breaultm

Between April and May 2010... I don't remember exactly when.

I've been using the eXplorist GC ever since it came out (...ok, about a month after it came out) and I think it's a great unit for Geocaching... well, at least for me. I wasn't looking into a unit for navigation and it was "in-budget" with all the features I was looking for (just Geocaching). I don't think the inability to update the map is a real "con" for most considering that it includes a fairly recent version of the Worldwide NAVTEQ map, which already includes a lot of information (even for my little "usually-neglected" region in New-Brunswick, Canada, where it includes certain trails and even roads used for forestry). As with every piece of electronics, and even beyond, there are better units, and there are worst units; there are more expensive units, and there are cheaper units. The "best" unit is the one that's going to have all the features you need at the price you're willing to give.

I'd like to also point out that the coordinates posted are only as accurate as the GPSr of the person who put the Cache there in the first place. I've noticed this a few times that GZ on my GPSr would be dead-on on a Cache and off by as much as a 100 meters the very next Cache. The "once you're around GZ, put your GPSr in your pocket" advice is much more powerful than it can seem when you're a beginner-Geocacher. When I started, I struggled with some easy caches because I had the reflex of relying too much on the GPSr.

The GC, on the other hand is said to support 10,000 Caches, not counting duplicates* Depends if you want a device that just does Geocaching or something that does a lot more (Garmin Colorado/Dakota) for a bit more money. *If you have Pocket Queries with overlapping radius, duplicate Caches are eliminated.

There was an unforeseen glitch outside of the update and they want the update to fix it. So they're working on fixing that as well to have one major update instead of releasing one now and one in two weeks. EDIT : eXplorist GC software version 1.4 is available now! http://www.magellangps.com/support/notes.asp?supportID=922

I'm up to roughly ~2200 on it so far. As long as your GPX files are valid (not corrupted), it seems to take whatever it can hold so far. Something pretty cool, if your PQ's radius overlap, it eliminates duplicate Caches .

They used to. The "Report Abuse" button is still there, but the "Hate or violence" criteria used to be much broader than it is now (now it's specific "material that promotes hatred toward groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity is not allowed on Blogger."). The best thing we can do is to just ignore Forest Defender and other Anti-Cachers and (1) be the better man (and woman ) and (2) always be at least one step ahead. Real environmentalists and eco-friends don't dislike Geocaching. EDIT: Oooooh, nice!

This. If you feel an area is too muggle-sensitive, try to figure out when the area is mostly and less populated. There was an urban cache that me and my girlfriend did. It took us two visits. Usually people won't even notice what we're doing, but that area was not "comfortable". So we left and came back on a Sunday evening when there was no one around.

I realized this not too long ago. Some urban caches have the Google Maps icon dead on.... however, as soon as "woods" is involved, the radius greatly increases The coordinates are only as accurate as the coordinates from the hider's GPSr ...

It's a pretty impressive road basemap that's included. I was driving down a road in New Brunswick with a bunch of trails and small dirt roads for forestry... they were all on the GC map!

Max is 1000 now ...

It's a bit abnormal from my experience, if there's any signal. Go to Settings > Satellites. You should see a screen like this... How many green or white birds do you see?

Both are great units, but the ultimate choices will come down to a few questions. Do you plan on doing anything else than Geocaching with the unit? If all you need is a GPSr strictly for Geocaching, the Magellan eXplorist GC is a good choice. The Garmin 60CSX is a great all around and very powerful device full of features for things outside of Geocaching. The eXplorist GC cannot ("yet", according to Magellan) navigate you to a waypoint else than a straight line, no turn-by-turn, and you don't have the ability to change the basemap to a topo or other maps (another "yet", according to Magellan). The basemap is pretty dadgum impressive though. It's a very detailed worldwide basemap (some people say it's a NAVTEQ basemap, but I can't confirm this). I saw some some secondary roads and trails in there, depending on the region. Do you want a fully Paperless GPSr? The Garmin 60CSX is not a Paperless Geocaching unit. With the eXplorist GC, not only can you put in Pocket Query files and have access to all the Geocaching info you want, but you can also log them on the unit and upload the Field Notes/Logs once you get home. It all comes down to this: - Do you want a unit that does greatly a little bit of everything or a unit that does a bit less, but that is fully Paperless Geocaching without any extra devices or software?

