The Maple Gang

Basemaps for Explorists (and explorist-specific service codes...they do follow the Meridian codes closely) are available here. My explorist 400 died yesterday morning of the same issues that most other folks on here have complained about--the NAND thing and lost basemaps. I got it up and running but without a basemap. I WANTED TO MENTION THAT WHEN I WENT TO DOWNLOAD THE BASEMAP THE ABOVE PAGE WAS NOT AVAILABLE. Unless you know of another spot on the web to get this file I would proceed with caution as you'll need to reload your basemap to get the GPS working again. It isn't packed with your software and isn't available at Magellan's web site. Magellan's outsourced tech support chastised me for the 95 move and claimed I voided the warranty, which I guess I did, but then again their machine left me stranded, so... They later called back to say they would fix it under warranty but unfortunately I had to hang up on them to reach this point. My Explorist 400 does the same thing BUT no matter what I do it still has the loop... I guess it will have to back, I cant get it out of that screen .

Than ks I will give the reinstall a try tonight.... Jim

I have an explorist 400 and topo 3d... I just obtained another 400 and want to add the topo maps to it.... I even put the sd card in from the first unit... everything works great but it wont use the maps I installed... says security error... so I checked with magellan and the woman says only one GPS unit per topo 3d... well hell I dont want to buy the software again for my own backup unit.. I wouldnt try to sell it to someone or give copies away.. jeeze magellan lighten up.. it's just for me for my backup unit..... So does anyone know how to get around this?? can I uninstall from the computer and reinstall topo 3d and start all over connected to the new 400 I have?? or put it on another computer ? I have all the maps I need on the first one so uninstalling it on the PC wouldnt bother me to add in the new ser. # if that works HELP HELP HELP Jim

Anyone else used their 400 so much that the cable wont screw into the back anymore? I have had it over a year now and the small screw is stripped.. actually it's not the screw but the part ON the gps that is stripped... I have to hold on the cable with a rubber band to download or charge.....

As an Explorist 400 owner I say buy the 500 .... for the color and able to use AA's Also I have had problems with mine that I couldn't upgrade the firmware. but color would be such a better way to go... the amber screen is ok but like the cell phone there is no substutute for color... and as far as the batts.. if you want to recharge get good rechargables.. but when your out hiking or somewhere you cant recharge AA's are the way to go.. I had to buy an extra battery and charge it ahead of time if I know I'm hiking for days. I WILL buy a color screen next ... maybe the 600 I like the explorist series alot Jim

I'm Not getting them either, it's ticking me off.. I do have Yahoo, I will try but why should that make any difference??? frustrated!

used to own .... A so so sense of direction Now own a Magellan Explorist 400 of course I had a dream the other night and was out caching, found a used garmin in a cache that someone didn't want anymore,... I figured GREAT I hava a backup... then my alarm clock woke me up... Darn... True story!!!

It was set on mediun, I thought the same thing that maybe too high of detail would bog it down, well we'll see what Magellan says, Thanks a bunch for the help so far, at least the unit is usable back to the pre topo days !!

I use cachemate also, and I use the convert tool that comes bundled with it, I can put 6 different queries each with 150 caches in my palm in about 3-4 minutes including converting the gpx files to .prc a query comes as a gpx file.. then you convert it to prc which is the palm extension for it.

the size of Mass not sure but I don't think it was more than 11K

hehe I spoke too soon, again it started to act up. I do believe it's the mapsend topo 3d doing it, it will work great for a while but then it degrades performance, almost as if the unit cant handle that much info that is both the detail map and the geocaches....I would go to zoom in after driving a bit then it would freeze up after I hit the in button, then it would reboot.... so back to square one, just the older operating system and geocaches and see how that does for a while, in the mean time contact Magellan and ask them what the heck is up..... I really liked having the detail maps, so much info, loved the versitility of it... ARRRGGGH WHY ME WHY NOW>> OH THE HUMANITY Jim

I like my handy palm IIIc it's color but you only see color on cachemate if you bookmark a cache, I love the paperless caching, can't seem to see how I would do without... I have 6 areas in my GPS all with around 150 caches, and equal in my palm... as I drive and see a cache pop during work hours, I can go to my palm and see if it's a short one to grab at lunch... and I have it hold 5 past logs of each cache, so it sure is handy... I bought it many years ago and just recently started using it to cache.. another great thing for the PDA.

