+gconner Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Hi, I have 1 more bug and one work-around for the last bug I mentioned. There is some weirdness when working with maps created with Topo 3D and street names. The problem is that (I think) there are two kinds of spaces, only one of which can be typed on the unit. Here is the situation. I have a map of the western states including Utah ( maximum size ~ 240 MB). If I search for Industrial C (the name of the street is Industrial Circle) I get a short list of streets not containing Industrial Circle. But seaching for Indu and scrolling down finds it. However if you keep scrolling you notice that there is a second separate alphabetical list of things starting with Industrial which begins at the end of the first. This is where I was looking in the list when I typed Industrial C. After some playing around it became evident that the key issue was whether or not I put in a space after Industrial. If no, I got the whole list, if yes I got the partial secondary list. Since all of the street names have a space in them, my guess is that there are two different kinds of space. One that the explorist types with the space bar and another that comes earlier in the ascii (or unicode or whatever) character set that the unit cannot type. Anyway, after figuring this out, its not so bad, but makes me scroll alot. BTW, there is also a W Industrial Circle which I tried to find -- entering W Ind doesn't work either, it puts me in the second shorter list. It was pointed out to me by a kind forum reader (! this forum is really great ! ) that there is a work around for the bug I mentioned previously concerning choosing a cache from the map screen. If one zooms in close enough so that a cache icon is the default choice then clicking on it and choosing goto has the expected behaviour. It's a bit time consuming to zoom all the way in on a cache icon but faster than going through the menu system. Best, gconner 1 Link to comment
Parsa Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 I wish I could have the ability to see both my current position coordinates and the geocache coordinates at the same time. Because it is often easier for me to hone into a target using the coordinates and match my location to the geocache. I hate having to go back and forth to the POI and then back to my location. I really wish I did not have to write down the geocache coordinates hold a piece of paper when I am getting close to my target. AMEN to that! Without a way to recharge the battery in the backcountry the Explorist line is useless. I am not trying to rag, but gee, lets think a little. I like my E500 and a simple car charge plug is not too much to ask for, is it? You know what is funny, I would have paid more for a Magellan product. There is a car charger for the eXplorist. Also, many folks such as myself have used the PSP (PlatStation Portable) auto charger sold at Wal-Mart to charge the eXplorist in the car. It only costs about $6. In addition, there are flexible, rollable solar cells that can connect to the 12V car charger to charge the unit if you go on a long multi-day hike. There is also an external battery pack that can be connected to charge the unit at night. Parsa Link to comment
Parsa Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 I have a really good one. I wanted to buy a car charge adapter for when I am on the road or camping or whenever. So I went to the Magellan website and looked it up. I found it and ordered it along with some other stuff. Well, when it came and I finally figured it out, I laughed for five minutes and then I got kind of pissed off. Magellan does not make a simple charger that goes from the car port to the back of the E500 (or any of the other GPSr's in the Explorist line). You have to disconnect the USB cable that comes with the unit from the back of your computer, and plug that into the charger and then plug that on to the GPSr. HOW STUPID!!! Hmmmm... my eXplorist cable has USB on one end and the eXplorist connector on the other, with a female power connection in the middle. I can have my cable physically hooked to both the computer and external power simultaneously. In the car I don't use the USB connection when all I want is power. There are other cables available if you want one just for use in the car. Look at the PC-Mobile cables. There's a discussion of these issues in the eXplorist accessories thread. It's not really a bug (even though that connector IS rather annoying at times). Parsa 1 Link to comment
+bkfritz Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 I played around with my Mapsend DR software (Version2.00f) yesterday after reading a previous post on a possible way to bypass the 64 Mb map size limit. I search online and could not find anything, so starting browsing through some of the install files. I finally was able to bypass this limitation. I am sure this information is already out there somewhere, so I will not take credit for it. Go the the install folder (on my machine C:\Program Files\Magellan\MapSend DirectRoute NA) and find the file mapsend (the configuration settings file as indicated under the file type heading). Open this file in Notepad and look for the following lines: [DEVICE_DEFAULTS] Com_Port=-1 Baud_rate=-1 Memory_Size=8000 Conv_Maximum_Number_of_Regions=9 Maximum_Number_of_Regions=1 Conv_Memory_Size=65536 <----- *THIS IS THE LINE OF INTEREST* Write_Export_Log=0 Write_GPS_Log=0 Write_upload_Log=0 Write_Routing_Log=0 UploadDevice=0 MMC_NAME=detail00.img Edit the Conv_Memory_Size=65536 to the size of map you want. I changed it to 1000000 (1Gb) and was able to enclose the whole US. Be warned though, it took my machine over 24 hrs to process this region. The *.imi (format for the Ex600) was 950 Mb (no POI data). I also made 3 seperate regions; WestUS, MidUS, and EastUS; and these took around 6 hours to process. So far everything work OK on the Ex600. There may be a way to speed up the processing time by changing some of the other parameters, but I do not know enough to tinker with the program past what I have already done. Hope this helps. Link to comment
+Jhwk Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 I played around with my Mapsend DR software (Version2.00f) yesterday after reading a previous post on a possible way to bypass the 64 Mb map size limit. I changed it to 1000000 (1Gb) and was able to enclose the whole US. Holy poop on a stick! Can't believe you did that. And I thought my loading of 1/3 U.S. route and Topo maps on my card was cool. Would still like to see a Garmin do this - HATERS! Link to comment
+embra Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 I changed it to 1000000 (1Gb) and was able to enclose the whole US. Be warned though, it took my machine over 24 hrs to process this region. The *.imi (format for the Ex600) was 950 Mb (no POI data). I also made 3 seperate regions; WestUS, MidUS, and EastUS; and these took around 6 hours to process. So far everything work OK on the Ex600. There may be a way to speed up the processing time by changing some of the other parameters, but I do not know enough to tinker with the program past what I have already done. Hope this helps. Wow, you get the pushing the envelope award for 2005! While sometimes people are able to exceed the limit successfully, the compile times are long (I don't think there's a way to decrease that) and the files are frequently corrupted in some manner (they may load, but have incorrect street names or other errors). I'm very interested in any observations you can pass along from your experiment. Does it appear to autoroute ok over long distances? Do any startup functions (e.g., loading the map screen initially) take longer? Link to comment
