So Where Are The Explorists 500 And 600??

[+EScout]

...is there an option to display the cache id on the map screen instead of the full cache name? I like to minimize my screen clutter whenever possible which is why I have GSAK cut off the "GC" from the ids (i.e. %drop2).

 

The screen above shows the cache names (up to 20 characters) as generated by the Geocache manager program that you get. It generates a Geocache waypoint file. There is no option to change the waypoint name unless you manually edit each cache (the manager takes a .gpx file and creates a spreadsheet that you can sort, highlight those caches you want to send to your eXplorist.)

 

However,...there is a standard type of file called a POI (points of interest.) It is a standard waypoint file. You can use GSAK to generate a file as you do for Meridian files now. Transfered to the SD card, these work just like Meridian files, with their comment field. You can choose one Geocache file and one POI (standard waypoint) file to be active at one time. All the waypoints from these 2 file will show on the screen.

 

Regarding the Accuracy field: yes you can put this on the compass page, but it is standard on the Position page, one click away.

Edited April 7, 2005 by EScout

[+embra]

I would imagine one could use GSAK to generate a GPX file using whatever codes you want to adjust the field content. Said GPX file then could be imported into the Geocache Manager, no?

 

Edit: re-reading, I guess this is a little more complicated than I first thought...Escout says you can't toggle the display, but if you're willing to replace the cache name with the cache ID in a generated GPX file, it looks doable.

Edited April 7, 2005 by embra

[+D0T-C0M]

Got my Explorist 500 from Harmony Computer today. Thanks to Jamie Z for letting us know that they were offering a decent discount at $279!

 

I look forward to getting home and putting it through it's paces...

 

Brian

I just checked Harmony Computer today and their advertised price is $399 for the explorist500, where did you get that gps for $279? was it a sale they had? link?

[+Warriorrider]

Jamie Z had put up the link earlier on:

 

Harmony Computers

 

Edit to fix the link

Edited April 7, 2005 by Warriorrider

[+D0T-C0M]

even being from canada with the exchange rate and all , I still save 97$ because the Ex500 is $444 CAN. Thats a great price and now I have to justify sending $150 more just to get the Ex600.

 

decisions decisions

[SnaptheFrog]

Using Froogle, I've found the Explorist 500 for 339.00. They have it listed as MAGELLAN EXPLORIST 500 980771-05. Is this on the level, or am I looking at a refurbished or grey market unit?

 

I see stores list it as Explorist 500 North America, while others leave off the North America part.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thats to all of you for being my GPS in learning.

[+D0T-C0M]

Well I doubt if its a refurbished unit as they just came out like 2 weeks ago. I don't know what you mean by grey market. As far as the north america ending, I doubt there's a difference between those with and without that description on the end.

[Dosido]

I'm always leery of purchasing items online from any vendor with a NYC address. (Harmony is in Brooklyn) However, this unit came in pretty quickly - ordered Friday afternoon, and got it on Wednesday, and no problems with the shipping/ordering process. I did note that Harmony charged around $15 for shipping, whereas GPS City charged only around $8. Of course, GPS City was selling it for $339 too.

 

Everything looked fine to me when I opened it up last night and put it through it's paces.

 

Brian

[+JohnnyVegas]

I got mine from Tiger GPS in new york, $329.00 plus 9.00 for shipping

[SnaptheFrog]

Wow! I just checked Tiger and now they're selling it for 319.00.

[SnaptheFrog]

Okay, okay! My arm can't take any more twisting! I ordered the Explorist 500.

Now I'm tripping. There's so much I don't know about loading it, or the card or anything, but... this place is a wealth of information so I take some comfort that I'll find the answers to most of my questions here.

 

I really want to have street level mapping and I understand that I can do that by loading it on an SD card, correct? But if I have that on the SD card, what do I store Points of Interest on?

 

Can I only use one or the other?

 

Please, no snickering.

[+Stunod]

Okay, okay!  My arm can't take any more twisting!  I ordered the Explorist 500.

Now I'm tripping. There's so much I don't know about loading it, or the card or anything, but... this place is a wealth of information so I take some comfort that I'll find the answers to most of my questions here.

 

I really want to have street level mapping and I understand that I can do that by loading it on an SD card, correct? But if I have that on the SD card, what do I store Points of Interest on?

