So Where Are The Explorists 500 And 600??

[+EScout]

Unfortunately, the eXplorists do not project a waypoint. The Projection feature on the Meridians is outstanding, the best I have seen on any brand.

 

Some things the explorists do that the other Magellans do not:

Area Calculation

 

The new file system allows some different things compared to the Meridian which has the ability to save files, but the files in the Meridian must be in the working memory to be used. In the eXplorists you can:

Do a vertical profile by clicking on any saved track (instead of loading the saved track to working memory.)

View any waypoint from any file (without loading the waypoint file into the working/active memory.)

Unlimited number of routes. The new system allows you to save each route seperately (each file has just the corresponding route waypoints in it. With the Meridian, you could have 20 routes in each file, but it is a route/waypoint file with all of the waypoints. If you cleared the working memory, loaded a new waypoint file, the routes in the old file are not acccessable.)

You can quickly convert any saved Track to a Route. (In the Meridian, you would have to clear the working memory of Tracks, load a Track file, and then convert.)

 

The appeal of the eXplorist will be to those who like to extensively use/create Tracks, Routes and Waypoints, manipulate the files for use on maps, share data, cache/hike in many different areas, or update their cache files often.

[+embra]

Well maybe one complaint. Whats up with the crazy cable? One way its powered, one way its charging, either direction is annoying to attach.

That cable will drive anyone who doesn't get a swivel mount (which allows for longterm attachment to the mount) to an early grave. I used to dislike the Meridian cable, but this guy's worse. I can acknowledge that it is a perhaps necessary evil to allow for mating that maintains the waterproof integrity...but it still merits a gripe from me, too.

 

A followup to Robert's suggestion to let Magellan know of changes/improvements you would like to see implemented: you can send your requests and suggestions to Magellan here.

 

Remember that one tends to get the best results when offering constructive criticism (i.e., there's no need to be nasty).

[+Doc-Dean]

I spent the weekend caching. Found 30 between Friday and Saturday and I had my 600 on for over 8 hours straight at full power and backlight without running out of juice. I'd estimate I had 10-15% remaining at the end of the day.

 

I hit a broad spectrum of caches, urban caches, small park and big park caches. No deep woods but some of the parks did have thick overhead coverage and I never lost signal.

 

One strange thing I saw is that in about 1 of 10 caches the 600 would point way off course 50-100 feet. I had brought my (3 1/2 year old) Merigreen along to do comparisons and the Merigreen was right on target. Something to be said for the original...

 

I do find all the extra button pushing a bother. One of my original complaints was that the screen is too small and this became evident this weekend. Using a car mount, I could barely see details. I have 20/20 vision and do not wear glasses. I had to hold it on my lap to check it and I find that dangerous while driving in traffic.

 

All in all, I was very pleased with the 600 and while I still have doubts, they are not serious enough to consider reversing course at this point.

[+mikeatnight]

I did a side by side comparison of my merigold and 600 this weekend in a heavily tree covered area. I let both units get a WAAS signal before I left. It was a short drive of about 1 mile. The walk from the car to the cache was .24 miles under heavy tree cover. I held both units side by side in my left hand and when I got to the cache the 600 was 7 feet off and the merigold was 176 feet off. YES 176 feet. I did walk straight to the cache. I didnt use the pointer.

Edited May 9, 2005 by mikeatnight

[+Doc-Dean]

I did a side by side comparison of my merigold and 600 this weekend in a heavily tree covered area. I let both units get a WAAS signal before I left. It was a short drive of about 1 mile. The walk from the car to the cache was .24 miles under heavy tree cover. I held both units side by side in my left hand and when I got to the cache the 600 was 7 feet off and the merigold was 176 feet off. YES 176 feet. I did walk straight to the cache. I didnt use the pointer.

Did the Merigold eventually catch up?

 

The problem I had with my 600 is that it would not catch up and it was locked in on the wrong area. I even reset the clock and re-initialized the GPSr to make sure it was more acurate.

[+mikeatnight]

it took about 2 minutes and the merigold got to within about 20 feet I think. It does seem to take the 600 a lot longer to get a lock on the satelittes. My merigold takes about 2 minutes on a cold start and the 600 takes over 5 minutes.

 

I had some issues with the clock in the beginning. I would set it and then it would be wrong. I only noticed it when I unplugged the cable it would popup and say cable was unplugged at 12:08pm while it was really 9:17 am.It did that several times and I reset it to factory and it seems to be better now.

