Edison.Starfire
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Posts posted by Edison.Starfire
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Garmin seems to be slipping. While I own a smartphone - the EVO 4G - and it's great in areas with 3G / 4G coverage for pulling down aerials and topos on a whim I have bought 2 new units since I got the phone. A Garmin Oregon 450t and a Magellan eXplorist 610. The 610 was bought while the 450t was lost but I still had the smartphone so.... As mentioned, the dedicated units are rugged, have better reception and not to mention battery life. iPhone with outlast my EVO on battery no doubt and I've been told has better accuracy which I can't confirm but my smartphone is just handy in some instances. My area has limited 3G even and to pull up even a road map while getting 1xRTT data speeds is annoying.
However, there's are a huge number of people who only geocache in urban areas and their phone isn't in much more danger than it would be from normal use. Garmin is losing out to those already in addition to turning a cold shoulder to current owners.
Its seems to be normal business practice by almost every company to stick it to your current customers and only cater to new prospects.
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I'm an occasional user of Ubuntu and Suse linux. I load it usually to see how far it has advanced but like most it's not a viable alternative due to lack of support for things like Mapsource, Base Camp etc. The many distributions don't help of course as most are aware. Here's hoping for more support in the future though. Thanks for the topic OP.
Actually, the problem is the other way around. It's not that Ubuntu and Suse don't support Mapsource and Base Camp, but that Mapsource and Suse don't support Linux!
If some of the application developers out there took the trouble to check the statistics on just how many Linux users there are now, they might just realise that they're missing out on a very large market sector.
I should have been more clear in my "accusation" lol. I'm aware of where the lack of support lies but thanks in case anyone doesn't know how the software industry works.
Linux has came a long way considering its open source and driven mostly by volunteers. I sometimes have Ubuntu installed on my desktop so visitors can get a taste of it, that and I enjoy seeing their reactions also.
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I'm an occasional user of Ubuntu and Suse linux. I load it usually to see how far it has advanced but like most it's not a viable alternative due to lack of support for things like Mapsource, Base Camp etc. The many distributions don't help of course as most are aware. Here's hoping for more support in the future though. Thanks for the topic OP.
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Hey soleful2001,
It's a tough choice. Like most things it depends on strengths. The maps on the 610 would be the winner for me. For someone else it may be pointless. The Delorme was my first choice but I couldnt get past the smaller screen. In practice it may not be a drawback but I didn't want to risk it. The first unit I owned was the eXplorist XL with a huge screen so I'm spoiled.
Thanks for the info on Magellan customer service. I do have a coworker who ended up with 2 XL units to replace one. Most issues with Magellan are lack of support for outgoing units such as the older eXplorists and Windows Vista / 7 compatibility. Hoping they get up to par all the way around. Competition is good for the end user of course and innovations from all the players would be welcomed.
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Thanks Edison.Starfire, that feed back is a BIG help.
With the SporTrak and Meridian, one can only zoom in to 100 ft, and only to 35 ft with a MobileMapper. I have several waypoints in the backyard that have a 10 ft circle of rocks around them. I walk them with my Garmin 60's, tracks set to 1 sec, or 1 yard, and have the circle on the Map Page. Then each time I return to one of these points, I can make a new waypoint and see how it relates to the original, and where it is on the Map Page. Long term averaging one of these points, makes it more fun. This with the Garmins zoomed in to 20 ft. So now with the new Maggies zooming in to 10 ft, oh boy....
Looks like that they may have out done the Meridians, on the Projection Page features. I have some plats that read like, N 23.47 W, so having the min feature helps. Easier than converting to mils, or guestimating on the Map Page, for me.
I hope that the SiRF chip is a bit calmer in the X10's, then in the TRitons.
Father Time has me pretty much confined to back yard testing, but it wards off the dreaded "alltimers". I hate asking others to check out some things that very few people use, but it keeps me from having to buy/return.
Grateful for help, especially during the "freezing, sneezing, weezing,season"!
Hey xxzee, Glad to help especially if you need it. Let me know if there's anything else I can check out for you.
