Magellan eXplorist 500 Water Resistant Hiking GPS
Magellan eXplorist 500 Water Resistant Hiking GPS
- Waterproof, handheld GPS with USB data port and 16 MB of built-in memory
- Includes 8 MB of North American maps with roads, parks, waterways, and more
- Unlimited Secure Digital (SD) card expansion for adding maps via CD-ROM or Web
- 16-color, high-contrast, backlit LCD display; rechargeable lithium ion battery pack
- Measures 2.2 by 4.7 by 1.3 inches (W x H x D); 1-year warranty
Navigate in color! The 16-color display of the Magellan eXplorist 500 enables you to see where you are in vivid color. With a high-speed USB data port and unlimited data storage capacity via secure digital (SD) card expandability, you can easily add detailed street maps, topo or lake maps from optional Magellan MapSend software. eXplorist 500 is lightweight and pocket-sized so you can take it with you everywhere. The Magellan Geocache Manager enables you to download caches directly to your eXplorist 500 and the PC-style file system helps you to easily manage all of your data. 8 MB of built-in maps and an intuitive interface make it easy to start navigating right out of the box. Save 5 track log files, 20 routes and 500 points of interest to the 8 MB of additional internal memory, but store as many as you want on optional SD cards. You get all this and more, plus color!Outfitted with a 16-color display, a high-speed USB data port, 8 MB of built-in maps, and an additional 8 MB of usable
List Price: $ 399.99
Price: $ 399.99
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Devon S. Singer
August 16, 2011Better then reviewers are giving it!!!,
Ok i am going to start off by saying that i was looking at this unit and also the garmin etrex legend cx unit. I found both to be close how ever the magellan out performed it greatly. But first i would just like to say people who are having troubles with shipping and stuff like that is not important to put in a review and take stars off.
The unit has a wonderful screen with a much clearer and brighter display. When i stand out side i usually get atleast 4 gps satalites within the first 10 or 15 seconds. Also it works better in the car and such then most units. you can zoom in like crazy on this thing if only you could see houses and such i might be able to see my self walking to the car.
Know for the people who are complaining about lets say the mapping software you have to purchase or the rechargable battery. If they actually paid attention to things instead of the complained they would relize, 1) the rechargable battery is great but it also comes with a black battery peice designed to hold 3 AAA batterys inacase of the loss of the rechargable one 2) the mapping software which is 149.99 retail is given to buyers for 9 dollars after the coupon code that is located on the front of the box in a orange sticker.
The geocaching software is cool. You dont have to convert anything it sets everything up for you and uploads it instantly. I do how ever recomend you get a memory card because the maps that you can download can be quite big depending on how much you want to see. I hav enot had a problem with accuracy at all infact it usually will be accurate up to about 10-20 feet or so. Plus the big one that helped me is that the garmin etrex units are designed for only left handers which is so annoying. I do not feel comfortable doing this which is why i love the magellan.
and the usb connector/charger is a screw in on the back which people complain about but you konw what i enjoy the complete waterproofing that gives instead of a dinky rubber plug like the garmins!!!
If you are looking for a good unit with great reception and easy to read display then this is it and belive me you will love it!!!
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|Earl P. Thayton
August 16, 2011A solid choice,
I recently decided it was time to retire my trusty (but antiquated) handheld GPS, and I replaced it with a Magellan eXplorist 500. I don’t yet have the optional detailed mapping software, so this is a review of just the base unit and the included software. I should also mention that this review is based on firmware 5.1.61, the latest available as of May 2005. Future firmware releases may add more features, but I advise all gadget buyers not to rely on such updates. Buy your toys for what they do today, not what they might do tomorrow!
Like most good GPS’s these days, the eXplorist 500 includes basic street map data for the US and Canada. It probably won’t include the street you live on, but it should have your freeways, highways, major surface streets, and points of interest such as airports. This basic map data takes up about half of the eXplorist’s 16MB of built-in memory. The remaining memory can be used for your waypoints, routes, and tracks. If you happen to have Magellan’s MapSend software, you can also download detailed street-level or topo maps. (But as I mentioned, I don’t have this yet, so I can’t review what it adds to the eXplorist 500.)
The approximately 8MB of free memory in the eXplorist 500 will hold a huge amount of waypoints, routes, and tracks. If all you care about is simple waypoint storage and navigation, you won’t need anything else. However, the available memory is pretty meager for adding detailed map data. Don’t panic, though: you can add a standard, inexpensive Secure Digital card to your eXplorist 500. No proprietary memory cards to worry about!
You can even attach the eXplorist to your computer’s USB port and browse the built-in memory and SD card just like a USB storage device. This is very nice, though I should mention that you need to install a driver to connect to the unit, and you must use the included charge/USB cable. This strange cable actually screws on to the GPS–the eXplorist is water-resistant, so they could not put standard mini USB or power ports on it.
On to the physical features… The first thing you notice is the size. The eXplorist 500 is small, though thicker than you might expect. That’s OK though, it fits your hand well, and it holds a battery with a claimed 17 hour life. My own informal test got me about 15 hours with the backlight on minimum, which I’d call close enough.
The next thing you notice is the screen. I haven’t found the actual pixel dimensions listed in any of the specs; I would estimate it at 240×320. Whatever the value is, it is adequate. The screen is very bright and sharp, though limited to 16 colors. Compare that figure to a PDA and it sounds bad, but in practice I have found that it’s enough to present a clear and readable map, which is what counts. You aren’t looking at photos on this thing.
