Magellan color meridian manual

The next chapter will describe the basic operation and use of the Meridian as a navigation tool. For many of you this will be your first introduction into using a GPS receiver as a navigational tool.

With all of the features and functions provided with the Meridian, it may seem a bit intimidating at first. There are only a few things you need to know to use the Meridian. They will be discussed here in detail. Other features and functions can be found in the Reference Section of the User Manual. IN - Zooms in the display of the Map screen. Press once to zoom in one level, press and hold to quickly move through the zoom levels.

ESC- Cancels the operation of the last button pressed. Also scrolls through the NAV screens in reverse order. GOTO is used to create a direct route to any waypoint stored in memory. This key is also used to MARK a position. Press once to zoom out one level, press and hold to quickly move through the zoom levels. Accesses menus for displayed screens. Also provides access to waypoint, route and setup functions.

After accepting the warning information, the last navigation screen you were viewing will be displayed. If the last navigation screen view was the Map screen, the last zoom scale setting will be used. The backlight causes severe drain on the batteries in the Meridian. To prevent accidently turning the backlight on and leaving it on, the Meridian will turn the backlight off when there have been no buttons pressed for 4 minutes.

You can change the time delay for the backlight in Setup. Because the Meridian attains information it needs from satellites orbiting the earth, the antenna needs to have a relatively unobstructed view of the sky. This allows the Meridian to choose from all satellites currently available. If the view of the sky is poor due to large cliffs or buildings, heavy foliage or other obstructions, the satellite signals can be blocked and the receiver may take longer to compute a position fix.

You can observe the signal strength and the satellites being used on the Satellite Status screen described in the next section. Holding the Meridian. The receiver is designed to fit comfortably in your hand. Hold the Meridian in the palm of your hand with the antenna pointing towards the sky. There is also Sat Status screen which enables you to view how well the Meridian is receiving satellite information.

They will be described briefly here. More detailed information on the different screens can be found in the Reference chapter of the User Manual. Map Screen The Map screen has two modes, position or cursor. In the position mode, your present position is indicated by the large arrow icon in the center of the display. If you are moving, the arrow will point in the direction that you are heading.

At the bottom of the screen is the scale for the map displayed and two data fields that can be customized, or turned off, depending upon your needs. The present position icon will change to an hourglass when the Meridian is unable to compute a position fix due to poor signal reception. In the Cursor Mode, you are provided with a cursor that can be moved on the map. At the bottom of the display is the information for the position of the cursor relative to your present position. Also any points of interest that the cursor is over will be shown.

To access the Cursor Mode, press any arrow on the keypad. A crosshair appears that can be moved with the arrow keys. The cursor will disappear and the present position icon will appear centered on the map. Compass Screen. This is a handy screen to have at your fingertips while you are navigating.

It is totally customizable to display the information that is useful to you. The lower portion of the Compass screen not only displays your heading in a graphical manner, but also displays the relationship of the sun, moon and your destination if navigating on a route to your heading. Large Data Screen. The Large Data screen is similar to the Compass screen but here the compass has been removed to allow for large display of the navigation data.

Ideal for when you have your Meridian mounted on the dashboard of a boat using the optional swivel mounting bracket.

Even from a distance the customizable information can be read with ease. Position Screens. The Position screens 1 and 2 display your present position using the coordinate systems that you have selected in Setup. This screen shows all of the basic position, time and satellite information.

Additionally, current navigation information is shown in the bottom half of the screen. Road Screen. The Road screen presents your route as if you were travelling on a road. When you need to make a turn, the road will graphically display the turn and the direction. Waypoint and destination icons will be displayed relative to your position as they come into view. Above the road is a compass that displays your heading and above that are four customizable data fields.

Data Screen. The Data screen provides you with six data fields and an active compass that is the same as the one used on the road screen.

You have the option of customizing this screen by selecting what data is displayed in the upper six fields. Speedometer Screen. The Speedometer screen displays your speed in a familiar graphical format. There are four additional data fields at the top of the display that can be customized to display the data that you need. The bottom of the screen contains a trip odometer that will record the distance travelled since the last time the odometer was reset.

