Magellan Explorist Xl

[Budbrew]

When is the Magellan Explorist XL suppost to come out? Has anyone heard a specific date all I hear is september, but when in september? What do all you Maggies think about the new Explorist coming out?

[+D0T-C0M]

I think the explorist line has great potiential but I personnally will not buy it until the fix the bugs in the Explorist 4,5,600 first.

[+JohnnyVegas]

When is the Magellan Explorist XL suppost to come out? Has anyone heard a specific date all I hear is september, but when in september? What do all you Maggies think about the new Explorist coming out?

New GPSr comes out when they are suppose to come out. I would not be surpised if it was not out untill November. I remeber the Garmin GPS V was almost 6 months late, but that was not Gamins falt, the GPS V had a part the was also used in a popular brand of cell phone at the time, and the cell phone co. bought one if these parts that was on the market. At least that is what the Garmin rep told me when I asked were or stores order was.

[+GOT GPS?]

Looks like the Explorist XL may have a high resolution screen, MAYBE.

If it does, then It would be better than any Garmin handheld GPS, but

I wished it could run on City Select autorouting instead of the Direct Route software.

[Mulot_Infernal]

What kind of bugs the softwares have in the eXplorist 400, 500, 600 ? I have order one. Hope I can live with the little bugs. I have read that the Garmin 60 series have some problem too. It's one reason I have bought a Magellan.

[+GOT GPS?]

What kind of bugs the softwares have in the eXplorist 400, 500, 600 ? I have order one. Hope I can live with the little bugs. I have read that the Garmin 60 series have some problem too. It's one reason I have bought a Magellan.

The GPSmap60C is the most perfect GPS ive ever had, out of all the Garmins, and Magellans Ive owned, which is about 12 GPS units.

The 60CS can lockup at times, but have not heard any complaints about the Map76CS.

 

The Explorist 600 with Electronic Compass seems to have a little more complaints than the Explorist 500. More care needs to be used when connecting an Explorist to the computer than with Garmins. The care you need to exercise with the Explorist GPS units, is that you need to plug the cable into the GPS first then the other cable end into the PC, then turn ON the Explorist, then when done with the PC connection, you would turn OFF the Data Communications via GPS setup screens, then unplug at the PC first then the GPS last. When this is done, the GPS can't be fried or locked up.

 

I much prefer how the serial or USB connections work with the 76C/CS and 60C/CS units than any Magellans.

 

Some people with Magellan GPS units like to put an Explorist Mount or Meridian mount next to their PC, and attach the power/data cable to the back of the GPS mount, then all they have to do, is to snap the GPS into the mount, and then fire up the PC and GPS.

 

With the surface mount of cables on the back of magellans, can allow a miss-aligned cable to short things out, but Garmins have a recessed mount on the backs of their GPS units, or a slot on back to stick the data/power cable into, and this minimizes problems with Garmins, with the less likelyhood of shorting out than with Magellans.

 

I do like the Magellan way to setup a setup a cradle mount with attached data/power cable, that makes things easyier.

 

- - - - -

 

None of the Magellans and Garmins with Electronic compasses seem to be without BUGS, but the 2 best GPS units ive ever had are the GPSmap76S(B&W) version, and the Meridian Platinum, have not locked up on me with regular use.

 

- - - - -

 

Edited in:

The best Magellan ive ever owned was the Meridian Platinum, that never gave me any problems with regular use, but I had sold it, because at the time I could find no way to convert the Raw Tracklog Data on the SD memory cards, to what the computer could use.

Edited September 9, 2005 by GOT GPS?

[+D0T-C0M]

What kind of bugs the softwares have in the eXplorist 400, 500, 600 ? I have order one. Hope I can live with the little bugs. I have read that the Garmin 60 series have some problem too. It's one reason I have bought a Magellan.

if you want to read what bugs magellan explorist600 has just read this thread

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=105870

[flir67]

whats the point of the explorist xl?

 

the explorist 600 has more? the explorist xl has the same 4 screens ..

 

is the screen the only thing different as in bigger, besides the 30mb of built storage.?

 

just noticed that magellangps.com has the specifications of the xl up now or I missed them earlier and can't see that much of a difference.

 

the xl doesn't list a temp sensor or other things the 600 has.

 

is this unit suppose to be less or outperform the 600?

 

thanks

 

[+jacques0]

I sort of regard the XL as a larger-screen version of the 500. In terms of "performance" I wouldn't expect any greater performance than the later explorist series, especially in its primary function: determining one's position on the face of Earth.

