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Explorist Bug/enhancement List Firmware-5.2.03


D0T-C0M

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I have the 600

 

my accuracy increased alsalthough usually 13ft now but often 10 ft. so thats good. I like the option to format sd card. and the unit seems to faster for the update.

 

I would like to see the autoupdate for autorouting. that would be great.

 

my sd card info is showing up fine along with the internal memory used.

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There is not much to add that hasn't been said so far.

I installed the updated firmware right away and I'm pretty happy with the changes so far. I really, really like the fact that I can zoom in and out much faster now.

 

I fully support the future enhancements recommended so if you are reading this and work for Magellan - pass the word on. At least 500, but prefer 1000 active geocaches.

 

And lest I forget, We don't need to wait another year for another firmware update. Feel free to do it sooner!!

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Quoted myself, from the previous 1.61 buglist (closed topic).

 

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 getting a straight line in the Meridian, in case of bad reception.

 

a. nor b. are repaired/improved, see the following Major 2)

 

New Minor Flaws

1) The (new) Goto Already Exists menu , presented by pressing "goto" when a goto is already active, has a tiny flaw. When chosing "new GOTO" in this list, the info presented in the 2 boxes at the bottom of the navigation screen, becomes garbled for a short period of time, just before you have to choose "Street Route" or "Point-to-Point". B.t.w. while every eXplorist interrogation window is in bold chars, the new goto-list is in plain characters.

2) Saving a newly defined waypoint is slower. Beside this, the rewriting of the map afterwards is slower.

3) When entering the text mode via "Pts of Interest|My Pts of Interest|Position|choss one|Edit POI|change name", it is not possible to cursor directly to the CLEAR button. Cursor enters at "A" trying to cursor "up", it goes to "7" in stead of "AAA".

4) When alarm is set at 30 meters, it sounds at about 39 meters.

 

Major. These are bugging me the most.

1) The USB interface still doesn't work flawlessly with a Windows 98se system, expanded with the Roadmate 500 USB driver. After choosing "File Transfer" on the eXplorist, the eXplorist silently shuts off (powers down), direct after the connection has been established. For a short time the connection "stands". This happens randomly. Up to now I connected once and this went wrong immediately the first time. None of my USB devices have problems.

2) City cache GCMKRQ, Expected length 5 - 6 km. (All North coordinates are 052 09.XXX and all East coordinates are 005 23.YYY.)

Start at trainstation Amersfoort, zeroed tripcounter and emtied tracklog.

Just before finalyzing the Geowalk (back to trainstation with 1.2 km 'to go' at the eXplorist screen), we took a stop at a restaurant for coffee. Shortly after entering a massive concrete building, the expected 'to go' distance was 120 km and after 30 minutes 375 km! The arrow drifted from Holland to the center of England!

We took a seat near the window, but reception stayed bad all the time: just 1 - 2 satellites.

Finally arriving at the trainstation, looking at the trip counter, we took a walk of about 45 km, where it should have been approx. 6 km.

This faulty behaviour is perfectly registered in the tracklog. Who wants it, can have it, together with the waypoint file; in eXplorist format & in Mapsend Directroute format. Just PM me with your email address.

 

Conclusion for Major 2)

What was already bad in firmware 5.1.61 turns out to be worse in firmware 5.2.03.

This nasty behaviour (the eXplorist recording "its own track") is not acceptable.

When reception is bad (=less than the minimum number of satellites needed for getting a fix) or no reception at all, the arrow wildly wanders around, completely disturbing all recorded values as well as your orientation.

So, please, carefully watch your own tracklog(s) for this phenomena, especially when reception is bad.

I think this is the culprit, not when there's no reception at all.

 

This is (the wrong part of) my tracklog, direct extracted from the eXplorist memory. (Total is 356 lines.)

....

