camping equipment at target

I just received my Magellan SporTrak Pro GPS unit, and after about three hours of non-stop twiddling with it, I can safely say "WOW!" I powered up the unit for the first time INSIDE my house, and it started acquiring satellites. Pretty amazing.

Highlights:

- Easy to use
- Dead accurate
- Surprisingly detailed base map
- Well worth the money

The only Down Sides I've noted are:

- PC cable securing screw has a small, floppy D-ring-type handle on it, which makes securing the PC cable to the GPS somewhat finicky. The same type D-ring is used for the lanyard loop/battery compartment screw. It's OK, but nothing I'd design.

- Magellan doesn't make a carrying case for it, but a slightly modified Nokia 5160 leather case works very well!

- The backlight makes an annoying hum. It is barely noticeable at the Low setting, but on High, it sounds like a mosquito. Good thing I detest backlights to begin with.

If you want a GPS, go buy this unit. Don't mess with the "toy" GPS systems that only use "patch" antennas. The quad helix on the Magellan systems is FAR superior.

I returned this unit because of an inaccurate trip odometer and will probably replace it with the Garmin GPSMap. The accuracy of the odometer on my Sportrak was off by about 20% at walking speeds. Try the following test: drive a one mile course away from and back to your home with the unit on the car dashboard. You will find quite close agreement (within a couple of percent) of the odometer reading on your car and the Sportrak. Now walk the same course holding the unit in your hand. My unit would record approximately 0.8 miles on the odometer on the same 1 mile course. I have conducted this experiment with a Garmin unit (the Foretrex 201) and found this unit to have the same accuracy at walking speeds as at highway speeds. Since I wish to use the system for mostly walking speed trips the Sportrak was unacceptable to me.

After lots of research, I finally decided to purchase this Magellan over the Garmin Legend. The decision was based mostly on other websites and reviews questioning the sensitivity of the Garmin. I can't say anything about that, but I know I can usually get enough signal on the 1st floor of my 2 floor house (and I'm away from any windows). In the open, I can usually get 100% signal from 6 satellites and a little from a 7th (it only needs sufficient signal from 3). It's a little bigger than the Garmin, but being an RF engineer, I know that generally, the larger the better the antenna performance. I can't wait to take mine on a hike. FYI The unit comes programmed with fairly detailed maps of the US and very general maps of the rest of the world. If you want more, I guess you have to buy the CD.

Update: I compared my unit to my friend's Garmin Legend and from the window at work, the Magellan did seem to perform better.
I managed to lock on to 3 satellites, while the Garmin only two.