GPS Novice - Magellen vs Garmin

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Just a quick note about build quality for the two brands. I've owned two garmins, and both have completely died about 2 months out of warrenty. The last one lived in a cupboard the whole time and was only used twice! At work, we have magellens that date back to the very first GPS units produced, have been dunked in water and dropped numerous times, and are still going strong.

I have had Garmin GPS's for years and have had nothing but sterling service from them. My old GPS45 is still going (according to it's new owner), I still have my old GPS12XL and my current Garmin, a GPSMAP60CS is fantastic. I find Garmin service (via GME) to be second to none, even to the extent that flat lithium memory batteries in long superceded models are being replaced "under warranty" many years after purchase.
I have had no experience with the Magellan range of GPS receivers, as they say... when you're on a good thing, stick with it. I'm sure Magellan is a quality product.
The company I work for sells Garmin to both pleasure and professional fishermen.
You only have to look at each companies web sites to see the types of GPS products each make. Gamin has a far more extensive product range, from handheld to marine, in-vehicle mapping systems to complete aviation navigation and communication systems.
Garmin is also releasing the (x) range of GPS units that have an improved GPS receiver and MicroSD card slots for expandable memory. You might find the Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx to be exactly what you want.

you forgot to put your bussiness name and phone number in the sales pitch,
I have used both and find Magellan better for me( meridian-platnum)
Cheers

Both brands are good units the one with the Lithium Ion battery will far outlast the one with 2 x AA batteries for hiking but before you buy make sure to check out the Garmin Quest and forget Navmans. The Quest is small, and will work while in your shirt pocket all day
www.ja-gps.com.au/garmin_quest_1.html

Never owned or used a Garmin, so my comments are somewhat lopsided.

What I like about the Magellan Meridian I have is that it does use AA batteries.
I use rechargeables, so have spares on hand if necessary.

When running the GPS from the vehicle supply (all of the time it's in its cradle) it does not use or drain the AA batteries. Best of both worlds.

I have 6 Garmins at this moment, all work perfect.
What do you want to do with the GPS, are you looking for auto routing, do you want maps on the screen, or just do moving maps, they start from about $200 to $2000.

The eXplorist 400 is very good they use Hema maps the Garmin 76C can do auto routing, thats great for finding your way around a city .
I know you can get City navigator maps for the Garmin in a few countries, not sure about the Magellan. But if you need to show you the way through streets then your better of with the Garmin.

Ring a dealer like GPSoz and he can tell you more. He does sell both

Thank you one and all for the amazing amount of replies.
I have now made my decision, it is going to be a Garmin 60Cx - new off the production line. After due consideration I think it will do most of what I desire.
Of course without all the help offered I would not even know about this new release product so, thank you all once again.