Find-me

In every other respect, my Explorist 500 seems to work as it should. The only thing I find really annoying is that the clock is off by around 2.5 minutes (slow). I can set the clock using "preferences-clock" but it doesn't "take". If I reset the unit and enter the correct local time, it "takes" but reverts to the incorrect time as soon as it gets a satellite fix. It doesn't seem to matter whether I use Local or UTC. (I have checked the time compared to the NIST clock) I am currently using the recent (Europe) 2.57 upgrade. I honestly can't say whether this problem existed before the software upgrade. Any ideas? Find-me

I guess that will teach me to be more persistent. I also complained to Magellan (via email) about the fact that I could only get the USA Topo 3D map with their offer which seemed silly for a unit sold in Canada. Almost as expected, they did not even respond to my request to exchange for the Canadaian Topo maps. I ended out buying the USA Topo for $10.00 using the coupon, just because I might need it sometime. I haven't bought the Topo Canada yet but probably will sometime in the future. Maybe its still worth going after them about the Canadian Topo? Find-me

It has been on with a good satellite lock for about an hour. It is exactly 3 minutes and 51 seconds slow. I'll leave it on for a little while and see if anything changes. As I mentioned above, when I go to the clock set page, I can set the hours and minutes but the change for the minutes doesn't take. I can even change it by 30 minutes (i.e. NFLD time zone) without any problem (but not by 10 or 20 minutes). It looks like it's getting UTC from somewhere and allowing the user to set for the time zone. If you choose UTC as the time option, you cannot change it at all. I'll report back if the time corrects itself; otherwise I'll be geocaching 4 minutes late from now on! Find-me

I don't know whether this is an issue with the new software or if there is another problem. My clock is off by about 4 minutes (slow). When I set it to the correct time under preferences/clock, the change doesn't "take". Am I missing something? If I change the hour, it will take that change but not the minutes. Is it reading the UTC time from a satellite. If so, why is it off by 4 minutes? Find-me

I decided to give this a try. Overall, I would say that performance is the same. The new nav screens are interesting but I'm not sure whether they will be particularly useful - time will tell. I haven't done any geocaching with the new software yet. Base Map appears unchanged. I have noticed that although the unit responds at about the same rate, it seems to take longer to access some items from the menu. In particular, it seems to take quite a long time to bring up the track log page, especially if there are any long tracks in there. I cleared an old (fairly large track) and the process speeded up greatly. One question about settings... Under "Track Mode" (sub-menu of "Map Setup"), what do you set? Options are Off, Auto, Auto Detailed, and a selection of distances from 0.01km to 2km (I am set for metric). I assume the different settings will tell the unit how often to choose a track point to record? Any recommendations? I haven't played with this very much and it is currently set to the default (Off), but it still records a track log. Thanks Find-me Edit: HAs anyone found an updated Explorist 500 manual based upon the software revision? I had a look but the one for the older version is still on the Magellan website (unless I'm looking in the wrong place).

I don't suppose that anyone has any idea when the North America version will come out? Since everything in regular memory has to be wiped, I would rather wait and do it once - unless it is likely to be weeks or months. Not a big deal to back up everything but why bother. Its still a pain to re-enter personal info. Find-me

What kind of battery? The old zinc carbon batteries use an acid paste but alkaline batteries use an alkaline electrolyte (no surprise here!). Ideally, you should neutralize the acid (or alkali) but the biggest problem is often the conductivity (acid, base or neutral salts) that make the unit non-functional. Depending upon the materials on the circuit board and anywhere else the goo might have hit, sometimes a rinse with distilled water - possibly followed by a pure methyl alcohol rinse might be the best procedure. After cleaning, the unit must be thoroughly dried before trying to power it up. This procedure is fine for most electronics as long as there are no open components such as trim pots. No guarantee that it will work but the unit will not work (reliably) if you don't get rid of the stuff. I have used this method to restore RC receivers that have been dunked in lake water. Find-me

I don't suppose that there is a similar approach that can be used for Magellan maps????