 

One problem I have found is havng the compass turned on while looking for a cache. I have no idea where the arrow is pointing. I had a good lock and I knew where the cache was but the arrow was pointing about 75 degees in the wrong direction. It wasnt even pointing North. More of a NNE direction. I opted to turn off the compass and it lead me direct to the cache.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I have not had any of the problems the 600 owners have posted. My 500 has been right on when I have used it with my Meridian gold there have been times when the 500 has performed better than my Meridian.

 

Re Doc-Deans post

I do find all the extra button pushing a bother. One of my original complaints was that the screen is too small and this became evident this weekend. Using a car mount, I could barely see details. I have 20/20 vision and do not wear glasses. I had to hold it on my lap to check it and I find that dangerous while driving in traffic.

 

I use my Meridain for car navigation, but I find the Meridian screen to even be on the small size with looking at the map screen. If the Road mate would allow me to load my on Way points I would buy on of those for my car.

[+Doc-Dean]

One problem I have found is havng the compass turned on while looking for a cache. I have no idea where the arrow is pointing. I had a good lock and I knew where the cache was but the arrow was pointing about 75 degees in the wrong direction. It wasnt even pointing North. More of a NNE direction. I opted to turn off the compass and it lead me direct to the cache.

Interesting. I'll try that next time. Anyone else seen this happen?

[+BlunoMars]

Hi,

 

I just recently purchased the Explorist 600 (black) and the MapSend Direct Route. I also purchased a 512MB SD card. It was a great unit and the colors are sharp and sleek. The main reason for getting the Explorist is the unlimited Memory using the SD card. Transfering maps and storing it to SD is much easy compared to loading using the USB cable that it comes with. I can can bring several SD and set it by regions depending where will you be heading for driving and Geocaching.

 

Loved it so far...

[+northernpenguin]

One problem I have found is havng the compass turned on while looking for a cache. I have no idea where the arrow is pointing. I had a good lock and I knew where the cache was but the arrow was pointing about 75 degees in the wrong direction. It wasnt even pointing North. More of a NNE direction. I opted to turn off the compass and it lead me direct to the cache.

The first thing that comes to mind when I read this is --- did you calibrate the compass? The second thing that comes to mind is -- did the area have any interference that may throw the compass off (large metal structures, hi-voltage transmission corridors, etc).

 

I have knocked my clock out-of-whack when I've had my 600 turned on inside for waypoints and such. Would be nice if this thing had a 'use with GPS off' mode like my eTrex had for those little housekeeping tasks I do on my 600 from time to time.

[+mikeatnight]

I did have it calibrated just about 2 hours earlier and I wasnt around any power lines. I did it both inside and outside of my truck. Now that I think about it I was holding it more vertical than horizontal. That may have been the problem

[robertlipe]

As best I can tell it is taking 200 by GC wpt name, clipping off the newest caches. That might not be right, but it seems to be the case - which really sucks!

 

Is it really the bottom 200 GC #'s? Wow.

 

Now that I have GM working, I've confirmed AB4N's response is indeed true. I took a GPX file I had laying around with 4,593 unique caches in it. and fed to to GM and then to the unit. It reported "transfer successful" which isn't totally a lie; it DID transfer them all to a file on the SD card. They are sorted alphabetically by shortname (GC#) [1] When loaded into the unit it does indeed process only read the first 200 waypoints. It's evidently actually READING the rest becuase with that many point it becomes positively glacial to boot.

 

[1] The pointy headed amongst us will observe this is the wrong way to sort multi-base numbers like this. GC146E should not proceed GC148, but if you sort them alphabetically instead of numerically, they will.

[+AB4N]

It has been mentioned somewhere, don't remember if it was here or not.

 

Make sure that any file that you load to an Explorist is .imi and not .img

 

The .img are for other units, and if you load one into your Explorist it will lock it up so that even pulling the battery will not allow you back in

 

This happened to me the very first day I used my unit - in too big a hurry

 

While I was on the phone with tech support I learned a few key strokes that might help people out if they do something like I did:

 

Power unit off when locked up without pulling batter...

light + nav + menu + power

 

Unit reset...

nav + power

 

Hard Reset...

out + goto + power

 

This last one they recommended using with caution, and to not do unless really necessary. Not sure why, but your at your own risk if you try. This is the only one that would work for me so that I was finally able to delete the .img file from internal memory.

