ScottOSki

Double Post - Sorry

While researching for a new GPS purchase, I've read about the Lowrance Endura line having an issue with stopping navigation 30 ft or so from entered POI. Has a suitable workaround been found for this issue? What happens if you stop the goto and restart in once you are within 30 ft? Does the unit immediately state you are at the POI? Does the issue go away if you save the POI and load it back onto the unit as a .gpx? This could be a deal breaker for me. Right now I'm torn between the Endura Sierra and a Delorme PN-60. The 60 is more $$ and the Lowrance unit has more choices for fishing maps, which I like. Thanks in advance. Scott

Has anyone ever gotten an actual price match from TigerGPS? I ask because in two cases now I was told the price couldn't be matched due to the product not being in stock. In the latest instance the website showed it to be in stock. I actually contacted them the same day and asked what the deal was. They told me the website had not been updated and the product was out of stock and would not be in for 10-14 days. Just out of curiousity I checked the site again today and the product still shows that it is in stock?!? I'm wondering if anyone has actually gotten a price match or if this is just a gimmick. Thanks - Scott

I upgraded the firmware a couple of days after it was posted. Most of the cold weather use has been after the update. Zero issues. I use the GPS to get me to icefishing spots and to log snowmobile rides, so it gets pretty cold. Never had a single lockup, shutdown or whatever. One important step in the firmware upgrade is to do a complete memory clear after install. Some of the other, more experienced Maggellan users here (Embra, etc.) have recommended this. I backed up all of my data on the GPS and the SD card and cleared both completely and then re-loaded the data. Something about potential ghost bits of data messing up the unit. Others may want to try this if they have not since the firmware upgrade. Scott

I've had my EX500 since a month after they came out and never had any cold weather problems. 40F is not cold!!! I live in WI and use my GPS for hunting, icefishing and snowmobiling. I've had it out fishing when actual temp was 10F and windchill was -35F. I've used it to map snowmobile trails, keeping it stored in a handlebar bag on the sled. Never had any issues. It definetly sounds like the cold weather reboot is a defective unit and not normal. Scott

Uh, you might want to slow WAYYYY down and use your senses to drive in a situation like this and not rely on an electronic device that can fail. If not, you don't need a GPS but you might need a physician!

If this is your experience, something is definetly not right. I too would suggest you re-initialize, and check your clock/time settings. My GPS acted strange when I had the wrong time set in it. It seemed like the accuracy was poor and it took a longer time to get a lock. Tonight I went for a walk and took my E500. I had 5 sats in a minute, and a 3-D lock with 7 sats in 2 minutes. Within 5 minutes I was getting 30 ft accuracy without WAAS. Within 10 minutes I had a full WAAS lock and accuracy was down to 20-30 ft. When I finished my walk 40 minutes later I had 16 ft accuracy with 10 sats locked. I love my E500. I use it with Topo 3D. The lithium battery is a great feature, and using the swivel bracket with the USB cord works great for charging and transferring data. Scott

This really is a chevy vs ford coke vs pepsi kind of argument. I am a Magellan user and prefer their interface - because I know it. My first GPS was a Maggie so I'm probably biased. My current unit is a Magellan - I looked at Garmin and Lowrance but felt the E500 fit me best. I like the expandable memory, the rechargeable Li-ion battery and the small size. I am still amazed at some of the p---ing matches that erupt here over units. It seems every time someone mentions an issue with Magellan the same few Garmin users come out of the woodwork to bash the product. Yet their are several posts on the first page right now with issues with Garmin products (including the beloved 60CS) and all the responses are other Garmin users offering help or telling them to contact customer service. No Maggie users bashing the products. Several Garmin users here bashed the hell out of the Explorist series before they even saw one, much less used one. I expect they wouldn't buy anything but Garmin anyway, so why bother telling the rest of us how bad the Magellens are? Just an observation from a frequent lurker and infrequent poster. The internet is a strange place, and boards like this seem to bring out that strangeness. I'm amazed at how everyone is 10 ft tall and bulletproof while anonymously typing on a computer. As long as my unit gets me to the cache (or tree stand or fishing spot) I am happy with it. Is any GPS unit perfect? Probably not. Some are closer than others. Pick the one you like best. But as the old saying goes you can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time. But you can never please all of the people all of the time. Scott

The insulation on the USB cord for my E500 is coming away from the "Y" in the center of the cord. I sent an email using the support request form. I had a response the same day asking to confirm shipping location. I replied and got a second response the next day giving me an order number and telling me to expect the cord in 3-5 business days. On day 6 I did not have the cord so I sent another email. I received an email the next day telling me the cords are backordered but my order is in the que and will be shipped when they become available. I will let you know when that happens. Scott

