Buying Magellan MAP 330x GPS

I purchased Magellan MAP 330X two years ago. That one was working really fine. But because its design was not as cute as I would expect, I sold it off eBay one year ago. Then I was searching for a replacement one, and it was found to be Garmin eTrex Vista. So I purchased it and used it during the 2002 Christmas vacation in California. To my much disappointment, it is really quite inferior to MAP330. The only reason I bought it was it it looks cute, easy to fit my pocket. However, on technically side, there are many problems. After making painfully decision, I decide to sell it and buy back the MAP300 again.

First, Garmin's GPS does not come with the detailed city maps, which is sold separately for $99+. It is quite expensive. Magellan's city map comes with MAP330X. (Garmin's GPS is already sold higher than comparable Magellan's). Second, Vista's map on the screen is not floating. For example, if the street name is "Main St.", and the first two character "Ma" is happened to be cutoff on the left side, the screen only displays "in St.". Very bad, isn't it? MAP330X's text names are floating to fit in the screen. Third, very very bad, Vista is very slow and difficult to lock the satellite signals. And once it does lock, it is quite easy to get lost (see other reviews for any Magellan GPS). This is the main problem that makes me abandon it finally, even though I like its stylish design so much. Fourth, once it lost the satellite signals, it displays the message on the bottom of all screens and just will not go, which blocks the necessary information (such as elevator, distance, street name, etc.) that I will like to see even though the signal is off. Fifth, it is quite difficult to navigate the map to left, right, up or down. In MAP330X, you just move the cursor, using one hand only, can do it, whileas same functionality in Vista needs two steps and needs two hands. It is not likely to do it during driving. Sixth, although Vista outside design is quite cute, its button locations are very bad. It is very difficult to manipulate them using one hand during the driving. You may say it is not supposed to use it during driving. But using it during driving, so what, it is just a quite look on the screen, just like drinking an soda or eat a bite of McDonald. It does not cause any problem when using probably. Plus, it is only useful during the driving when one needs to figure out if he/she is in the right direction on highway, or if miss an exit, and how far it is needed to get the destination. Without the proper use of it with one hand, you bet how many people will be buying a GPS. Seventh, when Vista is first turned on, it locks the screen to scan the satellite frequencies (which is already quite long compared with MAP330X) and does not allow you to go to any other screen further. This is also very bad feature. Sometime I just want to see the map of last location, I don't really need to track the current location; or I just want to setup configurations, why should I have to wait the satellite signal? There're also other major issues such as not showing what's the version number of the firmware, how much memory is left, what kind of external map is loaded, etc.

In this deflationary world, I make purchase carefully on high-tech gadgets. I understand the prices will drop quickly. So if I do buy it, I really expect to own it and consider the money is discarded. If a company does not provide a good product, it cannot expect to sell it too many, because nowadays there're on-line auction and trading sites everywhere. If a customer does not like the product generally after using it, he/she will sell it, say, at eBay. Therefore, the used ones get circulated again and again in the secondary trading market, making the new ones difficult to be mass sold.Get more detail about Magellan MAP 330x GPS.