 

Best bet is to load all data to SD memory.

Edited May 9, 2005 by AB4N

[+Doc-Dean]

Power unit off when locked up without pulling batter...

light - nav - menu - power

 

Unit reset...

nav + power

 

Hard Reset...

out + goto + power

Are these in sequence or all at once?

[+AB4N]

It does seem to take the 600 a lot longer to get a lock on the satelittes. My merigold takes about 2 minutes on a cold start and the 600 takes over 5 minutes.

Geez!! My 600 locks on in less than a minute usually! I would be quite upset if it ever took 5 minutes! The initial power up after taking it out fo the box took a while, but that was to be expected. Since then it has done nicely, even when inside the house!

[+AB4N]

Power unit off when locked up without pulling batter...

light + nav + menu + power

 

Unit reset...

nav + power

 

Hard Reset...

out + goto + power

Are these in sequence or all at once?

oops, those should all be plus signs.

 

All three of these are simultaneous button presses, not sequences.

[+AB4N]

I did have it calibrated just about 2 hours earlier and I wasnt around any power lines. I did it both inside and outside of my truck. Now that I think about it I was holding it more vertical than horizontal. That may have been the problem

Yes, holding it vertically would be the problem, but...

 

I find that the electronic compass still does weird things to the needle, it swings around wildly at times. I prefer to turn it off when hunting caches, this was true with my SporTrak Color and now the 600.

 

For a while I didn't think I could turn it off in the 600! I was getting a bit ticked over that. I finally found the switch in Preferences -> Pwr Management of all places, not where I expected it to be.

[+AB4N]

My initial review of the Explorist 600

 

Here is a list of things that are cool about the Explorist 600...

and things that really suck. Any additions?

 

I'll start with the important stuff, what sucks...

1. Limited to 200 geocache waypoints

2. Can’t edit geocaches

3. Can’t delete geocaches

4. Can’t move geocaches to a new folder

5. Can’t project waypoints

 

Personally I don't care about most of the information in the geocache data fields. Since they don't include either the short or long descriptions I still have to carry a Palm with me, so that is just wasted space in my opinion. Having the hint there is OK, but then truncating it sucks - so I will still use my Palm for that too, rather than take the time to switch and see if I have a valid hint.

 

I tried using GSAK to create a .upt file of nearly 700 active caches in my area, and loading this into the POI area. This was not handled any better than a .gs file, in fact I found the results to be more disappointing since it didn't appear to truncate by GC short name!?

 

What is cool...

 

1. The bright TFT color screen

2. High Speed USB

3. SD memory

 

For me, these improvements don't make up for the glaring deficiencies. Hopefully the five items above will all be fixed in a near-future firmware update. Right now I will still be using my SporTrak Color when I go on a cache run or if I am traveling. I will use the eXplorist when in my home region since there are far less than 200 caches that I haven't found - or at least are not on my ignore list

Edited May 9, 2005 by AB4N

[+Jamie Z]

1. Limited to 200 geocache waypoints

2. Can’t edit geocaches

3. Can’t delete geocaches

4. Can’t move geocaches to a new folder

5. Can’t project waypoints

 

Personally I don't care about most of the information in the geocache data fields. Since they don't include either the short or long descriptions I still have to carry a Palm with me, so that is just wasted space in my opinion. Having the hint there is OK, but then truncating it sucks - so I will still use my Palm for that too, rather than take the time to switch and see if I have a valid hint.

I agree. The 200 cache limit is a big shortcoming, and the data included in the geocache manager is only minorly useful. One still needs a PDA or sheet of paper anyway.

 

Therefore, I have just continued to use the regular ol' waypoints for my geocaches. Doing that solves problems 2,3, and 4, and half-solves number 1.

 

Waypoints (POIs) have a 20 character name limit, and a 46 character comment limit (for the first 200 waypoints), which is lots of room for pertinent data. Yes, you still need the cache page with you, but just in my GPS I have the cache name, the ID#, the terrain and difficulty, the type and size container, and who hid it. That's usually more than enough to get to the cache without having to read the cache page.

 

Not only that, but standard waypoints are already GSAK compatible.

 

Jamie

[+Jamie Z]

I tried using GSAK to create a .upt file of nearly 700 active caches in my area, and loading this into the POI area. This was not handled any better than a .gs file, in fact I found the results to be more disappointing since it didn't appear to truncate by GC short name!?

What do you mean by, "it didn't appear to truncate by GC short name!?" ??

