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Magellan Explorist Buglist


D0T-C0M

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The explorist model is a wonderful piece of hardware but like any new product on the market, it has some issues that users here have brought up that we want addressed by Magellan.

 

The goal of the list is to make it easier for end users to be able to copy the points relevant to them and give they the ability to properly articulate exactly the problem they have so that Magellan understands exactly what they are talking about.

 

I am starting this list and will break down in sections the major and minor firmware/software bugs that we want fixed. Also a section on firmware/software enhancements. I would ask that hardware changes like the aaa battery clipon not be brought up.

 

I will start the list with the following:

 

MAJOR

1- USB Freezing- transferring of data to the GPS will occasionally cause the GPS to freeze which will need to be hard resetted (NAV+MENU+POWER) or batteries removed to get the unit operational. Using the "remove hardware safely" icon in the taskbar does not prevent this.

2- If SD card inserted with bad data, GPS will freeze. GPS should give option to format or ignore bad data.

3. If corrupted data is sent to the internal memory causes the unit to become inoperatable as any bad data in internal memory seems to trigger a bug that will require sending the unit to Magellan for repair.

4. Future

 

MINOR

1- Temperature in the weather screen is not accurate, as much as 6 to 7 degrees in some cases. At very least end user should have access to hidden menu 14.

2. Geocaches are dropped without warning when uploading more than 200 caches. Geocache manager does not handle well geocaches that have similar starting names.

3. Backlight comes on at full brightness when a proximity alert activates. Very annoying for night caching - light is really blinding when you've been looking at the dim setting for a three hour hike. This should be user configurable, like the sounds. Also kills the battery a lot faster than needed.

4. When using topo maps with topo info enabled the GPS is horribly slow to update the map screen. Using a region with topo info disabled fixes this at the expense of losing the topo info.

5. Marking a waypoint with no GPS fix sometimes results in an unusable waypoint screen. Should initialize the screen with all zeros or last known position.

6. Can't turn of displaying park names on the map screen, so the map is covered in a bunch of labels. Should be options for turning on/off the street name labels at different map levels (more useful) and other things like geocache names and POI names. Some of this can be 'hacked' with the mapsend.ini file but users should be able to change this on-the-fly on the unit (Garmin's can do it).

7. Future

 

ENHANCEMENTS

1- unable to do a find nearest on a specific POI name, ie: searching for "Tim Hortons" will yeild a list of Timmy's with the one 600km away being listed above one that's 100m away. When the map contains 800 Tim Horton's locations it would be useful for the alpha search to sort by distance when results are returned.

2- DirectRoute keeps beeping when stopped at a turn (ie - while waiting for a red light.)

3. Better light management needed. Some users find this confusing. Pressing keys twice when backlight is off (first to activate backlight, second for function intended).but once when backlight is on. Why not use the "light" button for this?

4. DirectRoute needs to add user settings such as "avoid U turn", "avoid border crossing" and "avoid toll road" settings, on the explorist screens.

5. Would like to have the ability to "Save&Goto" in waypoint entry screen. Always having to catch up to the other cachers while I hit save, filename then goto, point-to-point, file name, waypoint, enter. Too many clicks.

6. Canadian Basemap is nowhere as accurate as compared to US Basemap / Garmin Canadian Basemap. At least tag the freeways with those nice big red lines the US basemap provides. They have that data -- I can see it at the 2.5km zoom level from the DirectRoute product so I won't accept the current Magellan excuse of "different map merge". Either fix it or let someone else publish a Canadian Basemap product. Railways and coastline with two roads drawn with the thinnest black line is not a basemap product. Geocaching.com had better coverage of Canada last year with the big grey nothing maps.

7. Electronic compass is reported by some users as being inaccurate. The offset can be as much as 20 degrees and hysteresis is observed. An option should be implemented that the electronic compass would automatically turn on when the speed drops below X and use GPS tracking when the speed is above X"? In the absence of that, a single key could be used to toggle between compass and gps course be used instead of tunneling through several menus. The electronic compass should be able to fine tune it's calibration when above X speed to remove any offset present.

8. Waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series.

9. Future

 

PLEASE REFER TO THIS FIRST POST AS I WILL REVISE THE LIST HERE AS USERS POST BUG REPORTS.

 

PLEASE REPORTS ANY INACCURACIES

 

PLEASE INCLUDE A DESCRIPTION OF THE BUG/ENHANCEMENT AND ANY POSSIBLE WORKAROUNDS OR FIXES.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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eXplorist Tips and Terrors

 

I played around a lot with my new 500 over the last two days, and I had some scary moments.

 

1. On a Mac at least: never drag the unit to trash to eject it or press the eject button. You must go to the unit, select communication, and switch away from File Transfer to Power Only. You will get a warning on the Mac, but that's OK (it will live). If you try to eject the unit (which is what should happen, just like an iPod) it will freeze badly.

 

2. Don't try to look at any of the internal files such as the basemap even if you don't change them. Use an SD card over the internal memory. It's safer.

 

I'm not sure which one of these did it, but I got the dreaded "UNIT CURRENTLY CONTAINS NO MAP INITIATING MAP UPLOAD". I wasn't about to send it back, so I got into the secret screens and played with them until something happened. I was then able to set it to the default and get things going again. Whew. My basemap was still OK. I dragged a copy to the hard drive just in case.

 

3. Windows 98 sucks, and 2000 seems to work fine (for a Windoze system :D ) The files showed under 2000 just as on my Mac. Windows 98 never could find the receiver.

 

4. GPSBabel rocks!

 

5. I can't seem to get NMEA tracking on my Mac. If NG Topo adds more than two NMEA sentences, it might work. I guess my old Garmin 12XL will have to serve as a computer donkey.

 

6. Don't remove the batteries. Just hit NAV and MENU simultaneously (though the source I got this from says NAV+MENU+POWER).

 

7. The connector is just weird. It seems to have been made for another purpose, not just for this machine. After all, what is that projecting piece of plastic on the top for? PC-mobile seems to have found the connectors, so I'm thinking they're an electronic part you can buy somewhere.

Perhaps what is needed is a doohickey to plug into the part within the scooped-out depression that includes a quick release plug on the top (and maybe a cable to go with it).

 

Parsa

Edited by Parsa
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7. The connector is just weird. It seems to have been made for another purpose, not just for this machine. After all, what is that projecting piece of plastic on the top for? PC-mobile seems to have found the connectors, so I'm thinking they're an electronic part you can buy somewhere.

Just an FYI: the plastic thing on the top is a lock/unlock mechanism to secure the cable to a mount (at least that's what it does with the swivel mount).

 

To the list I would add a need for additional data fields to be displayed...either adding a couple to an existing screen, or adding a data display screen with multiple fields.

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How about this:

 

1) Temperature readings are usually out to lunch on the 600

 

2) Putting in an SD card with bad data freezes the unit - should ignore or offer format option.

 

3) 200 Cache limit - at least display a warning that caches have been dropped from the list

 

4) Feature Request - unable to do a find nearest on a specific POI name, ie: searching for "Tim Hortons" will yeild a list of Timmy's with the one 600km away being listed above one that's 100m away. When the map contains 800 Tim Horton's locations it would be useful for the alpha search to sort by distance when results are returned.

Find nearest is just way too painful for locating a specific branding.

 

5) Backlight comes on at full brightness when a proximity alert activates. Very annoying for night caching - that light is really blinding when you've been looking at the dim setting for a three hour hike. This should be user configurable, like the sounds. Also kills the battery a lot faster than needed.

 

6) Backlight has no "off" setting, just a "dim" setting. Battery life could be extended if that darn backlight could be turned all the way off in direct sunlight for example.

 

7) DirectRoute incessant beeping when stopped at a turn (ie - while waiting for a red light.)

 

8) Canada Topo product is horribly slow, usually lags a kilometer or so when I'm driving.