robertlipe Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Specifically, do you see the symptoms reported in "Can I increase the region size?" in the FAQ at http://www.mtgc.org/robertlipe/myfaq ? Link to comment
+bkfritz Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 I just compiled and loaded the regions over yesterday and today and have had little time to experiment with them. As far as increased load times, I have not noticed any significant increases over the norm. As for errors in the map I guess I will just have to keep using it and see if anything shows up. I tried a few address searches and the main issue I noted was the LARGE list of matching streets that was returned, with no convenient way to filter the finds. The issue of map freezing while scrolling and other odd behavior I will just keep using it and see what happens. The auto-routing is interesting. I tried several different Goto's (From College Station, TX to various points) and found that the distance at which I got it to work varied. In the cases where it did not work, it was "calculating" for around 6-8 minutes and then came up with a message that it could not get the street-route to work and gave me the option to go point-to-point. My personal theory is that there is some maximum number of legs that can be processed for a GOTO Street Route. I don't see this as a major problem, or even a minor problem, as for the most part I drive point-to-point routing and only go street routing when I am near where I am going. At present I am using a 2 Gb SD card and have kept my "normal" (>64 Mb) maps on it. I suspect I will spend some time and make region maps for whole states (at least for those where I live and for others as I have the opportunity to travel to them). The Whole US region was more an excercise in excess than anything, just to see if I could make it work. In hindsight it is not real practical, but fun to try never-the-less. Anyway I will report back after I use it for a while. On another note, the Ex600 I have was returned to Magellan once for issues involving non-working directions on the thumbstick (the up diagonals did not work at all and the up required much more force that all other directions) and freeze-up on connection to PC problems. I received a new unit about 2 weeks after sending off my old one. No explanation as to the problem, just a note that my unit was replaced. So far the new one works fine, except that the up-left does not work at all, and the up and up-right still require a greater pressure than the other directions. I have noticed that all directions except the upward ones "click" when the thumbstick is moved in the direction. Anyway, I sent another service request to Magellan asking about the thumbstick problems on the new unit, did not receive a response, sent off another request and still have not heard back. Guess they are tired of hearing from me. Oh well. I still love my Ex600 and think the folder and file menu layout for maps, POIs and caches is THE way to go. Link to comment
smi Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 Same problems here. Starting to believe Magellan is getting a attitude problem. Greetz from Holland Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted October 12, 2005 Author Share Posted October 12, 2005 I am in communication with buckhunter and he or I should be posting the list of internal bug tracking issues that Thales has documented thus far. Link to comment
Yessir Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Just recently purchased an eXplorist 600 and I am fed up with the unit locking up. This mainly happens when zooming & scrolling around the screen, but can also happen when loading detailed maps. The only way of resetting the unit is to remove the battery and wait for several minutes before replacing it. Sometimes I even have to remove the SD card before I can get it to switch back on again. Quite often I get a white screen with the message "loading" in the bottom corner, occasionally I get a message "preparing NAND basemap moved". Map redrawing is also very slow and I have even had occasions where I save a track only to get back home and find that the track file has been corrupted. Due to the poor reliability with the eXplorist, I never leave home without carrying my old Meridian GPS as a backup! Link to comment
+maleki Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Just recently purchased an eXplorist 600 and I am fed up with the unit locking up. This mainly happens when zooming & scrolling around the screen, but can also happen when loading detailed maps. The only way of resetting the unit is to remove the battery and wait for several minutes before replacing it. Sometimes I even have to remove the SD card before I can get it to switch back on again. I see lots of mentions about lockups, a problem that I, knock on wood, have not had 'yet?'. Just wondering if those that have mentioned lockups ALL have an SD memory card installed. I do not. Perhaps it might be something to look at for Magellan if all the lockup probs are on units with SD cards. The jury's still out on my feelings about my 500. I really like the screen but have not invested in a new copy of Mapsend yet so for now have no need for an SD card yet. It has been great for Geocaching I'll have to say though. We use our old Meridian with old Mapsend for the mapping functionality for now. Still wish the old Meridian screens and functions could be exactly emulated on the Explorist line. Link to comment
+embra Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 maleki: If it's any reassurance, my impression is that most of those reporting lockups are using 600's. I've not seen a lockup yet on my 500 (with SD card) except for once following an unusually complicated data transfer from GSAK. I'm willing to write that one off as an aberration. Yessir: from the Explorist FAQ in my sig line, this might be easier than removing the battery: Another useful hidden feature to force a power off is to press the 4 keys light+nav+menu+power simultaneously. This combination works even when the unit is locked up. Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted October 12, 2005 Author Share Posted October 12, 2005 (edited) its possible that it is only related to uploads/downloads from the SD card. I have not tried it without the SD card but I'm too afraid of major item #2 or #3 to try BTW from the list I got from buckhunter, it says that the USB lockup issue has been resolved but who knows when the firmware will be out.... Edited October 12, 2005 by D0T-C0M Link to comment
