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As a Garmin User, Should I Dare Buy a Magellan Explorist XL?


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I've owned a multitude of different GPS's over the past 13 years. Currently I own a Garmin 60CS and a Street Pilot C330. Love them both. Besides hiking and driving, I do a lot of boating. The Magellan Explorist XL is appealing to me because of the large screen. A large screen is very helpful for viewing marine charts because of all the detail on the chart. I'm a bit worried though about buying a Magellan. In the distant past they had a great reputaion as a company. I get the drift that these days they aren't a good company to deal with from a customer relations viewpoint, based upon reports in forums and various opinions of users.

 

My questions as as follows. First and foremost, are the units dependable, particularly the XL? Do a large percentage of XL's fail or otherwise have problems? Is Magellan's customer service okay or do they not stand behind their product? Compared to my 60CS, would I be disappointed with the operation of the XL?

 

Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Trust me, Garmin is by no means the "holy grail" of GPSr's and you won't be struck by lightning if you do. There are plenty of great units from other manufacturers that work just as good and in some cases better. I've heard the XL is a great unit so I'd say go for it.

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Trust me, Garmin is by no means the "holy grail" of GPSr's and you won't be struck by lightning if you do. There are plenty of great units from other manufacturers that work just as good and in some cases better. I've heard the XL is a great unit so I'd say go for it.

They may not be the Holy Grail of GPSrs, but they are the Holy Grail of customer service - whereas Magellan would be a rusted-out tin can! You may not need customer service, but if you do... well, I'm one to tell you, "I told you so..."

 

Also, being a Garminite, you're probably used to the intuitive menu operations of Garmin units. Prepare to kiss that aspect goodbye if you go with a "Maggie" too

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I went out with a friend two weeks ago who has an XL, and I got the opportunity to use it for a while. Seemed like a great unit; sensitive, stable, intuitive, and you have to love the display size.

 

The only minus I saw was the form factor. This thing is HUGE. Almost too big for me to one-hand while punching the controls with my thumb, at least I wasn't comfortable doing it for fear of dropping someone else's receiver.

 

I would say if you intend to press this into service doing double duty in the car and on the trail that it's a great choice. If it will be primarily used in the woods, however, I'd go with something smaller.

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Have you looked at the lowrance units? They are pretty big in the marine area. I have an ifinder H20 c and its screen is huge. Might be worth a look

 

For a relatively small company, Lowrance is fabulous and cutting edge. I used to own their first mapping unit that could download from their CD of marine maps. I think it was a Map Pro, or something like that. It came out around '96 or '97 and was the first in the industry. What I'm looking for now is a handheld with a large screen. I just don't know whether to trust Magellan now that Thales in France owns them. Nothing against the French, of course ;).

Edited by starbox189
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I would just point out that Lowrance left me high and dry when my 10yr lithium battery died on my airmap100 when it was two years old.

 

I loved the lowrance otherwise but dont expect them to do anything for your after your warranty is out (unlike Garmin).

 

Todd

 

Have you looked at the lowrance units? They are pretty big in the marine area. I have an ifinder H20 c and its screen is huge. Might be worth a look

 

For a relatively small company, Lowrance is fabulous and cutting edge. I used to own their first mapping unit that could download from their CD of marine maps. I think it was a Map Pro, or something like that. It came out around '96 or '97 and was the first in the industry. What I'm looking for now is a handheld with a large screen. I just don't know wether to Magellan now that Thales in France owns them. Nothing against the French, of course ;).

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For a relatively small company, Lowrance is fabulous and cutting edge. I used to own their first mapping unit that could download from their CD of marine maps. I think it was a Map Pro, or something like that. It came out around '96 or '97 and was the first in the industry. What I'm looking for now is a handheld with a large screen. I just don't know whether to trust Magellan now that Thales in France owns them. Nothing against the French, of course ;).

 

Now that they're owned by the French- their customer service [in this case specifically over the internet/e-mail] is decidedly "flipant".

 

I Love "The French"- so 'Nothing against The French, indeed. I hate the Paris-ners though- skulls and daggers to the Paris-ners...

 

I own the more-or-less base unit the eXplorist 210 and I'm very happy with it! [Not that I wouldn't go for something with the usual culprits of a tech geek :) ] But when I initially looked for help creating a link to my Mac their reply was simply "buy a PC or purchase a $300+ software emulator for Windows".

 

Oooookay.... :) Break out the assassins. ;)

 

I wound up geting a PC emulator off of Ebay- and my problems have since been solved- but if I'm going to find support for the unit, it'll be from the 'net and familiar sources- not Thales.

 

Now- as GeoNerd has noted- if indeed they move operations/support back to the States, I'd be more than willing to rescind my incredulousness to teh brand- but as with all things that change, I usually wind up with a wait-n-see attitude!

Edited by RusSEAL
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Id say the XL is definitely worth a look. I am always on the lookout for different units and I actually almost bought the XL, but was deterred by the sheer size. Tis a great unit! Like others said, I would also look into Lowrance. Their best handheld unit is the iFinder Expedition C which runs about $300, is extremely sensitive and has probably the most beautiful screen I have ever seen on a handheld GPS. But, again, its rather bulky.

Edited by Fhantazm
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The eXplorist XL with TOPO 3D, and the Mapscreen with data fields turned off, is quite a GPS.

I had bought it for this reason, to have a big detailed map screen. Once you get spoiled by a large full map screen on the eXplorist XL, the Garmins will seem toooooo small.

 

If you are doing a multicache Geocache event, where you have to enter several temporary caches into the GPS, the eXplorist XL rules over the Garmin. The Map60C was such a letdown, at a cache event, that I got the eXplorist XL.