 

Jamie

[+mikeatnight]

Can you export a gpx file and upload it to the 600 in the regular POI or My Points of Interest?

HAs anyone had any trouble using the NMEA settings to get tracks and other things?

Here is the error I get when downloading from the GPS

Edited May 9, 2005 by mikeatnight

[+AB4N]

I tried using GSAK to create a .upt file of nearly 700 active caches in my area, and loading this into the POI area. This was not handled any better than a .gs file, in fact I found the results to be more disappointing since it didn't appear to truncate by GC short name!?

What do you mean by, "it didn't appear to truncate by GC short name!?" ??

 

Jamie

Converting a .gpx file into a .upt POI file still chops the number of wpts down to 200 or so (not sure if that is an exact number or not). In any event you still can't have a single file of any kind, geocache or POI, that is unlimited in size.

 

The .gs file is sorted by GC number, and gets everything past 200 or so wpts chopped off by the GPS software.

 

I used the Magellan Protocol export in GSAK to create a .upt file of 673 geocaches. This export does not include the GC number, instead it sorts by the long cache name. The GPS then chops off everything past 200(?), so it turns out that you loose the bottom of the list as it is sorted alphabetically by long cache name.

[+AB4N]

Can you export a gpx file and upload it to the 600 in the regular POI or My Points of Interest?

HAs anyone had any trouble using the NMEA settings to get tracks and other things?

Here is the error I get when downloading from the GPS

Yes, you can use GSAK to do it. See my previous message on this.

 

And yes, I have also used NMEA sucessfully with DirectRoute, Topo 3d, & MS S&T

 

Make sure you have everything set up correctly.

 

GPS:

Menu -> Adv. Features -> Communications -> NMEA Data Comm -> v2.1

 

After doing this your PC OS should plug and pray and find the GPS if you already installed the drivers. It will set it up on a comm port, mine choose Comm 6

 

You can then use the software of your choice. Set up the comm settings to whatever port your PC supplies and select a baud rate of 9600 baud.

[+bullit]

" ...in fact my sister's eX100 could not lock on for over an hour while my 500 was guiding us along."

That's strange, because I'm nearly 100% certain that the entire eXplorist line uses the same antenna and receiver.

 

I would almost recommend that...unless your sister has loads of waypoints, or tracks or routes saved...that she performs the Menu>Memory>Clear All function to re-establish things.

 

First, though, try a comparison in a couple other situations.

Yeah, you would think so since it is the same platform but I think she did say that her batteries were low so maybe that impacted it? Regardless I was very happy with the eX500 out in the forest.

[+mikeatnight]

I think Im going to return my 600 and get a Garmin 60C.

[+JeepCachr]

Here is a list of things that are cool about the Explorist 600...

and things that really suck. Any additions?

Bad:

I've been trying to save a waypoint and then go to it. Whats been happening is that I was trying to add an additional point to a POI file that already had 500 points. It doesn't error, when you click save it just goes away like it actually worked. Then I'd go to open the POI file I put it in and it wouldn't be there.

 

Even when you save the waypoint properly setting the GPS to go to it is an annoying number of clicks.

 

Finding a single waypoint in the list of waypoints is even more annoying. Is there really no search function? Or at least a faster way to scroll the list? Had I known about this feature or lack of feature it would have been a deal breaker and I would not have bought this GPS.

 

No backwards compatibility with a serial port means no connection with a PDA.

 

Cable attachment is cumbersome.

 

Geocache mode is limited in data and the the restrictions on not editing, deleting or moving them will likely mean I'll likely just use normal POI files (its disapointing that both Garmin and Magellan missed the boat with implementing a geocache mode).

 

Good:

High speed USB is cool (but the proprietary cable is aweful)

 

SD is definately cool and is what swayed me to the dark side after owning 4 Garmins (location and design of SD slot does not lend itself very well to the card being swapped in and out for loading).

 

Color is good (side by side with a 60CS, the edge goes to the 60CS).

 

I love the small size. Black is good for pretending its a cell phone in high muggle areas.

 

I prefer the rechargeable battery (I like the rumor of a AAA battery pack so that I could have that flexibility if I choose).

 

I like editing a waypoints coordinates, useing the direction pointer to scroll the number is much better then scrolling around a onscreen keyboard map.

 

Having a goto and a mark button is nice.

[+AB4N]

I think Im going to return my 600 and get a Garmin 60C.