+paulamur Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 (edited) I don't recall this being mentioned, but I think I have discovered a bug with the Geocache POI's. I was out caching today, using the Geocache POI's. These were Generated out of GSAK. The first cache was in a cemetary, we pull in and it says that we are still .75 miles away from cache. This is a small cemetary. My wife says she choose the cache by navigating to it on the screen highlighting it, clicking enter, then goto, the was asked if this POI was the one to goto, clicked ok. I zoomed in and saw the crosshair icon away from the cache, and a goto line to the crosshairs. I thought maybe she did something wrong, tried it again selecting it from the map, again it was off. Only way to get it go to the right coords was to find the cache on the menu screen then hit goto. From now on I will just use regular POI's. The Geocaching POI's would be nice, but not they way they work now. Edit to add: Also, when you pick the Geocache POI off the menu, there is no icon displayed on the compass screen. Edited October 12, 2005 by paulamur Link to comment
+jtrichard Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 I recently purchased an Explorist 600 and found this thread after trying to figure out why it kept locking up! Too bad I didn't do my research before buying.... (I have since returned it in exchange for a Garmin 60CS.) What I wanted to relay is what I learned from the good folks at http://cascadegps.com who sold me the original unit and then took it back for the replacement unit (at an awsome price I must say!). While corresponding with the salesperson, he said the following: "There have been a number of explorist 600s coming back. Magellan has even said not to expect any more units until mid-November because they have recalled whatever is still in stock. We are expecting more in November and I can hold one for you if you want the same model. Sorry for the problems. Hopefully Magellan will work out the bugs. " Apparently, Magellan is aware of the problem and trying to fix it. The sales person also said that the early shipments of units worked fine, but something happened after that. I was grateful to be able to exchange it so quickly. It appears that you can't even dump these bad boys on eBay for any reasonable price. Hopefully, those of you that have to keep the unit will get some much needed support within the coming month. Link to comment
Buck Hunter Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Hello all, Sorry for the delay in posting this. Here is a list with the entries, which I could transfer from your "bug/enhancement list" into our internal "Bug Tracking System". I am not able to give any kind of information about the above posted issue. Maybe this is a thing which is specific for the northamerican market and I am really not involved in these things. The beneath list contains only the state and the headline of the bug entries. In the moment the state of the most entries is Submitted, which means that the entry was just created and sent away. In this state the entry has no owner. If a new owner has accepted the entry. The state will change into Assigned. Assigned: The case has an owner who checks and tries to fix the issue. closed: The case is closed with or without a fix of the issue: (ie. fixed/functions as designed/postponed). What I can do is, to inform you in this thread about the change of state of every single entry. I personally thank every single of you and especially DOT-COM for the great job, which you did with creating this thread. BR Buck Hunter State: Headline: Resolved Unit freezes on the Communication menu when an option is selected after file transfer. Submitted SD Card with corrupted data causes a freezing of the unit Submitted Corrupted data which were sent to the internal memory making the unit inoperable Submitted Waypoint icons are sometimes displayed incorrectly Submitted temperature indicator bad on explorist 600 Submitted Geocache manager is too complicated to manage for geocaching Submitted Geocache Manager drops without warning while uploading more than 200 caches Submitted It is annoying for night caching if the proximity alert activates with full backlight Closed Vertical profile elevation view repond very slowly for both large and small regions Submitted Map is not visible because it is covered in a bunch of labels Submitted It takes very long to access the track log directory folder Submitted Map infos are not restored, if a new GOTO is created while using a street route - Submitted POI search should display a result which is sorted by the distance Submitted Change the duration in seconds and the loudness of the beeps - Submitted Please add the ability to "Save&GOTO" in the waypoint entry screen Submitted Please improve the quality of the canadian basemap Submitted The compass is being inacurate Submitted The waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series Submitted Add color coding of sat reception Submitted The Line from Position to target on the Map Screen is nearly Invisible Submitted Allow optional 4 user definable data fields ( instead of 2 currently) Submitted Please add a graphical display of the air-pressure Submitted Unit should create new route automatically instead by pressing GOTO two times Submitted Loading status of the battery should be also visible if the unit is switched off Submitted possibility to change the color and the width of the track line Assigned Add a calendar Submitted Add an alarm clock function Submitted Add a stop watch function Closed Add a tides calculator Submitted Would be usefull if the description of POI's is not limited to just 200 out of 500 POI's in a file Assigned Add nav screen with multiple fields Submitted The dual format of coordinates should be available - - - Submitted Add the ability to change the geocaching icons and to edit geocache text Submitted Please add the ability to resume or advance to the closest track or route point if satellite signal is lost Submitted when tracking is set at "auto detailed", it takes 5 to 10 attempts (if at all) to bring up the menu to save the track lo... Submitted Please personalize the unit with a special waypoint "home" Submitted The user POIs (MyPOI's) should be searchable alphabetically, same as the Basemap POIs Submitted It is difficult to use the joystick to navigate into soutwest direction Submitted Why not reverse black and white pixels on the screen at sunset so this thing isn't quite so overpowering at night? Submitted Add the possibility to measure the distance between two points neither of which is the current position Submitted A POI/waypoint should be marked trough hitting "MARK" two times Submitted Add the ability to see both my current position coordinates and the geocache coordinates at the same time Submitted Pressing "GOTO" leads back to the cursor position instead of to the expected POI position Submitted Satellite locks are getting lost if user changes between detailed maps Link to comment
+geognerd Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Buck Hunter, your work is appreciated. We now know that at a minimum Magellan is formally aware of the reported bugs. I was wondering, is your "Bug Tracking System" company-wide? I believe you are in Europe, so if these bugs are repaired or enhancements are made, would they be available to all users and not just Europeans? Link to comment
Buck Hunter Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 (edited) Hello, Our "Bug Tracking System" is accessible world wide. For example: If an engineer from NA is looking for eXplorist enhancements, the list of results contains also the logged enhancements from Europe and other regions. BR Buck Hunter Edited October 25, 2005 by Buck Hunter Link to comment
