Magellan Mapsend Worldwide Basemap

Garmin GPS vs Magellan? Who wins this show down? I've been covering the buyer GPS marketplace for two years for respective websites, and a year ago I would have said that it's still a toss up amidst Garmin and Magellan. Within the last year, however, Garmin has left Magellan in the dust! Take Garmin's newer nuvi 1200 series. You may get all the great features on a 3.5-inch screen for only a little more than $100! Spend more or less more and you get Bluetooth and real time traffic. Sure, Magellan has GPS units that trade for around the same and have these features, but they don't have Garmin's optional pedestrian maps, for instance. These are maps for sure pedestrian friendly cities, which let you use your GPS device while you walk. That's one reason why I think Garmin pulls in front in the Garmin GPS vs Magellan show down. Another reason is at the higher end of the marketplace. Above $200, I think Garmin surely has Magellan beat. The nuvi 1690, for instance, not only has the pedestrian maps, but they have Garmin's new nuLink software. This is fundamentally a suite of services that are linked directly to your device, which may show you everything, maps, real time selective information with regards to what's available around you, and much, much more. I recognise Magellan has the Triple A tour book on a heap of of their devices, and this is genuinely cool, but nuLink beats that hands down. Of course, the Garmin vs Magellan contest is not over. And hopefully it never will be. Competition lowers prices and likewise gives rise to better merchandise and both Garmin and Magellan has responded acutely to the contest offered by the other company. Garmin, however, looks like it's winning the "gadget war" with Magellan. Garmins prices have dropped substantially over the past year. And they've added a ton of new features and technologies. This is not to say you will have to not buy a Magellan. I genuinely like Magellan. The Garmin GPS vs Magellan contest gains you. And right now, I would say that Garmin is winning. Magellan Mapsend Worldwide Basemap Picture Magellan Mapsend Worldwide Basemap Picture Magellan Mapsend Worldwide Basemap Image Magellan Mapsend Worldwide Basemap Pic Magellan Mapsend Worldwide Basemap Pic Magellan Mapsend Worldwide Basemap Image

Basemap missing out if used as solitary software
I have a Magellan Meridian Platinum receiver. I purchased the Worldwide Basemap so that I could use my GPS on an upcoming trip to South America. In the 'States, I use the GPS in my vehicle as I travel, and as ofttimes as posible in the backcountry on backpacking trips.
I uploaded a region of the Basemap that included the US west of the Mississippi and northern Mexico. It only took 8Mb of memory (saved to a 32Mb card). I think this is a beauteous little file for such a huge area. The Basemap includes more spectacular cities and some major roads. It also includes topography in 200' increments.
The nice portion regarding the basemap is that it seems to be better "georeferenced" than the default map. On a recent drive, for instance, we found ourselves driving around on water - at least according to the built-in map. Changing to the basemap we found ourselves still safe on the lake shore! I think it will be nice to have topography shown on cross-country drives. But that brings me to the down side of the Basemap.
The basemap has only a fraction of the cities and roads on it. My home city, with three highways intersecting in it, is not shown. And only one of the highways is shown, starting outside of town (though there is no proof that the highway proceeds or that there is a town at all on the basemap). The default map shows all the highways, tiny cities, and even major streets. I thought the basemap would have all that is on the default map and more. That assumption was not correct. It has a lot on it, and more than the default, but not the cities, roads, and other "important" things that are nice to recognise while driving.
Of course, a detail map may likewise be uploaded (from MapSend Streets or Topo). When zoomed into a detail area, that map takes over. I suspect this is why the basemap is sorely lacking. The bad share of this is that detail maps take up more memory. Even worse is that there are no detail maps for some areas - like Iquitos, Peru. I will visit Iquitos in July, but the city does not even show up on the Basemap (Iquitos and the Amazon are both shown on Garmin's default map, not Magellan's). I purchased this software for the sole reason of uploading an equivalent of the default map for other areas of the world. There isn't much topography at the Amazon, so the loaded basemap looks precisely like a blank screen! I will still get my use out of the Basemap in the US, but it is unworthy for the intention I purchased it for.
I believe that most readers will be better served with the built-in default map for travelling in the US. Then consider getting the Mapsend Topo and/or MapSend Streets software first. Only get the Basemap when you have the cash to burn. Even if travelling abroad, you might check the availability of a detail map before dropping the cash for the Basemap.

Elementary at best
I presently live in Asia. I purchases my Magellan on a trip home to Chicago. Back home, the default map displays almost all mapped roads and landmarks, and even a heap of I didn't know existed.
I purchased MapSend so I could have decent maps of the area I live and travel in.
Silly me to think that it would carry out with accuracy as it did back home...
The mapsend features in Asia where I've used it (Japan, Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Bangladesh) show at most 10 percent of the roads and landmarks, and all of those are displayed in horribly inaccurate positions (as much as 3 KM in some cases).
Were talking huge landmarks including things like International Airports here.
A very poor product but one star given because it's better than nothing.

PRODUCT KNOWN BAD BY MANUFACTURER!!!
I purchased a copy of Magellan Worldwide Basemap. I installed it in my computer but it would not run. When this likewise happened to a second computer I installed it on I contacted Magellan Technical Support. After asking me regarding the relative positions of stickers on the back of the CD jewel case I was told I had a wrong disk and was offered a substitute in 4 to 6 weeks! Since I will have returned from my trip to Europe before the substitute arrives the product is wholly useless to me. Don't buy this product until they have "good" disks available. The good ones have the stickers on the back of the jewel case in an "L" configuration, on the bad disks the stickers are parallel.