This quote is made of "Win"!

This is pretty much the best way to slow down the number of armchair cachers for that Cache. The upside is that armchair cachers that fail to answer the new question are easier to spot and you can just delete their logs without even having to ask them if they were really there or whatever.

I love mine too! I've been to 1-3 meters away from GZ with mine on five occasions. That's pretty darn impressive if you ask me. Quoted for truth.

If you really don't need the extra functionality, like I did, you can save that $25~ and put it towards more Geocaching gear. It all depends on what you want, what you need, and the money you're willing to spend.

Same thing. Fully paperless and uploading your field notes is extremely easy. Both are great. I have the eXplorist GC (got it yesterday) and I love it. It's strictly a Geocacher's GPSr. There's no turn-by-turn navigation and you can't put in custom maps ("yet", according to Magellan), so that can explain the price a bit. It all depends on what you need and what you want to pay.

Whether it's to drop GPX files (individual or PQ) onto the eXplorist GC or even to upload Field Notes, Vantage Point is not needed

Light source looks consistent throughout and there are no visible artifacts, even zoomed.

WHAA.....? *checks* Well damnit! I could've gotten it for 0$ too <.<...

Two extremely different units. The 60CSx is the all-around-balanced/does-almost-everything unit. Add in maps, get turn-by-turn navigation, etc... Although it does support some Geocaching features, it's not paperless. The eXplorist GC doesn't have turn-by-turn navigation nor the ability to change the map ("yet", according to Magellan), but it's truly paperless. It was designed and developed with Geocaching in mind. You can filter and sort caches on multiple parameters, see descriptions, hints, and logs; and with GPX 1.0.1 even some pictures. Both are extremely accurate and at the top of their leagues. It all depends whether you want paperless or additional maps and turn-by-turn navigation. It also depends on what you already have. I know a lot of Geocachers with the 60CSx that use a seperate device for "paperless", such as an iPhone/iPod Touch or Blackberry. There are more expensive units that essentially combine both. It all comes down to features and budget.

I'm waiting for Magellan to process my order and ship it so I can play with it ! I can't really talk about it much since I'm waiting to get it. What made me choose this one instead of better Paperless units such as the Garmin Dakota and Oregon is the price difference. This difference comes at a cost, no turn-by-turn or true navigational (for car) features. It is a a Geocacher's GPSr. But, for me I didn't need those features, so I'm saving about $100 (CAD). I'll let members with more experience advise you better on the pros and cons. Magellan's own Online Store offers a discount and free extended warranty to AAA members.

The Garmin Oregon and Dakota are pretty much the best GPSr for Paperless Geocaching. However, if you're only going to use a GPSr for Geocaching and don't care for turn-by-turn and only need a basemap (for now...), another model that can be interesting is the Magellan eXplorist GC. You can save a few bucks if its all you need.

Me and my girlfriend have been looking for an outdoors activity for the past few years. We hold a pretty sedentary lifestyle, working in IT, arts, and design, and being a gamer. It became essential for us to find something. We tried many different things but nothing stuck. It never felt right, and even less exciting. There lacked purpose and motivation for us. Here's a tiny backtracked detail: 8 to 10 months ago I saw one of my friends on Facebook mentioning Geocaching. That's the first time I saw the term. I looked it up, thought it was neat, and buried it in my mind and pretty much forgot about it. Back to my story. About a week ago, me and my girlfriend were driving around, talking about everything and nothing, when out of nowhere Geocaching came up in the conversation. The more we talked about it, the more we were starting to be interested in it. When we got back home, I absorbed a load of information. The next day we found our first Cache. The more we do it, the more we feel great about it and the more fun we have. This weekend, at one of the WWFM VII events in New-Brunswick, I figured why we like it so much and why it fits "us". As mentioned earlier, we're both a bit "gamers". We find motivation in objectives and enjoy achievements. Geocaching fits in there. We find it fun to look for something, investigate an environment to find something hidden. Having technology to help us really speaks to the geek in us. In short: It's get's us out and it's amazingly fun!