 2007-05-17
The off road software works great for what I use it for, point to point navigation on both land and water. The street navigator is really quite good but not as intuitive to use as my Garmin nuvi350. The mp3 player is the weak link in this unit. The volume output is to low to properly power a small pair of head phones. It is not capable of playing music while navigating and having the voice commands over ride the music like the Garmin units do. The auto power off feature is also a bit of a dissapointment. It does not always power off automaticlly so you can run the battery down. Remember to turn if off manually. The big advantage this unit has is that you can do all your navigating in one unit. Overall a great product but has room for some minor improvements.
On: 2007-05-17
The off road software works great for what I use it for, point to point navigation on both land and water. The street navigator is really quite good but not as intuitive to use as my Garmin nuvi350. The mp3 player is the weak link in this unit. The volume output is to low to properly power a small pair of head phones. It is not capable of playing music while navigating and having the voice commands over ride the music like the Garmin units do. The auto power off feature is also a bit of a dissapointment. It does not always power off automaticlly so you can run the battery down. Remember to turn if off manually. The big advantage this unit has is that you can do all your navigating in one unit. Overall a great product but has room for some minor improvements.
After 5 months of use here is an update. My friend and I both bought this unit for our ATVs. We have both had to send our units back for water getting behind the screen and rendering the unit useless. My friend has had to send his back twice for the same problem. These were not left out in the rain, we only operated the screen with wet hands. This unit is not waterproof as advertised. The turn around on repairs was about 3 to 4 weeks and customer support was not that great. I have had better luck with Garmin products and support so this will probably be the last Magellan product I own. Do not use this unit in wet or damp environments.
On: 2007-05-15
I could not be happier with this purchase. Within minutes of turning it on I was up and running without really reading the instructions. For driving directions this does exactly what I needed it to, mainly get me to where I wanted to go. I havent had a chance to use the offroad capabilities yet but certainly will soon. POI feature is useful but not always accurate. But thats not what I bought it for. Final word, I LOVE this device.
On: 2007-05-14
For the price you cant buy a better gps product. Its very easy to use! The only reason I gave it 4 stars is that it should have more updated maps.
On: 2007-05-14
I bought this for my husbands birthday and he is really having a lot of fun learning to use it. It is so easy that it hasnt taken him long. We have used it on road trips and he cant wait to get out fishing in the mountains to try it out there.
On: 2007-05-14
I really like the ease of use of both the street portion and the topo portion of my new crossover GPS. Ill never use the music stuff and think that is a waste. Ive never owned a GPS, my husband has a Garmin and Ive never really been able to master his. I needed this one because Im developing neurological problems and need help when I get lost driving around town. I also like to take walks and sometimes have trouble which this GPS has allowed me to stay active. This one is really easy to use, You can just set home and it calculates the route home. Or with Topo, you can set a base camp and it tracks where you go and then calculates a route back to camp. Fantastic and easy to read. The Points of Interest are way out of date and there needs to be a way to up date those to something more current. Also some of the more recent streets in my town are missing. Overall it more than meets my needs and I only need one GPS for both driving and hikes in the woods.
On: 2007-05-14
I researched every GPS on the market with specific needs in mind. I needed a unit that was versatile enough to be used in my Land Rover during off road jaunts, Weather resistant for when I get caught in the rain on my Honda Gold Wing motorcycle and easily moved from my vehicle to a rental car when I travel for business. The Magellan Crossover GPS fits the bill in every respect. The unit comes with all of the map data necessary out of the box to satisfy almost all of your needs. The optional Topographical maps complete the package. The unit acquires satellite signals rapidly and the automatic detour function is very handy when needed. The "text to speech" feature is clear and easily understood and heard even on a motorcycle. The battery life lasts for about 7-8 constant hours of usage. I will be purchasing a second Magellan Crossover GPS in the near future.
On: 2007-05-13
First of its kind. Claimed to provide a good mix of on and off road, and water, navigation. I find the mapping is not good in my area, Northern California. It sends my to non-existent roads, is unable to find streets in places like bend, OR. It had me exit a freeway and then re-enter at the same spot???? The included off road maps do not shown forest service roads however their is an optional Topo Map which may or may not, they cant tell me. It may be a mute point since the Topo maps are only available on CD and this unit uses SD cards. Seems this was a rush to market product before Garmin. Great concept...not so good execution.
On: 2007-05-12
Well liked cross over gps unit. The only down fall I have found is a poorly upgraded map system and the fact of not being able to put streets into system. Other then that down feature it is well liked. My kids have found it more of a ease to use when doing the geo caching then a standard gps unit.
Robert Thompson, Jr
On: 2007-05-12
Nice, but the internal map is old.
