Lowrance Endura GPS - Mapselect website down?

[+jjmcwill]

Any other users of Lowrance Endura GPS units out there?

 

I can't seem to reach the mapselect.com website to purchase and download topo maps for my GPS.

 

It's says that the server at navico.datadoors.net cannot be reached.

 

Thanks

 

Jeff

[alandb]

Any other users of Lowrance Endura GPS units out there?

 

I can't seem to reach the mapselect.com website to purchase and download topo maps for my GPS.

 

It's says that the server at navico.datadoors.net cannot be reached.

 

Thanks

 

Jeff

I have a Sierra, and from what I can tell, Lowrance has pretty much abandoned the Endura owners The power switch has broken on my Sierra, so to power it up, I have to momentarily connect it to USB power, then change the setting for power saving to "always on". After doing that it works perfectly until the battery goes dead. Lowrance has ignored my inquiries about repair and I don't know of any 3rd party repair businesses that will work on the Endura, so I am stuck with it the way it is.

 

In terms of map products for the Endura, I really don't know, but like I said ... it is my impression that Lowrance has abandoned this product line.

[+jjmcwill]

Well, I've gone around with them over this for several days.

 

An inquiry on their Facebook page elicited a response saying their Mapselect.com server is down, and they don't know when they will get it replaced.

A call to a Customer Service rep said they were no longer supporting Mapselect.com, and an email based inquiry said the same thing. The email based CSR response said they were still supporting the AccuTerra regional microSD map cards.

 

I find it "amusing" that they still promote two of the Endura product line on their web site: The Out&Back and the Safari. The web page still says maps will be available as a download, which implies that they will still support mapselect.com, since they is no other way to download maps.

 

For me, ala carte purchasing and downloading of eTopo "tiles" was a better way for me to get maps for areas I was interested in. I think I've spent maybe $40.00 on ala carte maps, but these have been for different areas in Michigan, Wyoming, Kentucky, and upstate New York. To get that same coverage using their regional cards would cost me something like $240.00 retail!

 

I am investigating another option. There is a Shareware mapping tool called OziExplorer for Windows. The creator wrote a companion product called OziExplorer CE, which runs on Windows CE handheld devices equipped with a GPS receiver chip or add-on. As it turns out, Lowrance Endura units run Windows CE, and this software developer figured out how to run his OziExplorer CE software on the Endura units by putting his program onto a microSD card, plugging it into the Endura, then powering it on.

 

I just started playing with it. It works, but most of the OziExplorer CE screens have VERY SMALL user interface buttons, that I assume work fine when using a bigger Windows CE device and a stylus to tap the buttons. On the Endura, it's annoying. I want big, easy to navigate menus that I can tap on the screen with my finger, or using the up,down,left,right button while wearing gloves. There is a way to customize the OziExplorerCE screens, so maybe I can re-design his user interface to have big, obvious buttons that are finger friendly. The software lets you create your own topo maps (from free USGS sources, for example) and import them. So, I could get get all the free maps I want if I can get OziExplorerCE running on the Lowrance Endura satisfactorily.

 

The question is whether I want to spend the time fiddling with this. I have two Endura Out&Back units. I may be better off just tossing them in the trash and buying a couple Garmin 62S units. I already own one Garmin 62s. Now that the Garmin 64's are out, the 62S units seem to be going for pretty cheap at various online places. (Yeah, some of them are refurbished. )

 

In case you're wondering, yeah, I have more than one GPS. I am often out with my wife and sharing, or teaching friends how to use GPS and sharing with them, so it's good to have one or two loaners in addition to my primary receiver.

 

I just wish there were a way to put user "Custom Maps" on the Endura line like Garmin now supports with their newer units, effectively allowing me to put topo maps on the Garmin 62s for free.

[+ecanderson]

Garmin doesn't 'support' this, they tolerate it, and could lock this down at any time on new models if they wished to do so. And as far as I know, no one has ever cracked their routeable file format yet which includes their 24k topo. I doubt they sell much of their 100K topos, and the others are all likewise routeable.