Jhawk0769

I was consistantly getting 16' accuracy while driving, when walking it was consisatntly 8'-12' range. It will not indicate it has locked onto WAAS. I was also using my 210 which still locks onto WAAS, and it was more accurate than the 210. The ver 1.41 is an improvement for the Triton.

I'll go one better. I have a broken Explorist 400, called Magellan, and they're sending me a Triton 400 at no cost -- and I don't have to send back the Explorist. According to FedEx tracking, the Triton should be here on Monday. They DID give me a return authorization for the Explorist it, but told me I could hold on to it until the Triton arrived. And since they aren't going to fix the Explorist, it didn't really matter if I sent it back or not. Admittedly, letting the phone rep go through his scripted steps was a bit comical. And Triton won't be a good replacement for the Explorist (no decent street mapping software, no mass-storage support, it runs on WinCE, etc.) -- but we can flip it on eBay or craigslist to get money out of it. SO... unlike a lot of others who are FURIOUS at Magellan for failing to support discontinued products, I'm not too upset. I'm really quite happy with my OTHER Magellan (Explorist 210) and enjoy picking up other used 210's and 400's at closeout sales and eBaying them I've had my replacement Triton 400 for a while now and just upgraded the sw to ver 1.41 (based on history, it kinda spooked me a little to try this and end up with a brick). I gotta say, this ver is a definate improvement over the sw originally in it. It isnt any faster, but I did not get the "FATAL APPLICATION ERROR" message requirement a restart. The new sw also allows custimization of some of the Nav screens. I can now set end destination to count down in feet as opposed to miles now . I'm not saying this is the end all and it's perfect, but it is better. Hope is there.

Good catch - I didn't even notice! Re your other comments though about the TRITON (not Explorist) 400, I sort of agree and disagree with you. 1) ...$169 is in line with normal pricing for the Triton 400.... Maybe at retail, but since Magellan hands these thing out like consolation prizes when they can't fix an older model, the "street price" on eBay and elsewhere is considerably lower. I've acquired and resold three of them so far... 2) ...notoriously buggy, crash, and operate slowly.... I was tempted to keep one the Tritons I had. I found it to be fast and accurate, not buggy. But I did upgrade to the latest firmware and I don't think that's what's on store shelves mostly. I also replaced the "worldwide" basemap with the North American basemap from my Explorist, and loaded it up with detail maps from Mapsend Topo 3D. The maps looked sharp and updated/moved a LOT faster on the Triton than on the Explorist. VantagePoint has too much eye candy, but once you know how to play with it, it gets the job done. The main thing that made me get rid of the Triton though is that it's not ready for general purpose use (no good CURRENT road maps, limited functionality of the various nav screens, etc). But it did pique my interest because it could EVENTUALLY become a hacker's dream GPS. The core OS in Windows CE and there are already companies modding them for special purposes. That's drifting off topic though... I must agree with the above comments. I upgraded to the 1.41 sw ver this past week for my triton 400. It has addressed alot of the issues I had and has added alot of customization to the screens that the explorist series had. I was very pleased with its performance. To an earlier point, you can get the Triton 400 on ebay at a very affordable price, or just call magellan and complain that your exporist doesnt pickup WAAS as advertised and they will send you a new Triton 400.

I was told the same thing my a nice young lady when I called and they sent me the Triton. My question at that time was "why are you going to send me another one if it wont be any better than the last one?" And the response was "Thats just what they are telling us to do". So if the two WAAS Birds were deactivated, then why does my old 210 still pick up two birds that enables my WAAS? Does anyone know the answer to this riddle?

I share the same views as you on the Triton. The NAV screen would also not allow you to get a very good proximity for distance to destination, opting to display in miles. Nothing personal, but I would like to have a destination in feet, not in 0.01 miles. I had to result to using the last 2 digits of the Lat/Long info. Another item I didn't like was the lack of ability to cancel a GOTO. You can't unless you start another GOTO, or turn it off and back on. I did not experience any lockups while using it. Klunky is the best term to use at this time. I really do share your opinion on your assessment of the Triton 400 at this time.