Los mapas internos son muy desactualizados, los POI también están muy desactualizados.
On: 2007-05-08
I recently started working in real estate so I figured I better get a GPS to help me navigate the city. Man, am I glad I did! Just enter an address and the Magellan will get you there. One neat feature is it shows a diagram of how to navigate upcoming devices such as traffic circles, which we have a lot of here in Massachusetts. My only beef thus far is that it could do a better job of identifying cross streets as you drive.
On: 2007-05-05
I have used Neverlost in Hertz for years so it was so easy to operate this model. It is light and very portable. I use it in the car and in the bay.
On: 2007-04-27
Hello fellow buyers,
I have purchase this Magellan Crossover Vehicle GPS with Topographic Maps system for the same reason you are looking at outdoor and marine combined with vehicle navigation.
Please notice that the creator of the Crossover have good marketing and ignore the needs of the users,
If you are a internet buyer Im sure that you wishes that everything in this navigation will be computer friendly ***NOT THIS TIME***
The main reason I bought this item is to use for outdoor. Magellan mentioned in their manual and web site that you can import waypoint but they neglect to indicate that the waypoint import features works only on vehicle Nav.
Now you guys tell me who use coordinates to find a street.... Or to put your friend on your favorite...
Sucks , Now I have to put all of my OUTDOOR ROUTS manually..... very wised
I contact customer support and they confirm all above....
On: 2007-04-26
Hello fellow buyers,
I have purchase this Magellan Crossover Vehicle GPS with Topographic Maps system for the same reason you are looking at outdoor and marine combined with vehicle navigation.
Please notice that the creator of the Crossover have good marketing and ignore the needs of the users,
If you are a internet buyer Im sure that you wishes that everything in this navigation will be computer friendly ***NOT THIS TIME***
The main reason I bought this item is to use for outdoor. Magellan mentioned in their manual and web site that you can import waypoint but they neglect to indicate that the waypoint import features works only on vehicle Nav.
Now you guys tell me who use coordinates to find a street.... Or to put your friend on your favorite...
Sucks , Now I have to put all of my OUTDOOR ROUTS manually..... very wised
I contact customer support and they confirm all above....
On: 2007-04-11
Wonderful product; exceeds all my expectations.
Reliable and easy to use and has already saved me many traffic snarls by choosing alternate routes.
On: 2007-04-04
One of the main reasons I bought the Magellan Crossover GPS was to take advantage of "SmartDetour to route you around slow freeway traffic" (copied and pasted directly from ). This feature DOES NOT WORK as it ought.
Complaints:
#1) The answer is NO, the unit does NOT receive traffic report data, contrary to popular urban myth. It simply detects when youre traveling too slowly on freeway routes and then displays a detour option (SmartDetour) on the left edge of the touch-screen. Aside from the convenience of popping up the detour option on the screen, it is EXACTLY the same feature as the detour feature of Magellans cheaper models. This feature allows you to "route around slow freeway traffic" by electing to leave the freeway for a selected number of miles/kilometers, theoretically bringing you potentially beyond a given traffic jam by way of alternate routes then bringing you back onto the freeway.
#2) SmartDetour doesnt work efficiently, rerouting in inconvenient directions and often entailing a great deal of backtracking. Ive found that manually rerouting using the "Least Use of Freeways" option is much more accurate and efficient for getting around traffic jams. My assessment of the SmartDetour option is that its mostly useless for its intended purpose. Theres nothing smart about it!
Rants aside, the unit is quite handy and useful. It consistently keeps me on-track, even when I deliberately drive "off course" or when exploring unfamiliar territory. Day or night, even without looking at her, GyPSy keeps me from getting lost. Aside from the obvious G, P & S in her name, I call her (the voice guide) GyPSy because shes a lady of the streets - she knows them well - and she has a firm yet somehow earthy voice. The voice guide can optionally be muted through touch-screen selections.
I was expecting a bit more sophistication for the extra $160 I spent on the Magellan CrossoverGPS as a replacement for my broken Magellan RoadMate 2000 (see my review on that product). But the Crossover is still a good reliable product which Id recommend for most common uses. And the price has already come down nearly $30!
By the by:
#1) The little tab loop for attaching a lanyard which is shown as being at the top right corner in many pictures of this product does not actually exist, at least not on all/most units of this model.
#2) The "Green" part of this product is just a removable soft rubber sleeve. The unit itself is black.
