Magellan Triton 400
The new line of Magellan GPS units called Triton is out and I get to review two of them starting with the Triton 400, a great and easy to use handheld GPS unit with plenty of nice features in a basic unit.
Ease of Use/Performance: 23/25
Convenience/Storage 24/25
Appearance/Design 25/25
How much I enjoy 24/25
Total: 96/100
Magellan makes some good GPS products but in the past I have found some features that were a bit difficult to use and figure out. The new line of Magellan handheld GPS units called Triton solves many of these problems for a more user friendly GPS unit. The addition of a new software program that allows for a much easier interface and loading information to and from your GPS unit also makes using this new line of Triton’s a pleasure.
The Magellan Triton 400 is the first of the GPS units in the Triton line with an SD card slot instead of a fixed memory size. The Triton series comes with a nice color screen and built in base maps but the main features that make the units user friendly is the Vantage Point software for file loading and map work.
In case you are unfamiliar with GPS basics GPS stands for Global Positioning System and is a satellite system that is in orbit around the world for navigation and aviation. This system allows you to receive signals from these satellites for an accurate location by these handheld or even car mounted devices.
The WAAS system is the one maintain by North America and the EGNOS system is maintained by European countries but both are interchangeable and your GPS unit will probably not even care which signals it is receiving. GPS units receive signals from several satellites to give you an accurate positioning of the unit on the surface of the world. This triangulation is made more accurate by the use of more than three satellites and the better electronics of today’s technology also means more accuracy, quicker signal reception and more toys on the GPS units in a smaller package.
The Triton 400 costs about $200 and comes with the GPS unit, a USB cable for connectivity and the Vantage Point software. The Triton 400 has the regular GPS satellite receiver with WAAS/EGNOS reliability that gives you current position, speed and bearing. The Triton GPS has a nice odometer function as well as being able to record where the unit has been.
The tracking ability as well as being able to load points of interest and waypoints works easily with the included Vantage Point software that has built in base maps. The base maps included with the Vantage Point program are very basic and show major highways and interstates as well as major cities and large towns. If you want to use street maps or other kinds of specific maps that give some decent information you need to purchase some or download some free ones.
This is something that is part of owning just about every GPS unit I have seen and buying more software or programs is also a part of using a GPS. In order to have some decent maps at street level you will need to purchase one or use one you may have purchased in the past but there are also some very good free ones out there with a little searching.
Many forums such as Geocaching.com can be a great source for information on GPS units but one I found very helpful was not for geocaching or hiking but snowmobiling. A free map download at GPS Sled Maps that also shows trails snowmobilers use frequently has a great street map for use as a general street level base map. The Vantage Point software is also compatible with other software programs such as National Geographic’s TOPO, MapSend TOPO and even some other GPS companies software.
You will definitely want to purchase a Secure Digital card right away for use with your system as it does not have any memory without one. I loaded a snowmobile trail map from GPSSledMaps.com and had no problem easily uploading and viewing the very detailed, and free, map for Minnesota that has verified snowmobile trails marked.
