GPS Unit

Hi Neil

I have a Magellan SporTrak Map (non-colour) along with Magellan Discover Australia ($200 well spent) loaded on my computer, and love it, most of the time it is just an expensive toy providing interesting information, but a couple of times it has saved me from getting horribly lost. I can load detailed maps of any part of Australia, they show everything down to secondary dirt roads with good accuracy, although if you wanted bush/desert tracks or topographical maps you would probably want a more detailed map package and I don't know how compatible they are with the Magellans or Garmins for that matter. In hindsight I should have spent the extra dollars at the time though and bought the Magellan Meridian, as from the Discover Australia, you can upload all of Australia rather than just bits of it as is the case with the SporTrak Map. The only area Magellan falls down in is aftermarket support, beyond the store you bought it from support is virtually non-existant in Australia although I have had no major problems.

Personal choice, both are good units. Go down to somewhere like an Anaconda store and have a play with them, and see what you like and don't like.

I only mention Anaconda because it's the only store I have been to that carries both brands and had a big display of working units (all different models) that you can actualy use.

Niel,
I agree with what Snowy said. I have the Meridian. I have discover Aus loaded on it as well as PC at home. So when i want to plan out a trip, I map it out first on pc then upload it to my GPS ready for when i head off. Its a great unit and it serves me well.
I cant comment on the other brand sorry as i have not used it. But i am sure they are good too.
Good luck
Ange

Another vote for the Magellan Meridien series. I managed to work mine with no problems and no experience with very little effort. I now use it with a laptop and pda, mainly as extra toys and to keep the kids interested on long trips, but it works fine as a stand alone unit.

Never used a Garmin but i hear very good reprts on those too. Just buy what suits you at the best available price, you won't go wrong either way.

I have the Meridian Colour and it's great. If I were to be brutally honest I would classify it as a toy, but what is a man without a toy (or 2)?

I have used it in anger in the high country to work out which of the squiggly paper map lines we were actually on so it is good for that. Also fun to retrace the trip on DiscoverAus when back at home and see just how fast some of the climbs go up, such as heading north out of Dargo.

I'm a Garmin man, I have a GPSMAP60CS loaded with City Navigator5 and Tracks4Australia map sets. I also use it in conjuntion with Oziexplorer on a laptop.
We sell Garmin at work to fishing boats (with Marine charts of course) and also aircraft. I've always been impressed with their GPS units as far as reliability goes. A quick look around their website shows some amazing GPS devices, BUT their lack of mapping products for "outback" use is often a reason for 4WDers not buying them. The Tracks4Australia map set is a step in the right direction, but it's not as good as the Hema maps you can get for the Magellan units...

Hi Neil
yes go for the colour it is far better on detail ie telling the difference between streams/water and roads etc
regards Ron