On: 2007-04-03
Ordered crossover in January and while entering waypoints it locked up. Sent back to the GPS store for an exchange. Just went on trip from Boise Id to Las Vegas and the new unit locked up and kept returning to the Blue Screen. Contacted Magellan and they said a software update would fix it. Downloaded update last night and it appears it fixed the problem. Will see. I was ready to try to exhange it for a different unit but Magellan said this would work-Hopefully we will see. The tech support guy I talked to was difficult to talk to. He sounded like he was revved up on Red Bull and took forever to get him on the line. Tech support sucks. To use the topo and marine functions you have to buy memory cards loaded with the program at $200 a pop. That really sucks to have to buy cards at that price. Half that I could swallow. Further use, more money spent on sd cards will tell if it performs as expected. So far skeptical.
On: 2007-04-03
This product works great as a turn by turn GPS. I also love it for walking and tracking in the parks. I have not used the marine part yet, but I am sure it will be great also. I would recommend this product.
On: 2007-03-25
Ive had a magellan map 330 for forever, and I wanted a color screen, a gps that stayed on the road (not 100 feet or more off the road)and annouced directions. Ive used the magellans in rental cars, and was happy with their capabilty. The crossver meets my expectations, and its great to have all the maps as part of the cost. I am planning to buy the enhanced topo maps, because I use the unit for hiking as well. About 8 hours of battery time. My only issue is why do I need a gps to play music or show pictures. Magellan stick to what you know.
On: 2007-03-22
This is a good product for the money. It is the only one on the market that does both driving and Hiking/ Geocaching both in the same unit. It is also the only combo unit that is splash resistant. NOT WATER PROOF!!! IPX4 is splash resistant up to so many liters/ minute. Better than a unit that would zap out even if damp!!! Easy to read screens with multiple color options for maps. Very nice automatic night viewing option that changes the screen to a negative light. Very clear voice turn-by-turn directions. Very fast rerouting when you go off course. Great functions for steering around traffic.
The unit does have some negatives. Fisrt, Magellan put this stupid sticker on the GPS screen to simulate the screen while in the package. The sticker left the sticky residue all over the screen. Alcohol and a soft cloth took it off, but why do something like that Magellan? Also, the mapset is OLD. I could not find my work location via the search. The road is not on the map and the address is not in the database. Granted, my work developement is newer (2000). The map data NAVTEQ (mapset provider) has on their website HAS the road. Magellan does not have a map update from NAVTEQ on the support site. The POIs are also old. A lot of gas stations I pass are not on the map. Restaurant icons are in places there are no restaurants. I had one instance that the GPS was WAY off, which required a restart to get my vehicle icon back on track. One thing Magellan doesnt tell you is that the installed Topo map only goes to 300 feet detail level and in order to get detailed Topo maps (with rivers and greater detail), you have to purchase separate software from Magellan. A bit misleading if you ask me.
Overall, Im happy with the unit. Hopefully, Magellan gets on the ball with a mapset update. I already have an email into them. Anyone looking for a nice GPS unit with features that others charge an extra $100 plus for, this is the one!
On: 2007-03-22
This is a decent product for the money, but best be served with a separate in-vehicle and outdoor unit. It is the only one on the market that does both driving, Hiking/ Geocaching and Boating all in the same unit. It is also the only combo unit that is splash resistant. NOT WATER PROOF!!! IPX4 is splash resistant up to so many liters/ minute. Better than a unit that would zap out even if damp!!! Easy to read screens with multiple color options for maps. Very nice automatic night viewing option that changes the screen to a negative light. Very clear voice turn-by-turn directions. Very fast rerouting when you go off course. Great functions for steering around traffic.
The unit does have some negatives. Fisrt, Magellan put this stupid sticker on the GPS screen to simulate the screen while in the package. The sticker left the sticky residue all over the screen. Alcohol and a soft cloth took it off, but why do something like that Magellan? Also, the mapset is OLD. I could not find my work location via the search. The road is not on the map and the address is not in the database. Granted, my work developement is newer (2000). The map data NAVTEQ (mapset provider) has on their website HAS the road. Magellan does not have a map update from NAVTEQ on the support site. The POIs are also old. A lot of gas stations I pass are not on the map. Restaurant icons are in places there are no restaurants. I had one instance that the GPS was WAY off, which required a restart to get my vehicle icon back on track. One thing Magellan doesnt tell you is that the installed Topo map only goes to 300 feet detail level and in order to get detailed Topo maps (with rivers and greater detail), you have to purchase separate software from Magellan. A bit misleading if you ask me.
Overall, Im happy with the unit. Hopefully, Magellan gets on the ball with a mapset update. I already have an email into them.
UPDATE: This is an update to my original review. Unfortunately, it only gets worse. One update has come along from Magellan, and it did not fix the inaccuracy of this unit. It has sent me in circles, only to come back to a road I had already crossed, and then advised to turn. Side by side with a Garmin Nuvi 660, the Magellan took me onto side roads that the Garmin maintained highway travel- much better routing with the Garmin. Support from Magellan is rediculous. They still have no map updates available. NAVTEQ mapset IS updated on their site and they advise to contact the manufacturer for updates.