The controls are a joystick with built-in button, a surrounding array of 7 smaller buttons, and power and lighting controls on the sides. The buttons feel sturdy and work fine–they are all you could ask for.
The GPS receiver is definitely a cut above the one I bought a few years ago. It can pick up a signal in my house, where my older GPS could not. Thick trees can still confuse it though, but I’d expect that from any GPS.
As for the software: the first thing I’ll comment on is the speed of map scrolling and redraw. I’ll call it adequate, but not impressive. The map display itself is pretty standard, though highly legible. As you’d expect, you can move the cursor around to select points of interest or create waypoints.
The map can be full screen, or you can display two data fields with it: choose from bearing, distance to next waypoint, speed, heading, ETA, time to next waypoint, time to end of route, off course warning, direction, elevation, time, date, accuracy, average speed, and maximum speed. (The off course and destination events have an optional audible alarm.)
Besides the map, you have a fairly ordinary GPS status screen, trip computer (no customizable data fields), and bearing display (with 2 customizable fields, same as the map).
The included software provides for only the most basic data management. You can move waypoints, tracks, and routes in or out of the GPS. If you have some detailed map data, perhaps from a web purchase, you can add that to the unit too. (I presume that if you purchase Magellan MapSend software, it will have its own interface for adding a chunk of map data to the unit, or creating waypoints and routes.)
Magellan has also included GPS features and desktop software specifically for those interested in geocaching. The bottom line is that these features are useful, but could use improvement.
(…)
On the eXplorist, geocaches are filed in their own points of interest category, so you can choose not to display them. There is a…
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|George B. Sears
August 16, 2011Value, at a Price,
This GPS does a nice job, but getting to the point where it does that can be trying. It’s a 4+, because I sense there’s a little more Magellan can do in terms of ergonomics.
I guess the first thing I noticed was the screw-on USB and power adapter could go two ways, up or down. I had to look through the manual to find how to attach it, and even then what I was looking at did not turn out to be right. Oh, well. There’s a sheet of paper that shows how to attach it. I guess I was not alone in this. Some say a screw-on USB is dumb or non-standard, but consider the water proof rating and a normal USB port.
Next, I have a large collection of waypoints. Since this is a new model, it didn’t appear in any waypoint manager software. Eventually I could convert my old Mapsend waypoints with gpsbabel, a free program. This took time. The color really shows the waypoints.
I decided I like this GPS a lot when I got the Directroute. That’s the new Mapsend, and it will route. Alas, to use DR, you have to have one of the CD’s in the computer. Again, though, this is mitigated because you can upload almost ‘everything’ to a 256MB SD card. So, basically, I assume I don’t need the CD’s very often. To upload the maps is complicated. You can’t just cut them and then move the files. You have to ‘convert’ them, a second time, and then they are easily moved to the card. I have an SD card slot in my Dell. It is very easy. But, if you didn’t know to convert, it will slow you down.
On balance, the DirectRoute software is an improvement over the old Mapsend Streets. The maps are ‘filtered’. I travel on a lot of backroads. While the DR shows fewer roads, it seems to be very good at showing the ones that matter. Plus, they are labeled better. The main advantage of the DR is routing, but everyone should be buying it with this in mind. I haven’t done any tough routing, so check other reviews.
I think the color screen is nice. The problem with a mapping GPS is scale. If you are on a tiny road, the road shows up when the scale is very small, say .2 mile. At .2, you can’t see the surrounding area, so you can’t tell where you are. The color screen is better, and the scrolling is pretty smooth. A zoom out is quite quick. You can find a road with this unit, scroll up it like you are driving, and figure out where it goes. You can’t ever see a minor road at a wide scale, so you end up doing this. You can place waypoints while driving up the road, but this unit routes.
The physical size small, but thick. It holds a bunch of territory with one cheap card. All of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado fit in about 70 megs. It shows a lot of roads, though it might not be up to date. Some commands are not obvious. To change the waypoint file you have to go to Preferences –> Active Setup. This did not seem obvious to me. The manual has a lot of info, but it’s not easy to find a specific answer to a question. You can download it at the Magelllan site, and get a headstart.
Magellan uses a very complex file system. Some may not like it. Still, you have the internal GPS memory plus cards, and the file system makes it easy to find something. If I upload a route where the roads don’t really show on the detail maps, I can put a lot of them in one file, say 200. Now I just find the waypoint file and tell the GPS to make that the active POI (it calls waypoints ‘points of interest’). I really like this, because there is no limit to how many waypoints could be on a card, each neatly filed away. If I don’t want waypoints cluttering the screen, I get rid of any active file of POI’s.
So, Magellan did a lot with this unit, and I give them credit for it. The micro joystick is a little hard to get used to, but it really speeds entering text. It scrolls pretty well on the diagonal.
The unit is small, and pleasant to hold, at least for me. The buttons are limited in number, but getting to all the commands is easy enough.
The GPS has a learning curve, but it seems like something will be useful for a long time. Plus, with all the maps on a card, you have what you need without needing a PC. The lock is pretty good, even in the house. Magellan uses the Esc button to change pages.
Quirky, but this unit works for me.
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