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Explorist Bug List (updated)


D0T-C0M

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Hello,

 

from another forum in Germany I know about 6 mountainbikers (no geocaching) who have the same problems and wishes :

 

 

firmware corrections:

 

1. The 600 comes up with a message "poor GPS coverage". This means, the reception is bad. If you switch to the navigation screen you will see that there are approximately 4 to 8 satellit with 100% reception available! This does not make sense. The only way to make sure that this message does not come up is to switch off the function: GPS fix (this means I will never be able to work with the function GPS Fix !!!).

 

2. Sometimes the 600 freezes if I disconnect it from my PC.

 

3. I f you have a track with 500 or 800 or 1400 trackpoints on your SD card or in the internal memory, it takes very long (sometimes minutes) to display the file structure of the memory. (at this point we are not talking about the selection of a track or to load and display a track, we are talking only of showing the file structure of the 600 on the SD card or int. Memory, nothing else).

 

wishes:

 

1. possibility to change the color and the width of the track line (like Garmin).......(if you use the 600 with a mountainbike or motorcycle, currently it is hard (impossible) to see the really small track line on the display).

 

2. start a track from everywhere, not only from the beginning. switch off/on manually the "rubberband" of the track.

 

3. more waypoints (10.000 instead of the current 2.000).

 

4. for the autorouting function I like to change the duration in seconds and the loudness of the beeps. Currently you have to wait until you crossed the road or the curve before the beep switches of automatically.

 

5. It should be possible to change (correct/calibrate) the value of the temperatur and the barometer. Currently these values are not useable because they are not correct.

 

6. a small battery sign on each screen

 

7. the elevation gain (difference in altitude) should be added automatically.

 

rgds Filiale

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I was one of the translators of the list freeday and filiale from Germany composed out of the opinions in a german GPS-issued board. Now after two weeks of extended usage during vacation, here is my updated issue list:

 

Major

1. have not experienced it due to workaround (de-select USB-transfer first befor unmounting cable)

2.

3.

 

For me major, major: the unit is terrible slow: it starts up slow, sat locking, map loading slow, map redraw slow, routing slow, everything is sooo slow: My Plat is much, much faster, is there really a new CPU being used?

 

Minor:

1. yes. Why is the calibrate dialog of the plat now a hidden command??

2. yes. whole function is incomplete: why can't I mark Geocaches as "found"??

3. total yes!! annoying while driving at night, power consuming at day.

Just remember light setting from befor,

offer switch off light completely (hardware possible: observe backlight during startup, for a short while light switches off)

4. allready put to major IMHO. again, everything is slow. One can't belive that a new. faster processor is being used,

5. not experienced

6. not experienced

7. Yes, its very annoying. Work around: move saved track directly to the SD-card directory to collect them there, but never open that directory from the GPSr. simply copy them away with the PC. BTW the format of this Track-files is exactly the txt- import track-format Mapsend expects, so copy them to the PC, rename to .txt and import them with Mapsen.

 

NEW minor: If a street route is engaged and a new Goto is envoked without ending the street route, the map infos are not restored to the original selections.

 

Enhancents

1. ?

2. family hates me for this "feature"

3. yes, absolutely connectred with Minor#3. the light management should be user-selectable: just spend an option in the Power Management dialog for light management: automatic and manual light management (personal I dont need that light management: When I am on the hike, I keep the unit at a low light level, If I drive at day, I want high light level continously, if I drive at night, I select a low level. No need to change it automaticly)

4. Some state-of-the-art road routing options would be nice: user selectable speed levels for different street types small street, highway, motorway would be helpfull. And short route/fast route selections would be great as well. And of course a Motorway/toll road/ferry avoidance option would be cool as well.