$PMGNTRK,5209.249,N,00523.183,E,00020,M,151746.66,A,,281205*71

$PMGNTRK,5209.254,N,00523.171,E,00020,M,151806.66,A,,281205*7B

$PMGNTRK,5209.252,N,00523.155,E,00033,M,151833.26,A,,281205*7B

$PMGNTRK,5209.253,N,00523.137,E,00033,M,151941.66,A,,281205*7E

here it goes wrong at 15:19

$PMGNTRK,5233.478,N,00417.555,E,00033,M,153523.02,A,,281205*76 = line 300

$PMGNTRK,5236.333,N,00410.105,E,00033,M,153553.67,A,,281205*79 = line 301

$PMGNTRK,5243.688,N,00352.844,E,00033,M,154119.68,A,,281205*71 = line 302

$PMGNTRK,5229.720,N,00247.320,E,00033,M,154214.69,A,,281205*7D = line 303

$PMGNTRK,5245.364,N,00010.131,W,00032,M,155043.70,A,,281205*6B = line 304

$PMGNTRK,5211.392,N,00537.565,E,00032,M,155200.70,A,,281205*71 = line 305

wrong up to here at 15:52

$PMGNTRK,5209.297,N,00523.070,E,00032,M,155202.70,A,,281205*7A

$PMGNTRK,5209.285,N,00523.090,E,00032,M,155206.71,A,,281205*72

$PMGNTRK,5209.276,N,00523.137,E,00032,M,155215.71,A,,281205*70

$PMGNTRK,5209.279,N,00523.149,E,00032,M,155217.71,A,,281205*74

....

 

This is my story about the eXplorist 2.03 update, but only up to today.

Please think it over Magellan (read: Thales Navigation), thank you for reading and your first "repair-drive". One of my wishes for 2006 is... (You'll read my mind.)

 

DOT-COM, THANK YOU for your never ending patience, serving the Geocaching 'family'.

 

Best wishes for 2006 for you all.

 

Rudolf.

 

edited 22:38 local time. I removed one item from "New Minor Flaws". (mistake)

Edited by Barjon
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hamburg.17: The satellite screen should be connected to the compass and a third color for known but not received satallites should be used. This would enable me to see, which satellites in which direction could be received and and which are covered, so that I know where to go to get better satellite reception.

Edited by hamburg
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the location of the satellites on the satellite screen are where the satellites are located relative to you, with the top of the screen being north. The WAAS satellites I can see are to my southeast, and are shown on the satellite screen in the lower-right, or southeast corner. So you can use the existing satellite screen to determine where to move in order to obtain a better view of certain satellites.

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Barjon Thanks for the nice words and well wishes for the new year, the same goes out to you and your family. :laughing:

 

I had just one comment on your usb problem with win98se. Win98SE is as of almost 2 years ago been discontinued so when the explorist400,500, and 600 came out win98 was already put to rest. No one should be using win98 as it is so full of exploits and bugs that it isnt funny. Not to say that winXP is more secure but it is still fully supported by microsoft. I would doubt very hard that magellan would invest money in troubleshooting support for a win98 OS system. Why are you still using win98?

Edited by D0T-C0M
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LarryGC no need to wait , do it, the firmware is much better the than of the previous ones. Just the fix that allows you to re-select a new zoom level before the map draws out is worth the upgrade in itself. They really did a good job on this one, hopefully the next firmware will be as awesome as this one.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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I upgraded my Explorist 600 couple of days ago. In my first attempt had problems as descibed by Jamie Z in http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...dpost&p=1916147 . Explorist recognized by XP, but not by install SW. Solved by rebooting PC.

 

I appreciate mostly the performance improvements in detecting satelites and updating map screen.

 

BUT, I see a new problems with the accuracy. Error of position is not matching accuracy indicated by Explorist, i.e. 6m accuaracy indicated by Explorist, while position off by more than 60 m. Sometimes, slowly drifting to correct position. Did

not see this happening with the original FW !!

 

Very disappointing ! ;)

 

(Any hints about downgrading to previous FW ?) :laughing:

Edited by pjgrun
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I loaded the new firmware in on the 22nd and my Explorist 600 seems to be working better(ish). I don't do a lot of geocaching. I use the 600 more for hiking and backpacking. Yesterday and today I loaded in about 40+ caches in an area I hike frequently. I also was playing around with "GSAK" today for the first time; I'll check that out some more later.

I got off track here; while playing with my 600 after supper I notice that the weather screen was not working properly. It was working fine the day I loaded the new firmware in as I set the temperature and barometer. Right now it is reading “516°F” and “49.70 in Hg”. When I try to go into the “calibrate” screen and reset the temperature from “+516°F” I can’t change the”5” but I can change the + sign and the last two numbers. When I move down to the “Sea Level Pres.” which is listed as “49.70in Hg” I can change all four numbers; but when I go to save the changes they all go back to the original numbers of “+515°F” and “49.70in Hg” respectively. The Reset button does not do anything when pressed. I cleared memory and reloaded in the new firmware again—same result with the weather screen. Anyone have any ideas out there?

