Magellan GPS 315 Waterproof Hiking GPS(Magellan 990437)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Product Features

Powerful 12 parallel-channel receiver and super sensitive quadrifilar antenna for superior tracking in any environment
Built-in database displays worldwide cities and user-entered landmarks
High-contrast, high-resolution backlit display with 2 levels of brightness
Rugged and weatherproof with a rubber grip
Upload/download capability for additional points of interest and for use with PC mapping software

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Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Magellan's GPS 315 doesn't have a lot of advanced features, but it does provide positional and directional readings accurate enough to help you find your way back to base camp when you're out in the woods. This portable global positioning system is one of the most compact we've ever tested, and it features a crisp display for the pages of information it throws at users.

The GPS 315 is designed more for outdoor use than car navigation and doesn't display road maps. It does have a database of over 15,000 cities and the capability to accept up to 500 user-defined waypoints, so it still works fairly well for giving you bearings to the next town or point of interest. We used the tracking features extensively, which let us leave a "bread crumb" trail as we traveled. This was especially helpful when we were backtracking along the same route, as we were able to easily compare our current position with the trail on the display.

The display has two levels of backlighting, a feature that drains the unit's two AA batteries at a frightening rate. However, without the backlight on, we got more than 12 hours of use from the unit.

The GPS 315 uses simple controls that let users page through its numerous data screens. As long as we were moving the compass, the screens worked well; we especially liked the graphical compass that pointed out our current direction of travel and the bearing to a waypoint at the same time. The device can also serve as a full-fledged trip computer, measuring distance, average speed, and providing an estimated time of arrival. Perhaps the best thing about the GPS 315 is that all the data screens are fully customizable, letting users create their own data pages containing only the data they want to see.

Although Magellan doesn't include a lot of goodies in the box, the GPS 315 has many optional accessories that increase its capabilities. For example, you can get a PC cable to upload topographical and street map data. Without all the extras the GPS 315 is better suited for hikers and boaters than highway travelers, but it's an accurate and inexpensive way to keep your bearings. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

Clear, high-resolution screen
Customizable data pages
Great accuracy
Relatively inexpensive

Cons:

No road maps or other detailed data included
No built-in routing ability

Product Description

GPS 315 12 Parallel channel, hand held receiver with wrist strap and user guide.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

277 of 280 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 starsThe best value for money GPS available - superb acquistion aSeptember 16, 1999

By A Customer

The Magellan GPS 315 and 320 are outstanding units. What may be unclear at first sight, is that these units are identical, differing only in the fact that the 315 database has more land based locations, while the 320 has more nautical ones. All these can be updated via CDROM anyway. Hence the price difference is accounted for only by the fact that the 320 already comes with a PC connector + power supply cable for car use. In the field, satellite acquisition is fast and reliable, even mounted on a car dashboard with no antenna. Having used the 320 for some time, I cannot think of any extra functionality which needs to be added. The software is clearly the result of actual field trials and offers 9 practical and useful navigation screens which are quick to access and intuitive to understand. For newcomers, I would recommend 1-2 days navigating in your local park in order to properly understand the large number of menus available. You dont want to be guessing during a real trip. For example, invoking the BackTrack option can create a large number of waypoints. At first, I found it quite tedious to delete these after use. Later I learned that a Clear Memory option does this with one keystroke - very neat. These units are easily superior to comparable Garmin 12 models - mainly due to their much higher resolution displays and light weight. The Garmin displays are comparatively coarse until you consider the much more expensive models. I cannot imagine navigating across land or sea now without one of these Magellan units for backup. In fact, they are such a joy to use that the map and compass tends almost not to be used - although you would be wise never to be without the latter.

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Saturday, September 15, 2012