 

9) Pressing keys twice when backlight is off (first to activate backlight, second for function intended).but once when backlight is on. Confusing. Why not use the "light" button for this?

 

10) I'm afraid to use the internal memory for anything as any bad data in internal memory seems to trigger a bug that will require sending the unit to Magellan for repair.

 

11) DirectRoute needs "avoid U turn" and "avoid toll road" settings, on the explorist screens. Not necessarily an 'explorist bug' but still worth mentioning.

 

12) Marking a waypoint with no GPS fix sometimes results in an unusable waypoint screen. Bad programming there -- should initialize the screen with all zeros or last known position, not that $!!WDFA! type gobbly-gook that can't be changed.

 

13) Feature Request - would like to have the ability to "Save&Goto" in waypoint entry screen. Always having to catch up to the other cachers while I hit save, filename then goto, point-to-point, file name, waypoint, enter. Too many clicks.

 

14) Feature Request - Canadian Basemap is garbage compared to US Basemap / Garmin Canadian Basemap. At least tag the freeways with those nice big red lines the US basemap provides. They have that data -- I can see it at the 2.5km zoom level from the DirectRoute product so I won't accept the current Magellan excuse of "different map merge". Either fix it or let someone else publish a Canadian Basemap product. Railways and coastline with two roads drawn with the thinnest black line is not a basemap product. Geocaching.com had better coverage of Canada last year with the big grey nothing maps.

 

15) Geocache Manager does not handle similarly named Geocaches gracefully at all. It ignores other caches with names that start the same.

 

16) Can't turn of displaying park names on the map screen, so my map is covered in a bunch of labels I could care less about. Should be options for turning on the street name labels at different map levels (more useful) and other things like geocache names and POI names. I know some of this can be 'hacked' with the mapsend.ini file but I should be able to change this on-the-fly on the unit (the Garmin's do it) so I can tune it to the area I'm in. I may want to knock some details (map labels) down in a dense urban environment while turning it back up later.

 

That's my list (for now) from about 4500km of driving and geocaching so far on my eXplorist 600. This is of course in addition to the usual complaints of USB freeze up and lack of projection screen, lack of big number screen, etc etc etc.

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add the feature of projection waypoint

I;m not familiar with this can you or someone else please explain what exactly you would want and how it would work?

On the Meridian, there was a menu item from the position screen that would allow one to enter a distance and bearing from the present position (or also the cursor--I no longer have the unit so I'm going from memory) to create a new waypoint.

 

With Magellan's expressed interest in promoting and supporting geocaching, the lack of this seems to be an oversight.

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northernpenguin could you explain #8, i'm not sure I understand this one.

When I've got a detail map from Canada Topo loaded on my eXplorist 600, even at the minimum detail setting the map draws so slow that I have to stop and wait for it to catch up to my position. It's noticable at a hiking speed and when I'm travelling in a car the unit redraws the map too slow to be useable. I'm not kidding when I say I've seen the map being drawn for a position that's up to two kilometers away from where I am at the time.

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Can you folks help me out with something?

 

I was looking around in the file structure of my new eXplorist 500, and when in the My POIs file it doesn't look like the picture on page 7 of the Basic User manual. There's no "New Folder" icon, nor is there a "New POI File" icon. So how do I make a new POI in the field?

 

I found out that I can highlight an existing folder, file, or POI and select a function such as RENAME or MOVE and then the New Folder icon and New POI icon will appear, but as Brian Fellows would say "THAT'S CRAZY." Isn't there a button or command to get these to show up without selecting a function on an existing POI or hitting Mark?

 

Parsa

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Sorry I cannot help you in your problem except to say that you would get more responses if you would start a new topic thread because not everyone will read this thread to see your problem. Also I would like to keep the discussion here related to Explorist bug reporting.

 

Goodluck

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Can you folks help me out with something?

 

I was looking around in the file structure of my new eXplorist 500, and when in the My POIs file it doesn't look like the picture on page 7 of the Basic User manual. There's no "New Folder" icon, nor is there a "New POI File" icon. So how do I make a new POI in the field?

