+markp99 Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 I took my new eXplorist 500 out for my first find today (Sunday). The unit appeared to work flawlessly around and inside the house since the unti arrived (Friday night). I loaded a few caches and Mapsend detailed maps for my area and off I went. The weather was nice and sunny, but a little brisk @ 40 deg F and a bit breezy. Within 20 minutes of circling the cache the unit began to spontaneously reboot, only staying on for 30 seconds to 1 minute. After several of these reboots the unit booted to a "Configure NAND" screen, then a white-screen-of-death complaining that "No Map Data Exists" message. No cache, no love! I did find a post in the Magellan BUGS post describing the same scenario. SO, I got into the "secret menu" number 95 and reformatted the flash. Then I reloaded the basemap to the internal memory. All seemed well, so I went back out to find that first cache. Well, if FOUND IT this time. As I looked for the next nearby cache, the unti started the whole reboot thing. UGH!! Looks like I have a repeatable issue, so I vote there is a hardware fault. DO you agree? Sould I return this unit immediately or simply wait for warm weather. I bought this unti from LLBean (mail order); should I persue from them or go directly to Magellan? I have not read good things about Magellan's support lines and I have had very good experience with LLBean's return policy. Suggestions to correct my problem, or on returning the unit? Thanks! Mark Quote Link to comment
+markp99 Posted March 5, 2006 Author Share Posted March 5, 2006 Holy Crap! I called LLBean just to test the waters on a return. I explained the situation and the very polite rep offerred to send out a new unit to me immediately, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. I'll have the unit on my doorstep on TUESDAY (today is Sunday), at no charge! The return label will be included for me to return the defective unit. I am SO GLAD I used LLBean for this order (which turned out to be lowest online price I could find) and not some fly-by-night operation! Whew! I have had the BEST luck with LLBean. This is my 3rd return (2yr old coat, 3yr old tent and now this GPS unit). NO QUESTIONS ASKED. FANTASTIC. Here's a little free advertising for my new favorite company: Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 The cheapest place is fine so long as you don't need them for anything except the product delivery. When something *does* go wrong, a few extra "insurance" dollars are a small price to pay for peace of mind. (and yup, sounds like flakiness that is best dealt with in the manner you employed. *Maybe* a firmware reflash would help, but why make it your problem when you can exchange so easily? Quote Link to comment
rmm200 Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Only test I would do before sending it back would be to see how it does without the SD card. Quality varies a lot between brands, and a bad one can cause all sorts of problems. Robert Quote Link to comment
+Intermountain Angler Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 "I am SO GLAD I used LLBean for this order (which turned out to be lowest online price I could find) and not some fly-by-night operation! Whew!" from post #2 above frankley this says it all when ordering a unit. dont get messed over by trying to save just a few bucks. Quote Link to comment
+drbugs Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 I took my new eXplorist 500 out for my first find today (Sunday). The unit appeared to work flawlessly around and inside the house since the unti arrived (Friday night). I loaded a few caches and Mapsend detailed maps for my area and off I went. The weather was nice and sunny, but a little brisk @ 40 deg F and a bit breezy. Within 20 minutes of circling the cache the unit began to spontaneously reboot, only staying on for 30 seconds to 1 minute. After several of these reboots the unit booted to a "Configure NAND" screen, then a white-screen-of-death complaining that "No Map Data Exists" message. No cache, no love! I did find a post in the Magellan BUGS post describing the same scenario. SO, I got into the "secret menu" number 95 and reformatted the flash. Then I reloaded the basemap to the internal memory. All seemed well, so I went back out to find that first cache. Well, if FOUND IT this time. As I looked for the next nearby cache, the unti started the whole reboot thing. UGH!! Looks like I have a repeatable issue, so I vote there is a hardware fault. DO you agree? Sould I return this unit immediately or simply wait for warm weather. I bought this unti from LLBean (mail order); should I persue from them or go directly to Magellan? I have not read good things about Magellan's support lines and I have had very good experience with LLBean's return policy. Suggestions to correct my problem, or on returning the unit? Thanks! Mark Hi, I've seen some discussion on this topic cold weather shutdown of explorist post. Others have reported some info about this too. Worth following up. Good luck! Randy Quote Link to comment
