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Question For Magellan Explorist Owners


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Hi,

 

I got an eXplorist 400 about 2 weeks ago and I noticed right away that when I turn it on on the right hand side of the screen there were vertical lines that appear for roughly 1 second before the GPS turns on. After a short while where those lines would show up I could see what almost looked like cat scratches between the pixels after the GPS was on for a while. Sometimes I would turn it on and it wouldn't do it at all. I exchanged my old one for a new one and the new one does the same thing with the lines on startup for a seconds but it's all over the screen. I just got the thing so I haven't noticed anything unusual after that point.

 

My question is, when you start up your eXplorist, do you see vertical lines on the screen for a moment before it starts?

 

Thanks,

Cap'n Cache

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Greetings!

 

I have an Explorist 210 that does the same thing. I've never noticed any degradation of the screen, though. I just figured it's a part of the startup testing the screen or something. If anyone knows what it is, I'd sure be interested in hearing about it.

 

Our Boy Scout troop decided tonight on purchasing three Explorist 210s. Our Scouts are having a great time with mine and we need more for our own program and to find chaches at summer camp. Knowing more about this would make me feel better about going ahead with the purchase.

 

5Lakes

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Hi,

 

I got an eXplorist 400 about 2 weeks ago and I noticed right away that when I turn it on on the right hand side of the screen there were vertical lines that appear for roughly 1 second before the GPS turns on. After a short while where those lines would show up I could see what almost looked like cat scratches between the pixels after the GPS was on for a while. Sometimes I would turn it on and it wouldn't do it at all. I exchanged my old one for a new one and the new one does the same thing with the lines on startup for a seconds but it's all over the screen. I just got the thing so I haven't noticed anything unusual after that point.

 

My question is, when you start up your eXplorist, do you see vertical lines on the screen for a moment before it starts?

 

Thanks,

Cap'n Cache

 

I had the Very same problem with my first 400 two months ago so I returned it and got another and had same problem so I went with the 500 and am very happy with the colour screen.

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Just out of curiosity, I just turned mine on/off three times. Twice it did it, third time, no. I did have it running earlier at our Scout meeting. Maybe being warmed up as an effect?

Mine does the same thing. Sometimes it does, sometimes it's sold black. The lines are almost always a different pattern. My first one did it with just lines on right hand side, the new one does it with lines all over.

 

Another annoying thing to look for... Go to the NAV screen that shows the little battery in the right hand corner and turn the backlight on, if you look at the battery where the screen's really dark sometimes you can see spacing between the pixels. It looks like cat scratches. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not.

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Just out of curiosity, I just turned mine on/off three times. Twice it did it, third time, no. I did have it running earlier at our Scout meeting. Maybe being warmed up as an effect?

Mine does the same thing. Sometimes it does, sometimes it's sold black. The lines are almost always a different pattern. My first one did it with just lines on right hand side, the new one does it with lines all over.

 

Another annoying thing to look for... Go to the NAV screen that shows the little battery in the right hand corner and turn the backlight on, if you look at the battery where the screen's really dark sometimes you can see spacing between the pixels. It looks like cat scratches. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not.

 

To me, it looks like a huge tic tac toe board. I'm sure what I'm seeing is just the normal spacing between the pixels. Low resolution.

 

Funny, though, is that right now, inside my house, it's able to track four sats.

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I've noticed both issues...the lines between the pixels that look like scratches or pixel flaws are visible when the backlight has been used more often (at night). During the day when I don't use the backlight, I really don't see them

 

The vertical dark lines during device bootup don't bother me at all. It's just the way the screen looks during power-up.

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I've noticed both issues...the lines between the pixels that look like scratches or pixel flaws are visible when the backlight has been used more often (at night). During the day when I don't use the backlight, I really don't see them

 

The vertical dark lines during device bootup don't bother me at all. It's just the way the screen looks during power-up.

Same assessment here. Only difference is that when my 100 and 400 startup, the screen is solid black and flickers for 1-2sec. Then it's normal.

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Hi,

 

I got an eXplorist 400 about 2 weeks ago and I noticed right away that when I turn it on on the right hand side of the screen there were vertical lines that appear for roughly 1 second before the GPS turns on. After a short while where those lines would show up I could see what almost looked like cat scratches between the pixels after the GPS was on for a while. Sometimes I would turn it on and it wouldn't do it at all. I exchanged my old one for a new one and the new one does the same thing with the lines on startup for a seconds but it's all over the screen. I just got the thing so I haven't noticed anything unusual after that point.

 

My question is, when you start up your eXplorist, do you see vertical lines on the screen for a moment before it starts?

 

Thanks,

Cap'n Cache

 

 

I have seen the same on my eXplorist 210. It doesn't bother me at all.

Edited by eslfreak
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On the 210, lines on the right hand side appear to be normal power up junk, and nothing to be concerned about. I think they're less or non-existent when you power up using USB power, so it's probably surge current related. You might get different results depending on battery type and charge level. Of more concern is some vertical scratching on the LCD of my unit. It's obviously a QC problem with the LCD. It's most apparent with the back light on, but easy to see if you use a magnifier to examine the LCD under bright light. Basically, the pixels aren't perfectly square. Something probably rubbed the LCD glass during manufacture, damaging the pattern. It annoys me, but doesn't affect operation so I didn't bother to return it and suffer without the unit. IMO, QC should be better. IMHO, both Magellan and Garmin have a ways to go before claiming world class products.

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Aside from being happy to see others with 600's, no, I never have had any issues with the screen.

My only problem is the connection/communication link when sending maps to it. Sometimes it shuts off in mid transfer.

I just bought a cheap card reader at wally world and dump the maps that way. Yeah, you have to take the battery out, etc... but now I have 1/2 the US on my unit, so I don't have to play with it very often.

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just got my new 210 a week ago, vertical line or 1/3 screen blue on start up untill today when the dang thing shot craps, lcd screen was faint to the point of not being readable, turn on and off a dozen times in two hours, now screen does nothing at all, light works fine, going back to tigergps or megellan. Very disapointed

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If you're still in TigerGPS's 30-day warranty (or whatever it is), it is easier to send the receiver back to them than go through Magellan. All you have to do is ship everything back with a note in the box explaining what is wrong, and that you would like to exchange it. They will reimburse you up to a certain amount (like $8) for shipping the unit back and then will send you a replacement. The instructions are on their website. It all went very smoothly when the clickstick on my eX400 didn't work as well as it should have.

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Aside from being happy to see others with 600's, no, I never have had any issues with the screen.

My only problem is the connection/communication link when sending maps to it. Sometimes it shuts off in mid transfer.

I've had that happen to me twice so far, but the transfer was completed both times, it just shut off right after.

 

400:

As for the bars on the right of the screen at start up, it has happened to me most of the time. It has also started with the screen entirely blue/black, which looks more normal. I'm not sure about this assumption yet, but it seems to look normal if I just quickly press the power on, and it seems to make bars if I hold the power button on for a bit longer. Maybe it's just coincidence. I haven't seen anything wrong with the pixels at all.

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