Magellan Triton 400 and 500 Portable Handheld GPS Receivers for Outdoor Enthusiasts Review

Both the Triton 400 and 500 are portable handheld GPS receivers designed to meet the needs of outdoor enthusiasts such as backpackers, geocachers, hunters and fishermen. They are lightweight and a convenient size to fit into a pants or jacket pocket. The Triton range is also rugged enough to withstand some of the all too common accidental impacts while traversing rough terrain. For rain and immersion protection the Tritons are waterproof and rated to IPX-7 which is for 1m depth for 30 minutes.

For ease of use in the field, both the Magellan Triton 400 and 500 have 2.2 inch (5.9 cm) QVGA color touch screens, Other features include an electronic compass and an SD card slot for loading map updates and memory expansion. The Magellan Triton 500 also comes with an altimeter. In a first, both Tritons are compatible with downloadable National Geographic maps.

Powering the GPS navigation capabilities of the Triton 400 and 500 units is the SiRF Star III GPS receiver chipset. The SiRF chipset is renowned for its high sensitivity - important for gaining your location in low GPS signal strength areas such as in canyons, ravines or heavily wooded areas. The SiRF receiver offers an accuracy of 3 meters using Wide Area Augmentation which is an accuracy enhancement system using the uploading of known inaccuracies to GPS satellites for broadcast over L band satellite transmissions.

An adventure in the outdoors is not complete until you share it with your friends and the Triton handheld navigators have excellent features to facilitate this. The position of places of particular interest can be saved as POI for later reference and routes taken can be recorded and plotted using Internet based tools. Many of those purchasing the Triton 400 or 500 will be doing so to take part in the rapidly growing pastime of geocaching which involves the hiding and seeking of geocaches (containers). Wikipedia cites figures of 480,000 geocaches being registered in 222 countries on all seven continents.

The Magellan Triton 500 and 400 are ready to use out of the box being pre-loaded with maps for the 48 mainland United States and Canada including features such as major highways, city centers, parks, lakes and more plus worldwide geographic boundaries. If necessary, additional maps can be uploaded to available memory or an SD card.

For those who like a little entertainment while roughing it, the Triton has a digital music player. Headphones can be plugged in if necessary.

All Triton units come with VantagePoint, a new, free map and content management application from Magellan. VantagePoint has features for easy upgrades, information sharing, map downloads and uploading of stored treks, waypoints and other stored media.

National Geographic Maps

In a first for handheld GPS navigators, Magellans Tritons come with the capability for full, onscreen compatibility, usage and display of National Geographic’s maps. National Geographic has 28 titles of TOPO! outdoor recreation mapping software titles (covering all 50 states) on offer. There are five layers of maps from National Geographic Atlas maps to the most detailed U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps. Another first is the ability to download maps and waypoints from TOPO! and from National Geographic’s new Weekend Explorer 3D, which includes 21 titles for major urban centers and surrounding recreational areas.

In a philanthropic gesture, Magellan will be donating a portion of Triton sales proceeds till 31 December 2007 to the National Park Foundation for assistance in the conservation, preservation and enjoyment of America’s national treasures. In addition, 500 new Triton units will be donated to the National Park Foundation.