Magellan Crossover GPS Unit Reviews

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

First do your homework. This says it does it all and it does...if you want to spend another $150+ to add the software to make it do what it says it does. The maps are outdated, with no promise of update coming, my street doesnt even show up, even tho its been here for 60 years. It picks the damndest routes sometimes. I can find my way quicker by dead reckoning.
I opened the box, all ready to go, and I discovered that beyond the immediate basics, I couldnt do anything till I bought more chips, at big cost to make it so I could go play on the water or go for a hike. I found another whole GPS that offers everything for cheaper than I could buy the chip to make the waterway system work, and we havent even talked about the hiking software. For me....I think you could do a lot better, for cheaper.

I received this unit for Christmas 2007 and had high hopes of having a GPS unit that would "do it all". This was my first GPS unit, so I am in part uncertain if this performs better or worse than other units. I want to believe that there are other units that plan trips better, acquire satellites faster, and do not plan trips that take you out of the say and poorly guide.

The most disappointing event was being an an area I travel little at night, only to discover after three rounds that it was actually guiding me in circles. Though I am now very familiar with that particular neighborhood, it was not a pleasurable experience.
It responds slowly, plans poorly, has multiple misspelled road names including freeway names, and is grossly out of date with the maps. There are roads in my area that have been there for several years that are not in the system maps.

I have recently attempted to get trails software as the unit does not come with any, and am having trouble identifying which is compatible. Magellan offers no options on their website.

In retrospect, I might have better served myself by getting a dedicated unit for travel and dedicated unit for trails.

I bought this primarily for vehicle navigation and so far have been pretty disappointed.

Pros: Fairly easy menus to navigate and it's fairly easy to customize what you want to see on a map (like the types of POI's to see, etc). The map view is OK, definitely not as nice as the Garmins though.

Cons: Routing algorithm. Not good at all. In areas where I know the roads relatively well, I often find that the "Shortest time" function will route you all over the place, usually via some circuitous highway route that I assume must have the fastest speed limits, even if it sends you in a near circle to get there. Conversely, the "Shortest Distance" option will usually send you on the most ridiculous backroads you could find that take forever and may or may not be paved or plowed in winter. In reality, I usually want something in between the "Shortest Time" and "Shortest Distance" functions, but it doesn't really do that. I've tested this unit against google maps a number of times, and google maps consistently provides more sensible routes, both in terms of routing around traffic and in terms of not having you drive 20 extra miles out of your way. Since routing is the Magellan's main function (for me) I've found this to be fairly useless.

I've had a chance to use my parents' Garmin and it seems to do a lot better in terms of routing. I'm probably going to sell my Magellan and get a Garmin soon.

Magellan has promised add-on detailed topo maps for this product since its inception. Like many early adopters I was willing to take the risk that Magellan would make good on its promise and that I would soon own a very capable hybrid GPS that would perform equally well both on the trail and on the road. Don't believe it for a minute!

Shortly after Magellan launched this product their Marketing Department took an entirely new direction (read Triton & VantagePoint) and have since essentially abandoned the Crossover. The "topo" maps that come with the device are simply atrocious--terrible resolution, nearly non-existent POIs, etc. Magellan promised detailed USGS quality topo maps in the near future but the product is over a year old and they have yet to deliver. Don't let anybody tell you that the add-on Mapsend Topo CDROM maps (or the new VantagePoint software) are compatible with this device--they are not. I know this to be true as I spent additional $$ and time on both only to be sorely disappointed each time. Simply put, the Crossover only accepts add-on topo maps from pre-packaged SD Cards that only Magellan can provide. This is great if you happen to live in Norway, France, or Canada. If, like most Crossover buyers I suspect, you purchased the device for some recreational outdoor use in the USA than you are simply out of luck. I have contacted Magellan on numerous occasions regarding this issue and they have been completely evasive. I get a strong impression that the Crossover has been crossed off their list.

On the positive side, the device is OK for road use--no suprise since it's truly just a RoadMate with a waterproof case and a tacky green rubber cover. That said, my wife has Garmin Nuvi 350 for road use and that device clearly outperforms the Crossover on the road (better maps, better directions, more intuitive).

In summary, I thought that Magellan was really going in a great direction with this first attempt at a hybrid GPS device but they have since moved on--and so should you.

[1 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

This unit is great. I have taken it in to the woods with no problems. Switches and recalculates routes very nicely. I love it

Great idea to combine the basics of road and trail use, but... It really needs pre-loaded or discounted topo maps and better firmware/software to keep the dual road/trail customer from buying other units. If this came with topo maps preloaded it would be a no-brainer for a broader outdoor-enthusiast market. A