Sounds like a neat exercise you have cooked up there. The Sirf seems to skid around on the map if you don't have a good lock which is nothing surprising. I need to compare an out an back tracklog between the 450t and 610 to see which one waivers the most especially under trees.
This ice out is bad business. Went visiting some fam yesterday and thought i was going t be stranded and calling a 4x4 rollback but made it haha. Need to make another cache run but don't fancy ice on rock above 50 foot drops to a freezing cold lake.
I was going to do a good battery life comparison but accidently mixed my new 4 pack of rechargeables with the older ones. Will have to get a new set to make it fair.
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My older units are acting as expected, with the "shutdown" of WAAS 48. The Meridian, after more than half an hour, keeps on searching for 48. Too bad that one can't go inside, via 03, and cancel just one WAAS Sat, rather than both, as it's all or nothing. Another hack in the future to change to 46.
The GPS 60 grabbed 51 right off, then in the second slot it searched for 48 for about a minute, then to 33 for about a minute, then to 46. The bar never goes solid and the icon flashes, but it has been doing the corrections ok. Sometimes with 14 sats visible, the unit only uses one WAAS slot/bar, and it has kicked 51 off, keeping 46, but the +- accuracy drops from 13 ft to 5 ft, like it does with 51.
Side note: I have had the WAAS Sat kicked off of a 60CXs, when there were about 14 sats visible, just like Garmin said that it might, in a back page of the manual.
Now I wonder how the new Maggie X10 units will handle the change.
I responded in the x10 thread in case you don't see it. I'll try and get a good lock with the 610 asap and watch the birdees. 46 has been hit and miss from what I've seen so far but havent got to spend a great deal of time. Last Saturday I was out most of the day but running out of time and ended up grabbing coords with the Garmin since i had several waypoints stored for a friend on the Mag that i didnt want to risk.
The 610 is a really nice unit and not sorry I bought it even though it was bought due to temporarily losing the Garmin.
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You can zoom to 10ft. It zooms out farther than a 1/4' mile of course but from there inward its in increments of 800ft > 500ft > 300ft > 200ft > 100ft > 50ft > 25ft > 10ft.
Waypoint projection is deg + min. ie: 357.26. I just projected that bearing 1,000,000.00 ft. Give you that many decimal places using your choice of Kilometers, Feet, Yards, Miles, Meters and Nautical Miles.
The sat icons and bars change color depending on signal strength. The bars have the sat ID in them but I don't recall the WAAS birdies displaying differently. Sitting 6' from to a window right now it's bouncing between 6-8 sats with 30-65% +/- signal. I have seen the new WAAS 46 a pop up but what little I have used the unit it's not always listed.
No idea on the antennae but guessing it's similar to the one in the Garmin Oregon's where it's runs from the top of the unit and down through the body.
I can't help you on the user grid so far.
Sorry it took me awhile to reply.
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Haven't spent much time with the unit thanks to crappy weather and getting a dose of the stomach virus that's been going around. I did take them outside today after work and after about 5 minutes got a coord reading to compare. I see posts about Magellan and Garmin varying and thought i would compare the two units.
explorist xx.xx.362' n Oregon xx.xx.362' n
xx.xx.927' w xx.xx.928' w
I didn't try swapping hands with the unit to see if they changed
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We use both an Oregon 450 and a Explorist 610. Both units have nice features which make them attractive geocaching / outdoor units.
For the Oregon - well, it's a Garmin. Sorry for the generalization here, but almost everyone uses a Garmin. As such, it's really easy to get your questions answered either here or on the Oregon Wiki site: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/. The Oregon does have some minor downsides (i.e., some reproducable crashes) but Garmin tends to update their firmware regularly - although sometimes, it is argued that they do this just to introduce new bugs. Garmin sells countless maps (I think it's upwards of the number of Nuvi variations that they sell). Pretty much anything you want to buy, Garmin will sell it. Don't get the 450t - it uses the 100K topo. Depending on the area, I've found the TIGER/road data to be upto 1/2 a mile off. Fortunately, gpsfiledepot.com has a good selection of free topo maps.
