Meckers

To think that all this vitriol started when a fellow geocacher simply pointed out that major retailers are selling the same unit new, at considerably lower prices is really depressing. I don't understand why Ray is the villain here. Ok, maybe his characterizations were a little over the top, but he's the one who was attacked (for doing a good thing).

This has gotten far too ugly for this forum. All this heat aside, I think it is a basic concept that if you find yourself in an unfortunate situation, i.e. you buy something that falls dramatically in price, that you lick your wounds and try not to transfer your misfortune to some unsuspecting soul. If you subscribe to the notion that "a sucker is born every minute" then so be it, but please don't brag about it. I can't help but wonder what "Vern" thinks of this. He looks like a really good dog.

Well, for what it's worth I have to cast my lot with rayt333. This is a community and people in the community look out for each other. About two years ago, I obtained a Triton directly from Magellan and didn't like it and sold it here. I offered it at a steep discount. Nevertheless, two people chimed in and trashed the unit. I was very angry with their actions because my unit was new (not defective), I was upfront with everything about it and offered it very cheaply. Someone snatched it up and presumably is very happy with it. This is different. You are offering a unit that now goes new (at several locations; Cabelas, REI and Bass Pro) for much cheaper than you are offering. I see nothing wrong with one of our own pointing this out to readers who otherwise wouldn't be aware of this. In fact, I think it is admirable. I'm curious how others think.

Although I love caching, I don't do it often (dozen finds, one hide). My GPS needs are very basic and I've always thought the Explorist 210 was the best basic value around. The map is "good enough," the memory is sufficient for many caches, track logs etc. (I used a posted track log to guide me through the Bitter Springs Backcountry Byway outside of Las Vegas). I even love the form factor. I use a car GPS so I don't need autorouting (and think an all-in-one device is a mistake; if you lose it, you've lost both capabilities and a lot of money). So, to get to my point. I would love for Magellan to issue a new basic/beginners GPS unit based on the Explorist 210. A comfortable shape, a good basic map, a little more memory (100 megs?), a USB connection and AA batteries. I think if they would sell it for around $100 it would fly off the shelves.

I think you've made the right decision to get a car GPS for your car and a handheld for geocaching rather than try to get one unit that does it all. I don't know how anyone can navigate in a car with a small handheld screen. I use a simple but steady Explorist 210 for geocaching. I took the plunge about 9 months ago and bought a Garmin NUVI 350 (refurbished) on Ebay for about $115. It appears new in all respects. It has "text-to-speech" which means it actually speaks the street names for turns. I recommend this feature highly. You can also get a refurbished "Navigon 2100" on Ebay for around $70-$75 (shipped). This is a crazy price but I don't have any experience with Navigon. It seems to have all the desired features including text-to-speech. Good luck in your research. Again, good decision.

Nevermind! My bad. It's there. Sorry.

It seems I spoke too soon. I'm pretty sure I did everything that was required and yet, no photo in my profile. It shouldn't be that difficult.

Thanks mtn-man. That wasn't difficult at all once I got the info from you.

I joined about 5 years ago and created a profile but never included an image. I want to add one now but I can't see how to do it. I'm sure it's as obvious as can be but I can't figure it out. Can anyone direct me?

I haven't posted here for many months and I'm only an occassional geocacher so my opinion isn't worth a whole lot. But I wonder why at this point, people are still trying to get a handheld GPS to do autorouting. Have you priced car navigation units lately? They're practically giving them away. I own an Explorist 210 that works fine for my limited geocaching. I recently sprung for a (refurbished) Nuvi 350 which I bought on Ebay for $120 with free shipping. It works like a dream with text-to-speech, turn by turn by street name. It has a bright screen. Relative to a handheld, the screen is huge. You don't want to have to squint to a little Legend screen to see where you need to go. You can get a refurbished Navigon 2100 delivered to you for $89. This unit is almost identical to the Nuvi 350. Why torture yourself? Keep your old legend, spring for a good car unit and you'll have the best of both worlds. Finally, a word about "refurbished." My Nuvi 350 came without a scratch in original box and packaging. If I didn't know, I'd have thought it was new. It came with a new warranty also. Handheld for offroad and geocaching. Car for auto-routing.

SOLD! Thanks everybody.

Excellent condition. No scratches, blemishes or any indications of wear. This is the basic etrex. It is perfect for a child or as a back-up unit. It was my first GPS but I quickly decided I wanted a unit with a map so I bought an Explorist 210. Comes with owner's manual. $35 delivered; Paypal only.

The item has been sold. But now that it has, I’d like to comment about the two knuckleheads who decided to trash the unit immediately after I put it up for sale. There is another forum (GPS and Technology) where you can discuss the merits and failings of GPS units until you are blue in the face. The Garage Sale isn’t the proper forum. I was selling a brand new unit and it ultimately went for an excellent price for the buyer ($97 delivered to Canada). It retails for about $175. Unless you have knowledge that the seller is a fraud or the unit being sold is defective, please confine your comments to the other forum. I don’t understand people who have nothing better to do with their time than to try to sabotage legitimate sales.