 

I found out that I can highlight an existing folder, file, or POI and select a function such as RENAME or MOVE and then the New Folder icon and New POI icon will appear, but as Brian Fellows would say "THAT'S CRAZY." Isn't there a button or command to get these to show up without selecting a function on an existing POI or hitting Mark?

 

Parsa

I can't find that manual at the moment, so I'll have to hope that we're talking about the same screen.

 

How are you getting to the screen that lacks the information you expect? If I hit the Mark button and save the POI, then I get a screen with New Folder and New POI File options ("Save to" is in the top line of the display). If I go in there to open or access existing data (e.g., through Active Setup), I don't see them.

 

...now where the heck is that manual...?

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Well, I looked it up in the pdf manual, and it seems to create a new POI that is not at your current position you either need to:

a. Hit Mark and change the coordinates, or

b. Pan to the postion you want on the map and then hit Mark.

 

I guess it's not that bad really. I'm just used to Mark being my current position, but it's easier than scrolling to the POI (waypoints) folder to create a new waypoint. The Basic manual doesn't make it clear that those New Folder and New POI options are not always visible (while navigating in the My POIs folder).

Edited by Parsa
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The easier way for me was to use Windows Explorer while my GPSr was hooked up in file transfer mode (I like using the keyboard over the joystick when I have a choice).

 

Since this is not a need apt to arise frequently (for my use, anyway) and when it *does* come up beyond my intial setup it's probably going to happen when I have a new POI I just marked, the existing design seems ok to me on this one.

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add the feature of projection waypoint

I;m not familiar with this can you or someone else please explain what exactly you would want and how it would work?

On the Meridian, there was a menu item from the position screen that would allow one to enter a distance and bearing from the present position (or also the cursor--I no longer have the unit so I'm going from memory) to create a new waypoint.

 

With Magellan's expressed interest in promoting and supporting geocaching, the lack of this seems to be an oversight.

and while they are readding this feature, why not go all the way with it. On my sportrak i can only project down to the .01 of a mile. Why not use the standard measurements down to the foot/meter and make it a choice of the operator. try doing a projection in the field of 600 feet. Isn't an exact thousandth of a mile.

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and while they are readding this feature, why not go all the way with it. On my sportrak i can only project down to the .01 of a mile. Why not use the standard measurements down to the foot/meter and make it a choice of the operator. try doing a projection in the field of 600 feet. Isn't an exact thousandth of a mile.

Actually, you should be able to enter a projection in feet. (Again, without my Meridian to refresh my memory, I may miss a detail or two). In the projection screen, enter a value like .02 mi. in the distance field and shift the focus to another field. The distance display should show 106 feet or something like that. Shift focus back to the field, and you can edit the field to 600 feet or whatever you need.

 

(It's something like that...)

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The easier way for me was to use Windows Explorer while my GPSr was hooked up in file transfer mode (I like using the keyboard over the joystick when I have a choice).

 

Since this is not a need apt to arise frequently (for my use, anyway) and when it *does* come up beyond my intial setup it's probably going to happen when I have a new POI I just marked, the existing design seems ok to me on this one.

Since I'm a Mac guy, let me see if I understand you....

 

When you plug the eXplorist into your PC in File Transfer mode, you get a window representing the GPS. Then you just create a new folder in the window? Is that right?

 

Also, in regards to the waypoint limit... this is not a limit on waypoints, it's a limit on data in the message field. Right? I have 209 caches waypoints in my active field, but the 9 that I added show no text in the message field. I got a message saying "My Pts of Interest Message area is full." That's CRAZY. :P

 

It seems odd that you can have up to 500 active waypoints, but only 200 can have message data. Or is it just that the GPX files are putting in too much data?

 

Parsa

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Typo in Minor # 6: "Can't turn of displaying park" should be "Can't turn off displaying park"

 

I think northernpenguin was trying to organize your list a little better. It is less confusing to have sequential numbers than Major 1,2,3 then Minor 1,2,3. But the of/off typo was duplicated in the new item 16.