+embra Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Buck Hunter, thank you for your followup on these issues. One major source of concern (I'll just speak for myself, although I would be surprised if others didn't share this concern) was that Magellan/Thales seemed to be a black hole for feedback: reports/complaints would be voiced and perhaps the most one might receive was an email acknowledgement that the message had been forwarded to someplace else. End of story. While I understand that resolving these issues is someone else's job, I appreciate a great deal your public acknowledgement of recognition and processing of the issues we've tried to raise. I've always had a feel that if Magellan/Thales worked more closely with their users, that the great hardware could get the kind of firmware that would make it the premier model for its niche. Link to comment
+DocW Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 (edited) This is really a little light at the end of the tunnel, this bug list and the bug list you've posted on Naviboard. But what I really miss are some comments on the speed of the eXplorist units (startup time, sorting time, map screen refresh and pan speed, route calculation): The exlorists are all much much slower than older units like the Meridians. Especially Mapsend Topo 3D Germany is unusable on explorists, when Topo infos are included in the data file, you get screen update times of 15s. Did I oversee something? I am not the only one who is experiencing this, I know this from discussions with other user. Ahh and BTW, the silicon cover of my explorist 600 fell apart just after 300 caches (3 months). Even if my dealer had promised to me that the units were selected for easygoing joysticks, upper und upperright went strong and so the silicon cover broke at the lower area of the joystick. Edited October 25, 2005 by DocW Link to comment
+jabss Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Especially Mapsend Topo 3D Germany is unusable on explorists, when Topo infos are included in the data file, you get screen update times of 15s. Did I oversee something? I am not the only one who is experiencing this, I know this from discussions with other user. Confirm TopoGB is unusable also. At any level of detail both with/without Topo screen refresh is much too slow. I've swapped to using DirectRouteEU instead. Shame as Topo looks really good until you start moving. Link to comment
+DocW Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Especially Mapsend Topo 3D Germany is unusable on explorists, when Topo infos are included in the data file, you get screen update times of 15s. Did I oversee something? I am not the only one who is experiencing this, I know this from discussions with other user. Confirm TopoGB is unusable also. At any level of detail both with/without Topo screen refresh is much too slow. I've swapped to using DirectRouteEU instead. Shame as Topo looks really good until you start moving. Just a short work-around for this: If have a region for map generation defined, look on the right side of the window, there you see a a box with a T and a box with a P followed by the name of the region (The name that you've just created) Untick "T" and the map for your unit is generated without topographic information. The level of detail is still the same, all trails and creeks and stuff are still in there but no topo info. And the map is significantly faster. This is just a workaround until this gets fixed. Link to comment
+northernpenguin Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 I have the same experience with Topo Canada, way too slow. Turning off the topo lines is not what I would consider reasonable however. I *want* to know where the hills and cliffs are, so I can go around them. And for geocaching, it can be handy to know whether to approach a cache from the top or the bottom by using the topo lines to judge. This does not bode well for the upcoming Topo3D Canada product. Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted October 26, 2005 Author Share Posted October 26, 2005 (edited) Thanks Buckhunter for the post and the praise but the real praise will come when Magellan has resolved most of the issues on the list. While they have apparently fixed a major bug (usb lockup issue) why arent they releasing a fix? I know Christmas is coming soon but they seem to be dragging their feet. If Magellan (THALES) doesnt start assigning these issues to real people for implementation soon it can be reasonably expected that they never will. Its been 10 months now since the new explorist line has been released and new products are coming out soon and eventually the product I bought will be obsolete and I would have spent all this time waiting on fixes and enhancements that will most likely never materialize. While I understand that you are only documenting the bugs. Most of them haven't been assigned to anyone and with no garrantee that they ever will. If you can offer some insight to the direction that thales plans to go with this it would be appreciated to know what it is. Edited October 26, 2005 by D0T-C0M Link to comment
+spydee Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 first post here on the forums.. been lurking for a long time but never posted! sad to say i just had to send my explorist 400 in to bill's electronics i purchased topo canada 2 weeks ago, loaded some regions onto my SD card and it was great. i was really happy to have the maps and was impressed with the detail it had of the areas i frequent. about a week ago the gpsr got a mind of its own... it seemed to just start doing all kinds of things it shouldnt do - it would freeze on startup if it had a detail map active from the last time i used the unit - would lock up and display a box on top of my active screen with a "00" in the centre - would display START BURN IN TEST and TEST SERIAL PORT randomly - randomly reboot and reset to factory defaults when in use i thought maybe it would "get better" but it didnt... hopefully i get a fast turnaround from bill's electronics like others have posted. just thought I would share my problems.. has anyone else had their units do any of the above? a quick search didnt seem to show these problems happening to others. cheers -spydee Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted October 27, 2005 Author Share Posted October 27, 2005 sounds like you have some sticky buttons that randomly brings up the hidden menu. Link to comment
+spydee Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 Just wanted to leave an update. I shipped my Explorist to Bill's Electronics on Tuesday. I had a brand new one waiting for me on Friday. Now thats fast. I am very impressed! Link to comment
kervano Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 i have the same problem concerning explorist 400 europe freeze during transfert to sd card which has been formatted in fat 16 or fat32 freeze during zooming the map with details mapsenddirectroute europe i must disconect battery to operate again i am getting crazy!!! Link to comment
