Rye_n_Coke

Wow, that is a much larger list than I was expecting to see. There seems to be a lot of issues with these units. Not being able to mark a geocache as found stands out as a shining example of Magellan having their heads up their _____! I can't understand at all why they would have removed so much functionality from the Explorist series. For anyone here who has only used a Triton and are happy, that's great. But for people expecting a BETTER unit than the Explorist series, looks like we're out of luck.

Has anyone here heard if/when Magellan will release a new firmware revision for the Triton 500? Anyone who has used an Explorist 500 then switched to a Triton (like I just did) will quickly realize there are some important features still missing. The ones I'd like to see are: +Data fields on the map page. This is a must have and it makes no sense that it was removed. +Cursor information on the map page. Explorists show the distance and direction from your current position to where you have the cursor. Why was this removed?! +Ability to create projected waypoints from existing ones. Very useful if someone were to tell you, "I'm 532 yards from waypoint X at 173°" (I know they could give you coordinates, but sometimes this works better). +Explorist-style file system. I really liked being able to organize my caches and points of interest into files and only activate the ones I needed to. Anyone else on here have features they would like to see? If I'm the only one wanting these features then is there anyone on here who'd like to buy a Triton 500 that has only been turned on for 1 hour?

Hello, I've been experiencing the same problems as described above with my copy of Mapsend. Has anybody found a resolution to this? Magellan's tech support was utterly useless and are supposed to be sending me new discs because they thought I had bad software (not likely the problem at all, but the store I bought the software from said I could return an unopened package if that is what Magellan sent me). -Ryan

Anybody heard if this issue is going to be addressed at all? I took my GPS hiking this weekend and thought there was something seriously wrong with it until I read this thread and realized that there IS something wrong with it, but at least it wasn't specific to my unit!

I wanted this back up at the top as I've now started using a Li-Ion battery and am still seeing this issue. I THINK it only happens when I hit the nav button to change screens but since the problem doesn't show up too often its tough to say what the root cause is. Anyone else seeing this?

Thanks for this tip! I'm a software developer and I never would have noticed the radio buttons Not the place I would have expected to see that.

Mine also does the same thing when the battery is low. I didn't take this up with Magellan at all, but if it has fresh batteries it is happy and stays running. I've recently changed to the motorola T720 battery and haven't seen this problem since getting that battery. SNN5595B (though SNN5595A will also work) is the battery you're looking for. Your best bet is EBay. You can get a wall charger on EBay as well. Look for the Sony PSP charger and you'll have what you need. All that should be under $20 shipped to you.

On the other hand, collected water or wet surfaces will attenuate GPS signals. You can't receive GPS signals underwater and signal reception is degraded in wet forest canopy conditions compared to when the forest canopy is dry. If there is water or a film of water on the case (or cloth) that covers a GPS receiver's antenna it can degrade GPS signal reception. Drying-off of the GPS case over the antenna will improve the reception. There is a very clear contradiction in these two statements; a ) Rain or clouds *will not* affect GPS accuracy and b ) water on the case of a GPS receiver *will* degrade GPS signal reception (this implies enough to degrade accuracy). Personally, based purely on my engineering and scietific background, I believe that *both* of these statements are false. I believe the first post that says the GPS frequencies were picked to be minimally absorbed by the atmosphere including water and water vapor. But the key word here is "minimally". That is not the same thing as zero. On a clear sunny day like today, there is only water vapor between my receiver and the GPS satellites and a limited amount at that. But on a rainy or cloudy or even just foggy day, there is water vapor in much higher concentrations and even water liquid in significant amounts. Certainly there is more water liquid in the path through a cloud than the small water drops lying on the receiver's antenna. On the other hand, a few mm of water should not present a signficant amount of signal degradation to a wet GPS receiver. I did some searching using Google, but I did not find anything useful that would answer this question. That includes the link in the first of the two quoted posts. I read that page and do not believe a word of it since it states both a ) and b ) above which are contradictory. I followed a link this person cited at http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pubs/gps/sigspec/default.htm. This simply is the page where you can download the GPS SPS Signal Specification, 2nd Edition (June 2, 1995). I did and could not find a single mention of absorption of the signal by water. So this is not a valid refernce in my opinion. If anyone can find a valid reference, I would appreciate reading it. Until then, I will believe my own experience that for older receivers with less sensitivity (anything designed more than two or three years ago) they will be affected by rain and other significant moisture in the atmosphere. The newer receivers, which are designed to work *inside* of buildings where the signal is significantly attenuated, may continue to get clear enough signals that their accuracy will not be degraded even in a heavy rain. No "contradiction", you merely fail to recognize a distinct difference. Water vapor in clouds and rain is not static as is the water collected on a GPSr or surface of wet leaves in a forest canopy. The GPS signal wavelength (1.5 GHz) is able to "pass through" the dispersed moving drops of water or ice crystals. Could this have more to do with the size of the water and not the movement of the drops? The difference in speed between moving rain drops / water vapour and a static layer of water are pretty minimal compared to the propagation speed of the GPS signals. On the other hand, the size of the water droplets/vapour in the atmosphere is quite a bit smaller than the wavelength of the GPS signal, meaning it wouldn't have much effect. But a layer of water (on the GPSr or on big leaves above it) is larger than the wavelength and would affect it more. As for the original point of this topic, I've also talked to people who think a $200 GPSr should get you within inches of your desired location.