5. Yes, due to the more efficient coordinate entry system of Magellan I am much faster than the Garmin guys. ;-)

6. yep r

7. totally yes, depending of speed switch electronic compass. if simple, just offer 2-3 speed threshholdlevels in the power saving dialog for the electronic compass

8. YESSSS!!!

9. as far as the color coding is: no signal: no bar, but yellow sat in the sky diagram/ signal but no lock, yellow bar and yellow sat in the sky diagram/ locked: blue sat bar and blue sat in the sky diagram, everything is fine to me. The mentioned wish comes from the pdf handbook, there is a green/blue color coding mentioned. I guess Magellan optimized this feature during making of the handbook and releasing the units. BUT I think the 3D display is fancy rubbish, the 2D display known from former units was more informative. but you can get used to it....

10. Yes!!!

11. Yess!!!! And One more Screen! A user selectable screen with either 4 big numbers or 8 small numbers and a small band compass. Sailors will love Magellan for this.

12. yes. like my old Plat

13. I would not die for it....

14. for the next hardware version.

15. yes, or user selectable.

16, very optional...... a second odometer I would like to have.

17. yes 500 out of 500 with comments would be a good thing

18. yes, every screen should have user selectable data fields.

19. dual format, coordinate calculator, distance and bearing calculator in both directions was a very usefull function. The waypoint projection function of the Meridians/SporTraks offered a bunch of very powerfull tools!

20. ?

21. Not only dutch translation, I saw many tweaks in the german translation as well. Did anytime a mother language speaker validate the translations????

Expample: fishing/hunting dialog "time from to" is translated to "Zeit von zu", which is true if you use translators. no-one will understand it. Correctly it would be "Zeit von bis". many other examples on request.

22. Present icons are a joke.

23. I mentioned it before.

 

Puhh, did I forget something?? hope not.

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MAJOR:

#1 Yes, but i use a workaround to solve this problem.

#2 -

#3 I never use Data on internal memory because of this problem

MINOR

#1 - (I have eXplorist 500)

#2 Yes.

#3 Yes.

#4 - (I don't have TOPO)

#5 -

#6 -

#7 -

ENHANCEMENTS

#1 Yes.

#2 Yes.

#3 Yes.

#4 Yes.

#5 -

#6 - (I have europe version.)

#7 - (I have eXplorist 500)

#8 Yes.

 

- Memory function for last SD-Folder if system powered off and on (default is internal storage)

- Color coding of sats: eg: grey=no connection, red=connecting, blue=connected. Don't forget that 10% of the male population have a red/green-amblyopia

- Sort Sats by number at display of the sat-strength

- allow optional 4 user definable data fields in Map-Screen, Compass-Screen and Position-screen (not only 2 data fields, selectable 2 or 4)

- One more navigation screen please. Data screen: selectable 4 or 8 user definable data fields. if 4 is selected , then use big letters, perhaps put a band compass at lower end of screen

- Address entering scheme it odd: normal habit is first entering the town, then entering the street

- 10.000 waypoints instead of 2.000 waypoints when using a SD-card

- projection: distance and direction

- Features on every screen: Battery status, 3D/2D-Fix-Symbol, accuracy

- Auto routing not only for cars (car fast/middle/slow, bicycles, pedestrian)

- Alarm loudness should be selectable

- If explorist is turned of – a charging symbol would be nice during charging

- Tracking line should be able to configure for better visibility

- Zooming for 10 meters (not only 35m)

- Calculator, Alarm Clock

 

Thanks, - TASTE -

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MAJOR:

#1 Yes, but i use a workaround to solve this problem.

#2 Yes

#3 I never tried this, nice to know

MINOR

#1 Yes.

#2 - don't use geocaches

#3 Yes.

#4 Yes.

#5 Yes.

#6 Yes.

#7 Yes.

ENHANCEMENTS

#1 Yes.

#2 Yes.

#3 Yes.

#4 Yes.

#5 -

#6 - (I have europe version.)

#7 -

#8 Yes.

#10 Yes.

#11 Yes.

#12 Yes.

#13 Yes.

#14 Yes.

#15 Yes.

#16 -

#17 Yes.

#18 Yes.

#19 Yes.

#20 Yes.

#21 Yes, the same for the German translation!

#22 Yes.