In terms of percentages, I am doing pretty well. I have a total of 29 finds at this early stage of my involvement with geocaching and a total of 13 FTFs (44%). I suspect that this batting average will slip; especially since FTF is not a major incentive for me. The 12 in a row just happened because they were placed (all at once) in an area near where I live and a place where I like to go walking. I had already found all of the older caches in this spot. There were three caches posted on Feb 02 that I looked for today. They had not been found yet even though they were a week old. I found one of them and had to log a DNF for the other two. A couple of feet of snow makes finding some of these pretty difficult even though I made it to the locations. Find-me

Calkan Having said I would not participate further in this thread, I feel I should add a couple of additional comments. While I suspected that the original note you posted might have been something that you had either seen or received in the past, it was not clear to me. My apologies if I mis-interpreted what you were saying. One of the problems with internet forums is that it is often difficult to understand the intent of a particular post. I now understand, based upon your latter posts and your personal note to me, that you meant no offence. While FTF can be a bit of a "kick", it is not a major motivation for me - I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. While I might go a little out of my way to snag a FTF, it would have little effect on my enjoyment of the activity if another cacher beat me to it. I do, however, get annoyed if I am 2nd, 3rd or 4th and find that the cache has been effectively raided - all interesting stuff taken or replaced by junk (I would be more annoyed if I was the person who placed the cache). The individual who sent the note to you needs to have an attitude adjustment! Find-me

What was that all about? If sent to me as an email, I would not dignify it with a response at all. As it was sent in an open forum, perhaps I am supposed to publically defend myself? A brief comment and I will have no further participation in this thread. I appreciate the suggestions, encouragement and positive advice from most of the folks who responded to my original post. The caches were published Friday night. I got 8 on Saturday (starting mid-morning after a heavy snowfall). I hiked almost 10 km that day through the snow over 4 hours. I went back the next day and managed 3 more with almost as much walking. Got the last a day later. Took nothing other than a couple of TB's from any of the caches. Anybody in town had the same opportunity to get at least some during the three days. By the way, I AM a beginner at this; just a little more enthusiastic than some. If you (or the hypothetical writer of this email) are unhappy with Geocaching because someone beat you to a FTF, then all I can say is "Get a life!".

Now that's just nasty!

A couple of people around here have done some great night caches in a local wooded park with trails. The coordinates for the cache get you to a spot where you can shine your flashlight around to pick up small white reflectors placed on trees (about the size of a dime). You go to the spot and from there try to find the next reflector (20-30' away). There was one set up that must have had a dozen or more stages with the final spot indicated by three reflectors on the tree. The cache was not difficult to find once you made it to the final location but you couldn't possibly find it during the day without the reflectors to guide you. These little reflectors are very difficult to see in the daytime. The final cache was several hundred feet away from the original coordinates. Another one was just slightly offset from the original coordinates but you still had to use a flashlight to spot the final destination (within 30' of the origin). I have found two of these at night during the winter. Great fun.

Just returned from getting the last cache in the area! (12 out of 12 as FTF.) I can't believe that nobody went for it in the last 3 days. Cold weather might have had something to do with it. I'll lay off the FTF's for the next little while. There are still MANY cache sites in town that I haven't hit and I think I'll simply focus on some of these other areas.

I would never take stuff without leaving stuff of equal or greater value - except possibly if there was an interesting FTF prize. Even then, I would probably go back and "replace" it with something equally interesting at a later time. Even though I have been involved with geocaching for a very short period of time, I have seen a large proportion of caches with absolute junk in them. I think I would just as soon find a cache with nothing but a logbook. I'm in this for the sport, not the swag - although I get a kick out of seeing some of the stuff that people place in their caches. Geocaching isn't a shopping trip to the dollar store and I have no interest in trading to get ahead. For me, its an excuse to get outside and go places I might not otherwise see. Its been too cold lately but I expect I'll combine these treks with a little nature photography when things warm up a bit. I enjoy the FTF because it gives me a chance to see the cache before the contents have been diluted by crappy trades. I guess my original questions were about whether I was being greedy about the FTF (I don't feel guilty); and whether I should grab any trackable items to get them further along on their journey ASAP. Taking a couple of bugs (to drop off again within a couple of days) was sort of a compromise. The bugs are neat and I enjoy reading a little about their travels. Find-me

I didn't feel that taking anything was appropriate since I didn't bring anything to add. I am happy enough to have bragging rights. Some nice cache swag but nothing specifically designated as FTF. Find-me

Make it a two stage cache. The first stage contains a screwdriver and directions to the location of the second stage. If the two locations are close together, I think most cachers would return the screwdriver to the first location. It could add an interesting wrinkle to the quest. Find-me

A couple of local cachers placed a number of new caches (published on Friday). These were all placed in a nearby wooded park area with hiking trails. Despite a recent heavy snowfall, I decided to see what I could find. Out of 12 new caches (well done ones, I might add), I found 11 and was FTF for all of them! I must say, I feel a little guilty about it but I had a couple of GREAT days hiking the trails. With the exception of a couple of travel bugs (which will be moved along very shortly), I did not take anything from any of the caches. I wasn't really prepared for the hunt so I didn't bring anything to leave. (I need to get a stock of quality swag!!) Should I hold back and leave at least some of the FTF to others? Should I delight in the fact that I got almost all of them? - going back for the last one today. Should one make a point of taking more travel bugs to move along? - I only took two out of 6 or 7 available. Some of the caches had some really nice stuff and I was tempted but didn't take anything since I had nothing to leave in return. Appropriate, or did I miss out on FTF "rights"? Should I make FTF a bit more of an event by leaving something of some value? I am tempted to revisit some of these and help repay the cachers for the fun that I had finding their caches. Must get some good stuff... Thanks to ACE226 and GeoSlyCa Find-me