I don’t know whether I should put on a jacket or get into shorts!

 

Confused

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BUT, I see a new problems with the accuracy. Error of position is not matching accuracy indicated by Explorist, i.e. 6m accuaracy indicated by Explorist, while position off by more than 60 m. Sometimes, slowly drifting to correct position. Did

not see this happening with the original FW !!

Haven't noticed any accuracy problems with my 500.

 

Did you clear memory/all *after* the installation? Even though the directions did not call for it, that sometimes clears out data remnants that sometimes seems to clog up the functioning of the unit.

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I loaded the new firmware in on the 22nd and my Explorist 600 seems to be working better(ish). I don't do a lot of geocaching. I use the 600 more for hiking and backpacking. Yesterday and today I loaded in about 40+ caches in an area I hike frequently. I also was playing around with "GSAK" today for the first time; I'll check that out some more later.

I got off track here; while playing with my 600 after supper I notice that the weather screen was not working properly. It was working fine the day I loaded the new firmware in as I set the temperature and barometer. Right now it is reading “516°F” and “49.70 in Hg”. When I try to go into the “calibrate” screen and reset the temperature from “+516°F” I can’t change the”5” but I can change the + sign and the last two numbers. When I move down to the “Sea Level Pres.” which is listed as “49.70in Hg” I can change all four numbers; but when I go to save the changes they all go back to the original numbers of “+515°F” and “49.70in Hg” respectively. The Reset button does not do anything when pressed. I cleared memory and reloaded in the new firmware again—same result with the weather screen. Anyone have any ideas out there?

I don’t know whether I should put on a jacket or get into shorts!

 

Confused

Try the following,

 

- Go to hidden menu selection

- select menu 22 (clear sensor calibration)

- Answer Yes (even if it says its a bad idea)

- restart the unit

- go to compass calibration

- you now have to do the advanced calibration, it takes longer and you have

to do many things with your unit, eg. set it to nearly every axis and let it

collect data.

- at last the normal calibration comes up

- now the world is fine again ;-)

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BUT,  I see a new problems with the accuracy. Error of position is not matching accuracy indicated by Explorist, i.e. 6m accuaracy indicated by Explorist, while position off by more than 60 m. Sometimes, slowly drifting to correct position. Did

not see this happening with the original FW !!

Haven't noticed any accuracy problems with my 500.

 

Did you clear memory/all *after* the installation? Even though the directions did not call for it, that sometimes clears out data remnants that sometimes seems to clog up the functioning of the unit.

No problems here either with my 500. I took it out to a local first-order benchmark for which the coordinates are accurate to the nearest inch or so and the Explorist was within 3m after about 5 minutes. The most noticeable thing was that it locked onto to the sats and gave a good EPE much quicker than the previous firmware or my old Meridian Gold.

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Seeing that the firmwares for the explorist 400,500 and 600 at this time differ from the XL, mainly in feature set, this thread will be mostly based on 400,500,600 models because the XL is still in its infancy and will probably change in the near future in order to catch up to the older explorist models and should logically become identical at some point in time. Therefore we will assume that the XL will have the same features in the future as the current 400,500,600 firmware has and not document the differences in the buglist here.

 

Bugs and enhancements that are common to all Explorists will still be posted. If someone wants to start a separate buglist thread for the XL model, feel free to do so.

I hope this is also the case for the 210. My sister got one for Christmas and it would be nice if they both had the same menu options where appropriate. I try to tell her how to get to or do something and it's just different enough to drive you nuts.

 

Thanks for listening Magellan Guys. The new 600 software is a great improvement over the last rev. Keep up the good work. We appreciate it.

 

Team D & D

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I loaded the new firmware in on the 22nd and my Explorist 600 seems to be working better(ish). I don't do a lot of geocaching. I use the 600 more for hiking and backpacking. Yesterday and today I loaded in about 40+ caches in an area I hike frequently. I also was playing around with "GSAK" today for the first time; I'll check that out some more later.

I got off track here; while playing with my 600 after supper I notice that the weather screen was not working properly. It was working fine the day I loaded the new firmware in as I set the temperature and barometer. Right now it is reading “516°F” and “49.70 in Hg”. When I try to go into the “calibrate” screen and reset the temperature from “+516°F” I can’t change the”5” but I can change the + sign and the last two numbers. When I move down to the “Sea Level Pres.” which is listed as “49.70in Hg” I can change all four numbers; but when I go to save the changes they all go back to the original numbers of  “+515°F” and “49.70in Hg” respectively. The Reset button does not do anything when pressed. I cleared memory and reloaded in the new firmware again—same result with the weather screen. Anyone have any ideas out there?