+Bob&TheGang Posted October 31, 2005 Share Posted October 31, 2005 I guess I should thank Buck Hunter for giving us an update, but from the last list he posted, it only seems things have been submitted and few items have been assigned. I was hoping that Megallan would release sometype of Firmware update before the end of the year. And now Magellan is about the release the Explorist XL. What does that all mean. I am just curious about Magellan's lack of response. What precentage of the people who buy GPS's use them for Geocaching? I would think it is a fairly high percentage. Am I wrong? From the lack of support we get, maybe I am wrong. Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted October 31, 2005 Author Share Posted October 31, 2005 I believe that regardless if people use thier GPS's for geocaching or not, 99% of the issues we have raised affect every user. Magellan would be wise to address these issues because if Garmin comes out with a SD-card capable GPS, they will lose alot of business IMO. Link to comment
+Barjon Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 ... about a week ago the gpsr got a mind of its own... it seemed to just start doing all kinds of things it shouldnt do - it would freeze on startup if it had a detail map active from the last time i used the unit - would lock up and display a box on top of my active screen with a "00" in the centre - would display START BURN IN TEST and TEST SERIAL PORT randomly - randomly reboot and reset to factory defaults when in use i thought maybe it would "get better" but it didnt... hopefully i get a fast turnaround from bill's electronics like others have posted. just thought I would share my problems.. has anyone else had their units do any of the above? a quick search didnt seem to show these problems happening to others. cheers -spydee Hi spydee, I recognize this very, very much. I have the same and much more of these nasty things. What to think about: every now and then (way to much) a complete loss of all satellites and the 'receiver-part' starts all over again searching for satellites. Be aware: NOT a total reset of the 600, ONLY starting to search satellites from scratch. When this happens, it's not sure the 600 finds satellites again. It could end up in "hanging" or just NOT to find any satellite at all. This phenomena indicates more problems than posted in this thread. I have a fine contact with my dealer (problem exists since july and I was waiting for any Magellan update), but finally I had to tell them that these problems were increasing so much and happening so frequently, that I practically couldn't use the eXplorist 600 anymore. During 5 months it got worse and worse. They promised me to send a brandnew one and now I'm just waiting for arrival. B.T.W. Do you know if I have to redo compiling of my detailed maps in Mapsend DR, because of the serial number? Regards, Rudolf. Link to comment
+spydee Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Barjon, I did have to export the maps again with the new serial number in MapSend. I didnt have any problems doing so though, just delete the old number, put in the new one, and confirm it. I received my new one quickly (by mail), but I'm only a few hours drive away from the Canadian repair depot. I'm glad I'm not the only one with this issue. New unit is functioning just fine! -spydee Link to comment
+Dogway Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 REPORTED BUG - Non-Compatibility of Explorist 600 with ALL Magellan Mapsend Software, especially Europe street maps. GRIPES AND BASHING - a bit sprinkled in When I bought my Magellen Explorist 600 it was advertised as being compatible with "Mapsend software". The reason I stayed with Magellan when I upgraded, is so I wouldn't have to buy new mapping software all over again as well as a GPSr. Well folks it is compatible with some mapsend, but not all of them. What I know is that IT DOES NOT WORK WITH MAPSEND STREETS - EUROPE mapping software which I paid $100 for. Magellan tech has confirmed this non-compatibility issue on telephone. They say I must also buy now a new software called MAPSEND DIRECTROUTE EUROPE, its another $200, and I've read threads from germans saying it isnt even as good on details, especially parks. Furthermore Directroute is not for geocachers or adventurers, its for people who want to be told when and where to turn at every step along the way, I just want the maps. Apparently the "problem" or "bug" with mapsend streets-europe is that it has the wrong file extention, something like *.ini, that the Explorist 600 will not read or understand. Does anyone have a hack or a fix for this ? ? Even the so called "magellan file conversion software" is said worthless for this. I would say this is a "bug" for the 2005 manufactured Magellan Explorist 600 not to read 2001 Magellan Mapsend maps & files which pre-existed. And to make matters worse for customers, you CANNOT BUY THE DIRECTROUTE-EUROPE SOFTWARE IN THE US, or anywhere in North America. Those dealers are forbidden to sell it. You have to buy it from overseas. The overseas dealer I spoke with in Germany who took my order, called me back the day it was supposed to arrive and cancelled my order, he said the customs and duty to send it to the U.S. would be another 60 Euros, thats on top of the $175 for the software + int'l shipping. This may be more of a gripe than a bug, but I think it important to mention. I really wanted to use my Explorist 600 for my european geocaching vacation next week, but without it coming loaded with even a decent european basemap, and no way to load the street level maps, I might as well leave it at home and buy a paper map off a street vendor for $5. If there is anyone that knows a fix to the aforementioned map-software file extention reading bug, please advise. "not gellin' with my Magellan" Dogway yes I have also had the fr-e-eze up issue Link to comment
Buck Hunter Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Hello, Here is the first update for the buglist. BR Buck Hunter Closed when tracking is set at "auto detailed", it takes 5 to 10 attempts (if at all) to bring up the menu to save the track log Assigned The joystick should have a new surface, similar to the "cat's tongue" surface found on TrackPoint joysticks on laptops Assigned The user POIs (MyPOI's) should be searchable alphabetically, same as the Basemap POIs Assigned It is difficult to use the joystick to navigate into soutwest direction Assigned Why not reverse black and white pixels on the screen at sunset so this thing isn't quite so overpowering at night? Assigned Add the ability to see both my current position coordinates and the geocache coordinates at the same time Closed SD Card with corrupted data causes a freezing of the unit Closed Corrupted data which were sent to the internal memory making the unit inoperable Closed Satellite locks are getting lost if user changes between detailed maps Assigned POI search should display a result which is sorted by the distance Assigned Please add the ability to "Save&GOTO" in the waypoint entry screen Closed The compass is being inacurate Closed The waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series Assigned Please add a graphical display of the air-pressure Assigned Add the ability to change the geocaching icons and to edit geocache text Assigned Loading status of the battery should be also visible if the unit is switched off Assigned Unit should create new route automatically instead by pressing GOTO two times Assigned Would be usefull if the description of POI's is not limited to just 200 out of 500 POI's in a file Assigned Please add the ability to resume or advance to the closest track or route point if satellite signal is lost Closed Geocache manager is too complicated to manage for geocaching Assigned Geocache Manager drops without warning while uploading more than 200 caches Assigned It is annoying for night caching if the proximity alert activates with full backlight Closed It takes very long to access the track log directory folder Assigned Map infos are not restored, if a new GOTO is created while using a street route Assigned Map is not visible because it is covered in a bunch of labels Closed Waypoint icons are sometimes displayed incorrectly Assigned Add a stop watch function Closed The dual format of coordinates should be available Assigned Unability to locate Geocache Poi's correctly Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted November 3, 2005 Author Share Posted November 3, 2005 We need more info as to the status of the items that are marked "closed". More precisely we need to know if the issue has been fixed or dropped altogether. Link to comment