I tried "AddMagMap" <http://www.msh-tools.com/addmagmap/index.html> and had some difficulties. The program seems to be quite capable and should do EXACTLY as I wish but I could not get it to work with TOPO USA 3D (v1.5). TOPO crashes when I try to open it after adding detail. Thank goodness the AddMagMap program has an effective "undo"! I emailed the author and he has had reports that the program doesn't work with the DVD version but hasn't confirmed it himself. I was trying to add detail to an area in Canada and although it isn't in the detailed map area, it is apparently supposed to work (at least for previous versions). I'll update this thread if I get anywhere with the program. Find-me

I haven't had any problem importing a route or track log into Google Earth - there seem to be a number of ways of doing this. What I have been trying to do is to import a "Path" from Google Earth to display as a map on the Explorist. My first step was to overlay a jpeg map onto GE and use the Google "Path" to trace the trails. I was able to save the path file and parse out the lat/long information and create a tracklog file that the Explorist could recognize. I managed to do it but a visible tracklog is a poor substitute for a map. The best solution is, of course, to be able to embed the track into a map that is compatable with the Explorist. I am going to try the program proposed by embra to see if this will work for me. Find-me

I have had some luck with this. I created a "path" in Google Earth and saved it as a KML file. I opened the KML file in MS Word and used "copy/paste" into a new document and "replace" to get rid of the stuff I didn't need and to add a line break between each data point pair. I copied the data and pasted into Excel where I could "parse" the comma delimited number pairs. I also copied a dummy track log from my Explorist into "Notepad", copied and pasted into Excel and pulled it apart using "text to columns" and "comma delimited". I had to change the format for the Lat/Long coordinates from decimal degrees to a format that matched what came from the Explorist. I recombined the data into a single column with commas in the appropriate places, changed from formulas to values, copied and pasted into Notepad where I could save back to the GPS. I paid no attention to the date, time or altitude portions of the file - just used whatever was already in the dummy file I started with. I suspect that you would need to at least make sure that the times were consecutive. The Explorist opened it as a track without any problem!! With a little knowledge of MS Word and a lot more knowledge of how to do text string manipulations in Excel, this wasn't as complicated as it might sound. It took me around 30 minutes to do the first one but I think I could get it down to a few minutes per track. It doesn't matter how many points are included - it will still take essentially the same amount of time since I used formulas and "find and replace" Now for the downside. It still isn't a map. It is just an apparent track log that I was able to create from Google Earth. Despite the fact that the track log includes information that isn't relevant (altitude, time, date), it displays better than a route file which has big POI icons (that I think I can change) and a bunch of messy text that can't (as far as I know) be suppressed on the GPS display. It is useful as a means of knowing where I am relative to any individual trail and where a particular geocache might be in relation to a trail as well. I can only display one track log at a time so I will need to have virtual backtracks if I wish to see all of the trails at once in a given area. It also becomes a little messy if I want to record a track log for a particular hike. It will add to the "created" track log and although I can edit the track log after the fact, it is not ideal. I haven't even begun to look at maps. I (so far) have not examined their data structure but I suspect it is a lot more complicated than the GPS Tracklog, POI, or Route files. If anyone has any suggestions how I might be able to convert this data into a real map format that can be displayed on the GPS, I would be grateful. In the meantime, I'll plod along with my tracklogs created from the "Path" command in Google Earth and overlaid jpeg images of trail systems. I'll come back to this post if I carry the process any further. Find-me