#23 -

 

The backtracking-function missing the ability to step to the next track-point.

This feature is standard on the Meridian !

I want this, because sometimes you miss the next point (e.g. bad signal or I take sometimes a shortcut and came later back to the planed track).

The backtrack in light green is really hard to see on the screen!

 

I was really unhappy with my eXplorist 600 (with so may bugs), so I send it back and use now again my old Meridian Platinum.

 

ray

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I also will change from EX to Garmin if the next firmware update will not bring the features i already postet.

At this time it looks like the firmware was not developed for this prozessor and the programmers had a time limit for this firmware-project.

It´s a pity - hardware with lion-Akku is really great for my use.

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I have an explorist 200. I have three suggestions: One software-related, two physical-design-related.

 

1. The user POIs (MyPOI's) should be searchable alphabetically, same as the Basemap POIs. Presently, user POIs can be presented in alphabetical order, but require the user to then scroll to the the POI desired, whereas the Basemap POIs can be searched via a few keystrokes.

 

2. The joystick should have a new surface, similar to the "cat's tongue" surface found on TrackPoint joysticks on laptops. Many of you who have recently bought the new series of eXplorists have not yet worn their joysticks smooth. When you do, you'll see what I mean, especially if your fingers are sweaty.

 

3. The lanyard attachment position should be moved to the bottom of the unit. Presently, the lanyard drapes across the front of the screen when the gps is held out in front of you. Yes, I have a detachable lanyard, but it's annoying to constantly (a) detach the lanyard, or (:lol: push the lanyard off to the side in order to see the screen.

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Hi,

 

I´m anotherone from Germany, using the eX 600 for mountainbiking.

 

It is nearly impossible to see the tracking line, when using "backtrack". The user has to be able to change colour and size (of the track-line)

 

And: It should be possible to follow a track from every possition of the track (not only from the beginning).

 

jo_la

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Yes, not only is the trackline faint, but the position to waypoint line is too faint. On my 500, the goto line (start to finish line) in big and yellow. That's great if you're on the ocean, but if you are driving roads it's not very useful. However, the line that points from your current position to the waypoint is much more useful. I wish there was a way to make it brighter or change the color. Right now it's a very faint dotted line which is hard to see unless you are walking.

 

Parsa

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When selecting POI's, I've noticed that the waypoint icons are sometimes displayed incorrectly. (Wrong icon is displayed - not the one I have selected for the waypoint).

 

I have noticed this, when I use GSAK for creating a POI file from .gpx for caches. There are different icons and they show wrong as you scroll up or down.

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Hallo from Germany! Now I’m also a member of the German naviboard and a user of explorist 600. I use the explorist for Mountainbiking and sometimes for autorouting and Geocaching.

 

Major

#1 Yes, Sometimes the 600 freezes if I disconnect it from my PC. HORRIBLE!!!!! :D

#2 No, I don’t have this problem at the moment.

#3 Nice to know

MINOR

#1 Yes.

#2 - don't use Geocach-function.

#3 Yes.

#4 Yes.

#5 Yes.

#6 Yes.

#7 Yes.

ENHANCEMENTS

#1 Yes.

#2 Yes.

#3 Yes.

#4 Yes.

#5 -

#6 – I use the European version.

#7 -

#8 Yes.

#9 Yes.

#10 Total Yes!!!!!!

#11 Yes.

#12 Yes.

#13 Yes.

#14 Yes.

#15 Yes.

#16 – not very important for me

#17 Yes.

#18 Yes.

#19 Yes.

#20 Yes.

#21 Yes, the same for the German translation!

#22 Yes.

#23 -

 

The backtracking-function missing the ability to step to the next track-point. The backtrack in light green is really hard (impossible) to see on the screen!

 

Address entering scheme it odd: normal habit is first entering the town, then entering the street

 

10.000 waypoints (better open waypoints!!) instead of 2.000 waypoints when using a SD-card

 

If explorist is turned of – a charging symbol would be nice during charging

 

Zooming for 10 meters instead only 35m

 

When you use the auto routing function (MapSend Direct Route) then it is useful after a Track change the software calculate the new line automatically. Now you press the button “goto” two times.