 

Can I only use one or the other?    

 

Please, no snickering.

No snickering....you can store maps, waypoints/POI's, and tracks/routes all on the same card.

Edited April 7, 2005 by Stunod

[SnaptheFrog]

That's good news. I'm guessing that a SD card can hold a good sized street level map, say the size of Seattle or Los Angeles?

 

Can anyone recomend where to get street level map? Is there a preference of SD card brand?

 

I'm sorry, I hope I'm not high jacking the thread.

[+Marky]

That's good news. I'm guessing that a SD card can hold a good sized street level map, say the size of Seattle or Los Angeles?

 

Can anyone recomend where to get street level map? Is there a preference of SD card brand?

 

I'm sorry, I hope I'm not high jacking the thread.

If you have a 512meg SD, you should be able to store a few states worth of maps on it. There have been conflicting stories on how big a map region can be generated.

 

--Marky

[+embra]

That's good news. I'm guessing that a SD card can hold a good sized street level map, say the size of Seattle or Los Angeles?

 

Can anyone recomend where to get street level map? Is there a preference of SD card brand?

 

I'm sorry, I hope I'm not high jacking the thread.

I think it's reasonable to expect a thread six pages long to take a brief detour or two along the way. And heck, it's explorist-related so I consider you on track.

 

Take a look at the link in my sig line. Although it's Meridien oriented, it has a lot of information about using detail maps and SD cards. If you go up a level, it brings you to other useful things on Robert's site like a detailed report on MapSend DirectRoute.

 

Quickly, though: a card can hold multiple states (depends on the size of the card, of course). I recommend DirectRoute for detailed maps because autorouting is way useful. Someone who mostly want to use it for offroad use might prefer Topo3D. Most any brand of SD card will work. My current recommendation based upon cost/size is 256MB (I use about half the card on my Meridian, and could get by with a 128MB, but I like not worrying about it).

[robertlipe]

The screen above shows the cache names (up to 20 characters) as generated by the Geocache manager program that you get. It generates a Geocache waypoint file. There is no option to change the waypoint name unless you manually edit each cache (the manager

It is my prediction that GPSBabel's "-s" ("smartname) option and GSAK (once Clyde and I work out the details of how to communicate the extra information to GPSBabel) will be more flexible in that regard. (Escout, what is the max waypoint length on these?)

 

But so far, I haven't heard any actual advantage to the explorist geocaching features.

 

What a (or at least THIS) geocacher wants in a unit claiming to support "geocaching mode" is a street goto that's automatically replaced by a point-to-point goto after the last turn. This mode needs to trigger from something more than one icon. Provide a handy-dandy screen to quickly toggle between the navigation (compass) screen and the geocaching data screen. Provide a single button that toggles this one as found and changes the icon or better yet, makes it (optionally) disappear from the screen. There is then a datestamp associated with when it was found that's availble on the unit either by something approximately like the calendar feature on the Garmin C series (though in the reverse order they present it...) or via a host computer by a documented protocol to facilitiate a rapid logging interface.

 

Garmin almost got this right but they missed some key aspects.

 

Tell us that this is how these units work and they'll be the darlings of the geocaching world.

[SwissTeam]

Your limit per region is 64MB, it is not the GPSr that will restrict you to this size, but rather the mapping software, where it does not matter which on it is, e.g. Magellan DirectRoute, Topo 3D, etc. ... the limit with all of them is 64 MB. BUT you can add as many regions to your SD card that will fit on it. In my case, I got a 1GB card and I cut the whole North America Mapsend DirectRoute map into 14 regions of approx. 64MB (the regions should also make geographical sense, e.g. don't cut metropolitan areas in half), including Alaska, Canada, Hawaii and PR. I also pre-ordered a 2GB card, so I can also add all of Europe on it. Then I never have to worry to upload other maps anymore when I'm out of my region or out of the country. Both continents will fit on a single 2GB SD card.

Edited April 7, 2005 by SwissTeam

[SnaptheFrog]

embra, great information. Thank you.

At the mention of autorouting, it reminded me that, as far as I know, the 500 does not recalculate routes if you've missed a turn.

haha I mean, isn't being an explorer all about going off in any direction from the origianl path?