 

In retail, having diverse ways to attract consumers is a tried and true method of increasing revenue. If one can re-package a product in a slightly different form, then market it to an expanded consumer base, greater revenues can be realized.

 

Think of XL as "eXtra Large" and you'll get the picture.

 

As a very satisfied owner of an eXplorist 200, I'm looking forward to the 210 as something that will probably do all I need for the foreseeable future.

[+user13371]

...I much prefer how the serial or USB connections work with the 76C/CS and 60C/CS units than any Magellans....

Just an aside...

 

The Explorists have a seemingly ideal USB implementation: For file transfer, it's a mass-storage device, no drivers required. Turn on NMEA, and it's a standard-compliant serial data stream.

 

Has Garmin got something better?

[flir67]

...I much prefer how the serial or USB connections work with the 76C/CS and 60C/CS units than any Magellans....

Just an aside...

 

The Explorists have a seemingly ideal USB implementation: For file transfer, it's a mass-storage device, no drivers required. Turn on NMEA, and it's a standard-compliant serial data stream.

 

Has Garmin got something better?

the nmea is great but as for file storage.? how many people use it for things besides gps... its like a big ipod but without the ability to play music. but you have to invest a good amount of money for a nice 2gb sd card..

 

?

[+JohnnyVegas]

I like the file storage on my explorist 500, I have sever caches files for the cities I cache in, that is around 20 files, each file has 100 to 150 caches in it. I just bring up the file for the city I am in and off I go. I also have a file just for the caches I have hidden (sometimes I forget were I put them) I also have a file to save waypoints for legs to multi part caches. Then I have a file for places I see that may be good location for new caches that I see while I am out and about.

Magellan has Garmin beat as far as this feature.

 

I also like the expandable memory, I have a 1GB card in mine ($40.00) so I can load lots of maps.

Garmin tried this many years ago with the old Garmin e-map but it used a Garmin Porpietary card that Garmin priced so high that very few people wanted to spend the money for it. The e-map was one af Garmins big failures, just the Garmin combonation GPS/Cell phone. I here Garmin has a version of the 60 comming out next summer with and SD card slot. But I will not hold my breath. When I was a GPS buyer for a GPS reatailer I had a Garmin rep tell me that they had GPS with an SD card comming out in about a year, that was three years ago.

 

As far as the Explorist XL, it is not only larger with a larger screen (I like that idea for Car/Truck navigation, the bigger screen is easier to read. The Explorist XL is also going to ship with the new Direct route software included.

 

Will I buy one, Maybe, I am also giving thought to the Roadmate 760, I talked to someone that has one, they said they can beem files to the 760 from their pocket PC with the blue tooth conection, tempting but big bucks.

[flir67]

I like the file storage on my explorist 500, I have sever caches files for the cities I cache in, that is around 20 files, each file has 100 to 150 caches in it. I just bring up the file for the city I am in and off I go. I also have a file just for the caches I have hidden (sometimes I forget were I put them) I also have a file to save waypoints for legs to multi part caches. Then I have a file for places I see that may be good location for new caches that I see while I am out and about.

Magellan has Garmin beat as far as this feature.

 

I also like the expandable memory, I have a 1GB card in mine ($40.00) so I can load lots of maps.

Garmin tried this many years ago with the old Garmin e-map but it used a Garmin Porpietary card that Garmin priced so high that very few people wanted to spend the money for it. The e-map was one af Garmins big failures, just the Garmin combonation GPS/Cell phone. I here Garmin has a version of the 60 comming out next summer with and SD card slot. But I will not hold my breath. When I was a GPS buyer for a GPS reatailer I had a Garmin rep tell me that they had GPS with an SD card comming out in about a year, that was three years ago.

 

As far as the Explorist XL, it is not only larger with a larger screen (I like that idea for Car/Truck navigation, the bigger screen is easier to read. The Explorist XL is also going to ship with the new Direct route software included.

 

Will I buy one, Maybe, I am also giving thought to the Roadmate 760, I talked to someone that has one, they said they can beem files to the 760 from their pocket PC with the blue tooth conection, tempting but big bucks.

how do you know it will ship with the new directroute software?

 

[+Quintheeskimo66]

Just a couple of things to add to the discussion.

 

I emailed Magellan support to find out what kind of an antenna would be used on this unit. I don't have the email handy to cut and paste, but they said that all of the units in the Explorist line will use the patch style antenna. (I was hoping for the Quad Helix antenna as is used in the Meredian models.