Now that I have had the Triton 400 on the workout for the past several days, I have this to say. Way more accurate than the 500LE. I like the additional screens (Compass, Map, Sat, Speedometer, Navigation). I have exercised it for about 6 hrs of run time, and the batteries still show full. .gpx files can not be loaded onto the SD card. They must go into the main system mem. When plugged into your PC, it does not show as an additional drive, and you must use Vantage Point SW. Vantage point is very slow, and this is the only way I have found to load info into it. I like the detail of the cache information. I think you can go paperless with this and not worry about a PDA or PC. There are opportunities here for Magellan to improve the unit. The file structure stinks. If they folded into the unit all of the functionality of the eXplorist sw, this thing would be really slick. It's going to take a while to get use to. If anyone is considering this over their current eXplorist, It's still too early for me to make a recommendation.

Did you send your 400 back for the Triton trade? Im curious. I was offered the same deal, did not commit as I was thinking about it. I did not send it back, and they sent me the T400 anyway.

I have had a 210 for about 2 years. I have never had a problem with it, works well. I recently found the 500LE on clearance and purchased it. About the 500, I can't say I am particularly pleased with the AAA battery adapter and life of the "three little pigs" required to operate it since I don't have the rechargable battery (yet). A couple of tips, bits of information I would like to share. Despite the claim by Magellan that the eXplorist is WAAS compatible, effective last summer (July-ish 2007?? Someone can confirm) when the two old WAAS satellites were replaced, all Magellan eXplorist are no longer WAAS compatible. Although my 210 still shows this function, Magellan claims it to be defunct. This really isn't that important to me for GCing, but interesting nonetheless. OK, now the fun with Magellan. I have heard bad things about their CS. To get to the bottom of the WAAS thing (before I new about the above statement), and get my unit to work as advertised I pressed their CS to fix my unit. After citing the box stating WAAS compatible, and their website (which still does today) stating WAAS compatible, they offered to exchange my 500LE free of charge for a Triton 400 (cool). This is all contingent of me shipping my unit back with RA# xxx, I would recieve my new triton in 10-12 days. I have been contemplating this exchange (do I, don't I , who will the Colts draft, oh geez). Well, I walked out my front door this morning, and there was a FedEx box from MNS on my door stoop (what is this??). I open it up and it is a T400 from Magellan!!! Hey! Wait, I thought I was suppose to send the old one back. No reference to this one at all in any of the paper work, whats going on? I didnt commit to this? So, now the question can be answered. I am going to test drive the T400 until I am asked by Maggie to send it back or return my 500LE. So, I haven't gotten the CS adventure as others. They did OK by me I like my eXplorist 210. I like the GC function, hints, and all the other features. The 500LE is OK, little bit more of a hawg than the 210, but it is in color. The T400 is To Be Seen. Comments, welcomed

Thanks for the help. My unit is still under warranty. I have had it about 3 weeks. I can't return it to the store because it was a clearance item. Unfortunately my unit can not be upgraded (0188 sn and NA 5.2.17 firmware is newer than the euro 5.2.57). Magellan is not offering me anyother option other than a Triton. Im considering taking the Triton, I have a 210 which is more accurate than the 500. I may take the Triton into the realm of "For Sale" to recoup my loss and get a garmin.

I have the same offer and am contemplating it. What did you do/decide? John

Topic started back in WAAS and Magellan functioning (http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=185052). New twist and need some advise. So, here's the short story. My Explorist 500LE will not lock onto the WAAS sats for accuracy, niether will most. I called Magellan and asked when they would have this fixed. They won't fix it. According to the Magellan rep, all eXplorists are no longer WAAS compatible even if it displays the WAAS. When I questioned their advertising and their website still called out the specs as WAAS capable, and this unit is not as advertised, they immediately offered me an exchange to the Triton 400, at no charge. Ship it back and I will get my new unit in 10-12 days after they recieve the 500. DO I do this or not? Viewpoints on the Triton 400 are welcome, I've seen some negative comments on the Triton. Thanks J

I had a very interesting discussion with Magellan today regarding the 500 I've been trying to get to work with WAAS. The tech rep informed me that ALL eXplorists are no longer WAAS compatible, even if WAAS shows up in your accuracy window. How did I get this information, I asked why my 210 still shows this and my 500 doesn't? Thats when the tech told me this. After asking the representative why Magellan still advertises the unit as WAAS capable on their box and website if it isn't (mis leading and not as advertised), they offered me a free promotional trade in for a Triton 400. Hmmmm.... do I trade or do I keep it?

