Magellan Triton series boasts touch-screen, camera and more

UPDATE: Read my more detailed preview of the entire Magellan Triton lineup.

UPDATE: Read my Magellan Triton 1500 review.

Magellan has just announced a new handheld GPS line, the Triton series. The top of the line Magellan Triton 2000 incorporates a color touch-screen, 2 megapixel camera, LED flashlight, tri-axial compass, SiRFstar III chipset, electronic compass, altimeter, microphone, speaker, and the ability to upload National Geographic TOPO! maps.

It appears from the latter that the unit will be able to handle raster imagery. The Magellan spec sheet says it is "compatible with a large range of Magellan and third-party maps," so maybe they will open the door to other providers and the use of aerial photos.

The Triton 2000, retailing for $499, is expected to be available in North America in September and in Europe in October.

Other units in the series include the following:

• Triton 1500
• Triton 500
• Triton 400
• Triton 300
• Triton 200

I'll be posting more details as soon as possible.

Comments

[Team Geo-Rangers]

Now use the Garmin MAP 60CS and looking for the next generation geocaching device, and will pay any price if the value is there.

Based on the description and touch screen, how DURABLE is this item? Can it be dropped and survive to geocache another day? Lots of good features cited, but like some cell phones that pretend to do everything, those functions are compromises and do it poorly.

Need more objective data to consider before I spend another $500; first gps was a Magellan palm peripheral, btw.

[Marshall]

I owned a Magellan Explorist 600 for quite awhile. In fact, my inspiration for buying the explorist came from a friend who owned a Garmin 60 C series, which, by the way, kicks the hell out all units out there and is just so polished and professional that it has no peer. The entire package is just so much better than anything Magellan ever put out. But I'm a contrarian and wanted to try out Magellan's latest, which promised a unit that can go head to head with Garmin's best.

But I absolutely almost everything about the explorist 600... except for a few very annoying things.

Accuracy-wise, the unit performed consistantly better than expected, never giving me false readings, and getting me to my destinations flawlessly, and creating waypoints and routes, always accurate to within the manufacturer's claims, which still astonishes me to this day! You have to turn on "gps fix" to turn on waas correction, and then the unit is awesome. Also, no ther compass has a 3-axis compass! You can stop walking and hold it upside down and the compass points the way!

Function-wise, it's perfect. It's mapping, it's display, it's PC-like OS that has folders and files, all are really very nice and enjoyable to use. I personally loved using it.

Now here are the bad things about the unit.

It's built like a toy.
The joystick sticks, and only works 25% of the time in the up position.
The rubber over the joystick completely broke off.
Dust actually crept into the unit, coating the inside of the display!
It crashed lots of times.

No support for NMEA communications from unit to PC, only file and map transfer via usb! Therefore, no moving map capability with your laptop.

[ProGasCasMash]

I have been reading here for a while now and thought it would only be fair to register and contribute instead of being a silent reader. So – I am looking forward to be a full part of the community!

Take care!

ProGasCasMash

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