groovetopia

I have the eXplorist 500 and like it - but I've never used a garmin. I think you should go hold a few different ones and see which one feels right. 299 USD is too much to pay for th explorist. It's 229 USD on Amazon right now. Good luck with your decision!

Yes. Basemaps are really small, they don't eat much and almost never complain. If they make a basemap for it (and they do) it'll fit handily onto an sd card. And (at the risk of starting my sentence with a conjuction) SD cards can be had for a song now. My dad has the XL and really likes it. I like the buttons better than my 500, but I can't get the XL into my pocket.

The 400 will use regular batteries via a clip from magellan and I thin kthe expandable memory is a must have. I have a 500 and have had no problem with the oem battery (I have two). I wouldn't trade off the sd card for regular batteries although I was a bit hesitant to buy one that didn't use regular batteries - and, as I said, I've had no troubles in the first (almost) year.

I own only a mac and use only Mac GPSBabel (http://www.gpsbabel.org/). It's not as feature rich as GSAK (which uses GPSBabel under the hood for some things) but is sufficient for me. The good news is that your new MacBook will run windows flawlessly and you don't have to give up any of your current software. I run Virtual PC about once a year to add detail maps on my eXplorist, but don't need it for anything else I do. I'm not to interested in keeping my own database, so GPSBabel and the services of geocaching.com (caching along a route and pqs) are all I really need. I am, however, only a part-time cacher - maybe more of a part-part-time cacher.

definitely more visible in the sun and easier to discern features on the maps - especially with contour lines and the different kinds of caches - I don't think I would get one without color - but that's what I'm used to.

google froogle: http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=magell...le&ct=title other threads have posted links to other sites - just poke around a bit and you'll find it! um...happy batterying?!

It is a windoze world, but those commercials are not incorrect - you can run windoze on your mac, but why would you want to? A copy of vista will run you somewhere between 120 bucks and 500 bucks...plus you'll have the unpleasant task of looking at windoze on your nice new mac. Instead you should just get gpsbabel and you can do all the basic tasks quite easily...and then instead of sending a hundred bucks to microsoft, you can send 5 or 10 or 20 to gpsbabel and prove to the developer community that it's worth developing for the mac. Then maybe gps manufactures will have no choice but to mac their gpsrs compatible with the mac, becuase really this is an issue with the manufacturer.

I use input gpx and output Magellan Explorist Geocaching. I'm using newer os, but this works seamlessly with my explorist. I got an sd card reader because the explorist doesn't like to be unmounted by the mac, but other than that, no issues at all.

I've not been geocaching much over the summer and just discovered the new GPSBabel+. I was dissappointed to see the lack of the .gs file, but there is a web interface that does it just fine...that address is http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/gpsbabel/ if you don't wanna do the raw thing. As for paperless caching - I use my iPod - and the new gpsbabel doesn't have vcf on the gui menu either, but the old program does. The iPod works great and can hold something like a thousand caches in it's contacts file. This would probably not be practical if I actually kept contacts on my iPod, but you could probably do both. once you get the files converted to gs and vcf, it's just drag and drop from there. I also usually put my gs files on the iPod too - you can't use them on the iPod, but it makes a handy backup.

I order a lot from Amazon (said that before), but I also try to buy locally when I can...and by locally I don't mean my local Wal-Mart. It's getting harder and harder to find good local shops, but if you're not in a hurry for something and somebody local can get it for you and prices are comparable, it's always best to go local. I've even told a local guy that I can get Item A at amazon for 200 bucks, can you order it and what would the price be. Sometimes they can do as well and sometimes they can't, but if it's just a few bucks difference, go with the local guy.

1235 - and I thought that was a lot!

Never had a major problem with Amazon - have prime with free 2-day shipping and I think it's costing them money - I order everything - diapers, laundry detergent, pillows - and it all ships free with 2 day UPS shipping. Sorry to hear that others aren't as thrilled as I am with them. They will usually make it right and usually give you money back - I've gotten 75 of the 79 I paid for the prime membership back - and with only a few phone calls. Plus if the price goes down within thirty days, they refund the difference. I ordered my GPSR right after Christmas - I ordered it at about 4:30pm and received it the next morning at 9:30 - pretty good for a "gotta have it now" itch. UPS, on the other hand, has a problem actually delivering packages to my door, preferring to leave it at the apartment complex office with no notice to me. Summation? Everything sucks to somebody, sometime. Hope you find a more suitable dealer for you.

Whoa, wait just a minute. This is a troll thread?!? sorry, left off the emoticon...that makes it funny...not offensive... hmm now which one...

deleted by poster out of respect for moderator(s)...all but one...

I have a mac and a Magellan Explorist 500. I use VPC for loading detail maps to an SD Card - this is a one-shot deal, since I was able to load every detail map I would ever need onto the SD card. I use a card reader to add caches and never have to boot into windoze ever again. I've backed up everything to hard drive. I use gps babel (mostly the web interface) and don't need to bother microsoft for my recreational endeavors. It is pretty poor of gps manufacturers not to support mac (though I understand garmin is working on it), but you don't really need a pc to get most of the job done. everybody's got a friend with a pc for the initial detail map loading...then you don't need it.

I, too, was once addicted. Then I had a bad experience with a moderator refusing to answer my questions or accept my apologies. This killed my enthusiasm for geocaching as a whole. Another moderator was able to explain the issues quite well and I appreciate mtn-man for taking the time to walk me through it, but it did little to help my caching-related doldrums. I used to have a constant eye out for swag and an unending thirst for unique containers. Oh, well...on to the next thing...maybe it's just the heat...

removed by poster

removed by poster

removed by poster

removed by poster

removed by poster

Consider me lightened.

removed by poster

Haha, I just did that too and thought I was getting the best deal! Oh well, I've been having a lot of fun with it in these last few weeks I have a question though, how is everyone downloading their coordinates into the GPSr. I've used the included geocaching software, which is handy, but I'm still copy/pasting everything about the cache into the program before uploading. Is there a way to skip this and put the info directly onto my GPSr without having to copy? Thanks for any advice you can give me! if it's been less than thirty days, go here http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect...d-refunds.html/ and request a refund of the difference - they won't have any trouble giving you the difference back! I do it all the time...a buck here, twenty bucks there...

the explorist 210 is available RIGHT NOW at AMAZON for 95 bucks plus free shipping and no tax (after a 30 dollar rebate) - 125 minus the 30 bucks! What a deal!