Magellan eXplorist 500

[+Danske]

I am new to Geocaching and researching a handhelp GPS. I think I want a eXplorist 500 because of the color screen, expandable memory, able to connect to PC, rechargeable batteries. I found a refurbished one with warranty for under $200. Any opinions on this? Should I keep looking or is there something better for under $200 someone recommends.

 

Thanks!

[coinshooter]

You can get it new at buydig.com for $175.00 shipping included.

[bellapacifica]

I'm positive that you can get a brand spankin' new 500LE for cheaper than that,I did...spent $199 but got LIion battery, and mapsend topo Canada.A smokin' deal I think!...I love the unit,It has a great screen and the battery lasts forever.I'm sure you won't be disappointed! Peace! B

[+T F T C]

Love mine; I use mine on a Mac, too.

[+jpred1]

179$$$ Academy sports,came with coupon for topo map usa for 9.99$$.Bought ion battery from magellan for 20 bucks and bought the car charger and data cable from academy for 20-25 bucks.Ready to go for @ $$240.00

[+2happy2gether]

I swear by my 500. But make sure you do shop around. There are plenty of deals for the unit brand new at $199.00. The 500LE package may or may not come with the Li-Ion battery, mine didn't, but it did come with a coupon for the battery and charger for $19.00 - this is an extraordinary deal if you look at the price of new battries.

 

You will not be disappointed by this GPSr.

[+Acts7]

Does the 500LE not come with a usb cable to connect to the pc???

 

jpred1

 

did you buy online at academy?

I see it for 199

Edited February 20, 2007 by Acts7

[+T F T C]

Does the 500LE not come with a usb cable to connect to the pc???

 

jpred1

 

did you buy online at academy?

I see it for 199

 

Mine came with the cable. I assume all others do, too.

[+dwayne23]

I just bought my 500 and got a package for 239.00 this is a bundle package comes with the mapping Direct route software the unit, rechargeable battery, computer cable, car recharge and ac recharge cable. I got it from tigergps.com. I must say I have only had mine for a couple weeks but I like it so far.

 

dwayne23

[+jpred1]

Mine didnt come with data cable or ion battery.Bought from store @ Christmas.It did have the 9.99 coupon for usa topo.Has been workin great after I figured it all out,this was my 1st gps.Took 3 weeks for magellan online order for battery and ac charger.The ac charger never gets used though,just the car charger.

[+hayndog]

I'm not new to Geocaching but I've been using a Garmin Etrex, the $99.00 model since I started. I have recently started looking at the Magellan Explorist 500 and wondered if everyone thinks that all of the features are so handy that it's worth spending the money on. I also see that it at least sounds complicated to load waypoints from GSAK on to the unit and wondered if anyone has tried any of the other programs for uploading.

 

Thanks

Hayndog

[+jpred1]

I would think that uploading would be about the same with any brand.I do not own any other than mag 500le though.I use gsak to open the zip files and then convert them into magellan format.Open on mapsend topo and look at where they are exactely,then just save to sd in gps.

[+EScout]

I'm not new to Geocaching but I've been using a Garmin Etrex, the $99.00 model since I started. I have recently started looking at the Magellan Explorist 500 and wondered if everyone thinks that all of the features are so handy that it's worth spending the money on. I also see that it at least sounds complicated to load waypoints from GSAK on to the unit and wondered if anyone has tried any of the other programs for uploading.

Thanks

Hayndog

Using GSAK is very easy and uncomplicated. Generate a geocache file and copy/move it to your SD card or internal memory. The eXplorist looks like another drive when plugged into USB.

 

Another useful feature: I had run a PQ with 200 local caches, and generated a geocache file before heading to an out of town event cache weekend. While there, I took the SD card with the file out of my 500 and put it into another cacher's 600. Then, quickly copied the file to the 600's internal memory and then took my card back. He set this file as active in his 600 and was able to use it immediately, and out caching we went.

[+zacksba]

You can get a refurb one of these at geeks.com for $159.99 USD. The link is below.

 

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=EX...0-R&cpc=HPM

[+Artsifrtsy]

Love mine; I use mine on a Mac, too.

 

Can you tell me how you use yours on a Mac - I bought a used PC laptop because I couldn't figure out how to use it with my Macs.

[legacyb4]

I just picked up an open-box 500 for C$199 at a local London Drugs. I'm on a 14 day grace period where I can return it (or if I can find a better deal!) and it includes:

 

- USB cable

- power adapter

- Lion battery pack

 

but no coupon for maps. The box-new 500LE's are also on sale now for C$199, don't include Lion battery pack or AC adapter but includes AAA battery cartridge and coupon for Topo US.

 

I'm connecting to it through a Macbook using GPSBabel which allows me to download .loc files and convert them into the appropriate Magellan geocache files which can just be drag-dropped into the mounted drive visible in the Finder. I tried installing the Mapsend software in Windows XP through Parallels but was having USB conflicts as the unit kept mounting in OS X and was not available to the virtual XP machine although I assume there must be a workaround somehow or another.

[+2scooters]

Love mine; I use mine on a Mac, too.

 

Can you tell me how you use yours on a Mac - I bought a used PC laptop because I couldn't figure out how to use it with my Macs.

 

I have been using LoadmyTracks on my Garmin with OSX with no problem. Works with Magellan also. Wont load maps but does Tracks, Waypoints and routes. (Import and Export from GPS)

 

I believe this is the website

Edited February 23, 2007 by 2scooters

[+family explorer]

I swear by my 500. But make sure you do shop around. There are plenty of deals for the unit brand new at $199.00. The 500LE package may or may not come with the Li-Ion battery, mine didn't, but it did come with a coupon for the battery and charger for $19.00 - this is an extraordinary deal if you look at the price of new battries.

 

You will not be disappointed by this GPSr.

 

I purchased my 500 through REI in April 2007 on sale for $189.99 with a coupon also for a Li-Ion battery and charger. Magellan is back ordered for my battery and charger- just about ready to order another battery else where for the time being. I purchased a car charger so I could still use the Li-Ion battery. I had problems with the SanDisk 256mb card, but went to the local Radio Shack and purchased another one for the same price of $19.95 that had 1gb of memory.