I am looking for some help... There are a large number of walking trails around here and they do not all show on a TOPO map. I was thinking about walking the trails with "track log" turned on so I could create a virtual map for myself and anyone else who had a similar GPS. This would, however, take a lot of time and I could miss some of the trails/branches. I managed to find a map of one particular area as a jpeg file. I found that I could import this into Google Earth. With a little re-sizing and rotation, I was able to accurately superimpose this map image (set to semi-transparent) onto Google Earth. Using some features visible on GE and present on the map, I was able to get a pretty accurate overlay. With the map in GE, I can use "add path" and go point-to-point around the trails; tracing the trails on the map. The path file can be parsed to create a series of waypoints that describe the trail. A separate "path" has to be created for each loop and branch in the trail system. The path can be saved as a .kml file which contains the desired information. From my experience, coordinate positions from GE are extremely close to what my Explorist reads. I would like to take these waypoints and create a file that can be imported into my Explorist. Ideally, I would like to be able to "connect the dots" to create a virtual map or trail on the handheld unit. This would be terrific for hiking or geocaching. Although I haven't been at this long, I have often found myself hiking through the bush to a cache only to find another trail segment within 10' of the cache on the other side! Does anyone know of a utility that can take a large series of waypoints (likely a couple of hundred) and create a "map" that can be brought into the GPS? I think I might be able to mimic the file format for a Magellan "track log" or "route file" but I'm not sure. Again, I would like to have this show as separate tracks visible at the same time rather than just a big series of points (as you would get with a large series of POI's). The "track log" may be the way to go but it includes information (time, altitude) that is not required for my purposes. I haven't played with route files very much. I'm sure that this has been done before but I was quite surprised and pleased to see that Google Earth could interact with an electronic image of a map. The "path" utility is an easy way to mark a large number of waypoints without naming them and having a big bunch of waypoint icons on the screen. If I can get this to work for me, I plan to create virtual maps for a number of trails in my area. It could potentially be done with a scanned image of any map as long as it is scaled accurately. Thanks Find-me

Not even listed on the Magellan Website!! I guess that means that it is not available from retailers?? The Magellan price for the unlock code (no CD, DVD, manual or box) is $115 USD. I have a new Explorist that came with the DVD containing a bunch of mapping software. It also came with a coupon for the TOPO 3D USA for $10.00. You might think a unit sold in Canada would come with a coupon for Canadian TOPO software? Has anyone found the TOPO 3D Canada from a retailer for a good price? I would rather not pay the $115 if I can avoid it. Find-me EDIT : In answer to smokingpipe's initial question, the information on the DVD says: Adds 3D map viewing capability on PC only Works more smoothly with compatible eXplorist and also works with compatible Meridian and SporTrak GPS receivers Requires internet connection to purchase unlock code Requires full installation Owners of MapSend Topo Canada version 1 can buy Version 1.5 from the DVD and receive an $80 mail-in rebate. It also says that the maps for Version 1 are: "Same exact data as Version 1.5 "

Thanks embra! I also thought it was a bit odd but assumed that it was a software bug rather than a specific problem with my unit. I got rid of "Woodlot" and tried another file. I simply renamed one from the internal memory that was working correctly and put it on the SD card. Same problem. Reformatting the card made no difference. Again, when I selected a geocache series from the SD card, I couldn't switch back to one from Internal memory - nothing happened when I hit the "up one level" to get to internal from SD. Other aspects of the SD to Internal seemed to work OK. I ended out clearing memory and since the firmware re-installation doesn't take very long, I did that as well. Magic! It is now working although I have no idea whether it was due to something glitched in memory or if the software had become corrupted in some way. In any case, this is a "heads-up" for anyone who suffers this problem. Save your files, clear memory and re-install firmware. I'm glad it wasn't an SD card compatability issue; I just bought 4 x 512 MB on sale. I appreciate the assistance! Find-me PS I was not looking forward to the prospect of contacting Magellan although I have heard that they are much more responsive with telephone support than they are with email support (couldn't be much worse).

I installed an SD card awhile ago and didn't use it until today. I downloaded a series of geocache points to the SD card - a series of 27 caches at one particular location and gave it a name "Woodlot". I went to "Active Setup" and set the "Geocaches" to "Woodlot". I decided to go caching in a different area so I tried to set a different series from the Internal Memory of the unit rather than the SD card. It won't let me go "Up one Level" to select one of my geocache files from internal memory. The only way I could access them was to remove the SD card. Looks like a software bug to me - I am using the latest version (2.03). This is a major pain! Is there some way to switch between internal memory and the SD card for geocache files? If not, how do you manage this? Use the SD card only for geocache locations and not store anything in the internal memory? Am I doing something wrong? I removed the "Woodlot" geocach series from the SD card (put it into Internal memory) and it seems to be OK. I can access the three different sites I have on the GPS. Perhaps I should keep the cache sites on internal memory and reserve the SD only for different base maps. Even with just a few MB of internal, there is room to store LOTS of geocache waypoints. Do you keep stuff like track logs on internal memory or SD? It doesn't seem that there is any simple way to transfer stuff back and forth from SD to internal memory. I set it up to USB transfer mode (Internal memory) and copy data to the PC. I then have to change the USB mode to SD and copy data back. There seem to be work-arounds for these things - just a bit of a PITA. Any thoughts? Thanks Find-me