Crossover crosses over pretty well
One the whole, I like my M. Crossover. Generally speaking, it does everything I need it for in regard to GPS. I do not use mine for the audio or visual playback and do not care regarding those functions. To date, I have done not one thing with the computer software either and can not vouch for that aspect.
The best features to me were in having a GPS unit that I could use to plot courses in the car and yet have a GPS that would work well for hiking. I have driven all over north Texas with the unit and had it mark my travels in both the road mode and outdoor (hiking/contour map) mode. I have not employed it in the Marine mode. With just a few exceptions, it has had all the roads I have been on. The exclusions were a couple of very little roads in the middle of nowhere and roads in a brand new development. No surprise. Strangely, it had some dirt roads that I would not have expected. So that was genuinely handy.
In the outdoor mode, I have plotted respective key points and had it track my progress, both while driving and while hiking. It has done this all comparatively well.
Before I go further, let me say that if I lost this unit, I would not hesitate in getting another. However, it is not a perfective unit and has numerous shortcomings that are a bit of a bother, but not fatal at all. It has been my experience that all GPS units seem to have respective shortcomings, often times varying depending on the type of intended use of the unit. I do think the Crossover, with it is shortcomings, does sufficient of the cross over functions to cover my needs sufficiently well and I do not presently see any other units on the market that match it in such versatility.
I have run the unit on battery (most of the time) and while charging in the car. I have charged it with the 120v outlet charger as well. They promise 8 hours of run time and so far I have run as much as 6 on full screen luminance and not run out of power. The 8 hour estimate seems good.
On my recreational property, I have plotted the emplacements of the property corners, gates, and other specific locations. Subsequent return trips have the show very good match amidst my former plots and locations, to just a few feet, well within the unit's specifications. It performs systematically well in this regard, as it should.
The shortcomings...
In the 150+ hours of use with in all probability 80 or 90 start-ups, I have had it fail to the right way boot 4 times. This necessitated the use of the reset switch on the side and after resetting, the unit booted fine.
The green rubber ring around the unit is to support absorb shock if dropped and it in all probability does support to numerous extent (I have dropped it once). However, it is prone to slip off when carried in a pocket or pack for the duration of periods of lots of motion and the grippy aspect of the rubber may make it hard to extract the unit from a snug pocket if one wants the rubber ring remaining on the unit.
The on screen controls vary with the mode that it is in and as such, the features I like in one mode are not in the same place in the other mode and that may be a bit annoying if you go amid modes on a regular basis. This is particularly unfeigned of the luminance function that is onscreen on the map page in the outdoor mode but not in the car mode.
You can't plot points in the car mode, but if you are in the car mode, the map does not show the icons for gas/food etc. that it does in the outdoor mode. That seemed a bit counter-intuitive.
I have medium-sized guy fingers and now and again find that I have not been capable to incisively press an onscreen button properly. Maybe I need more exercise or littler fingers.
Even on the brightest setting and while out in the sunlight, it may be hard to see the effigy on the screen. As long as sun is not shining directly on the screen in the car, it does well enough.
As with all GPS units I have applied or experienced in the past, letting the GPS determine your route from point A to B will have to not mean that the traveler ought to blindly receive the route as the best option, even with the respective selections given (fastest, shortest, most use of freeways, etc.). It will get you from point A to B, but what it asserts is the best route may actually be much less than optimal.
I don't recognise of any other way to charge the unit other than with the accessaries provided. You can't take the unit on a 2 day hike and use it all the time without running down the battery and you can't alter out the battery. It would be nice if there was a discerned battery pack that could be jacked in or a solar charger. Otherwise, the unit is more or less fixed to either sporadic use on multi-day hikes or day hiking because of the battery limitation.
Lastly, while it may track something like 14 satellites, it may lose track of them as well. While hiking in Big Bend with the mountains, signals came and went a lot. It was a bit annoying. No doubt this will occur with other units as well, but the access to 14 didn't seem to make it keep track any more often times or continually than with other GPS units I have used.
As I noted above, I would buy this unit again if I had to replace the current unit. I harped on the shortcomings because if you have read Magellan's promo for the Crossover, then you know what it may do and it has been my experience that it beauteous well does what is claimed. I only point out the shortcomings such that other potential buyers may make a better informed decision.
It gets me there... but...
It has gotten me to where I wanted or necessitated to go. That said, however, I've had one main difficulty. It has locked up on me assorted times now. This has happened when I was programming the unit, and/or when I had just turned on the unit. It has not locked up on me for the duration of a trip. I turned the unit off and then back on, only for it to do it again and again. I came upon that you have to move the reset switch to off, and then back to on. That seems to do it. If you were actively tracking something (using the outdoor topo features) at the time that it locked up, you will lose your trip data (speed, length of trip, time of trip). Of course, having a brand new unit lock up is not acceptable. When it doesn't lock up, it gets me to my destination. If you drive off the course it tells you 'calculating route' almost without delay and tells you what to do next. POI's (points of interest): I don't know where they get the info for these, but a good deal of of it is actually old. The introductory place I told it to find me was my local gas stations. The basi one on the list is one that's been closed and long gone for a minimum of 10 years. A brewpub it took me to had changed owners and names over a year-and-a-half ago, even though it got me to the address where it was!
This is my initial GPS and it's 'fun'. And, it's very intuitive. I was capable to figure out most everything without having to get to reading or checking out the manual. That's in truth good in my book, because I'm a 'manual reader'. The voice is female and pretty easy to listen (vehicle navigation only has the voice). It has a headphones jack which I connected to the 'aux in' of my audio scheme in the car, and so get the voice through the car speakers.
I still much prefer printed maps to a GPS. But, there's a lot to be said for a device that's your navigator, when you are driving someplace alone. If it didn't have the locking up problem, I'd rate it 4 stars. And, if the POI's were more current (I don't recognise if they ever even upgrade/revise these), I'd rate it 5 stars.
Finally Just What I wanted
I've had a magellan map 330 for forever, and I wanted a color screen, a gps that stayed on the road (not 100 feet or more off the road)and annouced directions. I've used the magellans in rental cars, and was happy with their capabilty. The crossver meets my expectations, and it is outstanding to have all the maps as percentage of the cost. I am planning to buy the heightened topo maps, because I use the unit for hiking as well. About 8 hours of battery time. My only issue is why do I need a gps to play music or show pictures. Magellan stick to what you know.
