Eagle Explorer

[+Bob Blaylock]

  Anyone out there have any experience with this unit?  I note that EasyGPS lists the Eagle Explorer among the units it thinks it can support; though nothing in this unit's own documentation led me to expect that it had any significant ability to transfer data back and forth between a computer.  Is it worthwhile for me to try to cobble together a cable to connect this fossil to my wife's computer?

 

  I note that company that made it appears to still be in business, though their web site seems very flaky and does not inspire any significant degree of confidence in them.   http://www.eaglegps.com   It was only $21.25 after my 15% employee discount at the thrift store where I work.  What we've seen so far of its performance leads us to feel that it was easily worth that much at least.

[+PDOP's]

Yup you can transfer data to/from a computer. There are instructions for building an interface cable/connector at GPS Nuts.

 

You'll get your exercise hauling that brick around.

 

Edit to add PDF Manual here.

Edited November 24, 2005 by PDOP's

[+JohnnyVegas]

They were made by Lowrance.

 

The Eagle was a brand name that was used on GPSrs that were sold to large chain stores and catalog dealers in the early days of GPS. As far as geocaching as I recall they are two channel recivers and my not be very dependable for maintaining a lock under any kind of tree cover.

[+PDOP's]

As far as geocaching as I recall they are two channel recivers and my not be very dependable for maintaining a lock under any kind of tree cover.

Ah, no. From it's manual

 

Congratulations!

You have purchased one of the finest 12-channel GPS receivers Eagle™

has ever made. With its high contrast LCD screen, easy to use menus,

and outstanding performance, we think you’ll be happy with your Eagle

Explorer™ for many years.

[gm100guy]

Explorer

 

You can order any parts you need from here.

 

[koz]

i started off with one...was accurate but tad heavy and ate batteries...only thing i didn't like was it's ground zero readings weren't very useful...

[vagabond]

I had a Lowrance GN212 when I first started caching basically about the same thing the only thing I really disliked was the way it went thru batteries 4 double aas at a time adds up, but it was a good sturdy unit

[+I.R. Geonut]

heh the guys just started a great hobby for 20 bucks. can't beat that.

[+Bob Blaylock]

heh the guys just started a great hobby for 20 bucks. can't beat that.

  Actually, I started in this hobby about a year and a half ago, having some time before that paid $140 for an original yellow eTrex (just a week or two before they dropped the price to $100).  The Eagle is for my wife.

[+JohnnyVegas]

As far as geocaching as I recall they are two channel recivers and my not be very dependable for maintaining a lock under any kind of tree cover.

Ah, no. From it's manual

 

Congratulations!

You have purchased one of the finest 12-channel GPS receivers Eagle™

has ever made. With its high contrast LCD screen, easy to use menus,

and outstanding performance, we think you’ll be happy with your Eagle

Explorer™ for many years.

Thanks for the correction, It was a long time ago that the eagle came out. I was not able to down load the PDF file for some reason, my guess it's my computer.

[+Bob Blaylock]

  Just an update…

 

  I did end up making a cable for the Eagle; and with EasyGPS, it works quite well.

 

  In some ways, this unit seems to outperform my eTrex; in other ways, it does not.  On the whole, the two units seem to be approximately equal in usefulness.  The one most glaring deficiency to me about the Eagle is that there doesn't seem to be any software that will run on a Macintosh that will talk to it, but that's OK, if it's for my wife, since she uses a Windoze system.  (There isn't some switch hidden in GPSBabel for it, is there?)

 

  In spite of several reports, in this thread and elsewhere, about the Eagle being a terrible battery-eater, this one seems to get very good battery life.  At least it seems to get more use out of a set of 4 AA cells than my eTrex gets out of its set of 2 AAs.

 

  It seems that the Eagle is often able to get better satellite reception than my eTrex, but that some other times, my eTrex does better there.  It appears that my eTrex sometimes is able to keep a lock for a short time with fewer than the necessary three satellites (I'm assuming it does some sort of extrapolation from what it last knew about the most recently lost satellite), while the Eagle loses it immediately when it drops below 3 satellites.

 

  In any event, the Eagle is easily worth more than what I paid for it.

[arthurking83]

....You'll get your exercise hauling that brick around....

 

PDOP, You obviously haven't ever held a GlobalMap Sport (AccuMap Sport)!!

 

The Explorer and GlobalMap100, were featherweights!! And about half the size

 

I still have my GM Sport....all 3 1/4 in screen and six AA's of it !