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dadgum i can no longer edit my original post. If a moderator could possibly extend my edit time please or else I cannot organize the bug reports. Otherwise I will have to create new posts which I would rather not and keep everything in the same thread.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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Since I'm a Mac guy, let me see if I understand you....

 

When you plug the eXplorist into your PC in File Transfer mode, you get a window representing the GPS. Then you just create a new folder in the window? Is that right?

Right. The explorist shows up as an external drive, and it seems like you can do just about anything with it that you could do with any other storage device.

 

Also, in regards to the waypoint limit... this is not a limit on waypoints, it's a limit on data in the message field. Right? I have 209 caches waypoints in my active field, but the 9 that I added show no text in the message field. I got a message saying "My Pts of Interest Message area is full." That's CRAZY.  :)

 

It seems odd that you can have up to 500 active waypoints, but only 200 can have message data. Or is it just that the GPX files are putting in too much data?

The gs files are separate from the upt files, and using different memory. One can't wonder, though, if the 200 limit of the geocaching POIs is related in some manner (perhaps no more than design conceptualization) to the 200 comment/message limit in the regular POIs. FWIW, the message limitation dates well back in the Magellan GPS history.

 

It does seem nuts with all this memory otherwise available. It can really get in the way of someone using DirectRoute autoroutes, who suddenly find that they are lacking street names in their directions because all the message slots are filled up.

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and while they are readding this feature, why not go all the way with it. On my sportrak i can only project down to the .01 of a mile. Why not use the standard measurements down to the foot/meter and make it a choice of the operator. try doing a projection in the field of 600 feet. Isn't an exact thousandth of a mile.

ON the Meridian, as Embra said, you can project in feet up to 9999 feet. The projection feature on the Meridian is very good and I am disappointed my eX500 does not have this.

Next on my Buglist/wishlist is mils in addition to degrees. Much more precise than degrees and has utility for projections, bearings between 2 points.

For the Geocache files, raise the 200 limit to 500 or more caches.

For the regular waypoint/POI files, have descriptions on more than the 200 out of 500 waypoints.

Also very important to me: add another page/screen with 4 to 8 selectable data items.

There might be more but these would make me very happy.

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*****Satellite-screen

- Get back to a 2D-diagramm like before at Meridians/SporTraks, this was more informative. 3D-display is very confusing.

- Color coding of sats: eg: grey=no connection, red=connecting, blue=connected. Don't forget that 10% of the male population have a red/green-amblyopia!

- Sort Sats by number at display of the sat-strength

 

*****Map-Screen

- better utilization of color

- forests,parks should be flood filled with green, not little trees.

- rubber band from position to target is nearly invisible

- allow optional 4 user definable data fields (not only 2 data fields, selectable 2 or 4)

 

*****Compass-screen

- allow 4 user definable data fields optionally (not only 2 data fields, selectable 2 or 4)

- Heading pointer (like Platinum)

 

*****Position-screen

- 2 additional user definable data fields

- where is the 2nd coordinate system (of the meridians/SporTraks) gone? The coordinate system calculator was a powerful tool (combind with projection)

 

****** One more navigation screen please!!

Data screen: selectable 4 or 8 user definable data fields. if 4 is selected , then use big letters (important for sailing!), perhaps put a band compass at lower end of screen

 

*****Additional features on every screen:

Battery status, compass on/off-symbol, Satellite-position 3D/2D-Symbol,accuracy (like Garmin)

 

Other features we are missing:-

- Waypoint projection by distance and direction (Geocacher's wish)

- Automatic light off (low) for 5, 15 seconds selectable

- If automatic light off is engaged, one has to press buttons two times to get reaction, first to switch on light, second to give command. this is odd

- Possibility to switch light off completely

- alternative Power on/off procedure (like Meridians/Sporttraks): It is faster and more safe against accidently switch on/off

- easier switching of compass or switch automaticly dependent on speed (below certain speed electronic compass is switched on)

- Memory function for last SD-Folder if system powered off and on (default is internal storage)

