General

 

Dear GPS Central, I’m writing to tell you of a few thoughts about my new Garmin Nuvi 350. This morning on the way to my local bakery,I came upon a stop light that would not change.It was red (against me) and after waiting for five minutes I cautiously made a left turn against the red light. Then I had a thought: I paged ‘BACK’ to the ‘WHERE TO’ command, selected ‘SPELL’ and typed in ‘POLICE’. My Nuvi promptly displayed every local police station, closest first. When I selected one it showed the phone number. I called them and reported the malfunctioning red light. Then I had another thought: If in trouble, selecting ‘GO’ on that page would have guided me to the police station. We all go on road trips from time to time, and a navigational aid is great to have. But my most frequent use is when I’m in my own city, going to familiar places, but because of bad weather and/or night conditions I can’t read the street-signs …!! Without even setting it to route to an address, it displays all the cross-streets,even at night or during a blizzard, or when the street-signs are actually missing. This last one … I don’t even believe myself. I live in a condominium where 60% of the...

Mark migratory routes as waypoints on your GPS for personal interest, spring bird counts or sharing within the birding community.

If you watch or study birds, any handheld GPS receiver in our product catalogue will mark sightings using waypoint features. (It’s easy.) GPS is often used in environmental assessment processes to record & map fragile plants and habitat. Data loggers like the GlobalSat DG-200 feature an all in one, cost effective portable GPS logging solution.

In the field, it’s also easy to geo-reference bird sightings on a camera. Like the date & time stamp function on many digital cameras or with something like the WWMX Location Stamper from Microsoft, which is a free download, GPS coordinates can be stamped onto digital photos. You can record your data (i.e. location, image), then research or compile it later at home or the office. Data can also be compiled collectively, in a world wide media exchange if desired.The GlobalSat BT-335 Data Logger has a geotagging...

“Dear GPS Central, “Thanks again for the great advice! I could not be happier with my Garmin Nuvi GPS. I used it on a 6,000+ km roadtrip in December and it was indispensable! We drove from Vancouver to Toronto for Christmas via the US and part of the way back (an accident in Minnesota cut the roadtrip short and despite extensive damage to the car, the Nuvi survived and still works well). “The voice directions were fantastic and the ease of use was great. It was useful right out of the box without even reading the instructions. It was pretty rare for the Nuvi to make a mistake and I had only one case of lock-up which was quickly fixed by turning it on and off. The Nuvi helped us find everything from gas stations to coffee. The POI’s pre-installed on the unit are very comprehensive and the maps were dead accurate. Even in Yellowstone National Park, the roads were perfectly mapped. In adverse weather or at night, the unit was accurate enough to give an indication of upcoming sharp turns well before we got there. In terms of utility for planning, the Nuvi gave very accurate arrival time predictions so we could plan where to eat, where to stay and what to do. Our dog really...

I have recently reviewed the new Magellan Meridian Platinum from the perspective of how I use GPS in the field and the features that I like to have available. I will be comparing the use of the Meridian Platinum to Garmin’s GPSMap76, which is closely matched in price and functionality.

Layout and Menu structure
I found the Magellan menu structure to be well laid out and easy to follow, making it a snap to setup the unit to my liking. I also found the Magellan text screens easier to read than the Garmins because of the fonts used. The menu logic is very similar to the Garmin’s 76 series however the Magellan has added online help tips right in the GPS unit, which is a great idea for those of us who need a little help now and then.

The keypad on the bottom of the Magellan is well spaced and easy to operate. I liked the fact that the buttons are below the screen opposed to above as on most Garmins. I did however get a bit of a thumb cramp after a lot of keystrokes, which required me to hold the unit in one hand while operating it with the other. Having the buttons below or above the screen is really a matter of personal...