The swivel mount comes with two small screws for permanent mounting. I have never used these. If you would like a permanent mount 2 sided tape would work. My preference is to use "industrial strength" velcro. I put the fuzzy part on the swivel mount and the scratchy part on my dash. This holds it very firm but allows easy removal. I also put velcro in my boat so I can use the same mount in both places. The thumbscrew on the side allows the top part of the mount to be removed from the base. It also loosens the mount to allow it to turn. Scott

They have a USB connector; however to stay waterproof the cord still attaches to the outside of the unit similart to the 3XX, Meridian, and ST series. It's just that the other end of the cord is a USB instead of a serial and the device uses USB communication. I'm not sure how one would waterproof a "standard" USB connection. Scott

If you have any kind of mount from Magellan the connector will fit in the back. Then you simply need to put the GPS into the cradle and it will be connected to the cord. This is true for the 300 series, Meridians, ST, and Explorist mounts. I use my swivel mount for the Explorist for this reason. It sits on my dash using velcro and then comes into the house for any computer work. The swivel mount is worth the $$ for this reason alone. The problem is even worse with the Explorist as the connector is small... Scott

Yes, absolutely it will. This is how I charge and power the unit at the same time if the battery is getting low. If the battery doesn't need charging I just plug the USB cord into a Belkin cigarette USB adapter to provide external power. Not to be too repetetive but I am going to warn everyone again about attaching the Magellan supplied cable to the unit in the "upside down" position. While this does allow charging, the wires from the USB plug to the GPS connector are small gauge and not designed to support the larger amperages that the battery may draw while charging. The safe way to charge is to connect the AC or DC cord to the "Y" in the Magellan supplied cord with the connector attached to the GPS in the down (correct) orientation. Scott

It looks like Magellan got tired of answering the USB cable connection question (up or down). This link to a PDF file is now on the site: http://www.magellangps.com/assets/caution_eXplorist_1up.pdf Cable down is the "official" Magellan answer. Scott

Steps 2 and 3 are only necessary if you have a current GOTO active and then push the button again. If not, you simply push GOTO, select the POI and click enter. 3 steps, not five. If you have a current GOTO route active it only makes sense to me that the unit would ask if you really want to cancel it. I freqently push GOTO on the unit to pull up steps 2 and 3 as a fast way to cancel a GOTO. But what do I know, I'm a Magellan user...... Scott

Just a caution to those connecting the Magellan supplied cord to the Explorist in the "upside down" position. It appears the wires that go from the USB plug to the GPS screw in connector are very small gauge and not designed to support large amounts of current. Charging the battery this way might not be a good idea and could lead to damage. The wires that go from the charging plug at the Y are larger gauge. Check out this link: http://www.pc-mobile.net/mexusb.htm Scott

I second the swivel mount. I used the "industrial strength" velcro and the unit is very firm to the dash. I pull the entire unit and set it at my computer desk for charging, maps etc. Then all you need to do is plug in the charger or the USB plug and not mess around with the Explorist cable - it stays attached to the cradle on the swivel mount. Very handy. I also stuck a piece of the velcro on my boat and can put the unit there using the same mount. Scott

The E500 doesn't have a good projection tool, however there is a marginal way to accomplish this. You can go to the map screen and move the cursor to another location. The GPS tells you the bearing and distance to the new point. You can create a waypoint at the cursor location. Depending on the zoom level of the map screen this can be very accurate or not at all. It can also be difficult to get the exact angle and distance you want at higher levels of zoom. At the 100 ft and 250 ft levels it is passable (barely). I did find a cache using this method that required projection of 2 waypoints. Of course if you use Cachemate on a PDA, you can do projections there very easily. I hope the first firmware update puts the Meridian type projection (or for that matter my old 315!) option back in the unit. Scott

I found a car charger today at Walmart that works with my E500. It is designed for a Sony PSP (portable play station). The PSP uses the USB standard so the output is just over 5 V, and the plug is identical to the one on the wall charger that came with the unit. The best part -only $7!! The unit is made by Pelican and claims it will recharge a PSP in 2 hours. Here is their website: http://www.pelicanperformance.com/ Look under PSP. The PSP battery is a 3.7 V Li-ion and looks remarkably similar in size to the E500. This charger plugs into the Y on the USB cord just like the wall plug that came with the unit. ScottOski

The car charger for the Explorist 400/500/600 series has been posted on the Magellan website: http://www.magellangps.com/en/products/pro...asp?PRODID=1086 as have replacement wall chargers: http://www.magellangps.com/en/products/pro...asp?PRODID=1087 and USB cables: http://www.magellangps.com/en/products/pro...asp?PRODID=1085 The car charger simply plugs into the Y connector on the original USB cord and charges/powers the unit the same way the wall charger does. It does not have an additional plug for a swivel mount or anything else. I believe that any 5 V charger with the correct plug and polarity could be used as well. ScottOski