Good luck, once you open the box most places won't take it back.

 

Even with the problems that the eXplorist has it still works far better than a 60C in the woods and other tough conditions. That remains a significant plus!

 

Also, I would imagine that most, if not all, the shortcomings will be patched in future firmware upgrades. Most other brands go through problems with new models too. I think it is still too early to can the unit. If the main problems do not ever get addressed then that will be something to consider for future purchases.

[+mikeatnight]

I talked to Tech Depot and they issued me an RMA. I was surprised they did because the website stated that the item cannot be returned. Im going caching this weekend and Im gonna try the 600 and see how it performs. I may end up keeping it and waiting for the upgrades. The downside to switching teams now is I just bought DirectRoute so I would m ost likely need to get a new mapping program. I still like the SD card in the 600 and my merigold

[+D0T-C0M]

mikeatnight , if you do decide to return it and your stuck with your direct route and if it's version 2.00f I'll buy it from you. email darngtek@hotmai.com if or when you decide.

 

One thing I'm finding after only 4 days with the 600 is the joystick icon is almost all worn away. Not a biggy but not very durable. My old sportrak still has all the icons after almost 2 years use.

Edited May 10, 2005 by D0T-C0M

[+D0T-C0M]

For those who live in the rural areas or want to see the trails appear at higher resolutions on your explorist(and other models too) just follow this procedure that I was directed to. here how to do it.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Magellan_Meridian/files/Notes/

and look for the Adjusting Detailed Map Display.pdf

Edited May 11, 2005 by D0T-C0M

[+D0T-C0M]

anyone know how to turn the geocache text from appearing on the map screen? all I want is the geocache icon, not the text to display, i can't see the map when theres many geocaches around

Edited May 11, 2005 by D0T-C0M

[+maleki]

The Explorist firmware does not allow for waypoint projection like the Meridian does.  You can formulate a rough workaround using the cursor on the map screen, but you have to jockey around rather than input your desired values.

I was almost stuck on this until I realised that I had Cachemate on my PDA and it will do projections.

Cool, never realized that. It will be very handy at times.

[flir67]

One thing I'm finding after only 4 days with the 600 is the joystick icon is almost all worn away. Not a biggy but not very durable. My old sportrak still has all the icons after almost 2 years use.

right their with you on that comment, I wish I didn't sell my sportrak color afterall.

[+JeepCachr]

One thing I'm finding after only 4 days with the 600 is the joystick icon is almost all worn away. Not a biggy but not very durable. My old sportrak still has all the icons after almost 2 years use.

right their with you on that comment, I wish I didn't sell my sportrak color afterall.

Just because the lettering on the joystick is worn off? Thats silly.

[+D0T-C0M]

Jeepcachr they are so new maybe theink wasn't dry yet hehehe

[+northernpenguin]

Jeepcachr they are so new maybe theink wasn't dry yet hehehe

No, it's a new James Bond style of biometric protection. If someone steals your GPS, they'll be stuck for hours trying to locate the "enter" key, unable to move without a GOTO arrow. After one week of use, the eXplorist 'bonds' to it's owner and the ink comes off the buttons to indicate a successful pairing

[+D0T-C0M]

northernpenguin LLOL you watch too much StarTrek ;-)

 

PS did you see my other post about Mapsend topo canada v1.00e? apparently theres a typo and this is the version that is compatible with the explorist

[+northernpenguin]

northernpenguin LLOL you watch too much StarTrek ;-)

 

PS did you see my other post about Mapsend topo canada v1.00e? apparently theres a typo and this is the version that is compatible with the explorist

I have Mapsend Topo 1.00e and it works fine.

 

For everyone else -- there is a new link on the eXplorist support site:

 

Using MapSend with a Magellan eXplorist GPS Receiver

 

Mostly review for me at this point. I do wish they'd patch the software to support the longer waypoint names that the eXplorist can handle, but I've been over that already on this thread.

[BobbyC]

That pdf came as a booklet with my 600.

[+Doc-Dean]

I am going to GW3 this weekend and since I am driving, I am trying to load about 1700 caches into my Explorist. Since I can't use the geocache manager (due to only holding 200 caches)...

 

How do I load the old fashioned waypoints to my SD card so they show up in POI folder??

 

I am using GSAK and tried saving a .wpt file to the card and also tried using the Magellan SD protocol (which doesn't give a dot suffix name). Am I forgetting something?