 

After a wonderful Mountainbike tour I’ll see the accumulated elevation gain both uphill and downhill! WITHOUT PC!!!!

 

First there are my wishes for a new firmware update.

 

Best regards

Bodosurfer

:D:D:D

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I've been out of the forums for a while, but I'm shocked that nobody has mentioned my #1 beef with Explorist - and this has roots in Meridian. The UI for geocaching is, uuuuh, suboptimal.

 

Steps required to find the second cache of the day:

Goto (1)

New goto (3 + 1)

Street (1)

My Pts of Interest (1+1)

Nearest to Position (1)

Pick waypoint (2 or more)

[ drive there ]

goto (1)

New goto (3 + 1)

Point to point(1+1)

My points (1)

Nearest to Position (1)

Pick waypoint (since it's likely to be top item, 1+1)

[ find cache. Sign book]

menu (1)

pts of interest (3+1)

my poi (1)

position (1)

Pick waypoint (since it's likely to be top item, 1+1)

Delete (1+1)

Answer "yes" to "are you sure" question (just in case you accidentally did this) (1)

 

That's at least 34 steps to drive to a cache, find it, and make it disappear from your map and "goto nearest" choices. They did at least do away with at least the "you're deleting the active goto - are you sure" prompt from Meridian.

 

Oh, stir in the backlight cancellation thing where if > 30 seconds lapse between any of those steps you have to inject another keystroke to get the screen to "wake up". That adds keystrokes and hoses touch typists.

 

I don't feel like dragging out my 60CS right now, but it's WAYYYY less. To those of us that will solo cache 50 or more in a day, this is a big deal. (You can argue that sane people don't do that, but people ask people that DO that kind of thing for their opinions about GPSes.)

 

 

I'm also suprised that nobody's mentioned an option for autozoom. When on the map screen, pick the scale level that makes the road to the next turn take up the majority of the screen. As I get closer to that destination, the zoom level increases. When I'm a couple of blocks away, I want a couple of blocks of resolution. I kind of developed a reflex for doing this on my first GPS (a Map330) but in the days of autorouting, it's really sensible to not have to keep manually tweaking the zoom levels while driving.

 

I really do believe that with some attention to the firmware, these could be the best handhelds in the market for a lot of people. To win that honour, Thales needs listen to people that use the product and make radical changes to the firmware.

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My eXplorist 600 clickstick fails on "left down", other directions ok.

I'm overwhelmed by reading all the problems.

Mine can only be fired up (up to showing satellites) after 3 or more tries, each time powering down by nav-menu-pwr.

Rudolf

 

I reviewed the clickstick problem on aug 25, 2005.

All directions are working. But I have to use extreme force to to get the cursor 'left-down'.

 

On aug 24, 2005 I uploaded my bug-list addition.

Rudolf.

Edited by Barjon
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Hello DOT_COM.

 

I did my utmost best to get my story clear.

Feel free to to ask for clarification if things are blurred.

 

Feedback about my European eXplorist 600 (FW 5.1.61, march 14, 2005)

It has several maps (of max. 63,25 Mb/piece) on a 256M SD card.

Rudolf.

 

MAJOR

=====

#01 yes

Identical problem in W98se with USB-Roadmate 500 driver. (a Magellan advice! See Yahoo Groups)

Very, very ennoying. Hangups of W98se and/or eXplorist very often, not only while connecting the lead, but also sometimes when pressing "Power only" at the communications screen.

Sometimes when changing communications from SD-card to Internal memory, or vice versa.

Sometimes pressing [enter] when the communications screen pops up, isn't working. Nothing is working then, the unit hangs and only nav+menu+pwr is an escape.