[+JohnnyVegas]

Auto routing will work with map Send direct route, If you go off road it will not auto route, but it will back track the way you went in.

[+Muddler]

My Explorist 500 will be here tomorrow. $293 including shipping from Harmony Computers. I can't find the advertised price on their site I can only find it for $399. I still have the link that I saved from one of the forums if anyone is interested. I may have to take off early tomorrow when my better half calls and lets me know the UPS guy has been by.

 

http://www.shopharmony.com/product.asp?i=M...&file=MAR302005

 

Cheers

 

Muddler

[robertlipe]

Auto routing will work with map Send direct route, If you go off road it will not auto route, but it will back track the way you went in.

If that's really how it works (i.e. if there's a better route to get you back to your destination that isn't backtracking back whence you came and it chooses to send you back that way instead of that "better" way) that would be disappointing and inconsistent with the state of the industry.

[peter]

If you go off road it will not auto route, but it will back track the way you went in.

If that's really how it works (i.e. if there's a better route to get you back to your destination that isn't backtracking back whence you came and it chooses to send you back that way instead of that "better" way) that would be disappointing and inconsistent with the state of the industry.

I'm not following what you think the unit should be doing instead of what JV said.

 

If you're off road (i.e. not near any road shown on the unit's maps) then what route could it possibly suggest that's likely to improve on a backtrack. I suppose it could show the direct line route, but that's likely to steer you over a cliff or into a river. Presumably there's a reason why you chose a particular route on the way in and that seems like the safest bet to get you back out again.

[+EScout]

robertlipe Posted on Apr 7 2005, 10:09 AM

(Escout, what is the max waypoint length on these?)

 

The waypoint name shown on the map and in search for Geocache waypoints is 20 characters and spaces total. If it is longer it just cuts off the extra letters.

 

Provide a handy-dandy screen to quickly toggle between the navigation (compass) screen and the geocaching data screen. Provide a single button that toggles this one as found and changes the icon or better yet, makes it (optionally) disappear from the screen. There is then a datestamp associated with when it was found that's availble on the unit either by something approximately like the calendar feature on the Garmin C series (though in the reverse order they present it...) or via a host computer by a documented protocol to facilitiate a rapid logging interface.

 

Garmin almost got this right but they missed some key aspects.

 

Tell us that this is how these units work and they'll be the darlings of the geocaching world.

 

No, can't say it does this. It provides a way of quickly processing a query, and creating a Geocache specific waypoint file. It will show the geocache type icon on the map page. When you click on the icon or pull up a search (by proximity to a location, or alphabetical), it gives you the cache info and when youclick on hint, it gives you the decoded hint.

 

Also, to clarify the activating of files, you can have active both one Goecache file, and one standard waypoint file at the same time. This means that all of the waypoints from each file will be on map page at the same time. You can activate another Geocache file and all of the previous Geo Waypoints will drop off and the new ones will show.

[OrezzerO]

I guess I am missing something on the rerouting discussion.

 

It says here:

 

http://www.magellangps.com/assets/manuals/...110_99B_web.pdf

 

That directroute will reroute if you miss a turn by simply pressing the goto button. Will it automatically reroute? It does not look like it. I don't see that being a huge problem but I have not used it yet..

[+embra]

A rerouting from present position requires two quick punches on the GOTO button. I don't find it to be a big deal...in fact there is an advantage: if you don't like the suggested route and purposefully want to go a different way, autorouting will typically tell you to turn around and go back to the turn you just "missed." In this circumstance, I don't want that route, I want it to compute me a different one incorporating the unexpected direction I am taking. I may have to get some distance between myself and the missed turn before the GPSr will give me a route more to my taste. So manually controlling that aspect has its plusses.

 

Caveat: since I've not observed how the auto-rerouting feature works on Garmins, I may not accurately represent it.

 

Esit: spelling

Second edit: A fan of irony, I skipped correcting the note of my correction

Edited April 8, 2005 by embra

[robertlipe]

So, Escout, it sounds like the geocaching mode is integrated into waypoint management and map layers, but not really used in navigation and there's no easy toggle for them. Bummer.

 

OrezzerO, that manual predates the Explorists. Since the decision on whether to recompute is up to the firmware on the handheld and not the host software, many of us are hopeful that this behaviour has changed on a newer unit that presumably has more internal compute cycles available was designed AFTER DirectRoute instead of a couple of years before, as is the case with Meridian and STMap.

