Magellan SporTrak - 2.6 in. Handheld GPS Receiver
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- Form Factor: Handheld
- Map capabilities: Internal
- Receiver Type: 12 Channels
- Enhanced accuracy: WAAS enabled
- Screen Size: 2.6 in.
- GPS Type: Handheld (Outdoor)
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Disappointed in the unit.
Pros
Light enough to be handheld for extended periods.
Cons
Loses satellite lock. Poor navigation ability. Not dependable.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Don't waste your money on this Magellan product, you will be disappointed.
After owning a Sportrak Map for almost 3 years, I am very disappointed in the unit and the way it performs.
To be fair, when I first purchased the Sportrak Map, it worked fine. Easy to use and understand. Right up until it "forgot" where the GPS satellites were. Then it became a paperweight.
I went to the Magellan website, they recommended a total memory wipe, which did not solve the problem of the unit forgetting where the satellites were. No satellites, no GPS performance. I downloaded a software update, at Magellan's advice, with even worse results. Now instead of getting at least an intermittent satellite lock, I got nothing.
I sent the unit back to Magellan for evaluation and repair. They said the satellite almanac had to be re-installed. They returned the unit, and now instead of it finding its location within a minute or so of power-up, it takes at least 10-30 minutes. When it does "find" itself, the EPE or Estimated Probability of Error, how far off the unit estimates its location to be, varies from 60-80 feet down to 10 feet, then after about 30 minutes of use, upwards of 300 feet error.
This makes the unit useless for any type of precise navigation. Geocaching is out of the question with errors such as this. The maps generated by Mapsend Topo, which also provide street mapping detail, are off by as much as 100 feet, showing my location to be displaced constantly from my actual location. This makes the whole map information suspect.
Now we come to the "boomerang" effect. This is when you approach an entered waypoint, the Sportrak Map will lead you as much as 100-200 feet past the waypoint and then point you back in the (hopefully) right direction. This may be due to a Magellan "feature" called position averaging. This means that the unit takes where it thinks it is, and averages that with where the satellites tell it it is. Since there is a large error already in the system, this is prone to larger and larger errors.
This boomerang effect and averaging also means that the backtrack feature is a wild guess at best. Your backtrack will show you having hiked in areas you never were in, but due to averaging, the unit insists this is where you were. On many occasions the unit insisted I either had walked through a lake or out into thin air off the side of a mountain.
There is also a problem with stress cracks appearing around the screws on the back of the unit, where the front and rear halves are joined together. These cracks compromise the watertight integrity of the unit, making it prone to interior water damage.
Not a precision navigation instrument by any means.
To be fair, when I first purchased the Sportrak Map, it worked fine. Easy to use and understand. Right up until it "forgot" where the GPS satellites were. Then it became a paperweight.
I went to the Magellan website, they recommended a total memory wipe, which did not solve the problem of the unit forgetting where the satellites were. No satellites, no GPS performance. I downloaded a software update, at Magellan's advice, with even worse results. Now instead of getting at least an intermittent satellite lock, I got nothing.
I sent the unit back to Magellan for evaluation and repair. They said the satellite almanac had to be re-installed. They returned the unit, and now instead of it finding its location within a minute or so of power-up, it takes at least 10-30 minutes. When it does "find" itself, the EPE or Estimated Probability of Error, how far off the unit estimates its location to be, varies from 60-80 feet down to 10 feet, then after about 30 minutes of use, upwards of 300 feet error.
This makes the unit useless for any type of precise navigation. Geocaching is out of the question with errors such as this. The maps generated by Mapsend Topo, which also provide street mapping detail, are off by as much as 100 feet, showing my location to be displaced constantly from my actual location. This makes the whole map information suspect.
Now we come to the "boomerang" effect. This is when you approach an entered waypoint, the Sportrak Map will lead you as much as 100-200 feet past the waypoint and then point you back in the (hopefully) right direction. This may be due to a Magellan "feature" called position averaging. This means that the unit takes where it thinks it is, and averages that with where the satellites tell it it is. Since there is a large error already in the system, this is prone to larger and larger errors.
This boomerang effect and averaging also means that the backtrack feature is a wild guess at best. Your backtrack will show you having hiked in areas you never were in, but due to averaging, the unit insists this is where you were. On many occasions the unit insisted I either had walked through a lake or out into thin air off the side of a mountain.
There is also a problem with stress cracks appearing around the screws on the back of the unit, where the front and rear halves are joined together. These cracks compromise the watertight integrity of the unit, making it prone to interior water damage.
Not a precision navigation instrument by any means.
