Ok I Need Your Advice!

[+jfine72]

I have a Merdigold that I love very much and was wanting to upgrade to the explor 600. In the opion of everyone who has the 600 now is this a good upgrade? Is it worth it? I would also like to know about the Elet. compass. Is that compass any better that the one that is on the meridgold?

 

Let me know!

Edited May 11, 2005 by jfine72

[+AB4N]

I have a Merdigold that I love very much and was wanting to upgrade to the explor 600. In the opion of everyone who has the 600 now is this a good upgrade? Is it worht it? I would also like to know about the Elet. compass. Is that compass any better that the one that is on the 500 of the meridgold?

 

Let me know!

Now that I have a 600 I am disappointed because of the 200 cache limit. In my opinion that almost neutralizes one of the main benefits - the SD memory card - which your Merigold already has. I am not familiar with the Merigold, so don't know if you have a folder style system like the explorist has. If you can save different groups of waypoints in the Merigold then that wouldn't be an upgrade. But if not it would be a benefit for the 600. Here is what I see as the main benefits to you,

 

1. Increased accuracy and signal quality in difficult situations - probably the best in the consumer grade market.

2. Great color screen

3. Built in rechargeable battery

4. Size - The Merigold is quite large, the eXplorist is a very nice size and weight

 

You just have to decided if these main benefits are something you really want to fork out $350 for.

 

Regarding the compass, the 500 does not have an electronic compass, only the 600 has that. The compass in the other eXplorist models relies on the satellite signals for orientation. The 600 has a three axis compass that works even if your find yourself under the earths surface, in the same way a magnetic compass would. The compass feature is nice to have, but in most cases would find limited use. How many times do you really need a compass? It is good to have, just not used very often by most people.

Edited May 11, 2005 by AB4N

[+JohnnyVegas]

Now that I have a 600 I am disappointed because of the 200 cache limit.

This to me is a very week argument. I have an explorist 500 with over 2000 caches loaded into it. All you have to do is set up files that you can break down into geographic area or even cache types. Mine are broken down into several cities that are in my cache area, San Francisco, Sacramento, Rocklin, Rancho Cordova, Follsom, Davis, Fairfield, Napa, Santa Rosa, just to name a few, i just activate the file for the city I am going to be in. It is really very easy to do.

IF you have a need to have 1,000 caches listed for one area just create files base on difficuty or terrain or even cache type.

 

The Explorist 500 is more similar to the Meridian Gold that the Exploris 600. I do not see and great advantage to a magnetic compass in a GPS, maybe that is because I own about 5 baseplate compasses.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Rechargable Lithium battery = No no...

 

It actually makes me mad that people support this and buy GPS's with these proprietary batteries. All you are doing is supporting the GPS companies to charge you more and more money for replacement parts and maintenance! And there arent even benefits to using them!!

 

That being said, I dont encourage you to get an explorist 500 or 600. If you really need a color screen, check out Garmin's 60cs or 60c. They both use AA batteries and they last almost twice as long. You wont be buying something that could leave you in a potentially bad situation out hiking somewhere, and you wont be supporting the ever increasing trend these days to make everything with sealed rechargeable batteries!

[+Renegade Knight]

Rechargable Lithium battery = No no... ...!

That's a deal breaker for me as well. Plus the 200 limit. What's up wiht that? I can pass through a territory that has 2000 caches in a day and I just don't want to futz with things.

[Delaypat]

Rechargable Lithium battery = No no...

 

It actually makes me mad that people support this and buy GPS's with these proprietary batteries. All you are doing is supporting the GPS companies to charge you more and more money for replacement parts and maintenance! And there arent even benefits to using them!!

 

That being said, I dont encourage you to get an explorist 500 or 600. If you really need a color screen, check out Garmin's 60cs or 60c. They both use AA batteries and they last almost twice as long. You wont be buying something that could leave you in a potentially bad situation out hiking somewhere, and you wont be supporting the ever increasing trend these days to make everything with sealed rechargeable batteries!

Kinda off topic, but I do agree..I want to be able to change my batts if they die...I won an ipod a few months ago and I hate the battery in it....If I dont use it for like 2 days, its dead and I have to charge, where as if they just used AA's I culd just change and listen...I mean im not really complaining too much since it was free.

[+badlands]

I went with the Explorist 500. The overriding factor was the SD card.

 

It’s a great unit if you ignore the screw in connection for the charger.

Rechargeable batteries are great from a cost perspective, but I can definitely see the advantage to AA’s.

 

It depends on how you plan to use it.

I would buy the 500 again if I were to do it over.

 

edit: spelling

Edited May 12, 2005 by badlands

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Rechargeable batteries are great from a cost perspective, but I can definitely see the advantage to AA’s.