Now for the the 610/710. You get 2x the number of paperless caches (10,000, vs. 5,000). The 610 comes with really nice topo maps (more on that later). The 710 comes with topo plus street/route navigatable maps. Clyde just patched GSAK to allow cache page pictures (not gallery photos) to be displayed as part of the cache description - very nice! There's been talk here about Magellan's tech support for their products - most of it has been negative. I haven't had any problems with the unit yet (nor have I owned it long enough to see how often the firmware gets patched)... so I can't comment on that.
A big selling point for the x10 is the amount of FREE map data you can throw onto it. Unlike Garmin's custom map limit of 100 tiles, you can pack a 32GB memory card full of the highest resolution satellite images available from Google Earth (typically much nicer/sharper than Garmin's BirdsEye) using Mobile Atlas Creator. Only caveat is that if you need to break up your maps if you go over a 2GB file size. BirdsEye limits the download size to around 100MB per BirdsEye map. You can also create very pretty MyTopo 24K raster maps using Mobile Atlas Creator (although you don't get the 3D data you do with Garmin's 24K maps).
One suprising thing I've found is the amount of detail in Magellan's Summit Series that isn't even on my Garmin 24K West TopoDVD (+$100.00 or so, retail). For example, ALL of the Aliso/Wood Canyons trails located here on OpenStreetMap (http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=33.57065&lon=-117.7485&zoom=15&layers=M) are present on the x10's Summit Series. Garmin's 24K West Topo has no trails in this park.
Both units are nice - and I don't think you'll be bummed out if you get a 610/710 or a 450.
Good info Wampus n Pickle. The included maps on the 450t are kinda crummy. No two ways about it. Most of the roads in my area are off from a few feet (expected) to 100ft on occasion. I'm a little annoyed at my Garmin right now. The replacement unit they sent doesn't want to update to the lates 4.20 software. The current has beta 3.71 one so I'm thinking they are going to have to give me an official release to flash manually. I stick at the "validating update 0% complete" screen. I can delete the garmin update file via windows explorer and the unit works fine after that. The original unit bricked on me. I've got an email into tech support on it.
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I'm really struggling to decide between the eXplorist 610 and the Garmin Oregon 450 (or 550) .... one of the things that caught my eye was that the explorist holds 10k caches .... what I read on the Oregon is only 1000?? is that true??
I want this almost exclusively for geocaching, and I don't want to have to plan every outing by updating small batches of caches, I'd like to have a big selection already saved in the memory.
Also, do either or both of them allow you to filter the list of geocaches you have saved? For example, if I want to only see size=small, can I do that from within either GPS, or do I have to sort it in GSAK before I upload it?
Can you save off the GPX files on the memory card and load/unload them as you need to? I've done that on my blackberry .. where I have several queries saved, and only load the one for what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give .. I have read all the reviews and done lots of research, but it has seemed to be more confusing and every time I read another one I change my mind. lol
Thanks!
Hi CacheChick
Sorry it took me awhile. I'm not the best source of info on either of these unit as both are new to me. You can sort the caches on each unit by Name, Difficulty, Terrain, Type and Size
I'm not sure about saving queries and switching them out. On the 610 the gpx files do have to be in the "geocaching" folder on the unit for them to show up. I imagine you could swap files from your computer to the unit in storage mode though.
If you haven't found it already here is a site for the Garmin units.
In my opinion there will be a strength or weakness of each unit that makes or breaks it for some users. Magellan's biggest hurdle is poor support in the past. Hopefully things have changed with the new ownership (MiTAC) although I'm guessing owners of previous gen devices are still left out in the cold. It would be a hard choice for me between the units from what I know so far. If I get to spend time on a hike the coming weeks I'll give a more detailed opinion. I'm more of a gadget addict / hiker than a geocacher so I apoligize for being much help there. Let me know how your decision goes.
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Any progress on the GSAK pprass ? I haven't messed with that in a few years so I'm of no help there.
No not really. I can download caches direct from the GC site using "Send to My GPS" and it works ok - pictures are there. Others who are having a similar problem can download a pocket query direct into VantagePoint and then onto the GPS and can see the pictures (most of the time - some just don't appear?)