- Edit or at least a "Found"-button for the geocache-waypoints

- Auto routing not only for cars (car fast/middle/slow, bicycles, pedestrian)

- Zooming for 10 meters (not only 35m)

- better utilization of colour

- Better auto-detailed tracking if the turns are every 15-30 meters

- 10.000 waypoints instead of 2.000 waypoints when using a SD-card

- expand user definable data field content to air pressure, temperature

- Calibration of thermometer display

- Weather-screen should be selectable more easily through the menu (move it top-wards)

- A graphical display of the air-pressure (last 24 hours)

- Selectable scale (when to change from base map to detailed map)

- Routing with stopover-points

- Alarm is very quiet (loudness should be selectable)

- If auto routing, system should automatic create new route on deviant (for example 300 meters) (not by pressing GOTO twice times)

- Automatic selection of the right detail-map

- Routable base map

- Additional moon highest level (not only moonrise, moonset)

- If explorist is turned of – a charging symbol would be nice during charging

- Tracking line should be able to configure for better visibility

 

Nice to have:

Calendar

Alarm clock function

Stop-watch function

Tides-calculator

 

Problems:

- GPS hangs if USB is unplugged

- Screen update on map screen is terrible slow (in fact it is slower than on the older units). Topo 3D Germany is not usable: screen updates take 10-15s!!! If topographic information is kept off the data, then the update is normal 1s

- Visible symbols on detailed map of (restaurants, train stations, underground stations …) (you can select it in the properties but it is not visible)

- During autorouting, the big sign for the next turn is shown too short

- Address entering scheme it odd: normal habit is first entering the town, then entering the street

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Sorry folks I cannot edit my original post. I will compile the buglist in a spreadsheet format and convert it to an image and link it to a new thread I will be starting this week. This way I can update the buglist spreadsheet on my server and it will reflect here regardless if I no longer can edit the original thread.

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I think there's a difference between a bug list and a wish list. I too have some things I'd like to see different, but right now I just don't want any problems with what already exists.

 

I think if something works in a really dumb way, that's OK to include as a bug. However wishing that your GPS had a multi-cache icon is not really a bug.

Edited by Parsa
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I think there's a difference between a bug list and a wish list. I too have some things I'd like to see different, but right now I just don't want any problems with what already exists.

 

I think if something works in a really dumb way, that's OK to include as a bug. However wishing that your GPS had a multi-cache icon is not really a bug.

I don't see anything wrong with tacking a wish list with a bug list. Especially when coupled with the fact that it's difficult to get anything through to that company. Besides, my eXplorist already has a multi-cache icon :)

 

There are a lot of things on the list that some would call a bug, others a feature and some others just wish it.

 

Is it really a bug that DirectRoute beeps incessantly at a red light? No, not really - it's doing what it was designed to do, which is notify the user of that urgent turn ahead - so it's not a bug, it's a feature. On the other hand, it's the most likely cause of failure for the unit, when the user pitches their GPS out the window.

 

Major / Minor / Enhancements works fine for me.

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Parsa as you can see theres a section for Enhancements and thats where such a bug would go as I agree some issues and most probably are things we would like to have.

 

On a side note,

I just got off the phone with a tech guy from Thales, he told me to send him a link on a forum where others are having the same problems as mentioned in the list. He says that nothing will be done if I am the only one having these problems. He wants to know if the masses are experiencing these problems. Don't answer here yet as I will update the list and start a new thread. I want people to reply with simple clear answer like I am experiencing #1 #3 etc.... This tech rep will forward the thread to the higher ups in the organization.

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Well the only thing I would like to see them do something about is editing and or deleting geocaches on the unit its self. I like to be able to delete or edit geocaches on the run.

Other then that I've had no problems with freezing up or any of the other complaints talked about here. I've had my 500 for about a month and found about 150 caches with it. I have no mapping on it just the basic unit. I use my gold and a laptop and ms streets and trips to get me close then grab the 500 off the mount and go ;)

Edited by vagabond
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