 

Requring manual rerouting on an '01-era product that cleary had street routing bolted on as an afterthought (much to the pleasure of those of us that owned it!) was a reasonable compromise, but I think a new product in '05 really can't get away with that in the market.

Edited April 8, 2005 by robertlipe

[+GeoCraig]

Back to the software. I have MapSend Topo 3.0 that I've been using with my Sportrak Pro. I just called Magellan tech support to ask if it will be compatible with an Explorist 500. The tech guy said yes. When I mentioned that their website doesn't list it, he said the web page needs to be updated.

 

So, does anyone know for sure if I need to buy new map software or if the tech support guy is right?

 

BTW--I notice the REI just dropped their price on the 500 to $318.99.

 

I ordered mine from shopharmony.com last night for $279--$293.95 after shipping.

[+embra]

It appears that all we know collectively is that several people have said their 500s would *not* load a Topo 3/4.2 map, and no one has reported that they could do so successfully. It's a small sample, but the indicators are not yet good.

 

Any of you 500 people call Magellan to see if they could help the process?

[+Milbank]

Back to the software. I have MapSend Topo 3.0 that I've been using with my Sportrak Pro. I just called Magellan tech support to ask if it will be compatible with an Explorist 500. The tech guy said yes.

 

I hope there is a way to load the old Topo too.

[+EScout]

As I reported earlier, I attempted loading 4.2. I too am hoping that the competent hackers can accomplish this because I am not looking forward to spending more for new software. (although the Topo 3d is suppposed to be new and improved.)

[Dosido]

I doubt that the Magellan tech rep was correct regarding MapSend Topo 3/4.2 compatability. The regional files from Topo 4.2 are *.rgn files and the Magellan Conversion utility is looking for region files with the .imi extension.

 

Not that a conversion utility can't be done - and why is every other MapSend Topo version supported (non-us?) or are those newer offerings?

 

In addition, the rep could've mis-understood 'MapSend Topo 3' as 'MapSend Topo 3D' which is supported. If they were asked specifically about MapSend Topo 4.2 then there couldn't have been any mistaking the question.

 

On another note - I find it curious that while others were looking at the 4 Magellan screens as too few, they are exactly the 4 screens that I have limited my Sportrak Topo to showing me when using it - for me the others just cluttered the information presented.

 

Hope to get out this weekend, and put it to the test.

 

Brian

[+D0T-C0M]

Back to the software. I have MapSend Topo 3.0 that I've been using with my Sportrak Pro. I just called Magellan tech support to ask if it will be compatible with an Explorist 500. The tech guy said yes.

 

I hope there is a way to load the old Topo too.

I hope there we also be a hack for the Mapsend S&D canada as I see the other countries like Mapsend S&D Europe are supported so I am hoping that this won't be to hard.

Edited April 9, 2005 by D0T-C0M

[+Jamie Z]

On another note - I find it curious that while others were looking at the 4 Magellan screens as too few, they are exactly the 4 screens that I have limited my Sportrak Topo to showing me when using it - for me the others just cluttered the information presented.

Yes, I turned off a couple of the navigation screens of the Meridian, too. Unfortunately, I used six of the Meridian's screens, so I lose two of my oft-used screens by going to the Explorist.

 

The big question is why would Magellan remove options from a supposedly higher-end unit?

 

I'm holding hope that the Explorist will experience great expansion in the form of firmware updates, as did the Meridian (and earlier Magellans) for a while.

 

Jamie

[+jacques0]

The regional files from Topo 4.2 are *.rgn files and the Magellan Conversion utility is looking for region files with the .imi extension.

I don't suppose it would be a simple matter of changing the region file extensions to .imi, would it? Could a person copy one of the .rgn files to their hard drive, change the extension, then upload it (hopefully w/o frying their gps)?

[Dosido]

I don't suppose it would be a simple matter of changing the region file extensions to .imi, would it?  Could a person copy one of the .rgn files to their hard drive, change the extension, then upload it (hopefully w/o frying their gps)?

I believe EScout said he did this - he mentioned changing the extension of a map that was initially for his Meridian. It froze the unit, and he had to delete the map from his SD card.

