Explorist 400 Not Tracking Satellites

[Lurch77]

Hello. Long time lurker. Never had anything to post about until now. After sitting in my closet for almost a year, I pulled this GPS out and charged the battery. With a clear view of the sky, it would not locate and track any satellites. I have tried everything I can think of, including a firmware update from the Magellan website. I let it sit outside with a clear view of the sky for 10 minutes without any luck. Any ideas?

Edited April 27, 2008 by Lurch77

[+Michael]

Just a hunch but set it outside for 20-30 minutes. My old ones take forever to get lock if they have not been used in a while. I have always heard 20 minutes minimum.

 

It's worth a shot.

Edited April 27, 2008 by Michael

[sanramonhunter]

could also try this:

 

Press Menu, then select preferences hit enter. Then select Reset Defaults and enter. Then select ALL confirm and enter through the rest of the prompts.

 

This will delete all your info so your tracks, settings and everything else will need to be set up again. After the reset put the unit outside to acquire signal.

[Lurch77]

Thanks for the suggestions. I already did a full memory clear and a reset. Was required with the firmware update. I'll set it out on the patio for a while and see what happens. Sure hope it works, there are some new caches placed near here and I wanted to take the kids out and find them today.

[Lurch77]

Well, I think it is official. This GPS is crap. 2 years old, used less than a dozen times, and it won't track a satellite. I had it outside for over two hours. Nothing. Not very happy for something that cost me that much when I bought it.

 

I guess I will just say screw it and buy a Garmin Venture. It was between this one I have and a eTrex Legend when I bought this one. Should have went Garmin. Nice to see that GPS prices have come way down since I bought this one.

[sanramonhunter]

Call Magellan tech support on Monday. Be prepared to be on the phone for awhile though. I would guess about an hour, and they probably won't be of much help, but who knows.

[Lurch77]

I'm not going to go through that again. I know what you are talking about with the wait time and lack of help. I called (and emailed) them shortly after I bought this unit. It had very slow acquisition to begin with, and I wanted to ask them about it. Never did get an answer. Sat on the phone for at least an hour before giving up. No response at all to email except a canned "we will get back to you shortly" response. And now that I am a full time college guy who works at night, I don't have the time for them. I'm just gonna eat the money and buy a decent GPS.

[sanramonhunter]

I'm not going to go through that again. I know what you are talking about with the wait time and lack of help. I called (and emailed) them shortly after I bought this unit. It had very slow acquisition to begin with, and I wanted to ask them about it. Never did get an answer. Sat on the phone for at least an hour before giving up. No response at all to email except a canned "we will get back to you shortly" response. And now that I am a full time college guy who works at night, I don't have the time for them. I'm just gonna eat the money and buy a decent GPS.

 

How much would you want for it? I have an explorist 600 missing a door, battery and cables and could use all those parts for my 600. The door won't match the rest, but at least I can use it.

[Lurch77]

Let me play around with it for a little while longer. If I still can't get it to work, how does $20 including shipping sound? I have the box and everything it came with.

[sanramonhunter]

Let me play around with it for a little while longer. If I still can't get it to work, how does $20 including shipping sound? I have the box and everything it came with.

Sounds good. Also me typing battery reminded me that someone had a problem with their battery that screwed up their receiver. Have you tried it with the AAA battery adapter?

[Lurch77]

No I didn't. I didn't even know they had an adapter for them.

[sanramonhunter]

My 500 came with one maybe the 400's didn't It's basically a little square piece of plastic that will hold 3 AAA batteries. Picture here. Alternatively try to find someone nearby with a battery and try theirs.

[+Akubo]

Just a quick thought, do you have the time and date set correctly on the GPS so it knows where to look for the sattilites?