Magellan Meridian 2.2-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

by Magellan

Product Details

• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000DJEIL
• Item model number: 980598-40
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Amazon.com Review The Magellan Meridian Color Traveler kit comes with everything you need for navigating unfamiliar city streets--as well as tracking through your favorite mountain trails. The kit includes the MapSend DirectRoute CD-ROM for street-level map detail, a 64 MB Secure Digital memory card, vehicle mounting bracket, and cigarette lighter power adapter (with PC data cable). It also offers easy-to-read navigation screens, good-sized buttons, and a thumb directional pad on the front, and WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation Service) for three-meter accuracy.

Create a route on your PC with MapSend ...

... and navigate the route on the GPS unit.

The Meridian Color is versatile GPS device that is perfect for navigating the highway or the trails. View larger.

Compared to Magellan's portable Sportrak line, the Meridian is bulkier both in weight (8.5 ounces with batteries compared to the Sportrak's 6.1 ounces) and overall dimensions--6.5 by 2.9 by 1.2 inches (W x H x D)--making it not as pocket-able for use while walking or hiking.

The bright color screen measures 2.2 by 1.75 inches and has a decent 160 x 120 pixel resolution. We found it to be nicely readable in the car and in most outside conditions, though it wasn't at its best in direct sunlight. As with cell phones in the car, you will have to be wary with your usage. The Meridian Color can be a bit distracting while you're driving, as you have to read the screen (though there are audible prompts) rather than hear a voice providing exact turning instructions (a feature of the Magellan Roadmate).

We've known several new GPS owners who have been frustrated at the need to purchase additional software to make their new device road-ready. The inclusion of the MapSend DirectRoute CD-ROM (compatible with Windows only) makes this kit invaluable, and we hit the ground running (well, driving really) within an hour of opening the box.

With a selected map region loaded into the memory, simply press the GoTo button and select either a new or previously loaded waypoint or a point of interest (such as an airport or sports arena) to navigate to via a street route. After a bit of calculating, the Meridian Color presented us with a turn-by-turn journey that we could follow while driving. As we neared each turn, the Meridian Color emitted a set of beeps to warn us (which elevated to an urgent beeping when we were right on top of the turn). We used this to plot a course to Seattle's Space Needle, and it produced acceptable results (though, if you're familiar with the terrain, you may know better shortcuts). If you turn off the Meridian while following a route (say if you take a coffee break), you can return right back to it once you turn the device back on.

Magellan's Meridian series offers Secure Digital (SD) memory card expandability, which is a bonus for adding a large amount of map data (especially for long trips). However, we were disappointed at its placement within the device behind the batteries rather than in an external slot. This won't be a problem for most users, but it will be annoying if you've got a number of maps spread across several cards.

We experienced good battery life during our test (Magellan boasts 13 hours of continuous use with two AA batteries), and the cigarette lighter adapter was instrumental in preventing battery drain.

The included vehicle mounting bracket connects to your dash via three suction pads, which isn't completely secure--you'll need to ensure the dash surface is completely clean before applying the wetted suction pads. The bracket's bendable arm is very firm, and it can move both vertically and side to side (a plus if you can't to position it near the center of the dash). However, because it's so tightly stable, you'll need to take it off the dash to adjust it, then reapply the suction pads.

Overall, we were pleased with this car navigation kit. The Meridian's color screen definitely helps with quickly viewing details while driving (or while hiking or mountain biking), though it did take awhile to get used to looking at the screen when alerted to a turn. If you do worry about the hazard of having to divert attention from the road, you should think about moving up to the Magellan Roadmate, which offers voice instructions. --Agen G.N. Schmitz

Pros:

The kit has everything you need to get maps easily loaded into the GPS receiver

Color LCD is very readable--routes and icons pop off the screen

Mounting bracket has a strong, firm arm that bends both vertically and horizontally

Mapping software is easy to use and transfer

Cons:

SD memory card slot not easily accessible

Mounting bracket suction pads aren't 100% secure and are not quickly adjustable

What's in the Box
Meridian Color GPS receiver, MapSend DirectRoute software, 64 MB Secure Digital (SD) memory card, PC data cable with cigarette lighter adapter, 2 AA batteries, vehicle mounting bracket, and user's manual.

Product Description

An ideal solution bundle for recreational purposes as well as vehicle navigation. This value pack includes Magellan's Meridian Color GPS and Magellan's new MapSend DirectRoute software. MapSend DirectRoute is a powerful map software package that adds address level routing and guidance to your Magellan handheld. The value pack also includes a 64 MB SD card, vehicle mounting bracket and a 12 volt cigarette adapter and data cable.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No More Excuses for Getting Lost, April 14, 2004

By 

IlPrimitivo (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magellan Meridian 2.2-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

UPDATE: 20040807 Point-to-Point routing works great and, for the most part, finds reasonable routing paths on highways and major city streets. Take the pre-set locations with a grain of salt since the pre-sets (sometimes) seem to show a general location of a landmark and not a precise point such as an entrance.

