Blue_Stone

Then why havent you sold it or given it away, and gotten another Explorist, or a new Garmin? We've all had our chance at posting a reply to the OP, and our feelings on Magellan. I think you've made it pretty clear you dont like Magellans, not only in this thread, but other similar threads. How about giving it a rest, instead of continuing to harp about it? This isnt an attack on you, and I hope you dont take it that way, but rehashing the Magellan bashing gets kind of old, and muddies the waters in my opinion, for people looking for honest opinions on Magellan. It just clutters up the threads for those who actually want to take the time to do a search, and read the whole threads. Thanx.

How will the manufacturer know whether you got the unit off ebay or not? If you look at most warranty cards, they require you to send in an original, or at least a copy of your sales receipt WITH the warranty or registration card, to be covered by warranty. THATS how they know. Also, as retail technology improves, you'll notice lots of manufacturers, ESPECIALLY those who make electronics, are putting barcodes on the outside of the packages that contain the serial number to the item. I'm sure they keep a database of where each individual item gets distributed to. Also, RETAILERS have the ability to log in serial numbers when they receive these shipments from manufactureers or distributors. Then, when these retailers sell the item to the consumer, they keep track of that also. Just look at your sales receipts. Many show the serial number of the item. So when you send in a copy of the sales receipt to register for warranty coverage, the manufacturer closes the loop on each individual item. The system is not yet foolproof, and there are holes, but its making it harder for stolen goods, and people who try to scam on warranties, to get away with it.

Ummmm....I used to work at WalMart...I can assure you, Walmart RARELY has anywhere NEAR the best prices online. Do some research online before buying, and you'll find that out yourself. Also, YES, knight2000 is correct, RETURNS FOR ELECTRONICS at Walmart is NOT 90 days. I thought it was 30 or 45 days, but I KNOW for sure its definately NOT 90.

You can try calling them and telling them it happened again. The battery contact thing was a known issue with the Meridians. They already have it on file that you had to return it for this same issue while it WAS STILL under warranty. They SHOULD fix it again...Whether they will or not, no one can say till you call them again. I had a Sportrak Map, and they had a known issue with the screws holding the two pieces of the body together being torqued too tight during manufacture. This caused many of the cases to crack at the mounting points. I returned mine under warranty, and they replaced half of the body. A few months later, I noticed it was splitting again so I called. It was out of warranty by 3 or 4 months, but they took it back. They gave me an RMA # over the phone, and I sent it in the next day. The day after that, I received a BRAND NEW replacement, plus a few accessories for my trouble. But that was when Magellan seems to have had much better customer service, at least over the phone. And, yes, if yours is just acting a little weird, try reinitializing it like someone stated above. If that doesnt work, and youre technically capable, try reflashing the firmware. That will quite often help with the Meridians.

Do you take Paypal?

Keep the Plat. The Meridians are the best handheld Magellan ever made. They're discontinued, but I think far from obsolete. Are you finding caches with it? Does it frustrate you? If No to both questions, I would keep it a couple more years, THEN maybe upgrade to something much better than whats available now. I think about the only thing better out now than what the Plat has is SirfIII chip, and color screen. So the Sirf chip may be a little faster, maybe a bit more accurate (how accurate do you want? Do you want to just follow the GPS till it says 1-3FT, and "Hey, What do you know, the cache is right here!"), and the color screen may be a bit nicer. If you've been satisfied with the Plat, keep it till it really IS obsolete. Personally, I dont think the new $$ units have that much more going for them, except maybe some bells and whistles. I think in the next couple of years, the next big thing that would be worth upgrading to, will be units that use satelite imagery, bigger screens, with touch screen capability. Or a rugged, armored PDA/GPS combo that will finally have the best of both units in one.

Yep. GC.com imports solely from the USGS database. Sometimes marks from other agencies will be included in that database, but most wont be. And yes, this one is a US Army Corps of Engineers mark. I would guess there is a dam, or other structure nearby that was built and is maintained by the USACE.

Take into account that many parks and managed properties that developed a permit system, often require the cache to only have a lifetime of 2yrs, after which it must be archived and removed. As more and more lands become regulated, you'll see a BIG turnover in caches each year, now.

