Comments on: More Details on Magellan GPS Receiver for m500 Series

It's only speculation but I'd be willing to wager this one will turn out cheaper than the SD version, if only because smaller generally means more expensive.

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News Editor

Well, not entirely true. The Garmin eTrex series can't be accused for beeing bulky can they?

GPSRs need to be rugged. An SD card or GPS cradle is not rugged. To be of any use inside a vehicle, you need either a re-radiating antenna or an external antenna. I am certain the SD gps will not support externals, so it will require an expensive addon (that requires its own power) to be a good vehicle navigation system. Plus you can't put many maps on it.

The Magellan cradle, if it supports an external hookup, would be sufficient for use in vehicles... But it looks rather bulky, and I would rather stick with my waterproof, floating GPSMAP 76.

GARMIN is supposedly working on some GPS/PDA stuff... I'd wait to see what they bring to the table.

I used my GPSR without the external antenna for several months, and found that the only satellites I could lock onto from the dash (which, by the way, in my Jeep it is too close to the windshield and improperly angled to mount via a simple little suction mount) were directly overhead down to about 25 degrees above the horizon directly in front of me.

Drive into an urban canyon, or some mountain roads with high trees on either side and you will lose your lock. If you don't lose the lock your position will be terrible (many consumer GPSRs lie about the "locks" and will continue to display position even when the HDOP is tremendous).

Bottom line -- I think it's a neat toy, but I would no sooner replace my real GPSr with it than I would replace my real compass and map with a GPSr.

Not true, at least not in my experience, which is extensive - at last count I own 15 GPS's covering four generations (I write nav software). Many if not most consumer-grade 12-channel receivers will warm start and maintain moderately good lock inside a car even without a direct sky view. The Magellan for the Handspring works surprisingly well sitting in a console cup holder, and I would expect this one to work about as well.

An SD GPS - as much as I want to see one - will NOT solve the power consumption problems. GPS chipsets are power hogs, and form factor alone is not going to mitigate this. I would expect to require external power for continuous use.

To me, however, the "sled" approach stinks and, knowing how Thales/Magellan has been approaching the Palm OS market, I'm disappointed because this will be their only product to support the platform. Attaching a GPS is a means to an end, not the end in itself, and to hog the serial port when there is other expansion available is short-sighted. As far as "taking" memory expansion, there's nothing in Palm OS to prevent you from building extra memory into an SDIO peripheral.

...mike musick