+Barjon Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 (edited) Closed SD Card with corrupted data causes a freezing of the unitClosed Corrupted data which were sent to the internal memory making the unit inoperable Closed The waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series Dot-Com, I agree. I like to have additional clarification of the items on the list, especially for all the 'closed' items. What means 'closed'? How do we get more info? From a previous msg I understood that Buck Hunter cannot provide (more) info because he's not part of the Magellan work area where modifications development is done. (do, done, has been done or should have been done?) From the buglist I quoted 3 'closed' items of which I am rather concerned. Will they or will they never be modified? Closed SD Card with corrupted data causes a freezing of the unit Closed Corrupted data which were sent to the internal memory making the unit inoperable There are no 'tools' to check if a 'compiled' detail map-file is valid OR corrupt. Should there? Closed The waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series The possibility to make a projection (like in the Meridians) is an absolute must for every geocacher. What happened with: "Submitted Allow optional 4 user definable data fields ( instead of 2 currently)" from the list of october 25 and some others? All very important items. In short: Dot-Com, do you see posibilities to get more (and deeper) information? Buck Hunter, can you provide additional information, despite you wrote "As you surely can imagine I am only a small light in the whole machinery and so I am not able to deliver you any kind of support or information about our marketing and public relations policy." on october 1st. Regards, Rudolf. Edited November 3, 2005 by Barjon Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted November 3, 2005 Author Share Posted November 3, 2005 (edited) Barjon, I cannot add further information as I am not involved with magellan in any way shape or form. I do strongly agree that if those issues are closed, we definately need more info as to the real status of these issues. Failing this will lead to rumors and speculation as to the status of these issues and will feul further negative reaction. I will not be a happy camper if magellan chose to ignore the very important issues that are marked "closed". On the other hand I will be overjoyed if magellan takes the issues we brought forth seriously and addressed/fixed them. Edited November 3, 2005 by D0T-C0M Link to comment
+Barjon Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 (edited) I do strongly agree that if those issues are closed, we definately need more info as to the real status of these issues. Failing this will lead to rumors and speculation as to the status of these issues and will feul further negative reaction. I will not be a happy camper if magellan chose to ignore the very important issues that are marked "closed". Hi there, I took the freedom to compile both LISTS (from Oct 25 and Nov 3) and created 4 overviews out of it, called "Resume Closed", "Resume Assigned", "Resume Submitted (=NOT Assigned)" and "Resume Resolved". All 4 at the bottom of this entry. I hope this representation gives 'better' information about the current (nov 3) status of all the items from the 2 lists of Buck Hunter. It's the same information, only represented in another way. Best regards, Rudolf. List of october 25 (+ is on list Nov 3, - is not on list Nov 3) ------------------ -Resolved Unit freezes on the Communication menu when an option is selected after file transfer. +01 Submitted SD Card with corrupted data causes a freezing of the unit +02 Submitted Corrupted data which were sent to the internal memory making the unit inoperable +03 Submitted Waypoint icons are sometimes displayed incorrectly -04 Submitted temperature indicator bad on explorist 600 +05 Submitted Geocache manager is too complicated to manage for geocaching +06 Submitted Geocache Manager drops without warning while uploading more than 200 caches +07 Submitted It is annoying for night caching if the proximity alert activates with full backlight -Closed Vertical profile elevation view repond very slowly for both large and small regions +08 Submitted Map is not visible because it is covered in a bunch of labels +09 Submitted It takes very long to access the track log directory folder +10 Submitted Map infos are not restored, if a new GOTO is created while using a street route +11 Submitted POI search should display a result which is sorted by the distance -12 Submitted Change the duration in seconds and the loudness of the beeps +13 Submitted Please add the ability to "Save&GOTO" in the waypoint entry screen -14 Submitted Please improve the quality of the canadian basemap +15 Submitted The compass is being inacurate +16 Submitted The waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series -17 Submitted Add color coding of sat reception -18 Submitted The Line from Position to target on the Map Screen is nearly Invisible -19 Submitted Allow optional 4 user definable data fields ( instead of 2 currently) +20 Submitted Please add a graphical display of the air-pressure +21 Submitted Unit should create new route automatically instead by pressing GOTO two times +22 Submitted Loading status of the battery should be also visible if the unit is switched off -23 Submitted possibility to change the color and the width of the track line -Assigned Add a calendar -24 Submitted Add an alarm clock function +25 Submitted Add a stop watch function -Closed Add a tides calculator +26 Submitted Would be usefull if the description of POI's is not limited to just 200 out of 500 POI's in a file -Assigned Add nav screen with multiple fields +27 Submitted The dual format of coordinates should be available +28 Submitted Add the ability to change the geocaching icons and to edit geocache text +29 Submitted Please add the ability to resume or advance to the closest track or route point if satellite signal is lost +30 Submitted when tracking is set at "auto detailed", it takes 5 to 10 attempts (if at all) to bring up the menu to save the track lo... -31 Submitted Please personalize the unit with a special waypoint "home" +32 Submitted The user POIs (MyPOI's) should be searchable alphabetically, same as the Basemap POIs +33 Submitted It is difficult to use the joystick to navigate into soutwest direction +34 Submitted Why not reverse black and white pixels on the screen at sunset so this thing isn't quite so