Magellan Explorist 210

[Dirtboy31178]

I was out with a few friends last night caching and I was using my explorist 210 which up until now I thought was pretty good. I have really been having problems finding caches lately. Two from last night were more than 100 ft off with an Accuracy on my GPSr of about 10 - 13 ft WAAS was on and had great signals. At one point in the search I was out in the middle of a baseball field at about second base ant the GPS was telling me I was with in 3 feet. We found it about 40ft away from the fence (out of the field) that is like 250+ ft from where my GPS told me it was. Anyone have any Ideas?

[+redcoyote12]

I've had similar problems, like once I set a cache as a GOTO point, and I drive to it, walk around and find nothing, then reload it and now it's 300 feet away....?? Might be user error but I no longer use the map cursor to scroll to a cache to set the goto, I only set goto's by going through the menu. That's been pretty accurate.

 

However I think a lot of errors like these are due to the cache owner not uploading the proper coords, either by typo or because his/her unit is inaccurate. I've logged some caches as found which were several yards from where they should have been, and I notice other logs saying the same thing. Can't blame the 210 for that.

[+ricstone]

my 210 has been pretty accurate also. no problem here. i only use the menu also. there are lots of factors to add for accuracy though. like redcoyote12 said its not the 210s fault. dont give up on the 210 just yet.

[+ArtieD]

I was out with a few friends last night caching and I was using my explorist 210 which up until now I thought was pretty good. I have really been having problems finding caches lately. Two from last night were more than 100 ft off with an Accuracy on my GPSr of about 10 - 13 ft WAAS was on and had great signals. At one point in the search I was out in the middle of a baseball field at about second base ant the GPS was telling me I was with in 3 feet. We found it about 40ft away from the fence (out of the field) that is like 250+ ft from where my GPS told me it was. Anyone have any Ideas?

 

Yep...buy a Garmin...

[vagabond]

First thing to do is check your datum and make sure its set to wgs 84.

Another item is how are you setting your cache go to, if you using the map page and clicking on the cache that could be the problem, use the goto then scroll to the cache you want.

[+EScout]

First thing to do is check your datum and make sure its set to wgs 84.

Another item is how are you setting your cache go to, if you using the map page and clicking on the cache that could be the problem, use the goto then scroll to the cache you want.

I agree with Vagabond and the others above. Assuming you are entering coords correctly, then check datum, and always use goto and scroll to your point.

[+jpred1]

Sometimes I will put curser on the cache symbol and hit go to and it will ask if go to current curser position,if your in a hurry you may hit yes and not realize it.Ive done that @ 15 times.Now I click on cache symbol and bring up cache description and then hit go to.

[+hogrod]

These issues is why I got rid off all the magellan's I owned, 5 out of 6 I had were defective in some way.

[+T F T C]

Also remember it may not be a problem with your unit but with the cache's coordinates.

[+jpred1]

Id call that pilot error.Blame the car for hitting the tree?

[Micqn]

I was out with a few friends last night caching and I was using my explorist 210 which up until now I thought was pretty good. I have really been having problems finding caches lately. Two from last night were more than 100 ft off with an Accuracy on my GPSr of about 10 - 13 ft WAAS was on and had great signals. At one point in the search I was out in the middle of a baseball field at about second base ant the GPS was telling me I was with in 3 feet. We found it about 40ft away from the fence (out of the field) that is like 250+ ft from where my GPS told me it was. Anyone have any Ideas?

 

Yep...buy a Garmin...

 

I am going to buy a Garmin! About four years ago my wife gave me a Magellan GPS 315 for Christmas and I loved it! Well to make a long story short; it quit tracking. I was back east in the Manassas, VA area and i purchased a 210, read the manual and got stumped on two caches right away and got lucky on the third (spoiler). The 210 just wasn't very accurate even when it said it was. Now I'm not one to just give up on something the first time out so I went back to the hotel and read the user manual over again and went out caching again but this time with the manual just to see if I was doing something really dumb. It still gave me the run around so I went back to my hotel and referenced the Magellan website and looked for software 'patches'. I couldn't find anything. Needless to say I took it back to Circuit City and got my money back. I am going to buy a Garmin!

[UNICENTER]

Before giving up, did you try what vagabond recommended?

First thing to do is check your datum and make sure its set to wgs 84.

Another item is how are you setting your cache go to, if you using the map page and clicking on the cache that could be the problem, use the goto then scroll to the cache you want.

[wvnewbie]

OK - now I am worried - I was/am really leaning towards the 210 and now am not sure again. Man - why is it SO hard to choose one - all I want to do is do BASIC geocaching. It soulds like so much fun - I am dying to find my first one - but the GPS research/opinion gathering is frustrating. Right when I think I have found the right one - I read about it not working well. HELP! Someone please help!

[+geognerd]

OK - now I am worried - I was/am really leaning towards the 210 and now am not sure again. Man - why is it SO hard to choose one - all I want to do is do BASIC geocaching. It soulds like so much fun - I am dying to find my first one - but the GPS research/opinion gathering is frustrating. Right when I think I have found the right one - I read about it not working well. HELP! Someone please help!

Have you tried contacting another cacher to see if you could go out on a hunt with them? That would let you see and play with a unit out in the field. Try attending an event, that will also give you some hands-on experience and let you do some comparisons. You may find another GPSr that you like that you hadn't even been considering.

 

Lastly, if you buy a GPSr and you don't like it, you should have no problem selling it here in the Garage Sale forum or on eBay. When I sold my first GPSr (an eX100) on eBay, I got 70% of what I paid for it new.

[Dirtboy31178]

Since that day of total frustration I have been out caching two times. The GPS is getting better but I feel like I am still further away from the caches then I should be. To answer a few questions I alway use the goto to select the cache I am hunting. I really like how easy it is to use this GPS.

[vagabond]

Looks like a few cachers have mentioned the coords being off on the hidden park cache.

Heres a suggestion scan over the log page and see how many DNFs there are and why. if there are some like the hidden park cache it will sometimes give you an idea where to look. Also stay with the easier 1 1 or 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 caches until you get a few more caches under your belt.

And remember the gps is not going to lead you right to the cache most of the

Time, sometimes it will but don't expect it to every time.

Just have fun and enjoy yourself is the main thing.