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Just to preface I am new to GPS units. I have never owned one and have little experience with them, so I apologize in advance for any obvious questions or misuse of terminology.

Now onto the question at hand. I need help selecting a GPS unit. I am an avid outdoors man. I enjoy backpakcing and back country skiing, so i need a GPS unit that would be able to compliment me in those situations. I also enjoy hunting and biking as well so again a unit that is handy on the go is necessary.

I would also want to occasionally use this in the car. Its primary use here would be for longer road trips, and help navigating areas i am not familar with, not for everyday driving.

Finally my last consideration is I need a GPS unit for my trip to europe (where the majority of the time will be spent walking/public transportation to get around). I am going to be gone 44 days, I am going to be in cities that I am not familar with, and a GPS unit that can help me find my way back to my hostel at the end of the day after wondering a city would be huge. Since I am going to be gone so long i need the ability to store many maps for cities like London, Rome, Prague, Madrid, Munich, Marselle, Florence, Pamplona (and a few others).

I know I am asking for a lot out of a single unit, but i want a unit that would excel in the outdoors and my europe trip (so a GPS unit with quality mapping capibilites is a must). Based on those criteria I have seleced what I think to be the best two units for my circumstances, the

Magellan Meridian Color

or

Garmin etrex Legend C

I leaning toward the magellan becuase the way I see it I can use an SD card to increase my storage capacity in order to save a lot of maps for europe. The garmin only has 24 mb of storage which doesnt seem like enough to store all the cities i would want in europe. However, I like that the garmin has a longer battery life which would be nice when in the backcountry. I have also heard that Garmin's maps are a little better, and more available. Really I am sort of at a stand still on these two units (with a slight advantage going to the Magellan).

If you could please give your input on which you would deem better for my situation I would appriciate it. Or if there is a GPS unit that you feel would be better suited for my needs, then by all means let me know (keep in mind that i would want one that would be in the same price range as the ones mentioned above).

Thanks for all your help!!

Chris

Hi Chris,

The Magellan Meridian Color would be a very good choice. So would the Explorist 500, which has similar capabilities, but is smaller -- more like the Garmin Legend. It costs a little more than the Meridian, but it is a newer design.

The fixed memory in the Vista C would not be enough for your intended use, but the new Legend Cx model would solve that problem, since like the Magellan models, you can put a larger memory card in it. The Legend Cx is still cheaper than the Meridian Color.

Any of these units would meet your needs. Compare the details of the Meridian Color with the Legend Cx, and see which you prefer.

One potential problem with the eXplorist series would be the battery. At least with my habits AA would be more convenient than a li-ion.

great thanks for the input, ill look into the legend cx!!!

just curious i was searching for for the legend cx but couldnt find much on it. has the cx series been released yet? thanks

The new "x" units are just hitting the market. If resellers don't have the Legend Cx yet, they should have it in the next couple of weeks. It's essentially just like the Legend C, but uses removeable microSD cards instead of the small built-in memory.

You can see the specs on Garmin's site, and most resellers probably already have their prices listed. If you like the Legend C, but want to be able to put a lot more maps on it, the Cx is the one.

Peter