Magellan explorist GC, 310 or 510?

[+tigerillie]

Hey there. I will be new to Geocaching. I tried last year with my dad's old Magellan 315 but this year it won't start up. I called Magellan and they will give me a new unit at a discounted price but I don't know which to get because I was thinking of staying in the $150 area.

 

They didn't offer the GC though I think I could ask about it if someone tells me it's worth it. They offered the 310 at $119 and the 510 at $209, so I may get the 510 but I don't know if those are good deals. I hate getting lost! That's my only criteria. The customer service lady told me that the 310 is not expandable and I can't add maps because it doesn't have a memory card or something. I don't know.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!!

[+Bobo Frett]

Howdy, I've had a GC for a week and love it. Previously using my phone which wasn't accurate enough. This is brilliant. We only cache so don't need all the other fancy features. We are super happy with it. That is my thought for the day.

[+mpilchfamily]

The GC would be a big step down from the 310. If your willing to put in the money then get the 510.

 

IMO a big limitation of the GC is the inability to add better maps to the unit. The 310 and 510 are hold additional maps. But you may be stuck buying the map packs from Magellan. I'm not aware of any free maps for Magellan units.

[+MorningView]

I've been doing a lot of research on the 510...its one of the ones i'm considering for my first gps, (id previously been using my HTC Evo, which works fab, but i need something thats better under heavier tree cover). Good news: i found several places online that claim there are now free maps for magellan. Bad news: ive been on so many sites today that i cant remember where to send you. BUT if you look, im sure you can find them too!

[+allory]

The 310 at that price seems like a good deal to me. I've been playing with one for a couple of months using maps from maps4me.net. Because of the lack of a memory card slot you are limited in how many maps you can add, but that isn't really a problem. The 310 comes with a serious street level map rather than the type of asemap which is so common on handhelds. The maps4me site requires a registration fee of about $15, but you can fit a couple of states worth of topo maps in the 310's memory if you want.