Satellite Status Screen. The Sat Status screen provides you with a graphical display of the satellites in view and which ones are being used to compute the navigation data.

The bar graph shows you the relative signal strength being received for each satellite. At the bottom of the display is an indication of the battery life remaining. When you are using external power, it will be indicated here as well. First, a few simple definitions. A waypoint is any position on the globe that you have saved into memory. The Meridian has a number of ways to perform this, but the most common are saving your present position, entering the coordinates of a position or saving the position of the cursor while viewing the Map screen.

These waypoints can then later be used to create routes or as the destination of a GOTO. A GOTO is a single leg route that is defined as a route from your present position to any waypoint.

This will save your present position using a default name WPTxxx into memory. The above method is fine if you want to just save your position quickly, but it will be difficult to figure out later which waypoint this is. For that reason, you may want to change the default name to one of your choosing.

You can also select a different icon that will help you find the waypoint when you are using the map screen. To do this, press and hold [GOTO] for 2 seconds just like you did before. The Icon Select window is displayed. Use the arrow keypad to move from one icon to another with the name of the icon displayed at the top.

As a reference tool, all of the icons and their names are listed in the Reference Chapter of the User Manual. When you have highlighted the icon you want to use, press. The cursor is now highlighting the Waypoint Name field. The input keyboard is displayed. The very top of the keyboard window shows you what field you are changing, in this case the Name field. You can now use the arrow keypad to select the character you wish to enter.

With the character highlighted, press [ENTER] and the character is appended to the name you are entering and displayed in the field above the keys. Note: waypoint names can be up to 8 characters in length. Shifts from upper case to lower case or from lower case to upper case characters. Backspace — Moves the cursor back one space, erasing the last character entered.

You are returned to the Mark screen with the new name displayed. You can also add a message to waypoints you are creating. There is a memory limit however. You can save up to user-entered waypoints in your Meridian but only waypoint of those can have a message assigned to it.

Adding a message to a waypoint can assist you in identifying the waypoint. The same keyboard that was used in entering a name is presented allowing you to enter a message. Using the same technique, you can enter a message up to 30 characters in length.

Is there a limit to the number of waypoints I can store in the Meridian? Yes, the Meridian will store up to user waypoints in memory. If you should ever get that many and need to input more, you will have to delete ones that you no longer need to make room. Using the techniques described, go outside of your house and turn your Meridian on. If the Meridian has been previously initialized, you will soon be computing position fixes.

I hope to use it at the Texas Challenge in March! What you have is a really nice geocaching unit. You really need a manual. These units can find off-set caches and a lot more they do not have the 3-axis compass, only the Platinum did so like a lot of units you need to be walking for the " pointer " to be aiming at the cache.

You might find a manual for that model here - My link. Lots of good helper and troubleshooting info there. They went downhill after that. The Color was the top of that line. I have two myself. I do have to say I find it funny how Magellan users generally seem to have a problem with the Garmin interfaces.

I find them "playskool"-ly Like they made them so idiot proof, that its confusing Anyway, the Meridians are a solid and accurate unit. I find they do however, seem to settle into ground zero a little slower than any newer units, but they WILL eventually get you there.

There IS an effect we call the "rubberband effect" though. When I am first approaching GZ, I will slow down walking, or even stop for a minute when the unit says I have ft to go This is available for the US, and Australia.

The Australian version charges a fee for each state purchased. It also offers a fairly comprehensive database of POI data, which includes all of the sorts of things that a tourist might be interested in. Note that this is rough data, and will not show every little ravine. Apparently, the topographic data has approximately 90M horizontal resolution.

If you are planning to do some serious hiking or mountain climbing, don't forget the paper map! MapSend DirectRoute — As of this writing, this product is just becoming available. It provides auto-routing with turn-by-turn guidance, will use more accurate NavTech map data, and cover both Canada and the USA.

Note that maps generated with this product are limited to a single GPS serial number. The older product had to be purchased for the separate states. This new package is more up to date and covers the entire country. Note that SD cards used with this product are restricted to having only a single BlueNav chart loaded. You cannot have any other detailed maps on the card. It is also locked to one GPS. Earlier versions cannot download directly to SD cards and are missing some key features like the track control center.

