junkwood

Haha... noted.

Thats the sense I've had from the various forums. Thats cool. That was one thing that caught my ear today when talking to the sales rep. He had mentioned (don't quote me) that the PN-20 bundle with Xmap Pro was still Xmap at $200. Actually, I just checked the site. The PN-20 bundle w/Xmap Pro 6 $499. At any rate, time will tell. Got a month to wait anyway!

Haha sorry Pop.

Haha.. funny how handles materialize - My last name has "wood" in it and I created an email account specifically for signing up for random stuff that you have to do on the internet from time to time. Which usually ends up getting you more junk mail in your inbox. So Junkwood was fitting and easy enough to remember.

I pre-ordered the non-SE w/travel kit and went ahead with the 1 year subscription to the map library. I had planned on buying Xmap6 Pro if they had offered it for $100 as someone had said they did before. I called sales and asked. They said "maybe down the road - who knows" but not right now. What about it Delorme team?! Pre-ordering a product with accessories and subscription? Throw in a discounted Xmap Pro. In all seriousness, my thanks goes out to forum members here as well as the guys from the Delorme team who went above and beyond in answering questions for me a month or so ago when I was in the market for a new GPS'r. I feel good about me purchase.

Funny you should mention that. A few weeks ago I finally finished ripping my CD collection to MP3. Ripped at 192 kbps and ended up with 5522 songs which takes 29.67 GIGs and is approzimately 16.7 days of music! The task of ripping and then building the library complete with art work and some info was equivelant to you driving 4GIGs. What a job!

To you and CowboyPop, yeah I knew "average" would be tough. Maybe I should've asked how much internal memory people here use on average with their PN-20's. At any rate, both of ya gave good examples of your usages. Thanks. And thanks for the link Brian. I checked it out. I think I may stick with the 1GIG version since I want the Xmap software as well if it's offered at a lower bundled price. Oh... and CowboyPop, let me know when you finally out drive 4GIG's of data and how long it took.

I guess for me the questions are: 1: How much memory does the "average" map with overlays, aireals and geocache data take? 2: Under what circumstances would you exceed the 1GIG internal memory? 3: I'm assuming the internal memory is faster. Is it noticably faster? 4: Can the unit read the data directy from the SDHC cards or do you have to move the data to the internal memory before you can use it?

Shouldn't be a big deal since you can edit the ones that exceed the limit before sending it to the unit as CowboyPop suggested.

Lets hope so. Overall I think I'm sold on the 40. I'm at work right now and can't dig back through the threads, but how was the geocache features? Will it have paperless geocaching? And thanks for the input as well gps_dr! Ah, found the info. Supports 800 characters currently for geocache description. http://blog.delorme.com/2008/06/25/announc...arthmate-pn-40/

Lets hope so. Overall I think I'm sold on the 40. I'm at work right now and can't dig back through the threads, but how was the geocache features? Will it have paperless geocaching? And thanks for the input as well gps_dr!

I'm impressed! Sounds like a great deal. Is there an "Xmap lite" that ships with the pn-40? Or perhaps a freeware alternative for the hobbiest?

Agreed - technology that is close ended just to milk more dollars realy gets under my skin. I own a small computer shop. I remember thinking years ago when hardware started becoming easier to install and configure (even though the first PNP really stood for Plug -n - Pray) as well as software becoming more and more common that in the years to come, computer shops like mine would no longer exisit. People could do everything themselves. Seven years later, I'm still in business and going strong. Thats because the general populas doesn't have either the patience, skill or time to solve their computer problems. Most would rather pay for the "Service". The convienence of not having to deal with it. I do the same with some things. So I agree.... leaving the units open ended for the most part will not hurt sales. In alot of cases helps R&D for future products.

I'd really like paperless geocaching. As I've said above, the touch screen idea is a winner in my book but not a definitive feature. More intuitive usage overall. The ability to intuitively edit routes, maps etc would be a plus. Areial imagery is a plus but like you, I'll pay the cost up front for the right unit but won't buy maps after the fact. So the more open ended the better. And I do realise that "intuitive" is subjective. What are some of the open ended GPSr's available (if any). Ones that give you the ability to export, edit, import various data.

Thanks for the heads up but I have a gadget bag with MOLLIE straps that fits perfectly on the center of my handle bars. I usually carry my GPSr, phone, etc. Works great. The eXplorists I have now has never had a problem tracking from inside of it.

Other than the Delorme, what else is around the bend? Isn't technology grand?! Yeah, it sucks buying sight unseen. And if you do spot one in the department store, fat chance of getting someone to actually start a unit up so you can at least flip through the menus.

I've been chipping away at it. Thanks for the input! Btw, I am in the US.

You obviously know more about the unit than I. I've struggled with it and the editing software that it came with (or did it come with Topo 3d Mapsend?). Everything from navigating options/functions to the editor just seems clunky to me. Maybe I'm expecting too much from the current state of the technology? I'm the guy tapping his fingers thinking "Yeah, yeah.... Oregon 400t, Delorme PN-40... Go ahead and bring out the Oregon 4000 and the Delorme PN-400 that you have stashed back in the warehouse waiting." Thats partially why the Triton 2000 caught my eye. Touch screen, camera (even if low res), voice recorder etc. That may sound cheesey to the purists here but for me, a camera and voice recorder would come in really handy while I'm exploring or charting new territory. Especially if that media data is tied to the map data in an intuitive way which can also be edited/exported/imported in an intuitive way. And even if the interface is a bit clunky, at least it'll be easier to navigate with a touch screen.

Hello all, I've had an Explorists 500 for a couple of years now (has it been that long?) and am a novice geocacher. I also use it for hiking and mountain biking. I'm thinking about upgrading to a higher end unit. Even though I'm a tech savy person, hand held GPS units are still fairly foreign to me. I just haven't spent the time to do my home work on the technology so I'm here for some info. I've been reading up on The Triton 2000, Oregon 400t and Delorme PN-40. For the more GPS savy users here, what would you say are the pros and cons to each unit? A few random thoughts: Triton 2000: Magellan doesn't seem to be doing very well so it may be best to stay away from this? Oregon 400t vs Delorme PN-40: If you were to take away the touch screen from the 400t, how would these two compare? Thanks!

I agree. I thought I was missing something! And to further confuse things, I've just recently seen some 400's on ebay bundled with a 256meg SD card and the Topo 3D software for around $165 (Buy Now Price). "Supposedly" new and not refurbs. The really odd thing about that (to me anyway) is that I know whole seller cost on a new 400 w/o the card and Topo is more than that. Or at least with a vendor I deal with that carries GPSr devices (I have a small computer shop). At any rate, I think the 500 is the one then. Before I purchase this any last minute recomendations for a unit in the 500's price range that is a much better buy? Thanks for the replies!

Hello all, I'm planning to buy a handheld GPS for Christmas. I think geocaching with my two sons is going to be a blast! I can't wait! Anyway, I've done some research and think I've narrowed it down to the eXplorist 400 or the 500. My questions are as follows: 1: On Magellens site they have the two units priced the same yet one has a color display and the other doesn't. I did a side by side comparison on their site and as far as I can tell they are identical with the exception of the color display. Online, the 400 (greyscale) is typically more expensive! Why is this? Does the 400 have features that the 500 doesn't? 2: How useful is the Topo 3D dvd with these small handhelds? I'll be using the unit primarily for outdoorsy stuff. I'm not really concerned with the "streets and trips" type stuff. Thanks!