Magellan Explorist 200 North America

[jook]

I'm planning to go to England for several weeks this summer. My GPS device is a Magellan eXplorist 200. Not top of the line, but I got it at a nice discount. It's set up to be a North America unit - with the built-in maps, and such. I wanted to know if I could use it for Geocaching in England. I'm not too concerned about the fact that it has no street maps for there. The important thing is whether or not It will be able to find and track coordinates.

 

<edited for typos>

Edited April 28, 2006 by jook

[+briansnat]

Moving to the GPS Units and Software forum

[jook]

Terribly sorry. That's what I get for not paying enough attention to the different sections. Thanks for moving me.

[+Team JSAM]

I am not 100% sure but I dont think it will work in Europe as they have a N.A. and Europe version.

[jook]

i assumed the only difference is which set of street maps is included.

[+geognerd]

It should be able to achieve a position fix just fine. It is called the Global Positioning System for a reason. It might just take a while for the receiver to calculate a position because it will start up using the almanac for wherever you were the last time you turned the GPSr on in North America. When you're in England and use the GPSr for the first time, go into the Preferences menu and choose the Restart GPS option. That'll let you put in your approximate location and will tell the GPSr what satellites to expect to see.

 

I believe the difference between the Europe and NA versions is the basemap installed. The European version would show the major motorways and the NA version would show interstates.

[+TeamCNJC]

Geognerd is 100% correct - I've used multiple models from different manufacturers in both the US and Europe. Getting a fix the first time takes a while (especially if you're on a moving train), both when you power up in Europe and when you get back to the US. Restarting or selecting a new location (depending on model) will speed up the first fix time.

 

When I was using my Meridian Gold, I was able to change the basemap for US to Europe - I don't know if that's possible with the Explorist series or not...

[jook]

it's probably possible to get more maps with some of the explorist series, but not mine. It has no USB conneciton or memory upgrade slot. I'll manage without the streets, though. Thanks a lot! I knew I'd have to let it take a while to re-orient, so that's no big deal. Same as when I first turned it on here. Thanks guys!