Sorry, it doesnt work like that. If you buy something still sealed, new, in the manufacturers packaging, and you have a sales receipt from an authorized retailer, it doesnt matter whether it sits on the shelf for 5 yrs...If it had a 1yr warranty when it firdt got put on that shelf, then it should have the SAME 1yr warranty when it finally gets bought 5 yrs later. It shouldnt matter that the item is discontinued and no longer made. Companies have plenty of spare units and parts in stock to carry them past the manufacturing life of the item. If it gets so far in the future that someone makes a warranty claim on a valid warranty, and the manufacturer no longer has parts, or the means to repair or replace the unit, they should make equal recompense with a newer alternative. Period. Thats called standing behind your product, and earning customer loyalty. And YES, Walmart sells old stuff as new. I worked in a store that just got built 3yrs ago this month. It was a new protoype store for the whole east coast. The only GPS they STILL have under the glass is a Garmin 12XL. $159.99...Now tell me THAT aint discontinued. That was old before that store was even built. Todays consumers are so overwhelmed by the media, technology, and manufacturers, with SOOO many choices, that the American consumer has become apathetic when making purchases. Its time consuming and difficult for many people to do the necessary research and education to make smart buys. The retailers and manufacturers COUNT on this....It makes them big money duping the American consumer. Whew!....Sorry...Didnt mean to get started, but it just started flowing...LOL OK soapbox rant off.

Yeah, ditch the Crossover while you still can. I've had one for a month, and its going back. Every time I try to access the Vehicle Nav map, or the Outdoor Map, the unit shuts off and reboots. Then with a fully charged battery, then next day when I try to turn it on, the battery is dead. Plus I hate the cheap attempt at "armor"...That rubber thing slides all around and gets crud under it. I think they just took a Roadmate, and threw some patched together firmware, and threw that in to try to make a unit thats usable "outdoors". I wouldnt want to take the thing caching...Way too much money if it got broke. There isnt even a spot to attach a lanyard, either.

If you do a google for "mio forums", you should get some good sites. My buddy bought a Mio c220 (IIRC), and I had to look up some info for him, and found a bunch of forums just for Mio's. I read that the Mio's are hackable... My next GPS might be the P550.

As to doing the paperless thing right off the bat, I would wait on that. Only because you're going to have a learning curve with the GPS and its mapping software once you get. You CAN use the .loc files, but the info they contain is limited. You can pay just $3 for one month premium membership so you can get the PQs (another little learning curve), and GSAK and Cachemate both have trial versions you can use. (GSAK trial is full featured, Cachemate trial only lets you work with 10 waypoints.) Both GSAK and Cachemate have a decent learning curve. Why go through all the trouble, and installation, then uninstallation of the software if caching doesnt work out for you? I would do as others suggest in trying to rent a GPS, or hook up with some local cachers, and just print out a few caches to start with. If she likes it, THEN you could jump in with both feet and go paperless. Just my opinion. []

If you use GSAK, you can load your "My Finds" query into a seperate database, then look through all your logs and manually check the FTF column. I know, takes longer, and maybe not much help if you have more than several hundred finds... But it IS a way to git-r-done.

Hey, is that MaMa Bear?

YEP!!!!!! OK...make that: And, yes, I think you WILL be looking for TWO juuusssttt like that, soon... LOL

HEY!...You've been peeking inside my head.... And, yes, I think you WILL be looking for one juuusssttt like that, soon...

Hmmmm. I don't think I'll even ask. LOL Well, you know what they say: "Geocachers always know the best places to hide bodies...." I guess some "tools" would be necessary to accomplish that...

I tried that a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it is not FREE...

Can anyone verify Palm has released an updated version of Palm Desktop to work with Vista? Last I heard they didnt have a version usable with Vista.

If you have cachemate on the palm, you can use the "%drop2" in the waypoint name when exporting to your GPS and to the Palm. This drops the "GC" from the waypoint name (since 95% of all caches on GC.com start with GC, you dont really need it in the waypoint). Makes searching through a couple hundred waypoints in the gps or palm much easier & quicker. in cachemate, you can switch between displaying/sorting by "name" or "waypoint". Use "waypoint" then the list in the palm will match the list in the gps. This is what I use. ooops...I just reread the OP, and you want names instead of waypoint. Do what team_lpd said, use the %smart tag. You may have to change the character limit for the name to fit the GPS's max limit, though.

Gotham City Cachers. Sounds a little slicker... Besides, you can call your selves Gee-Cee-Cee, whereas, if you were just Gee-Cee, you could be confused with Gee-Cee....dot-com...LOL LOL...There is a Toyota Landcruiser off road club called Gotham City Land Cruisers

I guess you did...

Unless you are in a VERY populated area, with new cachers popping up all the time, I think this is a somewhat narrow minded statement.

You could make it a members only cache if you want, but I wouldnt expect much difference in wear & tear, damage to the cache, or any difference in the way it gets rehidden (or the lack thereof). I've been disappointed just as much with members as non-members as to how I see them get to cache areas, find caches, and rehide them. I think you'll just end up limiting the number of hits your cache gets. I was not a paying member for the first 3yrs I was caching. The ONLY reason I became a paying member is to get PQs so I could go paperless.

I have the same issue. I'm using 7.1.0.65, unregistered. Are you by chance using Firefox? I am. What I do to get around it is to click Print Preview, which opens a browser window. Then I click File->Print->Preview. I adjust the margins and sheet the way I want it, then print from the Firefox window, instead of GSAK.