#02 agree, didn't experience this

#03 agree, didn't experience this

 

MINOR

=====

#01 agree

#02 agree

#03 agree very much, backlite pre-setting should always prevale

#04 agree, very ennoying

#05 agree, identical for 'ordinairy' maps of nearly 64 Mb

#06 agree, (major bug, yes)

#07 agree very much

 

ENHANCEMENTS

============

#01

#02 most ennoying

#03 agree

#04 agree very much

#05 agree very much

#06 -

#07 agree

#08 agree, very important

#09 huh?, my colours are different: green=tracked and yellow=not (# at globe)

#10 agree, must have very good eyes for this

#11 agree, create data fields as in Meridian Platinum

at least make data fields at 'location screen' user definable

#12 -

#13 agree, would be nice

#14 agree

#15 agree

#16 agree

#17 agree very much

#18 agree very much

#19 agree, just like Meridian Platinum

#20 agree, very ennoying

#21 agree, I volunteer to help

#22 -

#23 -

 

Please ADD:

 

MAJOR

=====

a. Staying at a fixed point for quit a while, the arrow 'wanders' around, up to 60 meter in all directions. This becomes black smudge at cursor position. One day (I have the examples) I measured 'off-track-points' of 360 and 420 meters. Should I call this "drift"?

The eXplorist had a really good reception and enough satellites (at least 4 + waas).

 

b. During a car trip the eXplorist was at the dashboard just behind the windscreen and had a good reception. Arriving home, looking to the tracklog in Mapsend, there were MAJOR 'off-track -points' of about 2,56 km and 1,64 km from the followed trail. During the same route this happened a second time with 'off-track -points' of about 9,65 km and 9,60 km. (I have the examples)

Btw, I was used to a straight line in the Meridian, in case of bad reception.

 

c. Clickstick (enter button) does not do "south-west", other directions are ok. There are more reports about the malfunction of the clickstick!

White text on it vanishes rapidly (minor).

added aug 25: after review, "south-west" works, but extreme force is needed.

 

MINOR

=====

d. Comparing "MapSend Streets Europe v4.10" with "MapSend DirectRoute Europe v.2.00c" a lot of woodland is "lost". Green areas vanished and/or diminished, despite the woodland is there ("MapSend Streets Europe v4.10" is right). I checked in the direct surroundings of my home. (NAVTEQ denied to have anything to do with this problem)

 

e. Hint text in Geocaching window is cut-off

 

Epilogue.

When I combine my own experiences with the bug-list (up to now), I could cry. Didn't Magellan (Thales) learn from the Meridians? I think: no. Did they consult the Geocaching community? I think: no. In the Netherlands we say: "They missed the boat". Luck for Garmin I presume.

 

The only miracle to happen is that they "read and listen" and then find the guts to correct and enhance the eXplorist.

 

Best regards from the Netherlands.

Rudolf.

Edited by Barjon
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Barjon wrote:

The only miracle to happen is that they "read and listen" and then find the guts to correct and enhance the eXplorist.

 

I totally agree. If magellan doesn't step up to the plate and listen to its customers feedback I'm afraid at least for me this will be my last Magellan product. Too bad because the ExploristXL was looking quite attractive from a hardware perspective.

 

Edit: I will update the list later this week. Please note that I cannot list everything people have mentioned here but I trust if magellan is serious at providing customer support they will do well to read the whole thread.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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I've updated the list in the first post, please press refresh on your browsers to to see the new list.

 

Added 1 major item to the list

Added 2 minor items to the list

Added one enhancement item to the list and edited a few others.

 

Please magellan if your reading this, do something!!!

 

Note to anyone experiencing these issues and would like them resolved, please email Magellan and send them this link. Insist that these items are important to you.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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I've experienced...

 

Major: 1 (fixed in replacement unit)

 

Minor: 1, 3, 6

 

The manual says that when you create a route, you have the choice of a street route or a point-to-point route. This does not happen on my unit.

 

The screen is too soft, so scratches appear very easily. This was not a problem with the SporTraks that I previously owned. I put a Invisible Shield on the replacement unit as soon as I received it.

 

Very minor problem: the joystick is stiff in the up direction on the replacement. It's usable, but sometimes has to be pushed hard.