Located in Staunton, IN are 23 in one area (State FWA). Check out GCGKJW as a point and locality. Easy way to get to this is take the Brazil Exit to St Rd 42 N (runs parallel with I-70).

By the way, for anyone interested, I found the Hidden menu's for the explorist 500 "out there". Try the following link. http://www.gpsfaqs.org/faqs/magellan/explo...documented.html

Thank you,...THANK YOU KOOAID105~ I had posted previously on this thread #69, where I had stated that "My latest XL addition had the older 9.1.04 firmware,....so following Magellan's upgrade instructions on their web page, cleared the memory and successfully uploaded the recommended 9.2.10 firmware and NOW MY XL WILL NOT REGISTER WASS IN THE ACCURACY BOX and now I am pissed. After the placing the two identical GPS sitting one foot apart for 30 minutes the WASS accuracy is down to 9 feet on my original XL and the one that I uploaded the9.2.10 that is now non WASS, is 23 feet EPE." I found your link above and just thought what to hell and downloaded and installed the 2.57 firmware with out doing anything to the second XL other that just going to the file transfer mode and just down loaded from your link,...that is it, didn't worry about bricking the GPS, just did it. WOW it worked the revision is now 9.1.55 and no problems. I now get WASS the additional screens and I am now a happy camper. Thank you again. WHY in the HELL can't Magellan just simply check into this and make it available from there official web site,...HMMMMMM !! IT SCREAMS at you MAGELLAN to do this,....PLEASE! You are very fortunate, I am happy for you, and I am PO'd at Magellan. Does anyone know why the 2.17 sw ver for the 500's with serial number starting 0133 will not allow the firmware to be upgraded to the 2.57? I want to try something, and if anyone can help me I would appreciate it. I want the european Basemap and the critmem.mem files from a European 500 explorist. I also am trying to find an update to the Hidden Menu's for the 500. I'm thinking that the firmware upgrade from 2.17 to 2.57 may have something to with keying off information on these two files. I am going to load them into the unit and retry the 2.57 upgrade. Alternately, I want to see if I can get the Hidden Menus and potentially unlock the firmware v 2.17 if they implemented a firmware code to lock it, preventing anything but a specified future NA version from being upgraded to the unit. Anyone have thought on this?

1.) backup your basemap. 2.) Fully Charge or put Fresh batteries in your unit. 3.) connect to your computer via usb cable 4.) Run the firmware executable for your device. I got mine here and it worked on mine. No guarantees for yours. 5.) Watch the update bars go and pray your unit doesn't get bricked (only slightly exagerating) Mine went smoothly but others have had problems. Do a little research on the Yahoo Explorist group. 6.) Enjoy the new screens and WAAS. I think it's safe to have the AC adapter plugged in while it's in the computer can someone verify that. If it is safe I would plug in the ac adapter as well Well someone else sent me a pm with a link to the info elsewhere. I went through the process and did NOT get a brick. It appears to have worked and went smooth. I have yet to actually test it outside since I am at work. Will edit my post when I get a break to do so. Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help! Edit: Everything si working good now and I have WAAS again. Also I had sent a message to Magellan support on this like so many others and here was the reply, well what is pertinent to the WAAS issue anyway. It would be so nice to tell them that until they actually do something to support their products, and get out a firmware update to resolve the issue, i will be putting the check on "hold". If there was a way to do that I'm sure they would magically improve their support issues. whatever. Last magellan I will ever buy since they are so poor. Fool me once, shame on you, do it twice, shame on me. I certainly wont forget it. I contacted Magellan via e-mail with this issues for 500's with sw ver 5.2.17. I thought I would share with everyone their "Unique" response. "Dear John, Your Email case XXXXXX has been Updated. CaseID: XXXXXX NOTE : KINDLY USE THE LINK GIVEN BELOW, TO SUBMIT ANY FURTHER QUERIES: http://www.magellangps.com/support/ Thank you for contacting Magellan. This email is in response to your query about the Explorist 500LE North America. I apologize for the delay in replying to your email. I understand from your mail that, your unit is not picking up WAAS signal. I request you to try restart the gps and place the unit in a wide open space. I would like to inform you that, this issue might be fix in the next firmware update. We are unable to promise the date for new Update. I request that you wait for the next firmware update. If you have registered your unit with our website, you will receive a notification about the Map update release in future. In addition, you can check our website periodically to check for the Map update. If you have further queries, please get back to us. You can also contact our Technical Support at 1-800-707-9971 for further assistance. ------------------------------------ Regards, . Magellan Email Support. > The information transmitted in this email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. If the reader of this email is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that your access is unauthorized, and any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message including any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer being used. > " Nice to see I am treated as an individual