overpowering at night? -35 Submitted Add the possibility to measure the distance between two points neither of which is the current position -36 Submitted A POI/waypoint should be marked trough hitting "MARK" two times +37 Submitted Add the ability to see both my current position coordinates and the geocache coordinates at the same time -38 Submitted Pressing "GOTO" leads back to the cursor position instead of to the expected POI position +39 Submitted Satellite locks are getting lost if user changes between detailed maps ------------------ List of November 3. (+ is on list Oct 25, - is not on list Oct 25) ------------------ +30 Closed when tracking is set at "auto detailed", it takes 5 to 10 attempts (if at all) to bring up the menu to save the track log -0L Assigned The joystick should have a new surface, similar to the "cat's tongue" surface found on TrackPoint joysticks on laptops +32 Assigned The user POIs (MyPOI's) should be searchable alphabetically, same as the Basemap POIs +33 Assigned It is difficult to use the joystick to navigate into soutwest direction +34 Assigned Why not reverse black and white pixels on the screen at sunset so this thing isn't quite so overpowering at night? +37 Assigned Add the ability to see both my current position coordinates and the geocache coordinates at the same time +01 Closed SD Card with corrupted data causes a freezing of the unit +02 Closed Corrupted data which were sent to the internal memory making the unit inoperable +39 Closed Satellite locks are getting lost if user changes between detailed maps +11 Assigned POI search should display a result which is sorted by the distance +13 Assigned Please add the ability to "Save&GOTO" in the waypoint entry screen +15 Closed The compass is being inacurate +16 Closed The waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series +20 Assigned Please add a graphical display of the air-pressure +28 Assigned Add the ability to change the geocaching icons and to edit geocache text +22 Assigned Loading status of the battery should be also visible if the unit is switched off +21 Assigned Unit should create new route automatically instead by pressing GOTO two times +26 Assigned Would be usefull if the description of POI's is not limited to just 200 out of 500 POI's in a file +29 Assigned Please add the ability to resume or advance to the closest track or route point if satellite signal is lost +05 Closed Geocache manager is too complicated to manage for geocaching +06 Assigned Geocache Manager drops without warning while uploading more than 200 caches +07 Assigned It is annoying for night caching if the proximity alert activates with full backlight +09 Closed It takes very long to access the track log directory folder +10 Assigned Map infos are not restored, if a new GOTO is created while using a street route +08 Assigned Map is not visible because it is covered in a bunch of labels +03 Closed Waypoint icons are sometimes displayed incorrectly +25 Assigned Add a stop watch function +27 Closed The dual format of coordinates should be available -1L Assigned Unability to locate Geocache Poi's correctly ------------------ Resume Closed ------------- -Closed Vertical profile elevation view repond very slowly for both large and small regions (oct 25) -Closed Add a tides calculator (oct 25) +01 Closed SD Card with corrupted data causes a freezing of the unit (nov 3) +02 Closed Corrupted data which were sent to the internal memory making the unit inoperable (nov 3) +03 Closed Waypoint icons are sometimes displayed incorrectly (nov 3) +05 Closed Geocache manager is too complicated to manage for geocaching (nov 3) +09 Closed It takes very long to access the track log directory folder (nov 3) +15 Closed The compass is being inacurate (nov 3) +16 Closed The waypoint projection needs to be re-added as was in the Meridian series (nov 3) +27 Closed The dual format of coordinates should be available (nov 3) +30 Closed when tracking is set at "auto detailed", it takes 5 to 10 attempts (if at all) to bring up the menu to save the track log (nov 3) +39 Closed Satellite locks are getting lost if user changes between detailed maps (nov 3) Resume Assigned --------------- -Assigned Add a calendar (oct 25) -Assigned Add nav screen with multiple fields (oct 25) -0L Assigned The joystick should have a new surface, similar to the "cat's tongue" surface found on TrackPoint joysticks on laptops (nov 3) -1L Assigned Unability to locate Geocache Poi's correctly (nov 3) +06 Assigned Geocache Manager drops without warning while uploading more than 200 caches (nov 3) +07 Assigned It is annoying for night caching if the proximity alert activates with full backlight (nov 3) +08 Assigned Map is not visible because it is covered in a bunch of labels (nov 3) +10 Assigned Map infos are not restored, if a new GOTO is created while using a street route (nov 3) +11 Assigned POI search should display a result which is sorted by the distance (nov 3) +13 Assigned Please add the ability to "Save&GOTO" in the waypoint entry screen (nov 3) +20 Assigned Please add a graphical display of the air-pressure (nov 3) +21 Assigned Unit should create new route automatically instead by pressing GOTO two times (nov 3) +22 Assigned Loading status of the battery should be also visible if the unit is switched off (nov 3) +25 Assigned Add a stop watch function (nov 3) +26 Assigned Would be usefull if the description of POI's is not limited to just 200 out of 500 POI's in a file (nov 3) +28 Assigned Add the ability to change the geocaching icons and to edit geocache text (nov 3) +29 Assigned Please add the ability to resume or advance to the closest track or route point if satellite signal is lost (nov 3) +32 Assigned The user POIs (MyPOI's) should be searchable alphabetically, same as the Basemap POIs (nov 3) +33 Assigned It is difficult to use the joystick to navigate into soutwest direction (nov 3) +34 Assigned Why not reverse black and white pixels on the screen at sunset so this thing isn't quite so overpowering at night? (nov 3) +37 Assigned Add the ability to see both my current position coordinates and the geocache coordinates at the same time (nov 3) Resume Submitted (=NOT Assigned) -------------------------------- -04 Submitted temperature indicator bad on explorist 600 -12 Submitted Change the duration in seconds and the loudness of the beeps -14 Submitted Please improve the quality of the canadian basemap -17 Submitted Add color coding of sat reception -18 Submitted The Line from Position to target on the Map Screen is nearly Invisible -19 Submitted Allow optional 4 user definable data fields ( instead of 2 currently) -23 Submitted possibility to change the color and the width of the track line -24 Submitted Add an alarm clock function -31 Submitted Please personalize the unit with a special waypoint "home" -35 Submitted Add the possibility to measure the distance between two points neither of which is the current position -36 Submitted A POI/waypoint should be marked trough hitting "MARK" two times -38 Submitted Pressing "GOTO" leads back to the cursor position instead of to the expected POI position Resume Resolved --------------- -Resolved Unit freezes on the Communication menu when an option is selected after file transfer. (oct 25) ------------------ Edited November 3, 2005 by Barjon Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted November 4, 2005 Author Share Posted November 4, 2005 good work Barjon Link to comment