In the up configuration the USB data transfer will not work, it must be down. For the power/charging, look at Robert's post above. ScottOski

After getting my unit (and after buying the USB cigarette charger, unfortunately) I though much the same thing. There are many 12V "universal" car adapters available that should easily allow one to match plug type, polarity, etc. and fit into the "Y" on the cable. I may even have one at home that I can try. The polarity for the wall charger should be shown right on it. I think your thoughts that pins 2/3 only allow limited mA while 5/6 allow "big gulps" are right on. For those who need to charge and power at the same time in the vehicle and can't wait for the official Magellan version, the above might be your best bet. Use caution to choose the correct plug, voltage and polarity - don't fry your unit and don't try this if you don't know what your doing!! However, I'm still not that worried about charging and powering while in the vehicle. Since the battery has 16 plus hours of life alone and when in the swivel mount it isn't using battery power (or charging!) the battery life on a typical day of caching for me is (much) more than adequate. ScottOski

Excellent detective work! Your explanation would explain why the GPS does not seem to charge while connected to a cigarette lighter USB adapter while sitting in the swivel mount (cord connected in down position). However, if the unit is turned off, then it charges just fine. I'm not sure what the output of my USB charger is - I will look tonight. It may not have enough mA to both charge and power, just as a standard USB port. I will also look at the secifications for the AC charger provided. I'm guessing it's output is something greater than 500 mA which is why it is able to both power and charge at the same time. The next obvious question is then if I came up with a USB cigarette charger rated for higher mA would I be able to power and charge at the same time, even if the unit did not show "charging". It seems to me that the charging indication must by tied to pins 5/6 and will never show regardless of the voltage/amperage applied to pins 2/3. Perhaps it shows charging any time it detects a certain voltage across pins 5/6? Additionally, I don't think Magellan ever intended for the cord to be attached to the unit in the "upside down" configuration. The swivel mount absolutely forces the "correct" configuration of cord down. The old 3XX, Sporttracks, Meridians, etc. all have there cords facing down. By going to a square connector with 6 contacts it seems to be just dumb luck that the connector can be screwed on in two configurations. I'm not sure we are hurting anything by connecting the cord in the "upside down" configurationg to power/charge, but I'm not sure we are gaining anything either. Even if the unit shows charging with a USB charger attached in the upside down position, if the mA output isn't high enough to both power and charge (as you discussed above) it may show charging even though it is only trickle charging, or maybe not charging at all?? More things to look at or experiment with tonight.... ScottOski

DotCom - note that this is a homebrew version, not an official Magellan version of a battery pack. A 500 owner made this up on his own and is testing it. Any versions from Magellan are still only speculation, as none have been spotted yet! Also note that the article you quoted from above does not state that it is an external pack, only that it is a back-up. My guess is that the Magellan version may look very similar to what you see above. Personally, after using the 500 for 3 weeks and having a USB cigarette lighter adapter, I am happy as can be with the Li-ion battery. I can plop the unit in its cradle (swivel mount) while driving from cache to cache and use truck power to save the battery. The 15 plus hours of power combined with not using the batteries while in the truck means that I have a very long battery life. I simply turn the unit off at night, leave it in the cradle and it is ready to go with a full charge in the morning. Or, if I need to download new caches, routes, etc. I bring the entire swivel mount into the house, leaving the cord attached. Connect the USB to the computer and I'm ready to up/download. When done, I simply plug in to the supplied wall-wart and the battery is at full charge in a couple hours. My swivel mount is attached to the dash of my truck with industrial strength velcro, so it is very easy to take in and out of the truck. Of course I don't go on extended hikes/camps out in the bush. But, I also purchased a USB charger that uses 4 AA's from Boxwave. It can be used to recharge or power the unit as well. If a long-time camper in the bush would simply turn the unit off at night and plug it into this battery box, it would be fully charged by morning. I'm not sure how many charges you would get (as I have not tested yet) but Boxwave claims 4-5 charges for most PDAs using 4 AAs. I'm not sure how the E500 battery compares to PDA batteries. Now that I have it, I doubt I will get much use from the battery box, but it is nice having it as an option. ScottOski edit: spelling

I used my 315 for many years and found it to be very accurate as well. Based on the information you provided I would back-up your waypoints to a file on a computer (using easy GSAK, easyGPS, etc.) and then do a clear all on the unit (menu/setup/clear/clear all). This will delete everything and reset the unit to factory defaults. It will also clear out the almanac. Then, start the unit and re-initialize (menu/setup/initialize). Follow the prompt to re-initialize the unit. After about 10-15 minutes you should have a good lock, a new almanac downloaded and a once-again accurate 315. Good luck. ScottOski