I don’t know whether I should put on a jacket or get into shorts! 

 

Confused

Try the following,

 

- Go to hidden menu selection

- select menu 22 (clear sensor calibration)

- Answer Yes (even if it says its a bad idea)

- restart the unit

- go to compass calibration

- you now have to do the advanced calibration, it takes longer and you have

to do many things with your unit, eg. set it to nearly every axis and let it

collect data.

- at last the normal calibration comes up

- now the world is fine again ;-)

Thanks for the tip. I tried this today and it worked. The only problem I had was turning the Compass back on. I went to PWR MANAGEMENT in the menu but the drop down menu was blank (No On or OFF choices visable). So I went to blank area and pressed enter. Ok now I have 2 choices off and on. I choose on because that's what I want. It defaults back to a blank window and compass doesn't work. OK, now I figure out that I have to first select off then it takes that input. Then I go back into menu and it still says off. Ok that worked. Then chose ON and the compass worked. Not sure if that's a bug or not. But that's what happened to me this morning.

 

Team D & D

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Is it possible when loading info from the geocaching manager to choose weather or not you would like to have the cache Name or the Geocache GC ID # come up in the menu choices. Today I loaded some in and from the software and I got Geocaching names EX. Chester's fictitious cache. I would like to have gotten GCXXXX. That way when I use the GOTO menu I would get the GC# not the name.

 

If I use names and the caches have the same beginning prefix, EX Indiana Spirit quest # XXX, It only loads one of them. Is this because they only look at so many of the first characters and start overwriting the caches?

 

I normally load into a SD card and can choose what I'd like to have show up in the GPSr. I didn't see an option with the Geocaching manager software that came with my unit.

 

Thanks team D & D

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Hi,

Feature Request: I would like the proximity alarm to sound near a POI whether the POI is in a route or not. for example, I have all the speed cameras for my town programmed as POI's and would love a warning when I am getting close. Or is there another way to do this??

Cheers, Richard

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Hi,

Feature Request:  I would like the proximity alarm to sound near a POI whether the POI is in a route or not.  for example, I have all the speed cameras for my town programmed as POI's and would love a warning when I am getting close.  Or is there another way to do this??

Cheers,  Richard

Would be a nice feature!

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the location of the satellites on the satellite screen are where the satellites are located relative to you, with the top of the screen being north.  The WAAS satellites I can see are to my southeast, and are shown on the satellite screen in the lower-right, or southeast corner.  So you can use the existing satellite screen to determine where to move in order to obtain a better view of certain satellites.

To find out which satellites are covered I firstly have to find out where is north by using the compass screen, then I have to go to the satellite screen and rotate the explorist to north direction. Then I have to look at the bar chart which are the numbers of received satellites and then look at the screen for the satellites without reception.

 

So you are right, it is possible, but it could be much easier.

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I would like to see more connection between the GPS height and the barometer. To forecast wheather changes while driving or walking at different heights the NN air pressure is to be observed, not the airpressure at the actual height.

 

If selecting the calibration menu in the wheather screen it is possible to set the air pressure at NN, so the explorist even now is able to extrapolate the air pressure from actual height to NN, but where gets it the actual height from? It seems not to be the height of the altimeter, so I think it is the GPS height.

 

So my request is to bring the NN air pressure (computed by the GPS height) into the wheather screen and the trend of the air pressure should base on the NN air pressure.

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I loaded the new firmware in on the 22nd and my Explorist 600 seems to be working better(ish). I don't do a lot of geocaching. I use the 600 more for hiking and backpacking. Yesterday and today I loaded in about 40+ caches in an area I hike frequently. I also was playing around with "GSAK" today for the first time; I'll check that out some more later.

I got off track here; while playing with my 600 after supper I notice that the weather screen was not working properly. It was working fine the day I loaded the new firmware in as I set the temperature and barometer. Right now it is reading “516°F” and “49.70 in Hg”. When I try to go into the “calibrate” screen and reset the temperature from “+516°F” I can’t change the”5” but I can change the + sign and the last two numbers. When I move down to the “Sea Level Pres.” which is listed as “49.70in Hg” I can change all four numbers; but when I go to save the changes they all go back to the original numbers of  “+515°F” and “49.70in Hg” respectively. The Reset button does not do anything when pressed. I cleared memory and reloaded in the new firmware again—same result with the weather screen. Anyone have any ideas out there?