[+embra]

Use the Magellan SD card protocol, but add .upt to the end of the file. The format is the same for explorist POIs and Meridian/SporTrak waypoints, but the explorist needs that .upt to recognize the file.

[+Doc-Dean]

Yep, that did it. Thanks. I don't know why that suffix is missing from GSAK. I'll have to remember to ask Clyde about it later when I have time.

[+EScout]

No file extension is needed for Meridians to recognize the file. You can leave it off or put any one you want and your Meridian will still recognize it. The eXplorists need the extension and it must be .upt.

 

Split your 1700 into files of 500 or fewer.

[+embra]

Yep, that did it. Thanks. I don't know why that suffix is missing from GSAK. I'll have to remember to ask Clyde about it later when I have time.

THe explorists are Too New. Clyde will be making GSAK more explorist-friendly in the next release. In the meantime we need to do this wee work-around.

[+JeepCachr]

Since I can't use the geocache manager (due to only holding 200 caches)...

You could split it into geocache files of less than 200 per file.

[+Marky]

Since I can't use the geocache manager (due to only holding 200 caches)...

You could split it into geocache files of less than 200 per file.

The hardest part is deciding where to split them. On our Ape mission this weekend, I cut them up into latitude chunks using the polygon filter. I loaded both geocaching and POI files of the same info. Here is why I do that. I use the POI file so that I can edit the waypoint for found, not found, etc. I really didn't need the geocaching info, but it wasn't much trouble to have it there, and I did pull up some geocaching waypoints to look at the info sometimes. I never activated a geocaching waypoint file in Active Setup, only the POI waypoint file.

 

--Marky

[+JohnnyVegas]

I am going to GW3 this weekend and since I am driving, I am trying to load about 1700 caches into my Explorist. Since I can't use the geocache manager (due to only holding 200 caches)...

 

How do I load the old fashioned waypoints to my SD card so they show up in POI folder??

 

I am using GSAK and tried saving a .wpt file to the card and also tried using the Magellan SD protocol (which doesn't give a dot suffix name). Am I forgetting something?

You can load not than 200 caches into the explorist, Just load a file for each area you are goind to be in' I must have about 1500 in mine, I just break them down into geographic area, it is not the hard to do. While you cannot load them into on file, you can load all you into multipule files. You can even load them according to cache type or Difficulty or Terrain rating.

[+gpsjeep]

I am going to GW3 this weekend and since I am driving, I am trying to load about 1700 caches into my Explorist.  Since I can't use the geocache manager (due to only holding 200 caches)...

 

How do I load the old fashioned waypoints to my SD card so they show up in POI folder?? 

 

I am using GSAK and tried saving a .wpt file to the card and also tried using the Magellan SD protocol (which doesn't give a dot suffix name).  Am I forgetting something?

You can load not than 200 caches into the explorist, Just load a file for each area you are goind to be in' I must have about 1500 in mine, I just break them down into geographic area, it is not the hard to do. While you cannot load them into on file, you can load all you into multipule files. You can even load them according to cache type or Difficulty or Terrain rating.

Why is there a 200 cache upload limit to the Explorist?

If we use an sd card can we load more than 200 at a time?

I just loaded 405 caches at once to my Meridian yellow last week.

Thanks,

-Jeff

[+embra]

Why is there a 200 cache upload limit to the Explorist?

If we use an sd card can we load more than 200 at a time?

I just loaded 405 caches at once to my Meridian yellow last week.

Thanks,

-Jeff

There is a limit of 200 caches per geocache POI file, but you can have as many of those on the card as it can hold.

 

There is a limit of 500 POIs per POI file, with as many of those files as you would like. However, of those 500 POIs, only 200 of them can have data in the comment fields. If you use DirectRoute and there are no comment fields available, your directions will not include street names.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I did have it calibrated just about 2 hours earlier and I wasnt around any power lines. I did it both inside and outside of my truck. Now that I think about it I was holding it more vertical than horizontal. That may have been the problem

Yes, holding it vertically would be the problem, but...

 

The explorist 600 has a traixial compass as does the Meridian Platinum and the Sport trak Color. With a Triaxial compass you do not have to hold the compass level. I can hold my sport trak color in any angle I want to and the compass will still work.

The Magnetic compass in the Explorist 300 and in the Garmin line are not triaxial so they must be held level.

 

That being said I find a magnetic compass in a GPS to be for the most part a waste of money, any base plate compass will do the same job for a lot less money.