Well I finished upgrading last night to 2.02... then said what the heck and reloaded a detail map on, and all my Geocaches and POI's.. took a ride with it for almost 10 miles.. worked great, didn't freeze up or shut off, it seems like that was the fix.. now time will tell, funny thing is I was Jones'ing for a GPS fix, but now that it's fixed we just got dumped on with a foot of snow.. go figure, I was going to be going north this week for work and figured I would do a Bug drop up there for a bug that needs to get to Canada... NH is closer but we'll see.... Thanks for all the Help, I'll keep you posted if it's a permanent fix

The only part that looks like it could be aproblem on my 400 is the usb connection if all the terminals got water on them together at once and shorted? possible??

Embra, Thanks a bunch for steering me towards that website, it was exactly what I needed, I actually was able to learn about some hidden files and I installed the older version of firmware that was in it when I bought it. the way it had me install it was much different than Maggelans way and I think this time it overwrote the bad file, and is working good now...... now the question remains, do I first upgrade to the 2.02 version of firmware then try mapsend again... this time mapsend would be used with the newer firmware version... not like last time when I tried it with ver 1.64 had the problem then upgraded 2.02 and still had the problem.... am I confusing anyone here? I think it may work because with the mapsend topo 3d it says you must upgrade firmware to latest.. but they fail to include the explorist firmwares in the disc.. which makes you believ your unit won't be affected.. but on the box and in the explorist 400 instructions both say the mapsend topo 3d is compatible... ok enough ramblin.. I'll get to work on it, heck we're getting 6-12" snow tonight, I won't be caching for awhile... so if I have to redo it all again I'll know how Thanks Jim

I didn't know that about the forced power.. that will help. unfortunatly a return is out of the question, Sears said not if it's over 30 days.... I had maybe 2 freeze ups before firmware update, is there a way to totally clear the memory, not just by "clear memory" menu? i have a feeling there is a hidden file or something embedded, all was perfect before the mapsend topo 3d.. and the files were small, the largest was the state of Ma. which didn't take much memory. Thanks for the help

it all started when I added a topo 3d detail map. they said to update firmware from the cd that came with topo 3d, My Explorist 400 wasn't on it so I figured it was ok, I uploaded a region to my SD card(the card was a 1gb which I had over 500 caches on it and have been using with the base map with no problems) evrything seemed to work fine, drove to work follwed the new streets on topo, was cool!! then I noticed the active setup would keep losing my cache file(it would say empty) so I would load again in active setup for geocaches and it would lose it again...it would also freeze up intermitently and I would have to pull the battery. SO I formated the card and wiped the memory in the GPS, upgraded firmware from Maggelan site, uploaded my POI's and Geocaches . still did it, mostly was just either feezing up or rebooting itself. SO I bought a new SD card and started over, worked fine untill I added a detail map ... then it all started over, even if I format the card and don't add a detail map, it just freezes up or reboots itself... ARRRG it ruined another SD Card??? Left a message on magellans support email but of course that was yesterday and todays saturday.. I have only had this 1 month and 12 days.. think sears would exchange it?? course I think my card is corrupted.

Well Me and the family(the Gang) and I make Maple syrup, yes that wonderfully sweet sticky stuff breakfasts are made of... hence the name The Maple Gang. although more often than not it's me out caching without the whole gang... it's a pleasure and a thrill when they do come along on the weekend outings. Jim

I just got map send topo 3d for my 400, I had to reload it already, it was corrupting my geocache files on my sd card, also it takes a long time to boot up with it.... did I do something wrong? My firmware on the gps is Ver 2.02(updated) it is supposed to be compatible, it worked good for a while then seemed to degrade. anyone else have problems? Jim

I love Cachemate... think its worth the extra few bucks

Well thats too bad, I just put 4 in existance and was looking forward to tracking the milage... any guess when it will be working???

I know they didn't match exactly, I just want to be able to get a coordinate off google and put it in my gps to get me close to where I want to go.... thanks

I noticed that my gps coordinates seem different than those of google earth..... my gps will say 42deg12.932N but in google eart it shows 42deg12'59.345" I know these are not exactly the same but how does one put ft and inches in the gps or do you have to change it to the decimal? oh know old math coming back here???