Magellan's Map 330M GPS receiver provides a fix on your position whether you're on land or at sea. The marine version of Magellan's powerful Map 330 unit offers preloaded locations of waterways, lakes, and water obstructions in addition to all the maps and tools of the Map 330. The Map 330M ships with the MapSend Streets CD-ROM, letting you bolster the skeletal highways and city information by uploading detailed maps from your PC. Even though it uses a serial port connection, we were able to upload a 200 KB map of the greater Las Vegas area to the Map 330M in about 10 seconds. Once the detailed map was uploaded, the Map 330M automatically took advantage of the sharper image, adding streets and roads to the display for local navigation.
Around San Francisco Bay, the Map 330M displayed marine details as well, including local marinas, floating buoys, and boating areas. To really put the Map 330M to the test, we took it on a weeklong road trip to see how well it worked as a map replacement. A major advantage of having a GPS receiver out on the road is knowing exactly where you are on the highway--no more wondering if you've missed an exit or waiting for a sign to tell you how far it is to the next town.
Although sparse when zoomed in to a view of 250 or 100 feet, the already loaded maps on the Map 330M contained all the highways and roads we took, as well as stopping points of note--monuments, state and national parks, and even the big ol' meteor crater out in the middle of Arizona. After uploading more detailed maps (the device stores 8 MB), we were better suited for in-town driving.
The Map 330M also holds waypoints, letting you select a city and then keeping you posted on how far away it is (as the crow flies or as the car drives if you enter the legs) and roughly how long it will take to get there at your current speed (after customizing this setting). In addition to speed, the Map 330M provides your altitude, heading, bearing (on a waypoint if set), and a directional display.
If you'll be using the Map 330M for extended periods of time--especially if you've got the bright, but draining, backlight turned on--you might consider picking up the adapter that lets you plug it into your car or boat's cigarette lighter. Using two AAs, the batteries ran out after a full day's drive. The Map 330M won't allow you to toss out your paper maps, but when it's used to complement them, you'll be assured of never having to stop and ask directions again. --J. Curtis
Pros:
- Sharp map screen
- Compact, easy-to-use
- Bright backlight
Cons:
- Batteries drain quickly
- Can take up to a minute for a cold fix