 

Basically I am pleased with the eXplorist, as it has more useful features (for me) than the SporTrak. I especially like being able to communicate with the PC via a USB port, being able to use SD cards for data storage, and hving a rechargable battery.

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The manual says that when you create a route, you have the choice of a street route or a point-to-point route. This does not happen on my unit.

You need to have detail map files generated from DirectRoute to be able to street route. With Topo3D or no detail maps at all (basemap only) you can only do point-to-point routes...so that choice screen won't even come up.

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Just a little information, so far I have emailed 2 support techs and also emailed their general support email address twice each and I am still awaiting responses from either of them. I wonder if they put me on +ignore???

 

Anyoneelse email them and get a response?

Edited by D0T-C0M
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I got one back last week about USB on my 600............."if it happens again, send it for alooksee". Well,yesterday & today it's freezing up again, and now when it goes into file transfer mode it shuts itself off. Still waiting for a return number from them....24 hours now. Also asked to send it in Canada for "alooksee". :rolleyes::P

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I never got a return number from Magellan when my unit had to be replaced. They just told me to send it to Bill's Electonics in Mildmay Ontario.

 

If you call Bill there 519-367-2771, he'll probably sort you out a whole lot faster than Magellan will. Of course, this is only helpful if you're in Canada. Don't bother him with anything you're not going to mail the unit to him for. He's the repair center, not the support center.

Edited by northernpenguin
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Well I wrote a email to Magellan from the website requesting some info on the explorist series and noted my concerns about the bugs listed here. I specificly pointed to this group and stated this is basicly make or break if I should get a eXplorist or not.

 

I am planning on getting a new GPS for Christmas. My wife has hinted they I may get to have my pick anyway.

 

Problem is I can tell by this list I will be annoyed with the potential of the explorist for Geocaching, but I also know don't want to live without a memory card.

 

I am choosing between five units. eXplorist 400, XL, Two Rhinos, 60C, & the Garmin Palm unit.

 

*IF* I hear from Magellan some of the issues listed will be address in a future update I will get either the 400 or XL. Otherwise I will problably get a couple of Rhinos so I can keep track of my kids in the future and *GULP* live without a memory card... Can't believe I even typed that.

 

Anyway. I will post whatever I hear from Magellan about firmware updates here.

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Dan Edwards:

The eXplorist has flaws, but it is still very functional and has the best file management of any GPSr I am aware of. It took the Meridian file system and added very nice and useful features.

 

If you work with waypoint files, tracks and routes it works great. And you can skip the geocache file and create a standard waypoint file of 500 waypoints. With a 20 character name, you can have cache features such as difficulty/terrain/type, container size (using GSAK.) You can move, copy and store files in directories/folders you name and organize. This goes for track files, and you can access a track file and create a route immediately. You can look at the elevation profile for any track file, and if you have the topo software, you can do elevation profiles for routes.

 

I use my GPSr for more than just geocaching, and I would have a hard time going back to a unit without a memory card.

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Here is something I noticed about my thinking of the bugs.

 

In my mind Major #4 and Minor #4 would annoy me the most. Why? Basicly because they would happen to me in the field. If something happens during a sync I really don't mind as long as I don't lose any data in the end. A GPS freezing while transfering data is only a minor annoyance to me, but slow topo data or strange waypoint info while hiking would drive me completly bonkers and it would happen when others were around me to hear me complain.

 

That said I have been looking at how I use my GPS and I know I could not live without a memory card... So now I am thinking of waiting for the XL. One reason being it's later ship data may mean a newer version of the firmware, but the main being screen size and memory card access slot.

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Dan I agree with your assessment of major and minor bug #4 but now that people have commented on the list in point form I cant juggle the items around. My initial reasoning for the list was the major items would be issues that had no workaround temporary fix available and the minor issues were issues that had a temporary fix that we could use to get around the issue till magellan resolved it. Both lists are equally important in my view and needs to be addressed.