 

If that's not the case, I will try it.

[+Warriorrider]

On another note - I find it curious that while others were looking at the 4 Magellan screens as too few, they are exactly the 4 screens that I have limited my Sportrak Topo to showing me when using it - for me the others just cluttered the information presented.

Yes, I turned off a couple of the navigation screens of the Meridian, too. Unfortunately, I used six of the Meridian's screens, so I lose two of my oft-used screens by going to the Explorist.

 

The big question is why would Magellan remove options from a supposedly higher-end unit?

 

I'm holding hope that the Explorist will experience great expansion in the form of firmware updates, as did the Meridian (and earlier Magellans) for a while.

 

Jamie

I don't understand the move to remove some really usefull screans too. The six field screen is a regular of mine while hiking. And I use the four large fields screen a lot while caching. Sometimes if my compass is jumping around to much for me I'll use the four field screen instead. It is much more stable. At least with this screen if you are using heading and bearing to locate your cache you can also see your distance to the cache at the same time. And have another field to use for whatever. EPE in my case. With the Explorist you only have two fields. What good is heading and bearing without the distance. You shouldn't have to bounce between different screens to get very simple and needed info.

 

Is this something that can be added later in a firmware update if Magellan decided it was worthy?

[+BlueRidgeCamper]

I'm one of the new guys on the block and having read all the reviews I opted to purchase an eXplorist 600 for myself. I figure it's a bit of overkill for just getting started but I hope to use it's features and capabilities all the same.

 

One good thing is that my son and I have been in Scouts for 10+ years and do know how to read maps, compasses, etc so this isn't all new stuff.

 

Anyway, I thought I post a link to the 600 manual for anyone who wants it. I apologize in advance if someone has already posted a link, I just didn't see it.

 

eXplorist 600 Manual

 

Looking forward to being an active member and learning from all of you!

[+Milbank]

Welcome,

 

Anyway, I thought I post a link to the 600 manual for anyone who wants it. I apologize in advance if someone has already posted a link, I just didn't see it.

 

eXplorist 600 Manual

 

I have been waiting for that, thank you.

[+embra]

Anyway, I thought I post a link to the 600 manual for anyone who wants it. I apologize in advance if someone has already posted a link, I just didn't see it.

 

eXplorist 600 Manual

Welcome to the fracas! I/we greatly appreciate the effort, but this manual appears to be the generic version covering 400/500/600. Someone did post a link for the users manual under the 500 label a while back in this thread.

 

If you are able to get something up called the "users reference guide," that will likely have some detailed information we've not yet been able to see.

 

Does this mean you've got a 600 in your hands? If so, I'd be curious to know where you got it from.

[+BlueRidgeCamper]

Milbank, embra - Thanks for the welcome!

 

I agree that the manual does appear generic although it does have the screens for the 600 (i.e. temp, compass, etc) in it. I did a complete check of the CD and there is no other manual or reference guide included. There is also no other "users guide" included in print either. In fact the compass calibration guide is from the explorist 300 - looks like they just printed a copy of that portion of the 300's user manual and included it in the packaging. Warranty papers, getting started (Read me first) guide and a "Using Mapsend" guide round out the paperwork included in the box. I personally think there should be a more detailed users guide as you mentioned but I guess in the rush to get the units to market some things are just expendable.

 

I purchased the unit from The GPS Store in NC for $369.00. It arrived Friday 4/08.

 

I've charged the unit - powered it up - had a position fix in appx 60 seconds, took a short walk in the neighborhood, watched it track my position and route me back to the starting location (my driveway). I plan on loading some information and do more playing this afternoon and tomorrow, I want to make sure I understand how everything works.

Edited April 9, 2005 by BlueRidgeCamper

[+EScout]

Warning:

If you are going to try to load a "non-supported" older version of Mapsend to your 400/500/600, I recommend you use the SD card and not the internal memory. Another cacher emailed me that he attempted to load a map to his internal memory and it hung up his 500.

In my case, I was able to remove the battery to shut it off, take out the SD card and delete the offending file in a card read/writer. If it is in the internal memory (8 MB), the unit may try to keep accessing it......

There is a reset option in the Preferences menu, but you may need to do an external reset and there is no mention of this in the manual.

[+Muddler]

Explorist 500 questions?

