CORRECTION: I just received a correction telling me that Magellan will be rolling out units prior to the holiday season, but that review units probably won’t be available yet.
My bad. Unfortunately this means I have to buy one if I want to be an early tester!
UPDATE: Read my Magellan Triton 1500 review.
ORIGINAL POST: If you’re expecting a Magellan Triton under the Christmas tree this year, you might be in for a disappointment. Magellan’s PR folks are now saying there won’t be any review units until January, though there’s no officially updated timeline from Magellan. Originally targeted for a September release, these handheld units have excited geocachers and backcountry enthusiasts with their ability to display National Geographic TOPO! maps.
But that may be just what’s holding the release up. Rumor has it that there are problems with the software that sends maps to the units. This seems to be borne out by a report that National Geographic has been “scrambling to finish the interface.”
I’m sure Magellan will be very disappointed if they do miss the 2007 holiday shopping season, but I’d rather they take their time and get it right.
Truth be told, as spring approaches, the first quarter is a big one for handhelds. Looks like the holidays will be all about auto navigators this year.
Back in my public garden days, I used to administer quite a bit of capital construction. I remember one very complicated hardware (greenhouse) : software (climate control system) issue, and we decided to go with one vendor for the entire project so there wouldn’t be any finger pointing when something went wrong. I’m not saying that is what’s happening here, but it does highlight the issues that can arise when you have two companies having to cooperate on a major project.
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About Rich Owings
Hello
this is in regard to
http://www.huliq.com/42543/tomtom-one-3rd-edition-review#comment-1329
we saw your content, there was no copyrithg or no forbidding information. It was published with a due credit to you.
thank you
The good news is some models have begun shipping and a free upgrade for users of TOPO! 4.x will be posted shortly at http://www.topo-triton.com.
Eric,
Please let us know who has them in stock!!!
Looking forward to the upgrade. Thanks for commenting.
Sorry, can’t speak to that as it’s Magellan’s product. But I can tell you we heard from our first Triton purchaser today so they’re definitely on some shelves.
The upgrade is up on http://www.topo-triton.com.
Okay Eric. Thanks for passing that along. I saw the update today.
I just returned home after a visit to my local “Academy Sports &
Outdoors” store, and thought I’d let you all know that they have the
Triton 200 in stock. I looked at it briefly and I must say it has a
very nice-looking, crisp, bright screen. The base-map seemed to only
have Interstate highways on it, and scrolled rather slowly, but smoothly.
I tried the “Go to Geocache” button to see what that would do, but
since there were none loaded, it didn’t really do much.
I asked the manager if they were expecting to receive the other
models, and he said he didn’t know, that this one just showed up one
day. They are selling it for $130. I also asked him to open the box
and we confirmed that the cable was included.
According to the Magellan website, the cable is supposed to be sold separately, so maybe the 200’s got the cables that are missing from the 1500’s! 🙂
I also noticed that the specs and FAQs are now listed under the
“product support” tabs for each unit.
The weight is listed as 6.6 oz with batteries, and battery
life is listed as only 10 hours! 🙁
Brent
Thanks Brent. Great info! I’m planning to post a “first impressions” of the 1500 Monday.