 

One thing that I dont agree with you on is the fact that the XL will be any better than Explorists are bugwise, for the simple fact that I would venture a guess by saying that the hardware will probably be essentially the same except for the screen and possibly the battery. One other thing is I will never buy another magellan product while magellan doesnt up their product support. Its ridiculous that they would not update the firmware to at least correct some of the flaws. One other thing that really gets to me is the future release of direct route 3.00. Being from canada, I would again have to fork out more dollars to upgrade from v2.00 that most of us just bought a couple months ago (trust me it won't happen).

 

I really think the explorist line is a great piece of hardware if only magellan supported it better. I am really starting to cross my fingers that garmin comes out with a unit with sd card capabilities soon so I can put this whole bad experience behind me.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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Sent my 600 to Bill's today and finally heard from Magellan...........they told me to Bill's was the Canadian repair place and to contact him......duh, already did that....also wanted to know when unit froze up what did it say as in error message..........HOW CAN IT SAY ANYTHING WHEN IT'S FROZE!! Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Was I using the conversion program. Explained that all out in email to them. :anitongue:

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Well I'm still holding out some optimism that the XL will trigger a firmware update. These things do take time to do properly and Magellan is probably afraid of inviting the lawyers if they indicate they're fixing things.

 

Last thing we need is Microsoft style fixes that break other things. It certainly seems like they should be hiring a few more customer care people though as the support line gets completely overwhelmed I find. The lack of the firmware update doesn't bother me quite yet, as the QA people are possibly holding it up. I would be annoyed at the XL coming out before the firmware is fixed on my 600, but I seriously believe it is a 600 with a bigger case, so that will probably become the firmware update.

 

The eXplorist is a completely new series and bugs should be expected by us "early adopters". Remember that Garmin has it's problems too. I went from a Garmin unit that would lose signal lock if there was a tree within 3km to a Magellan that, while it has bugs, it holds a lock under tree cover like no tomorrow.

 

I may change my mind if that firmware update doesn't happen though. I've been hearing that it would come around the end of the year. That would be in keeping with the XL release - does anyone seriously think this unit will ship in September? Considering that one cannot purchase a Magellan data cable for the eXplorist 400/500/600 yet - it's on permanent back order. Now that's another annoyance - my eTrex I was able to leave the car charger cable in the car and leave the data cable on my computer. I know some people take their cradle into the house but that's just silly - I should be able to leave a data cable in the car. That tab to lock it into the cradle broke four months ago so it's a PITA too. I really don't like having to take a cable back and forth that I can't replace and will probably get broken being taken back and forth.

 

Winter's coming too, which means that I'm going to need an extra battery or two, which I also cannot get unless I'm willing to play with my warranty by using non Magellan parts (motorola battery) - or should I expect that this is a new super battery that is not affected when the unit is taken out in -35C night caching sometime in January.

 

So what's going to make me shop Garmin next time? Magellan's customer care, the complete lack of necessary parts, and the lack of updates for their products (mapsend). I go into WalMart near my place, or Canadian Tire, RadioWorld, Bass Pro and I see the same thing every time : a wall of Garmin accessories for everything I could possibly need. There are several explorist boxes, some really overpriced maps a couple mounts and HALF a car charging solution (one still needs to use the data cable with the car charger).

 

I've had an eTrex for 1 year, and an eXplorist for 6 months.

Garmin has updated my wife's firmware twice and the mapsource software three times.

Mapsource has neat features like nroute. Mapsource can be used without the original CD.

 

Magellan has posted the manual online for my eXplorist. Whoopie.

I've never seen a Mapsend update that didn't carry a $200 price tag. WWBM is the only update on the software updates page.

Mapsend requires the original CD in the drive. That's great, now I can get $400 maps stolen with the cheap laptop I leave in the car during cache hunts.

 

Magellan and Garmin both use the razor and blades business model, with the exception being that the Canadian blades are shoddy and rusty in the Magellan world, and you have to wait seven months before they'll ship you one - if you're lucky.

 

So, the firmware doesn't bother me much. Everything else about Magellan does.