I don’t know whether I should put on a jacket or get into shorts! 

 

Confused

Try the following,

 

- Go to hidden menu selection

- select menu 22 (clear sensor calibration)

- Answer Yes (even if it says its a bad idea)

- restart the unit

- go to compass calibration

- you now have to do the advanced calibration, it takes longer and you have

to do many things with your unit, eg. set it to nearly every axis and let it

collect data.

- at last the normal calibration comes up

- now the world is fine again ;-)

Thanks Dot-Com your fix worked.

 

Buzz

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Found cache- Not working correctly.

 

I mark a cache as found and when I go to view the found cache file it is there. But after going to the map screen and then go back to view the found caches in the same cache file, the cache that I had marked is no longer marked as found but a different cache that I did not find is marked as found. I back out and go back into the cache file and there is another cache marked as found that I did not find.

 

I tried this in about five different Geocache files all with the same results.

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Found cache- Not working correctly.

 

I mark a cache as found and when I go to view the found cache file it is there. But after going to the map screen and then go back to view the found caches in the same cache file, the cache that I had marked is no longer marked as found but a different cache that I did not find is marked as found. I back out and go back into the cache file and there is another cache marked as found that I did not find.

 

I tried this in about five different Geocache files all with the same results.

can someone else confirm this?

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Team D&D:

You should try using GSAK for preparing your geocache files for your explorist. You can have it use the GC# or the name using "smart Name" which will load caches with similar names inthe first characters.

I normally do but I was just wondering if this was an issue with the magellan software.

 

Thanks!

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Found cache- Not working correctly.

 

I mark a cache as found and when I go to view the found cache file it is there. But after going to the map screen and then go back to view the found caches in the same cache file, the cache that I had marked is no longer marked as found but a different cache that I did not find is marked as found. I back out and go back into the cache file and there is another cache marked as found that I did not find.

 

I tried this in about five different Geocache files all with the same results.

can someone else confirm this?

I have re flashed the new firmware but still end up with the same results.

 

I just had a thought as to why this maybe happening... using GSAK I use "%Name" for the Geocache name field But I use "%con" for the Geocache ID field. That lets me see what size the container is when I look at the cache description on the GPSr. Maybe that is my downfall

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Wait a minute.....

I think I know what Warriorrider is doing. If you mark a cache as found, in the current active geocache file, it shows as found on the map screen (check mark on the icon.)

 

If you then make active a new geocache file, there will be no found caches showing on the map page, until you mark some as found. However, if you go back and do a search in the old geocache file, and hit menu, it will list the found caches, but they will not be shown on the map screen as found. It only shows found caches in the current active geocache file. You can go back and acitvate an old file and it will show its found caches on the map screen.

 

I believe this is consistent and how it should be. When you create a new geocache file, say from a PQ, after entering your found caches onthe site, it will not contain your found caches.

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Wait a minute.....

I think I know what Warriorrider is doing. If you mark a cache as found, in the current active geocache file, it shows as found on the map screen (check mark on the icon.)

 

If you then make active a new geocache file, there will be no found caches showing on the map page, until you mark some as found. However, if you go back and do a search in the old geocache file, and hit menu, it will list the found caches, but they will not be shown on the map screen as found. It only shows found caches in the current active geocache file. You can go back and acitvate an old file and it will show its found caches on the map screen.

 

I believe this is consistent and how it should be. When you create a new geocache file, say from a PQ, after entering your found caches onthe site, it will not contain your found caches.

No, thats not it. It's in the list of found caches that change. weather active or not. Mark one as found. Go back in later to see your found caches and the one that I marked as found is gone but a new cache is on the list. Go back and look at the list later and another cache has been added to the list as found even though I did not mark it as found.

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Warriorrider:

OK, I understand, but I do not have that problem.

 

In GSAK, when creating your geocache file, this is what I do:

 

for GC# use %code

for name, use %smart=20

 

If you want the container type, try:

for name, use %smart=18 %con1

This will give you an 18 letter cache name, space, and a one letter container type.