 

The only problem is that the eXplorist XL does not come with a carry strap, so I stole it from my old GPS IIIplus

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The eXplorist XL with TOPO 3D, and the Mapscreen with data fields turned off, is quite a GPS.

I had bought it for this reason, to have a big detailed map screen. Once you get spoiled by a large full map screen on the eXplorist XL, the Garmins will seem toooooo small.

 

If you are doing a multicache Geocache event, where you have to enter several temporary caches into the GPS, the eXplorist XL rules over the Garmin. The Map60C was such a letdown, at a cache event, that I got the eXplorist XL.

 

The only problem is that the eXplorist XL does not come with a carry strap, so I stole it from my old GPS IIIplus

 

I just purchased an Explorist XL from Comp-U-Plus with DirectRoute 3.0 and Topo 3D. I sure hope I like it. Do you find that the XL locks onto a fix and holds it as well as the 60Cx?

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No......it dosen't have an electronic compass and I wouldn't want to cache again without one.

 

I am enclosing my list for newbe's, you may find some info. usefull.

 

From what I have read I am convinced the Magellan Platinum is superior to the newer units. I have used them for years and currently have 4 , 2 of which I got on ebay. They have a 3 axis compass, sd card slot, sunken-large screen, wonderfull operating buttons, quad-helix antenna all of which the new ones lack ( some have some features, but not all) The Mapsend software works great with these.....I'm including a list which may be of use to you......it was posted by a couple of us on our states website. You can get these on EBAY with extras.

 

LIST OF USUFULL GEOCACHING ITEMS

I can’t say that mine is better than any other because I have only used 1 other. But my Magellan Meridian Color with Mapsend Software gets the job done. I can carry the whole Southeast US on my 500 mb sd card and have plenty of room for more. That includes dirt and gravel roads. Last summer, I lead a column of cars carrying 19 people across the Florida countryside in the middle of the night for 4 hours, and I did it from the rear of the column via CB radio. Missing signs were not a problem. That’s real-time mapping capability in a practical application. Superior signal stability under harsh conditions, etc, etc. So Watcha, what kind of Magellan are you using? And what did you do to provoke it?

 

Doggy is right.......again.

Bamette and I each use a Meridian Platinum ( Magellan) with Directroute Software and I have a Platinum for a spare. With the SD card capability you can store maps, lists of caches, etc. ( an immense amount) and you also have an electronic compass, big screen, easy to use buttons, and maintain a lock under heavy canopy for hours. I also have two Garmins but the Platinums are the way to go.

Grab you a couple of Palms on ebay, download spinner and plucker, and you're good to go. On a cross country trip you could load dozens of spinner files ( one for each city?) on your Magellans SD card and use plucker to put each one on your Palm, charge your batteries, and you're ready for weeks of caching ( you can also get the Platinum GPS on ebay w/ lots of extras for about $150.).

 

A convenient holster will give you a place to carry and protect your gpsr. A PDA holster will do the same for your PDA. An adaptor for your cig lighter will stretch your batteries life. A probe will help you avoid biting varmints. A mirror with an intense pocket flashlight will get you past those out-of-sighters. I like to use a lensatic compass for precision. I also use a wrist compass clipped to my watchband for qlance orientation. That’s just on the weekends of course. I like it so much that I’m looking for 2 more, one for my dress watch and the other for my son. I guess they’re out of season? If you are really loaded for bear, bring along a metal detector. If the cache has a coin in it or is made of metal, it will give you the edge. I guess that’s about it. I’m not saying I do that. It’s an interesting thought though

 

To add to the geocache tool list you must buy a top of the line MAHA battery charger ( I use three) and a supply of MAHA POWERX Ni MH batteries .....these are the best made ( don't take my word for it, look it up ) then you will have plenty of batteries for your digital camera ( my wife and I each carry one), GPS unit, flashlights etc.

For a small , powerfull flashlight you can't beat a Surefire L4 Digital Lumamax ( 5 blinding watts of LED driven by two 3 volt lithium batteries.....the batteries are $15 for a box of twelve and have a 10 year shelf life....kind of pricy but well worth it...will light up the woods.

I don't know if the most important thing was mentioned....a good walking stick. Local cachers and special guests can get one free at the View Carre' cache.......don't leave your car without your stick.

Also a small pocket screwdriver for digging out micro logs and other probing.

AND DON’T FORGET TO BRING A PENCIL.

LIST From Above :

 

1. Magellan Meridian Platinum GPS Unit + Belt Holster (EBAY- If you will have a regular partner , get two )

2. Palm M500 PDA and case ( ebay- buy an extra for backup )

3. 12” metal probe for searching tree cavities etc. for micro caches

4. 2 “ or 3” extension mirror

5. Small, intense flashlight ( Surefire L4 Digital Lumamax )

6. Pencil

7. Sharpie ( Fine Point)

8. Cotton Gloves

9. Pocket Screwdriver

10. Walking stick

11. Plastimo Iris 50 Hand Bearing Compass ( Great for offset caches)

12. C401FSDC MAHA NiMH Battery Charger

13. Maha 2500 mAh NiMH PowerX AA Batteries (GPS,camera,flashlights,etc. )

14. Digital Camera

15. Access to computer w/ internet connection ( premium membership in geocaching.com is best )

 

INFORMATION ON PAPERLESS CACHING

 

I got started with step by step info. I got from the Florida Geocaching website and I keep copies here at my View Carre' cache to hand out to others. I am not hi tech and can't quite use my cell phone but this guide is can't miss. If you can't find it email me and I can fax it to you.

 

http://www.floridageocaching.com/paperless.htm = step by step instructions.

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