Copy Protection Note — Magellan is actively trying to prevent unauthorized copying of their software products and the maps generated from their products. Unfortunately, this means you cannot backup the CD for the newer software products and you must have the CD in the computer when you start the software.

Maps generated from the product will only load on the GPS with the specified serial number. One of the most common complaints is that the detailed maps are wrong. In most cases, the base maps are accurate to within the accuracy of the GPS unit. When you compare where you are to where the GPS thinks the road is, keep in mind that an actual road is often feet wide. Typical GPS accuracy is at best 12 feet, and is often 30 feet or more. This means that an error of 50 feet is not only common, but even to be expected.

There are few sources for map data. However, there are often errors, inaccuracies, and omissions in this database you get what you pay for. Also, this database is sometimes missing roads that are several years old. At the other end of the spectrum, you have maps provided by a private company called NavTech.

Magellan does not have any NavTech maps available for the Meridian line yet. It is the experience of the original author of this document that the accuracy of the maps tends to differ by region. The author lives in the central Florida area, where the maps are quite impressively accurate. However, while in south Florida, it was noticed that the maps were usually off by feet, with foot errors not being uncommon.

No such errors were ever noticed in the central Florida area. Furthermore, during a recent trip to North Carolina, the maps were once again commendably accurate. The moral of the story is that if you live in a high-accuracy area, you are likely to be quite happy. If you live in a low-accuracy area, then you are likely to not be happy. No map is perfect. Keep in mind that mapping GPS receivers have only been out for a few years.

Perfect GPS maps may be available in ten years. When using downloaded maps, there is a restriction of four regions joined together in one file. This means that you can have at most four rectangular regions of detailed coverage. Mapsend can normally load only 1 map. Here is a technique to get around this limitation:. Then from within Windows Explorer, go to your SD card writer, and change the name of the map file to something more descriptive, such as "californ.

Be certain that the base part of. Welcome to ManualMachine. We have sent a verification link to to complete your registration. Log In Sign Up. Forgot password? Enter your email address and check your inbox. Please check your email for further instructions. Enter a new password. Meridian FAQ. Magellan car gps receiver reference manual explorist 83 pages. Page 2: License Agreement Radionavigation Plan. Accuracy can also be affected by poor satellite geometry.

Page 4 Auto vs. Auto Detailed Page 5 Editing a User Waypoint Page 6 Clearing Memory Page 8 Installing Memory Card Page 9: About This User Manual The Meridian has all the features that a sailor, fisherman, hiker, hunter, or any person involved with outdoor recreational activities has come to expect from a Magellan GPS receiver. In addition to these features, the Meridian offers the ability to display your location on detailed city maps providing you with a complete navigation tool that will last you for years to come.

Page 10 The most important thing to us is to be sure that you are completely satisfied with your Meridian and the accompanying documentation. If you have any ideas, suggestions or even a complaint, please pass them along to us through our web site www. Page Installing The Batteries Setting up the Meridian is a simple three-step process: installing the batteries, selecting the language to be used and initializing the Meridian.

The Magellan Meridian uses two AA batteries that are installed from the back through the battery cover. You can expect to get up to 14 hours of usage on two AA batteries with the backlight turned off. Page Selecting Language stored in permanent memory to estimate what satellites are overhead and which ones it should be looking for.

Follow these instructions to initialize the Meridian. Page 14 Basic Operation described in the next chapter or you can turn the Meridian off.

If you turn the Meridian off, all of the information you just entered will be saved. To turn the Meridian off, press [PWR].

Also stored in memory. Pressing any button will turn the backlight back on in this instance. You can change the time delay for the backlight in Setup.

They will be described briefly here. More detailed information on the different screens can be found in the Reference chapter of the User Manual. Page Map Screen Ideal for when you have your Meridian mounted on the dashboard of a boat using the optional swivel mounting bracket. Even from a distance the information can be read with ease. Page Position Screens The bar graph shows you the relative signal strength being received for each satellite. At the bottom of the display is an indication of the battery life remaining.

When you are using external power, it will be indicated here as well. Page 21 As many as waypoints can have a message assigned to it. This comes in handy in further identifying the waypoint. This is a sample of a Nearest City Waypoint list for Magellan.