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freeday,

 

Excellent thanks for the feedback. If this is true, the future looks promising, and maybe we can make some progress.

Yes, yes it does...

 

I got a response to my email. It was very short and to the point. They said they are working on the issues listed in this group in a future update.

 

Nothing about dates or anything like that, but they did acknowledge this list and the need for a update.

 

I would post a copy of the message but they put a lot of scary legalese at the end of the message.

 

Now I just need to start talking my wife into the need for an XL :-)

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Dan I recieved a similar email. I think magellan is starting to listen. Hopefully we can work together to resolve some of the issues to make the explorist the truly great piece of hardware that it was designed to be.

 

:D :D :P

Will the eXplorist "stories" from the German NAVIBOARD gps-forum http://www.naviboard.de/index.php?showtopi...indpost&p=65161 be included in (y)our actions towards Magellan/Thales?

 

I have started praying again...

Rudolf

 

The only miracle to happen is that they (Magellan/Thales) "read and listen" and then find the guts to correct and enhance the eXplorist.

 

Best regards from the Netherlands.

Rudolf.

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Barjon

 

The list of issues on the german forum are listed here by freeday. Most of those issues are in the summary in the list of the first post in this thread. Those that are not included in the list are mentioned in this thread. My hope is that we can work together on this with magellan so that these issues may be resolved soon. Hopefully we'll have some more concrete news to report soon.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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It would seem magellan is waking up. Lets hope all our wishes will be answered.

 

Old Sailor

 

i have to send mine away too. but I have to wait till after a big ATV trip on sept10th after which I will have a 2 week window before hunting season starts to get the joystick repaired/replaced

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Just want to keep this thread alive and encourage those that havent yet responded that it is very important to document your issues (if any) to this thread as Magellan has acknowledged that they are watching this thread and are going to address most of this issues discussed.

 

Please let us know the issues you are experiencing or enhancements you'd like to see.

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I just noticed something odd now that I've been using the eXplorist 500 for a few weeks.

 

Please let me know if you've noticed this.

 

When I scroll down a list of POIs, the scroll bar starts out large. It scrolls down through about 16 POIs, then pops back up to the top as a small scroll bar. At that point the symbols do not change, but instead remain constant on the screen as the waypoints scroll by. In other words, the symbols no longer reflect what the cache's real symbol is. I'm refering to regular POIs, not geocache ones.

 

This is disconcerting as I can not tell what type of cache I'm looking at except for the first 16. I have to go to "edit" to see the real symbol.

 

I may have to take out the card and do a hard reset if it's only a fault in my machine. What was the procedure for a hard reset? (I'm not talking about the force-off procedure that is NAV-MENU-POWER.)

 

BTW, I'm still occasionally getting the unit going off when I simply hit the NAV button. If I press it quickly it usually doesn't, but once in a while if I press it slowly, the unit will turn off. We all know how well it keeps a signal once it has one, but the reboot time is kind of long.

 

Parsa

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Here's a new one : only happened once and don't know if it was Something I did or not > new 600 > zooming in from 12mile to 1mile fast, screen went grey and said shiftting map, pressed the enter button and it went through some kind of test showing different colour bands. Had to 3 finger shutdown. Seems ok now, but that was wierd and also neat. :huh:

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We've experienced major issue #1 and ALL of the so-called minor issues (which don't feel very minor when you're out on the field). I'd also like to add that POI searches, when searched alphabetically, should still have the option of being sorted by distance. I've got all of SoCal on one map and when I search for "Alvarado Street" about 100 come up and cannot be sorted by the one closest to my location. Makes it hard when you are trying to find a street or geocache that isn't close enough to show up in a 'nearest to position' search.

 

Also, lock time is too slow. It really should be faster. I generally have to wait a couple of minutes, even when I just had the unit on 10 minutes ago.

 

This is my 2nd eXplorist 600. Sent the first one back because it was totally buggy. If the 2nd one had been the same, I would have demanded a refund. Hope Magellan listens....

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