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I said I was going to wait 2 weeks to install the new firmware, but I decided to install it on my eXplorist 400 tonight since the temperature will be warm enough for caching tomorrow. BTW, the 400 firmware is v4.2.02, so some slight nomenclature differences.

 

Anyway, I noticed that when I go to Menu > About, there is no storage usage given for my 512MB SD card at the bottom of the screen. It'll tell me that 56% of my internal memory is used, but nothing about the SD card. It just shows an empty bar with no percentage reading. I don't have much on the card, but the GPSr should tell me something, even if it's just "0%" I don't mind that too much, but it is a potential bug or something that needs enhancement.

Has this been confirmed?

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* More track log points 10000 would be nice.

 

* But even better would be an easy method to save or [/b]autosave the tracklog, or a warning that the tracklog is full.

 

 

I use my GPS mostly for track logging my driving everyday.

2000 point tracklog is kinda small considering Garmins 10000 !!

 

2000 points are generally OK, while driving around and you don't want super accurate tracks to see where you've just been, but the auto-detailed setting is really not doing a great job of it.

 

I once set the track log to every .01km which gives only 20km of logging.

Of course the track log only lasts for 20km, and there is no 'easy' way to save the track log. But! the track was very precise.

 

I think the iFinder has 50000 track points, the downside is there is less info about each point.

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Has the e400 not showing SD card info on the "about" screen been confirmed?

 

No. While mine also shows 56% of Internal Memory usage, it IS showing 3% of the 512 SD card usage.

 

Doc

I'll remove it from the list on the next update if I don't get anyone else reporting this bug, thx for the confirmation.

Edited by D0T-C0M
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I have just updated my 500 from 1.61 to 2.03 and noticed the following

 

in 1.61, if I select a route with a lot of points (must be more than 48 because the unit itself can create a route of 48 points), it would not display the route; worse, it would cause all other routes to be not selectable until the unit is reset.

 

in 2.03, when the same file with lots of points is selected, again it shows no route however if I went up one folder level and select it again right away, it would show partial route up to 49 points and truncate the rest of them. I am assuming this is the 49 points limit on the route, correct? however, why do I have to open the route file twice to see it. is there anyway to make it take more than 49 points?

 

Thanks

 

tigeratwork

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Regarding the XL at 9.1.05 (and as shipped at 9.1.04), one new feature that has me stumped is that the compass no longer locks onto the GOTO/Active route. The compass always points north (the PDF manual that ships with the unit says it will lock onto the Active Route, but the on-line version on the Magellan site has been subsequently updated to say it "always points north" - I've read both).

 

The eXplorist series and Meridian series (the one's I have used at any rate) all have the compass lock onto the icon displayed when a GOTO or Route is activated. For me this was just a great feature at the GZ and even when backtracking. I would have thought that this was also of great use to boating and / or fishing enthusiasts.

 

It is far harder to lock onto the GZ on the move by watching an icon swim around rather than have the compass lock on and continue to set me straight. I went geocaching with my geokiddie the other day. He had my old eXplorist 100 and beat me to the GZ every time. I have taken to keeping the eXplorist 100 on me so that when I am having trouble at a GZ I can switch to my old unit and "lock on"(it's pretty hard to focus on a little icon when stumbling around a rocky ledge covered in fallen trees and brush!).

 

I would recommend to Magellan that they enhance the XL to be consistent with the other eXplorist and Meridian GPSr and have the compass lock onto the GOTO or Active Route.

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ok i had a huge issue over the last two days with my E400... i placed a cache and marked the point and returned the next day... it was saying that it was at a much higher elevation and farther out "down the mountain" so i re recorded all of the data. Returned today and when i was standing on the cache site it said i was .12 miles from the cache with a 30 ft accuracy. after about 15 minutes of standing there i got it to display i was 10 feet from it with a 15 % accuracy while i was on top of the cache...

 

seems like a huge issue...

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Loaded the firmware upgrade onto two units. No problems. Thanks for the new, improved firmware Magellan. My question is about the new projection feature found in the advanced features. Exactly what is it for? The shortest distance you can enter is 52.8 feet. Is it for establishing lat and longs for a new point from your position? With a minimum of 52.8 feet, how does this help the geocacher? What is this for, and how do you use it? Anybody?

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Has the e400 not showing SD card info on the "about" screen been confirmed?

 

No. While mine also shows 56% of Internal Memory usage, it IS showing 3% of the 512 SD card usage.

 

Doc

I'll remove it from the list on the next update if I don't get anyone else reporting this bug, thx for the confirmation.