I think those have been on back order for a long time. Lots of people on the forums are using a Motorla T720 cell phone battery and a Sony PSP charger, both availible on eBay if you don't want to wait for Magellan and can cancel your order.

Does Magellan (Thales) make the SkyCaddie? It looks just like an Explorist. Anybody know if a firmware change would turn an explorist into a SkyCaddie? http://www.buy.golfusa.com/viewItem.asp?It...LF&Search=N

Not sure what prices you guys are finding, but I have a 500LE and bought 2 Li-ion batteries and a charger off eBay for $20 shipped. That should save you a few bucks and then you get the option of what battery to use. The battery I bought was a Motorola from a T720 cell phone and the charger was from a PSP.

The price of the t720 Li-ion batteries isn't considerably higher than a pack of 4 NiMH AAAs. Other forum users have picked up the Li-ion batteries on eBay for $4-10 a piece. You're right, the cell batteries are a great deal. I was reffering to the price of a new Li-ion right from Magellan.

I've got a new Magellan 500LE and I'm having some problems with the unit shutting itself off in a strange way. Occasionally the unit will just lock up and shut down. By this I mean that sometimes it seems every 2nd line or so on the display will fade out, followed by the rest of the lines, and finally the unit turns off. I've seen this with fresh alkaline batteries as well as freshly charged NiMH batteries. I think I've come accross this about 5 times. The first 3 times I had a GOTO enabled and thought it might be a software bug related to that. I've since updated the firmware but have seen this happen now even without a GOTO enabled. I get no warning about battery life or about the unit shutting down, it just dies. I can turn it on again and continue using it, but the sporatic power downs are frustrating. Has anyone else come accross this issue with a 500LE or any other Magellan unit? -Thanks.

I received the AAA NiMH batteries I ordered the a while ago and have completed some testing with them for anyone who is interested in the results. The batteries themselves are 850mAh and this was their first charge. With the backlight on the lowest setting I got only 7 hours of life until the alarm sounded for low battery, but then I only got about 3 seconds before the unit shut off. I also noticed that in the first few minutes of operation my unit would shut itself off as well. I've seen this with alkaline batteries too though (the screen starts to fade out a few lines at a time and then the unit shuts right off). Has anyone else had this happen with a 500LE? For the price of NiMH batteries I was happy with these results, but a Li-ion battery still seems to be the best bet, though the price is considerably higher. -Ryan

Has anyone tried using AAA NiMH batteries in an Explorist 500LE? I just got a 500LE and wanted to take advantage of the "sale" Magellan has on their Li-ion battery, but the shipping to Canada was $25 for a $20 battery and charger so I started looking for alternatives. The best alternative I could find was some NiMH batteries which I can already charge in my camera battery charger. Just wondering if anyone has used them and what kind of life I should be expecting.

I got a 500LE a couple weeks ago and have used it around Saskatoon. I've found the basemap to be off by a couple km most of the time as well. But the accuracy of the unit was fine.

Dukeyduke, if you got the li-ion battery with your 500LE then it was a bonus. From what I understand the 500 comes with the battery, but the 500LE just comes with an adapter to fit in 3 AAA batteries and an offer to buy the Li-ion for $20USD (plus $25 shipping to Canada!). So unless I'm mistaken, good job on the free battery