We just can't download a Pocket Query through GSAK and then onto the GPS or onto VP and then onto the GPS.
I have set out the problem on the GSAK Forum and have had a few suggestions, but nothing so far is working.
I use GSAK for all of my cache management, so don't really want to use VP as well.
In the meantime - if I need the image for my caching, I just need to plan for that and download the individual cache from the GC site. Unfortunately what happens in that instance is that it appears twice on my list of Geocaches and I have to decide which one has the image - no big deal I guess - just something else to remember.
I have the Oregon 450t handy again for comparison. Bootup time on the 450t is 18 seconds - doesn't include a satellite lock of course....Gosh - with 3 maps to load and about 95mb of geocaching details, my 610 takes about 1 min and 15 sec to boot up. But when it does it immediately has a satellite lock - even indoors!
lol - yeah the Magellan is slower for startup and shutdown but it seems to vary. I took both units outside this morning and the Garmin took longer to get a lock. I shut them down and left them sit for a couple of hours and took them back out. 13 seconds from power button the Garmin was on the menu screen and had birdies. At 35 seconds it had settled to down to a claimed 10ft accuracy from the initial 30. The Magellan had map screen in 35 seconds and claimed 21 ft which didnt change. Both were tracking the same number with the new 46 satellite going on and off for some reason. Boot time, in practice is a little different than initial perception then. Shutdown is instant on the Garmin for sure though.
As mentioned on the cable, it's a standard mini-USB. I've used the same cable between both units as well as a Seagate external hard drive.
Indoors the screen on the Magellan looks much better. Outdoors they are pretty evenly matched. The Garmin is slightly better in some situations but mostly due to thicker drawn contour lines/outlined text and not the screen itself. The Magellan has a slight more reflectiveness also.
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Spent the day on the lake yesterday. The 610 does really good in sunlight. Not as good as the old XL of course but acceptable in my opinion. My 450t is in for replacement due to bricking itself after a software update. Wish i had it to compare with.
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I went to update my 450t yesterday and bricked it... ugh.
I got the 'Vailidating Update 0% Complete" and no farther. Called tech support and the walked me through the "boot block" by holding down the power button while plugging in the cable. Ran the update 2 more times with no luck and sent the unit to Kansas for repair. -
Any progress on the GSAK pprass ? I haven't messed with that in a few years so I'm of no help there.
I have the Oregon 450t handy again for comparison. Bootup time on the 450t is 18 seconds - doesn't include a satellite lock of course. Shuts off pretty much instant.
Raining and can't really make any other comparisons other than the screen sure does look dull compared to the 610 indoors.
The Oregon is smaller in the hand. The units look very similar in size until you hold them. Both fit well but the Oregon is a little easier to hold on to for me.
Going back and forth between the two units finds me searching for certain things on both of them....
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...Are you using Internet Explorer? Dunno if alternative browsers would cause an issue but just a thought.
G'day Edison.Starfire - interesting that you can't download using Magellan Communicator either. I am using Mozilla Firefox V 3.6.12. I'll try with Internet Explorer tonight and see if there is any difference.
Thanks
XP and IE 8 on this machine. I reinstalled the Communicator and it's working today. Coincidence maybe...maybe not. I have 2 Win 7 machines at home and it worked fine on the the one (laptop) that I tried it on.
Has your luck changed any ?
On the custom maps subject I was thinking of aerial photos instead of topos. I stay confused in case nobody is aware.
. Hoping for a cache run this weekend. -
It's only my opinion but I don't expect there to be much for the Magellans anytime soon, at least not for free.
Just the oposite
You can find a lot's of maps for Magellan handhelds on http://www.maps4me.net/index.php?language=en for a small registration fee.
Wow, thanks for the link DavorF. Now I'm wondering why I thought the new series used a different format. haha. Alzheimers !! Glad you were handy to correct me. Thanks
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Changed post to can't load caches from Geocaching.com. I downloaded Magellan Communicator, but I get a message that I need to download a Plug-in? Don't know which one though?
any ideas? Also the manual states that if the "Download" and "Check Device" buttons are greyed in the "Send to GPS" box (which they are), then I need to run Active X. However I know what that is?