My SD card also shows a blank bar in the About screen. (eXplorist 600 and a 64MB SD card)

 

As with the original poster, I also have very little on the card. I don't see it as being a big issue, but perhaps it should default to 1% when there's something on the card, even if it's barely taking up any space?

 

Scott

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If you have Virtual PC, you should be able to do the update with your Mac. I updated mine using VPC 7.02 on OS X 10.4.3 on a PowerBook. A bit of patience is needed for the update program to recognize the Explorist, but after that everything works great. However, YMMV.

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I haven't been on these forums for a while. The background story to the problems I have had with my e500 can be found at:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...dpost&p=1839206

 

and

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...dpost&p=1855886

 

After wrestling with Thales support in France, they finally suggested I return the unit through my local supplier (firmware version 5.1.61). I sent it to the supplier on 15 Dec 05 with a complete fault log/description of the problems I had experienced. I was quite startled to find the unit returned to me by 6 Jan 06. Actually a brand new unit sporting the latest firmware (5.2.03).

 

While the unit was away, I had read with eager anticipation, all of the great things you guys have been saying about the latest firmware and the improvements in performance and funcionality.

 

Yesterday, I went out caching and it was very cold for the time of year (SW England - 0 degrees centigrade with a couple of degrees wind chill). I had installed my 1GB SD card and a 60MB Topo map of the area. The e500 switched itself off unexpectedly a couple of times and behaved a little oddly but I thought it was just me getting used to using it again and not being familiar with some of the new functions.

 

Went out caching again and the e500 really played up. It Went into a cycle of showing the ‘eXplorist – checking media’ screen for a few seconds, then going to the map loading screen for a few seconds and then back to ‘eXplorist – checking media’ screen for a few seconds. This cycle never stoped, we couldn't power the unit down and had to use the 'Nav+Menu+Pwr' option.

 

I removed the SD card and tried again - couldn't get the unit to turn on for about 15 minutes. Eventually switched on but wouldn't perform properly.

 

I have not heard anyone else on this thread describe this set of problems - am I the only one ? and why the same symptoms on two different machines with differing firmware versions ?

 

My gut feeling is that Magellan can have their e500 back but I really like what it does WHEN it does it.

 

Has anyone got any advice - please.

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I'll admit that I didn't read through all of the historical information on the problem with the E500, but could it be that there is an issue with the particular SD card, Great Redmondo?

Did you attempt to use the replacement unit without adding the SD card into the mix?

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Here's another one for the bug list (hope this is the right place for this kind)

 

The built-in map of the eXplorist 600, and probably all models, has an incorrectly labelled highway in Gloucester, Ontario, Canada.

 

It labels is as "HW-17", when in fact it is "HW-174". It used to be 17 a couple of years ago and was changed.

 

Scott

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I am a newbie, have been reading the comments and wanted to add my 2 cents.

 

As I started to use the explorist I (first off have no experience with any other GPS) wondered if anyone else had suggestions or questions. I found myself wondering if there were more customizable data fields or if there was a feature that you could scroll forward and backward in the screens. I wanted a screen that is full of customizable data fields. The unit is a handy one I took the originators advice and updated the firmware which seemed to make the uint operat more smoothly. I am excited to cache on and find them all over. Still looking into the software and want recommendations from y'all. I am also interested in delving into the unit it's self to get the mose out of it. i really love the compas, and few custom fields there are.

I also want to know the format of the files that you upload to the unit.

 

my particular uint is a exp600.

 

TTFN :laughing::lol:

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I am a newbie, have been reading the comments and wanted to add my 2 cents.

 

As I started to use the explorist I (first off have no experience with any other GPS) wondered if anyone else had suggestions or questions. I found myself wondering if there were more customizable data fields or if there was a feature that you could scroll forward and backward in the screens. I wanted a screen that is full of customizable data fields. The unit is a handy one I took the originators advice and updated the firmware which seemed to make the uint operat more smoothly. I am excited to cache on and find them all over. Still looking into the software and want recommendations from y'all. I am also interested in delving into the unit it's self to get the mose out of it. i really love the compas, and few custom fields there are.

I also want to know the format of the files that you upload to the unit.

 

my particular uint is a exp600.

 

TTFN :lol::laughing:

the only customizable data sreen is the one with the compass and you only have 2 data feilds that you can use. We want more, its on the list!! ;)

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