I too have a 210 and recently bought a eXplorist 500. Dont waste your money with an "upgrade" of a magellen within the series. My 210 is more accurate (the 500 firmware does not sync to the WAAS, and oh ya, I can't even down grade or upgrade the fw at this time, believe me, I tried). I can download the caches into the 210 using the sw and cable that came with the unit. Be patient, for the money I spent on the 210, I cant complain. Im starting to look into the garmin family of handhelds.

You might want to hit your local WalMart or outfitter. The Megellan 210's and 500's are being blown out in favor of the newer tritons. the price is more than $25, more like aroung $80 for the 210 and 110 for the 500.

Thanks for this information. It brings me to the point to know I can go no further. I have ver 5.2.17 and SN starting with 0133. I tried back dating my firware to 5.2.03 and this doesn't work. Thanks for the help and the time on this. You have saved me wasted additional time. Looks like I will be returning my GPS for a full refund. J

Im really starting to think I am inept. I got the 5.2.57 sw. I removed the SD card and backed up my BASEMAP file. I ran the firmware updater. It said it was successful. I cycled power AND, I still have the same old version of fw in he unit (5.2.17). So, I cleared all memory, reset the unit and tried again. Same result. Help! anyone?

Thanks for the help. Got the eu sw. OK - tip to the world. Dont have an SD card in your 500 when trying to find the basemap.mgi and critmem.mem files. The PC will default looking to the SD card which will have nothing on it.

I have tried to download the 2.57, but I can not without having a registered 500 europe versio. Any hint on how I can get the 2.57 upgrade for the explorist500 LE? Anyhelp would be great. J

Seems to be a pattern for some cachers. The Jeeps are very popular keep sakes. I would like to see some means or rating for these cacher's in their ratings, kinda like ebay, when it comes to moving trackable items.

This is too funny. I just found my 4 year old in my pack, what's in yours? Anyway, that's it for now, nothing else, as he had already removed the entire contents and was munching on the Bag of Beef Jerky I just loaded in it earlier this evening. Kidz - gotta luv 'em.

I share the frustration. I have a similar log going on that is titled "Travel bugs that go MIA" (http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=178033) So, here is my thoughts (and this just came to me in the last few hours). 1) only the neatest GC go MIA. Solution - buy an ugly one that no one wants. If you want to buy a really neat one, then buy two, one to set free, one to keep as a memory, cuz that is all it may be. 2) View them like Loggerhead turtles. If you set enuf of them out there, one or two are bound to make it to there destination. 3) Come up with a neat Travel Bug idea. The neatest one I have seen is "Caravan" TBAF78. It's gone 15000 miles and is a clump of key chains that people keep adding to. Now who wouldn't want to participate with that? A previous post nailed it, and brought it into light for me (thanks Private Bones). There are more important things to worry about. If someone wants to swipe, keep, or collect these unique travelers, then I need to come up with a more meaningful challenge (like share me with all your friends to discover), and if it stops, i'll e-mail the holder AND there friends !! I lover this GAME Cache On! John