freeday Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 Thanks to Buck Hunter and to Barjon!! >>>we definately need more info as to the real status of these issues fixed or dropped ? or top secret? Link to comment
+TEAM D & D Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I was out caching today. It would be nice to be able to delete a Geocache Point after it's found. That way you at least remove some of the clutter on the screen. From what I can tell editing geocache points is not even possible. It would be even nicer if you could mark them as found and the unit would not view them on the screen and you could download them to mapsend or gsak. It would be nice if you could send waypoints from the geocaching manager software directly to a SD card. Every time I try it wants me to hook the GPSr unit up. I have a lot of issues with the unit. Too many to think of at this time. I am going to start a list next time I go out and try and post it here and send it to Magellan as well. I can not believe they can say they are unaware of issues. I know I've called ans asked them about various concerns a few times already. The unit is nice but it should be a lot more user friendly. The software shouldn't be so difficult to use. It should work the same as the old software. I understand the units use different code but the packages should be designed so that it is transparent to the user. If you're trying to use an old unit and a new unit it can be really confusing. It would be nice to Export files from an explorist and load them into an older unit. I entered Manually a bunch of coordinates into geocaching manager and it worked great. Then I had to reenter them into my old unit because I couldn't get the coords out of the explorist into a format the old meridian would recognise. like I said. I could go on and on. I think next time i'm going to go with GARMIN. they are a bit more expensive but if MAGELLAN doesn't get their act together i think they could loose a lot of business to the GEOCACHING communty. That's just my 2 cents worth. Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 TEAM D&D the geocaching issue you mention about not being able to delete or modify geocaching points is mentioned in the list in the very first post of this thread. Thanks for posting your feedback though, the more who express their experiences here, the more magellan might take notice ( or this could be wishful thinking) Link to comment
+TEAM D & D Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I don't recall this being mentioned, but I think I have discovered a bug with the Geocache POI's. I was out caching today, using the Geocache POI's. These were Generated out of GSAK. The first cache was in a cemetary, we pull in and it says that we are still .75 miles away from cache. This is a small cemetary. My wife says she choose the cache by navigating to it on the screen highlighting it, clicking enter, then goto, the was asked if this POI was the one to goto, clicked ok. I zoomed in and saw the crosshair icon away from the cache, and a goto line to the crosshairs. I thought maybe she did something wrong, tried it again selecting it from the map, again it was off. Only way to get it go to the right coords was to find the cache on the menu screen then hit goto. From now on I will just use regular POI's. The Geocaching POI's would be nice, but not they way they work now. Edit to add: Also, when you pick the Geocache POI off the menu, there is no icon displayed on the compass screen. I saw the same thing today. had to use the dame fix too. It drove me nuts until i figured it out. Link to comment
+jabss Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Could I request the addition to the ongoing buglist for a keypad lock on the eXplorist series. A combination of diagonal keys - 'in' then 'goto' or similar - like used on Nokia's would be my suggestion. I often use the Magellan soft case to carry the GPSr around in and want to leave it switched on for a track log and when I take it out again find that the buttons have been randomly being pressed. Today it selected a goto route in DirectRoute, wacky but you know what infinite monkeys are supposed to be able to do, which I would have preferred it hadn't. Any mobile phone has this functionality but for some reason it's not given any importance at all for handheld GPS units. Thanks for the work being done to fix the other bugs - much appreciated. Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted November 6, 2005 Author Share Posted November 6, 2005 sorry for being tardy in updating the buglist my laptop has been out for repair for the last 4 weeks and hope to have it back soon. All my files are on it for this thread. please bear with me Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 buckhunter can you elaborate on the list? Are you MIA? Link to comment
Buck Hunter Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 No sorry can't As I promised I am able to forward these issues. This is what I did. I can provide a regularly update of the list. But I'can't provide further information. Best Regards Buck Hunter Link to comment
+D0T-C0M Posted November 14, 2005 Author Share Posted November 14, 2005 (edited) Well this is very VERY frustrating that we would not be able to get any feedback that a certain issue has been fixed or just plainly ignored. While I greatly appreciate your efforts Buck_Hunter, your hands seem to be tied and thus the list that you submitted is pretty much useless at this point to us if you cannot elaborate a little more on the status of the "closed" issues. Hopefully Garmin will come out with something soon with SD card support. Forgive my comments Buck_Hunter as they are not personally directed towards you but, I have started to have enough of this BS product support. So many months have passed and yet THALES has not even released a fix for even the USB lockup issue which apparently is "fixed??". VERY SAD Edited November 14, 2005 by D0T-C0M Link to comment
+av8ndv8 Posted November 15, 2005 Share Posted November 15, 2005 (edited) This is SO sad. It's not surprising given my three disappointing attempts to go non-Garmin. It fits the Magellan concept 100%; produce a promising product at a great price then totally ignore making it better. I had hoped that the explorist series would goad Garmin into external memory support but I bet this sorry attempt has the Garmin honchos laughing over their cocktails, secure in the fact their miniscule, non-replaceable memory units will be market leaders for the foreseeable future. Garmin needs some serious competition, that's for sure. Maybe Lowrance will be, God knows Magellan isn't. Since Thales is a French company, I'm sure some keypress combination will cause a waving white flag to appear on the screen. Seriously, I am so disappointed. Magellan has produced some fantastic hardware - this antenna is world class and the 3 axis compass they've had for years blows away anything Garmin produces today. It just pi**es me off they can screw up such great innovations with such sorry features, firmware and support. Edited to say.... Yes, I'm trying to be inflammatory. I'm hoping that this thread might finally get Magellan's attention but I wouldn't bet on it. Edited November 15, 2005 by av8ndv8 Link to comment
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