Heya ppras. Hows it going in Australia? Thanks for sharing your experiences with the new unit. I'm glad you mentioned the "cancel goto" option for people who may be thinking of a new unit. Small details like that can be annoying. I had a heck of a time with navigating the XL I had. One of things that JohhnyVegas found to be a major plus was a headache for me at the start. Like him, it turned out to be handy. Less so for me but handy.
The touch screen is a double edge sword. So far I don't seem to be having as many issues as i did with the 450t. With the 450t i would tap the screen to get the backlight on and end up flagging a point on the map.... with the 610 you have to remember mostly not to touch the corners where the quick menu buttons are. I'll have to be careful on cache selecting this weekend if i make it out on a run. Thanks for the heads up. lol.
I'm trying to find something on the "send to" issue. Mine worked fine a couple of days ago but now its just giving me "checking magellan communicator...." and not downloading. Are you using Internet Explorer? Dunno if alternative browsers would cause an issue but just a thought.
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Has anyone tried to see if it is possible to import any of the files that can be found on the gpsfiledepot and how they work on the new magellans?
The files on gpsfiledepot are in a different format and not compatible from my understanding. I read that custom map support is being developed but of course that depends on how many people with the knowledge to make custom maps feel like contributing their time. It's only my opinion but I don't expect there to be much for the Magellans anytime soon, at least not for free.
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From what I'm seeing so far caches have to be stored in the geocache folder and can't be in subfolders. For me it's no big deal as you can sort your caches by distance, type etc but folder navigation on the old explorist did have a certain geeky windows feel to it
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There's a 3.22 update out that I just applied. Unit shipped with 2.62. Seems to have kept any custom settings I made. I haven't used the unit enough to encounter the issues so i can't comment on fixes of course.
Improved Software Performance
Resolved Media Issue Where Users Were Limited to Capturing 700 Images
Improved Barometric Altimeter Calibration
Resolved Issue with “Degree/Minute/Second” Coordinate Entry
Update was quick and painless as it should be.
For anyone who wants to download the manual. No account needed.
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I use the seido innocase ii holster and case for my EVO 4G. It's a vertical case and like rstickle mentioned it really gets in the way. I tend to clip mine on my pocket though instead of belt. Not really a good thing to do but if im in the woods ill put it in a zipper jacket pocket. I rarely use mine for geocaching out in remote locations due to lack of phone signal in this area.
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I scoured the net (especially here) and Youtube hoping for some insight or prelease video before ordering with no luck.
Sometimes NDAs actually work. :-)
The camera is behind a clear lens that's sealed to the case. The speaker has holes in the battery cover and actually has a waterproof cone. I asked Magellan "really?!?!" when I saw that and they were confident that it was IPX7. I assume Nuvi 500 has something similar.the lid arond the batteries. Not sure how the speaker and camera is sealed off as they are outside the o-ring. Design flaw possibly.
For those wondering, it's a mass storage device, so it shows up like any USB disk drive on any (interesting) operating system. You copy PQs to it. Archived and saved tracks are in GPX; the active track is not.Connection to a Windows XP system for synced up quick and easy to view the pictures. I'm sure it will work the same on Windows 7 but will post back if there's an issue.As far as storage does the 610 have the ability to store several cache files such as the early explorist series ?
Not sure what you are asking (im slow lol). If I'm understanding you and remembering correctly from my old eXplorist XL you could have several caches/individual gpx files under one "folder" or "directory" and another folder with different caches? i'll have to make sure but from what I've read it should work that way but I've yet to get an experience with the geocaching end of it yet.
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Queston: Is heading/course up the default? Few of the map screen shots I've seen were taken with north up.
Track is up by default and can be set to Track up, Course up or North up.
I got the 'Vailidating Update 0% Complete" and no farther. Called tech support and the walked me through the "boot block" by holding down the power button while plugging in the cable. Ran the update 2 more times with no luck and sent the unit to Kansas for repair.
. Hoping for a cache run this weekend.
Magellan eXplorist 610 update out
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
eXplorist 610 4.82 software
For anyone who hadn't noticed. I'll update mine this weekend and take it for a drive.