Best response time so far -- 8 satellites located in about 3 seconds while sitting in a parking lot at Muir Woods on Mt Tamalpias, CA.

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This is the coolest gadget I've used in a long time!

Setup was simple - just follow the onscreen instructions and soon the unit will be searching for satellites and locking onto your location. From my bedroom window (house is on a hill) the Meridian Color was able to find 5 satellites within a couple of minutes and then keep the signal as I moved to the other side of the house to my office. Very impressive.

As far as the MapSend software goes, it loaded fine and quickly found the COM port that had the GPS unit attached. The only tricky spot was having to upgrade the firmware on the GPS unit itself since the pre-loaded version was 3.4x and the upgrade was 5.1x. The instructions provided on the upgrade CD-ROM didn't match the software setup at all.

Fortunately the software has limited options so it wasn't difficult to figure out (Go to UPLOAD and select Program Code Only making sure that the unit is on and has a fresh set of batteries installed. Then find the right .hex file for your GPS unit that's on the CD-ROM provided.) Don't freak, just read the instruction sheets before trying to do the upgrade.

Anyway, the unit appears to be working great. The color screen is terrific and has a High/Low setting (hold the PWR button down a few seconds) to save on battery life.

The unit also insists that only one mapping image can uploaded into the unit at a time. Not good if you want to visit more than 1 region over a period of time. The trick is to "pretend" you're uploading a region but have the GPS receiver turned off or disconnected. Proceed with the map preparation until the software says it can't find your unit then cancel out. Go find the .img files in the Program Files/Magellan/MapSend DirectRoute NA/Export/Images directory and then copy them to your SD card using Windows Explorer just as you would any other file. Sounds complicated but it's really just a basic file transfer.

After the files have transferred, stick the SD card back in and power up. The maps can be found by pressing MENU/CARD UTILITIES/CHANGE MAP.

Unfortunately, it's the battery life that's the reason this GPSR gets only 4 stars and not 5. This unit is a battery hog! If you use the color screen on high don't expect more than 6 hours per set of batteries.

Because of this I've ordered a separate 12v cigarette lighter power cable for the car and will keep the power/data cable for home use. The cable only comes with a 12v cigarette plug so I've also purchased a 110v to 12v adapter so that I can use household current. I also bought a swivel mount to use at home as a cradle -- no need to use the attachment screw on the connector and the unit is upright and viewable. Extra stuff to clutter my desk but it should save me from a lot of aggravation.

Overall the Magellan Meridian Color appears to be a great GPS receiver and the point-to-point routing features for use in the car (MapSend DirectRoute software comes with the Traveler's Pack bundle) is terrific. The expandable standard SD card capability is a feature only Magellan seems to have (Garmin, are you listening?) and that, along with the color screen, should be reason enough to get this snazzy little unit.

Happy triangulating!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice but..., February 14, 2004

By 

Cecil H. Cox (Goose Creek, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magellan Meridian 2.2-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

This is great in that it is in color. The catch 22 is that it eats batteries. I have this and a Garmin model Emap. The color is a great feature. But to help get the most out of it you do need the CD's with the added features for maps. The confusing part is the instructions on setting up waypoints. The best deal is play with it till you get familiar with it. You can't break it by playing with it. I would give it five stars but the battery eating is really bad, have plenty of AA batteries if you use this on a trip.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Magellan needs to upgrade this product, May 6, 2005

By 

Mistaree (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magellan Meridian 2.2-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

Pro: Uses an SD card for fast uploading of detailed maps.
Con: Only can upload 60 MB of data onto the SD card. I have a 1GB SD card and it won't add onto the data that was uploaded, it just keeps re-writing over the first uploaded detailed map. Therefore, had to buy 2x64mb SD cards ($16 each) to upload additional detailed maps of europe so that we don't need to take our laptop with us. I guess this is a plus because no other portable GPS comes with the external memory capability. Magellan seriouly needs to upgrade this feature to be able to read off of >1GB SD cards.

Pro: Menu features are fairly easy to navigate through.
Con: No auto-reroute feature. Have to push 2 different buttons to get the unit to recalculate new route. No voice feed back feature telling you to turn. You do however get a very annoying audible "beep, Beep, BEep...." noise as you approach closer to your next turn.

Pro: this value pack came with an ok car stand for the unit.
Con: doesn't come with a USB connector to your laptop, just a serial connector. Hard to find newer laptops with a serial port.

Comments: if you can wait for the next generation gps units... do! You may be disappointed with what's out in the market in terms of handheld gps units that double up as automobile units.