 

Also

 

In regards as to what software will be shipped with the unit...you will get a DVD that has all of their mapping programs on it, but you will still have to purchase them before you can load them to your PC.

 

This is taken from the Magellan site under their news category;

 

Customers receive free data management software plus the ability to purchase and install newly released versions of the MapSend line’s most popular software applications directly from the DVD. Customers can choose to activate complete applications of MapSend Topo 3D USA, MapSend Topo Canada, and/or MapSend DirectRoute North America with a credit card purchase from the Magellan website and install it using the DVD.

[+JohnnyVegas]

Heres a link

 

Exlorist XL

[+jacques0]

but they said that all of the units in the Explorist line will use the patch style antenna.        (I was hoping for the Quad Helix antenna as is used in the Meredian models.

I would NOT be angry about the choice of antennas. If you look around these forums you will quickly learn that the eXplorists are among the best performers in this department. The patch vs. quad issue has been discussed ad nauseum, but I think the general feeling is that the combination of antenna and processor is what's important and, in this regard, the eXplorists have acquired a great deal of respect.

[+IVxIV]

Nowadays with the current levels of technology,, patch antennas have been proven to outperform quad helix antennas.. get used to it

[vagabond]

My 500 constantly out performs my gold, and I think Johnny Vegas will attest to that also

Edited September 22, 2005 by vagabond

[+JohnnyVegas]

Yes I will. I use both now, the meridian gold with Direct route software to get me to the cache area ane my explorist 500 with Topo 3D to find the cache. For us 50+ guys the large screen is real handy up on a dash board . I even have a Sport track color, I couldn't pass up the price. For a while had a Sport track map $150. at costco with topo software and a rebate. I sold the software on e-bay, I already had and after the rebate my out of pocket cost was $85.00I but I lost it some where

[+user13371]

... as for file storage.? how many people use it for things besides gps...

I thought this was pretty fundamental. It's how you put maps on the GPS, and another way to transfer waypoints and other data. Use any software you like (.g. GPS Babel) to work with your data files, and copy them to/from the GPS just like a disk drive.

 

The original question I raised was what Garmin did differently on their USB or serial implementation that supposedly worked better?

[+northernpenguin]

the nmea is great but as for file storage.? how many people use it for things besides gps... its like a big ipod but without the ability to play music. but you have to invest a good amount of money for a nice 2gb sd card..

Having the unit come up as a USB Mass Storage device instantly makes it compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and a whole suite of other operating systems. Granted, map loading requires that I find a Windows machine, but how often does that need to happen?

 

I love the fact that I don't have to go find that Windows machine just to load waypoints or copy track logs off the unit. GPSBabel supports the eXplorist line quite happily.

 

Other nice things? I can store GPX files on there in case someone's PDA loses the data while we're out in the field. I can also yank the card and put it in my digital camera for a snapshot without having to worry about a proprietary filesystem on the eXplorist.

 

It's also very nice that I can have different POI files for different things, and I don't have to make the file 'active' in the eXplorist's memory for it to be available to "goto". I have geocahing files for Toronto, London (Ontario), Barrie (Ontario), Sudbury, Calgary and I just activate the one I want to show up on the map. I've also got a "main" POI file and a "geocaching" POI file so my map isn't cluttered with a billion little waypoints for stages of multi's.

 

The only issue I have with the connectivity is that is difficult to get it working with a PDA or APRS enabled ham radio -- but there is a workaround for that here

[+embra]

It's also very nice that I can have different POI files for different things, and I don't have to make the file 'active' in the eXplorist's memory for it to be available to "goto". I have geocahing files for Toronto, London (Ontario), Barrie (Ontario), Sudbury, Calgary and I just activate the one I want to show up on the map. I've also got a "main" POI file and a "geocaching" POI file so my map isn't cluttered with a billion little waypoints for stages of multi's.

This seems to me one of the overlooked advantages of SD memory. I much like being able to display relevant POIs and *not* have to look at irrelevant POIs...and to be able to carry around lots of POI files.

 

I suppose this could be implemented easily enough into internal memory only GPSr's, as waypoint files don't take up that much space. But the feature seems to be only on SD capable units as of now.

[+sailormike62]

Found a site that says they will have the XL in stock Oct 3rd. I wonder if this means the new Mapsend DVD will be available also?

 

http://www.gpsmarketplace.com/catalog/inde...products_id=617

[+D0T-C0M]

the direct route 3 cd is included but you have to purchase the unlock codes from what I understand.

[+CC]

So they are supposed to be available the 10th now.

 

Well see.