+Barjon Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 (edited) Only test I would do before sending it back would be to see how it does without the SD card. Quality varies a lot between brands, and a bad one can cause all sorts of problems. Robert Hi Robert, Two weeks ago I bought myself a 1 Gb Kingston 'Hi speed' SD card (if I only knew, I had bought a 'normal' one). Since I use it, after formatting it IN the eXplorist600, so now and then I get spontanious 'resets', switching screens without manipulating the buttons and pc-interfacing problems like with the old firmware. During PC-communication: 'lost power' and eXplorist switching off. My previous SD card was also a Kingston, a 'normal' 256 Mb one. No eXplorist problems at all, but after the FW update. I concider to report it in: "Explorist Bug-enhancement List Firmware-5.2.03"-thread at this forum. Which I did at 03.11. I'll appreciate your comment. Rudolf Edited March 11, 2006 by Barjon Quote Link to comment
+kimmot Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Within 20 minutes of circling the cache the unit began to spontaneously reboot, only staying on for 30 seconds to 1 minute. After several of these reboots the unit booted to a "Configure NAND" screen, then a white-screen-of-death complaining that "No Map Data Exists" message. Mark I have too cold weather failure in my explorist 500. I phone to local distributor and he told that i must do reboot, GOTO+OUT+POWER. I did that and now i waiting evening and cold weather to test. Quote Link to comment
+ScottOSki Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 (edited) I've had my EX500 since a month after they came out and never had any cold weather problems. 40F is not cold!!! I live in WI and use my GPS for hunting, icefishing and snowmobiling. I've had it out fishing when actual temp was 10F and windchill was -35F. I've used it to map snowmobile trails, keeping it stored in a handlebar bag on the sled. Never had any issues. It definetly sounds like the cold weather reboot is a defective unit and not normal. Scott Edited March 13, 2006 by ScottOSki Quote Link to comment
+kimmot Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 I have too cold weather failure in my explorist 500. I phone to local distributor and he told that i must do reboot, GOTO+OUT+POWER. I did that and now i waiting evening and cold weather to test. I reboot my device and testing.... Weather was -6 degrees of celsius. About 10 min device become reboot by itself..... "cheking media" and few seconds again. This happent ten times and then device told "no map....". Then nothing happen... I loose battery to switch off machine. Then i switch on and "press enter to configure NAND press ESC to cancel" if i press any key the device shut off! I can´t do anything. I must phone again to local distributor! Quote Link to comment
+maleki Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 I've had my EX500 since a month after they came out and never had any cold weather problems. 40F is not cold!!! I live in WI and use my GPS for hunting, icefishing and snowmobiling. I've had it out fishing when actual temp was 10F and windchill was -35F. I've used it to map snowmobile trails, keeping it stored in a handlebar bag on the sled. Never had any issues. It definetly sounds like the cold weather reboot is a defective unit and not normal. Scott In another thread there is some discussion about many having flaky 'cold' weather problems, I noticed it too, since updating the firmware on the Explorist. Did you upgrade yours when the upgrade was released a couple months ago? Just curious. Quote Link to comment
+ScottOSki Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 (edited) In another thread there is some discussion about many having flaky 'cold' weather problems, I noticed it too, since updating the firmware on the Explorist. Did you upgrade yours when the upgrade was released a couple months ago? Just curious. I upgraded the firmware a couple of days after it was posted. Most of the cold weather use has been after the update. Zero issues. I use the GPS to get me to icefishing spots and to log snowmobile rides, so it gets pretty cold. Never had a single lockup, shutdown or whatever. One important step in the firmware upgrade is to do a complete memory clear after install. Some of the other, more experienced Maggellan users here (Embra, etc.) have recommended this. I backed up all of my data on the GPS and the SD card and cleared both completely and then re-loaded the data. Something about potential ghost bits of data messing up the unit. Others may want to try this if they have not since the firmware upgrade. Scott Edited March 17, 2006 by ScottOSki Quote Link to comment
+kimmot Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Today i get new device and that seems work fine! Quote Link to comment
+Producer Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 To fix this yourself, try this page. http://www.imhz.com/2006/05/my-explorist-is-screwed.html Quote Link to comment
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