Re: [Paddlewise] GPS & Mapping Software

From: Fred T, CA Kayaker <cakayak_at_mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 00:02:45 -0700
Please consider my recent experience with Magellan.  I purchased a Magellan 
ColortTrak in January of this year.  I used it a few times and decided to 
take it with me while trying out a Necky Tesla.  Beautiful day and I was 
paddling at about 3.7 knts.  I looked down and it jumped to 12 knts then to 
25 and its last reading: a whopping 36 knts before it died.  Man can I 
paddle fast! I don't trust a GPS for long term navigation believing that 
the earth's magnetic field is much more reliable than a set of dead 
batteries.

Here comes the good part.  If you try and call Magellan to get tech support 
or customer service - Forget it.  You get put on hold, get recordings that 
due to large call volumes that your wait time will be four minutes so you 
wait.  You then get a recording that asks you to leave a message and 
someone will call you back.  Don't hold your breath!  It won't happen 
anytime soon.   If at all.

I would look at a comparable Garmin product.  Magellan tried to purchase 
Loran and the deal fell through.  Magellan's management had not planned or 
executed well and has in fact quit producing aviation GPS's when they 
initially owned that market segment.  I believe that Magellan will be 
problematic for some time to come.  Read:  Questionable quality and poor 
customer service!

Sports Chalet, where I purchased the unit came through with a new 
one.  Thank you Sports Chalet!!!  Their manager said that they were having 
problems with Magellan customer service with other customers.

Caveat Emptor!

Fred Thomas
California Kayaker

At 11:54 PM 7/12/2000 -0400, MJAkayaker_at_aol.com wrote:
>I have made a tenative decision to buy a Magellan 315 GPS and Chartview
>
>Am I missing anything I might want to consider before making this purchase.
>I have tried to get information at a couple of GPS websites, but I just kind
>of get overwhelmed with all the information they have.
>
>Thanks for your help.
>
>Mark J. Arnold
>MJAkayaker_at_aol.com



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Received on Thu Jul 13 2000 - 00:11:45 PDT

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