Still available. Reduced to $90. Absolutely brand new.

Got it today from Magellan as a replacement for an Explorist 400. Everything included (cables, manual, CD etc) in the original box. $100 delivered; Paypal only. I've never sold anything here or on Ebay but I've purchased many items. Check my Ebay rating as "Meckers2"

For what it's worth, I love my Explorist 210. I agree with everything said about the memory and maps. 22 megs carries a lot of map area and you can just swap out the regions when you go to another area. You can load up tracks others have saved and posted on the internet. Next week I'm going out on a desert trek in Nevada using a track I got from the internet (verified by loading and viewing on Google Earth). And I fully agree with the AA battery argument. I still use rechargeable AAs but having the ability to pick up a few backups in any store is huge relief. Go with a 210. In fact, buy two.

Yep, case closed. That's all it took. Thanks guys.

But that doesn't solve the file extension problem. Oddly, the serial numbers are identical except that the battery compartment number has an additional zero in the front and an extra digit at the end. Thanks guys. As I said, this isn't a must have but I'll call Magellan on Tuesday anyway.

Thanks Lee but when I run the Conversion Manager, it looks for .imi or .mgi files only. It won't recognize .img files. I wonder if I have the option in Mapsend to "save as" an .imi file. I don't remember that option. I'm about to give up. It really isn't a "must have" for me by any stretch.

Sorry, I didn't make that clear. I'm talking about "Mapsend Topo 3D USA" Version 1.0.

I bought an explorist 400 which came with a new (but old version) of Mapsend Topo 1.0. I didn't keep the 400 but did keep the Mapsend for use with my Explorist 210. The old Mapsend was originally for the Meridians and Sportraks but the box was stickered "Also for explorist receivers." However, when I try to transfer small regions (well within the 210 memory) to the 210, the Topo is looking for a serial (comm 1 or 2) port whereas the 210 uses the USB. I saved the region to disk first but can't overcome the roadblock of the comm port. I then copied the two files (.rgn and .img) to the "Detailed Maps" of the 210 just using windows copy functions. When I tried to turn on "Detailed Maps" in the GPSr, it didn't show any maps in the folder. Maggie support is closed now so I was wondering if anyone's been down this road and has a solution? Thanks.

Makes sense. Was just trying to figure out if the firmware could be ugraded. Can you tell me if SN starts with 0118, 0119, or 0133? It's only the later production models that have a problem with upgrades. Serial number starts with 0119. What does that mean? Can it be upgraded to a new firmware that can pick up the WAAS sats?

White body Firmware version 4.1.64 I don't think I want to reveal any more detail than that. Sorry, I just don't want anyone using the info for any kind of replacement from Magellan.

Earlier this month I thought I lost my Explorist 210 and I needed a replacement pronto so I went on EBay and bought this Explorist 400 combo for $86 (delivered) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...N:IT&ih=018 and this additional battery for $8.50 (delivered). http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...N:IT&ih=014 Shortly after I won the 400, I found my 210 so now I need to sell the 400. It arrived Thursday and I examined the contents. The GPSr is claimed to be brand new and it appears to be. It still has the screen film. I charged the battery (full 4 hours as recommended) and tried it out. It works fine but you should know that it (and apparently all new Explorist 400s) does not pick up WAAS sats. I confirmed this by going to "secret menu 03" which shows the old WAAS satellites in its registry. It shows one WAAS sat on the sat screen but that is a false read. However, there is a good side to the WAAS situation. I called Magellan and asked about any replacement program and I was informed that they would replace the 400 with a new Triton 400 for no cost. So if you want to do a little GPSr arbitrage, you can. So, up for sale is a “new” Explorist 400 with new carrying case (unopened), 256meg Magellan SD card, all the standard cables and manuals and the extra battery I bought from Hong Kong. The package came with Mapsend Topo USA but I'm going to keep that. So just to be clear: no Mapsend Topo. Rather than list a price, I’d like to put it up for bid. I don’t expect to recoup my full cost. If you don't want to reveal your bid, just PM me. Thanks, Meckers.

I just want to add a very rare comment. Yesterday I called Magellan support about a new Explorist 400(purchased through Ebay) and the WAAS situation. I told them up front that I was not making an "angry" call and that I just wanted to know if I had any options. I even said if I had no options, that was OK (I was aware of the WAAS problem before purchase so in my case I didn't feel I had any rights). I have to say the Magellan representative was extremely courteous and merely went through his flowchart of offerings and told me that if I sent in my unit, they would give me a new Triton 400 at no cost. I told him I'd have to think about it and if I decided to take the offer, I'd call back (I've since decided against it). He then suggested that I let him write up an account ID for me, he'd summarize our conversation in his report and when I call back, just give the account number and I wouldn't have to go through the whole exercise with the other rep. Given all of the complaints I've read about Magellan support, I was very pleasantly surprised. P.S. I'm going to offer the Explorist 400 for sale (with full WAAS disclosure) on the "Garage Sale" forum.