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Magellan's GPS 315 doesn't have a lot of advanced features, but it does provide positional and directional readings accurate enough to help you find your way back to base camp when you're out in the woods.
This portable global positioning system is one of the most compact we've ever tested, and it features a crisp display for the pages of information it throws at users.
The GPS 315 is designed more for outdoor use than car navigation and doesn't display road maps. It does have a database of over 15,000 cities and the capability to accept up to 500 user-defined waypoints, so it still works fairly well for giving you bearings to the next town or point of interest.
We used the tracking features extensively, which let us leave a "bread crumb" trail as we traveled. This was especially helpful when we were backtracking along the same route, as we were able to easily compare our current position with the trail on the display.
The display has two levels of backlighting, a feature that drains the unit's two AA batteries at a frightening rate. However, without the backlight on, we got more than 12 hours of use from the unit.
The Magellan GPS 315 uses simple controls that let users page through its numerous data screens. As long as we were moving the compass, the screens worked well; we especially liked the graphical compass that pointed out our current direction of travel and the bearing to a waypoint at the same time.
The device can also serve as a full-fledged trip computer, measuring distance, average speed, and providing an estimated time of arrival. Perhaps the best thing about the GPS 315 is that all the data screens are fully customizable, letting users create their own data pages containing only the data they want to see.
Although Magellan doesn't include a lot of goodies in the box, the GPS 315 tracking system has many optional accessories that increase its capabilities. For example, you can get a PC cable to upload topographical and street map data. Without all the extras the GPS 315 is better suited for hikers and boaters than highway travelers, but it's an accurate and inexpensive way to keep your bearings.
Pros:
- Clear, high-resolution screen
- Customizable data pages
- Great accuracy
- Relatively inexpensive
- No road maps or other detailed data included
- No built-in routing ability