 

1: This concerns what you should see when looking at the Internal Memory list of folders, Should you see a folder for "Geocaches"?

 

2: When I press the "Goto" button, I get a screen that shows:

Goto

My Pts of Interest

Geocache Pts

Background Map

 

If I select "My Pts of Interest" I goto a screen that has:

My pts of Interest

Internal Memory\my POIs\Default POI File

Up one level

POI001 (a wpt I entered)

 

If I select "up one level" two times I get to a menu "My Pts of Interest"

Internal Memory

Up one level

Background Maps

Detail Maps

My POIs

Routs

Track Logs

...................Should I not get "Geocaches Here???

 

Cheers

 

Muddler

[+EScout]

Muddler:

Yes, you should get a folder that says Geocaches. I do on mine. IF you highlight a folder and hit Menu, you can rename or delete a folder. Sounds like this is what you did. You might try a reset because I cannot fine a way to recreate a new folder at this level. Menu>Preferences>Clear Memory>Reset Default

Edited April 10, 2005 by EScout

[+Muddler]

Thanks for the reply Scout! Don't think I did a Rename. But I guess that is a possibility. I did the Reset as you suggested and I get the same thing. There is no geocaches in the list. I do see it at the top if I press Goto, then Geocache Pts, then Position, I get Internal Memory\Geocaches\ and listed below are:

 

Up one level

Background Maps

Datail Maps

My POIs

Routes

Track Log

 

This would indicate that I am in the Geocaches Folder

 

I can not get to a level where I see the Geocaches Folder listed.

 

Muddler

[+Muddler]

I think I found it. Since I did the one reset to the default, I went back and did a Reset All. That Did the trick. I have been fighting this for several hours. I really do not think I renamed the folder as the software does not seem to let you rename Internal folders, only the ones on the SD Card. I could not find the folder at the beginning; however, it would display the folder name following the interrnal memory when you selected the geocache pts following the goto selection. It might be a good Idea to do a Reset All before you do anything else when you turn the thing on for the very first time.

 

Thanks for the help!!

 

Muddler

[+Marky]

I purchased the unit from The GPS Store in NC for $369.00. It arrived Friday 4/08.

Man, I ordered mine from TigerGPS in January. The still haven't started shipping. I have 600 envy...

 

--Marky

[+Stunod]

I purchased the unit from The GPS Store in NC for $369.00. It arrived Friday 4/08.

Man, I ordered mine from TigerGPS in January. The still haven't started shipping. I have 600 envy...

 

--Marky

Ditto

[+GeoCraig]

The software question---

 

After I got an answer on the phone that the Explorist 500 could use the MapSend Topo 3.0, I wrote and asked again. I got a pretty strong reply that it is NOT compatible.

 

So now the question is---is Direct Route worth the extra expense over Map Send Topo 3-D? How many of you have been using the Direct Route features?

[+Marky]

The software question---

 

After I got an answer on the phone that the Explorist 500 could use the MapSend Topo 3.0, I wrote and asked again. I got a pretty strong reply that it is NOT compatible.

 

So now the question is---is Direct Route worth the extra expense over Map Send Topo 3-D? How many of you have been using the Direct Route features?

If I had to choose one or the other, I would choose Direct Route. Here's my reasoning:

 

1) Topo 3D has no trail info so all you are really getting is terrain features (better topo, lakes, streams, etc). I've found this handy to have, but not a must have since I generally need to get a trail map to figure out where to go anyway.

 

2) Unless you already have street level routing in your car, you will find this much more useful (and not only for geocaching) than Topo 3D.

 

Of course, you could do what I did and buy both, since it's easy to have both on the same card and just swap maps depending on what you are doing.

 

--Marky

[+reepicheep]

SnaptheFrog,

I posted some pictures on the other thread. (thought we were switching) It is "Explorist 500" - shows several views of the unit. Mine arrived broken (won't communicate so I have not downloaded any maps, etc. Just took pictures so far. Several other geocachers have firsthand knowledge of the unit in field testing - sounds promising.

 

Most of the map software allow you to load whatever area you wish - in other words you don't have to load the whole eastern part of the US if you are only interested in the midwest. Obviously the larger the SD card the more maps you can load.

A link to the other thread would be nice.

Anybody??

 

Kenneth