Another issue that has come about with the Magellan is its ability to maintain Satellite contact in the woods. I went for a hike and then reviewed my data only to find that coverage was spotty. Not what I had expected with a WAAS enabled receiver. This could be attributed to the farther north location that I used the unit, a symptom of lesser Satellite reception due to distance from the equator/ southern hemisphere.
I would recommend an in-vehicle unit and separate outdoors unit- both from Garmin- to anyone that is looking for a mixed use unit.
Edit your post:
UPDATE: This is an update to my original review. Unfortunately, it only gets worse. One update has come along from Magellan, and it did not fix the inaccuracy of this unit. It has sent me in circles, only to come back to a road I had already crossed, and then advised to turn. Side by side with a Garmin Nuvi 660, the Magellan took me onto side roads that the Garmin maintained highway travel- much better routing with the Garmin. Support from Magellan is rediculous. They still have no map updates available. NAVTEQ mapset IS updated on their site and they advise to contact the manufacturer for updates.
Another issue that has come about with the Magellan is its ability to maintain Satellite contact in the woods. I went for a hike and then reviewed my data only to find that coverage was spotty. Not what I had expected with a WAAS enabled receiver. This could be attributed to the farther north location that I used the unit, a symptom of lesser Satellite reception due to distance from the equator/ southern hemisphere.
I would recommend an in-vehicle unit and separate outdoors unit- both from Garmin- to anyone that is looking for a mixed use unit. Guidelines
On: 2007-03-18
So far Ive found this to be a nice unit. I dont know why the last reviewer said there are no maps, the built in street maps are very accurate even out here in the middle of nowhere where I live. The topo map is very detailed and includes roads that I would better describe as cow trails. Magellan will supposedly release more detailed topos soon.
I am disappointed in the computer support. The only computer support is the POI generator and you can only generate POIs from Lat/Lon coordinates. This is very weak, I should be able to create POIs by typing in a name and an address. I should also be able to manage my address book and create trip plans on the computer and download them to the unit. Music and pictures? I have much better electronics to do that.
I have had the unit for about three days and have experienced one lockup that required me to power off and restart it. I have also encountered one software bug. DONT zoom the topo map out as far as it will go. Apparently a programmer forgot to check an upper limit and the unit will lock up, restart and then will lock up and restart every time you try to view the topo map again. I have had little to no response from tech support yet on this issue, but was able to fix it myself by searching for a POI, selecting one and then viewing it on the map. This caused the map to rezoom back in to the minimum and its been OK since.
Overall, I have found this unit to be well built and programmed. There are some improvements that can be made and I will be looking forward to firmware upgrades in the near future.
ALSO, the technical details on the Amazon page are in error. The unit DOES include both the AC and car adapter. So you DONT need to purchase additional power adapters like I did.
On: 2007-03-18
Id recommend waiting 6 months to see if Magellan produces Topo Maps and map updates. There are nice features, but without maps it is just a paper weight.
The unit works fine. I wish it had better computer support. Planning trips of any distance on the computer is much easier. The unit works good around town, but cross country is weak.
The real weakness is a lack of map/software support. If you want to go fishing youre in good shape, but the system Topo map is too small scale to be useful and the good Topo maps do not exist. POIs are so out of date the day the software is published that it is a shot in dark (reality for any unit), but I like the ability to add my own points, but again computer map support would make this unit much more useful. POIs need to be updated on a regular basis. If Magellan wanted to improve their offerings POI updates on a 6 month cycle would be good, and annual map updates for 10 years on any unit would go a long way to fixing their problems. The updates do not have to be free, $100.00 per year to be able to find things certainly works for me.
The great electronics highlight the lack of software and maps. So if you like weird green paper weights, this unit is the right one for you.
On: 2007-03-17
Id recommend waiting 6 months to see if Magellan produces Topo Maps and map updates. There are nice features, but without maps it is just a paper weight.
The unit works fine. I wish it had better computer support. Planning trips of any distance on the computer is much easier. The unit works good around town, but cross country is weak.
The real weakness is a lack of map/software support. If you want to go fishing youre in good shape, but the system Topo map is too small scale to be useful and the good Topo maps do not exist. POIs are so out of date the day the software is published that it is a shot in dark (reality for any unit), but I like the ability to add my own points, but again computer map support would make this unit much more useful. POIs need to be updated on a regular basis. If Magellan wanted to improve their offerings POI updates on a 6 month cycle would be good, and annual map updates for 10 years on any unit would go a long way to fixing their problems. The updates do not have to be free, $100.00 per year to be able to find things cert | | |
