Explorist 500 Options

[HasNoHorse]

If you haven't seen one already.

This post has been edited by HasNoHorse: Dec 12 2004, 09:08 PM

[Renegade Knight]

So close to finaly having a decent Explorist and they fell short with the Lithium battery.

[Damenace]

It appears as if Magellan's site has no information on it. At least I couldn't find it. Not to mention there isn't any other links when you do a search for it on the net. Things that make you go HHHMMMM.

Damenace

[Marky]

[JohnnyVegas]

IF the lithium ion battery can be switched out it will be a big plus. Litium Ion batteries can charge very fast and the do not have a memory. The lithium ion battery in my ham radio charges in 2.5 hours or less depending on the charge remaining when I place it in the charger.

[GOT GPS?]

[embra]

I notice that the Explorist 100-300 specs say that they take 2 AA batteries; that gives me some cause for hope that the physical layout will not be so radically different as to have non-removable batts with recharging circuitry included. Of course, I can't claim to know with any certainty what would be required (in terms of physical space) to provide built-in recharging capability.

Another apprehension I have is that I see no specification for the antenna...I think someone stated the Explorist series uses a patch; I'd miss the quad.

Otherwise, I'm quite attracted to this Glittering New Thing.

[Quintheeskimo66]

I also found that they have a listing for the Explorist 600

[JohnnyVegas]

Well I called magellan, they are not talking, the posted web pages were not suppose to be posted until after the Magellan press release for the new explorist, I even asked about the Explorist 400 but they are not talking My guess is that the 400 will have a monochrome screen. Maybe I will call bass pro hmmm

[Renegade Knight]

[embra]

I guess what we've seen so far (at BassPro and LeBaron) do not positively affirm computer connectivity (although I can't imagine units at this level would lack that feature).

If BassPro is listing a Feb 15 product release, the Magellan product announcement should be coming before too long.

[robertlipe]

[Marky]

I thought it interesting that the 600 mentions "altimeter". No other Magellan that has a barometer has ever used it as an altimeter (that I know of). I've never found much use for the barometer.

--Marky

[peter]

[tubemonkey]

[briansnat]

[embra]

[JohnnyVegas]

[Jamie Z]

Ooh.

I may have found a replacement for my Gold! This is exciting..

I'd hope, given the questions that we all have about the batteries, that the Explorist (I'm *not* going to capitalize just the X, that's dumb.) can match the 60 in battery life. That would make proprietary batteries less of an issue for me.

I'm also scared of the color screen. 2.2" color sounds nice, but if we're still stuck at 160x120, no thanks.

It'll be interesting to watch as Magellan delays the release date repeatedly.

[edit]

What about autorouting? I'll assume that the unit is compatible with DirectRoute?

Jamie

This post has been edited by Jamie Z: Dec 13 2004, 06:48 PM

[EScout]

Regarding the internal Lithium battery, you might consider the positives. The big positive is not taking the batteries out and charging them all the time. I get real tired of this. My cell phone and PDA both have lithium rechargeables. They can be charged with a wall-wart, USB cable or cig lighter cable. The Sony PDA has available, a small, light weight "charging box" that holds 4 AA Alks, and is supposed to fully charge the lithium 4 times on a set of AAs. It has a short cable and plugs into the bottom of the PDA. Here is your back-up power... 4 to 5 full days of use on the PDA.

These lithuims hold their charge when not used, compared to the NiMH which lose a big percentage of charge in as little as a week or two. I have an extra cell phone battery in my brief case and it keeps a full charge for what seems like months.

[embra]

[Jamie Z]

For me the issue is not ease of charging, it's simply how long I can use the GPS while away from civilization.

In the past during various trips, I've been days without access to power, on occasion as long as a week.

For this reason, I sought out a digital camera with the longest rated battery life, and I use it sparingly and without any extra features turned on (like the LCD screen). I can make it last a week. (Plus I carry a spare battery)

I use my cellphone only when absolutely necessary, and turn it off all other times. I can make that last a week.

For my GPS, I only need to carry a few extra sets of AA batts, and I can go as long as my batteries hold out. If Magellan throws at me some regarchable-only unit with a battery life of 20 or so hours. I'm really stuck.

Of course, we know very little about the specs of the Explorist at this point. It's mostly speculation, but I'd likely not buy a GPS which needed to see an external power source every 24 hours.

Now if the Explorist batteries are removeable, or even replacable with AA's, that'd keep things much more flexible.

Jamie

This post has been edited by Jamie Z: Dec 13 2004, 09:47 PM

[Marky]

I would guess that the resolution will be something similar to the Sportrak Color, which is 240x160, I think.

--Marky

[jneely11]

Well, Magellan at least indirectly acknowledges the explorist 400, 500, and 600 now: https://www.magellangps.com/en/products/pro....asp?PRODID=113.

I'll sure be glad when they spill the rest of the beans. I bought a 200 as my first GPSr and am having a serious love/hate relationship with it. It's very easy to use (even for a complete novice like me). The functions are intuitive, the controls easy to use and well placed. The screen is easy to read and the built-in map is surprisingly useful. However, the lack of a computer interface is much more annoying than I ever expected. Additionally, the thing is somewhat flaky. It routinely reboots (restarts, initializes, something). I'll be in the middle of using it and suddenly it's asking what language I want to use again. Once, so far, it lost all my POI's (waypoints, whatever). Just boom, all gone.

Strangest of all, though, when I went on my first hunt, it was amazingly inacurate. I mean .3+ miles off. I know because the first two caches I tried were both in cemetaries and this thing was telling me I needed to be out in the middle of a cow pasture. I went home and read about map coordinates and datum. Different coordinate systems I understand...datum, I don't. I did read enough to see that I should be using WGS84 when it was set to GRB36. I tried changing it to WGS84 but it wasn't one of the 3 kazillion optional Map Datum setings. I rechecked several times and it just wasn't there. I sent an email to magellan, but no response. After one of its "no extra charge" restarts, viola, it's set to the previously nonexistent WGS84 and suddenly it's taking me to within arms reach of the caches. I'm confused. Also, somewhere along the way, it went into this strange "burn in" mode and printed a bunch of diagnostic (callibration?) information on the screen. The users guide had nothing on it I could find. It's actually done that bit twice. Is this normal?

Anyway, I'm taking it back to Costco tomorrow for a swap to see if a new one will be more stable. If not, I'll be returning it and going back to square 1. Will the 500 be more reliable? Do I switch to Garmin? Are these things all this maddening? Only time will tell.

Wow, talk about going off topic.

Jerry

[jacques0]

Wow! You have a defective unit! I also have an Explorist 200 and I have nothing but good to say about it. I have NEVER experienced any of the problems you mention. The lack of a PC port? Well, that has been discussed ad nauseum on these boards, so I won't go further into it here.

I have found the eX 200 eXtremely accurate, more so than the SportTrak Pro, which I returned after spending a day afield with the STP in one hand and the eX200 in the other. No comparison. eX200 hands down.

I anxiously await definitive info about the battery issue on the new Explorist series. It they allow AA's to be used, as well as the [built in?] lithium, I will be among the first in line.

[embra]

[JohnnyVegas]

[leatherman]