 

What do you mean here? You mean rechargeable lithium batteries?

 

NO!! They are not cost effective! At all! Just one of these batteries costs anywhere from 30-60$ to replace.

 

NIMH AA rechargeables you can get for $10 a 4-pack and even cheaper. They have more than twice the cycle life as lithium batteries as well.

 

PS Sorry to hijack the thread here.

[+Milbank]

Rechargable Lithium battery = No no... ...!

That's a deal breaker for me as well.

That was one of the deal breakers for me too.

 

When I was shopping for my first color unit it was between the Explorist 500, Garmin 60C and the Garmin Legend C

 

I did not get the Explorist.

[+Jamie Z]

In the opion of everyone who has the 600 now is this a good upgrade? Is it worth it?

I used to own a Meridian Gold. I now own an Explorist 500.

 

In my opinion, the biggest advantage the Explorist series has over the Meridians is the color screen. The screen if very clear, and easy to see.

 

Most other features are either identical, very similar, and believe it or not, the Explorist is missing some of my most-used features of the Meridian.

 

I bought the Explorist because my Meridian was stolen. It's a nice GPS, but if I still had my Meridian, it would not be worth the purchase price for me to upgrade. If color is that important to you, it may be worth it, otherwise, the Platinum is still a very good GPS.

 

Jamie

[+Jamie Z]

Regarding the battery--

 

This is a very individual thing. In my case, I was very worried because I occasionally take multi-day trips where I am away from a power source. I was reassured when I learned that there are battery powered USB chargers on the market. Plus, Magellan has promised a AAA add-on for the Explorist.

 

Sure, each of these options is a little cumbersome, but it's not much different than having to carry spare batteries. So far, I have been impressed with the battery life of the Explorist. It can be charged by wall outlet, USB (i.e. almost any computer), in your car, or with a battery pack. Seems flexible enough for me.

 

I mean, my cell phone and my digicam both have proprietary batteries, and in all my travels I don't recall one instance where that became an issue.

 

Jamie

[+user13371]

...I won an ipod a few months ago and I hate the battery in it....If I dont use it for like 2 days, its dead and I have to charge...

COMPLETELY off topic, but... something is wrong with your iPod. If fully charged to begin with, it should be able to sit unused for weeks without any noticeable drop in charge level. Mine does.

[Delaypat]

...I won an ipod a few months ago and I hate the battery in it....If I dont use it for like 2 days, its dead and I have to charge...

COMPLETELY off topic, but... something is wrong with your iPod. If fully charged to begin with, it should be able to sit unused for weeks without any noticeable drop in charge level. Mine does.

It should be noted that it is an ipod mini....ive heard things about how they arnt very good on batt life....but really though to be honest, I really don't care...If it goes bad, i'm gonna take it apart and play around..........Sorry for the OT...........it does fit though, somewhat.....

[+jfine72]

Thank you all for your help, I have looked at every opition and will be making a descion shortly.

[+AB4N]

Rechargable Lithium battery = No no...

 

It actually makes me mad that people support this ...

Magellan is releasing a clip so that you can use AAA batteries if you choose, so that really isn't an issue. You can also charge the unit in the car, so it is actually possible to geocache for years on end without ever having to open the battery compartment. Now that is cool!

[+AB4N]

Now that I have a 600 I am disappointed because of the 200 cache limit.

This to me is a very week argument. I have an explorist 500 with over 2000 caches loaded into it. All you have to do is set up files that you can break down into geographic area or even cache types. Mine are broken down into several cities that are in my cache area, San Francisco, Sacramento, Rocklin, Rancho Cordova, Follsom, Davis, Fairfield, Napa, Santa Rosa, just to name a few, i just activate the file for the city I am going to be in. It is really very easy to do.

IF you have a need to have 1,000 caches listed for one area just create files base on difficuty or terrain or even cache type.

 

The Explorist 500 is more similar to the Meridian Gold that the Exploris 600. I do not see and great advantage to a magnetic compass in a GPS, maybe that is because I own about 5 baseplate compasses.

When I am on a cache run in a high density area I don't want to have to toggle between databases. It is a waste of time when I should be headed to the next cache. Saving databases by cache type or rating is a big NO. I hunt all cache types and difficulties, and see no benefit of doing that.

 

Instead we are currently forced to have to toggle between many different databases depending on which section of town we're in. Why should we have to do that?? Pervious units could handle up to 500 waypoints at a time, that is the least one should expect in a spanking new unit.

[+AB4N]

It actually makes me mad that people support this and buy GPS's with these proprietary batteries. All you are doing is supporting the GPS companies to charge you more and more money for replacement parts and maintenance!

Where does that come from? Surely not from experience.

 

My first GPS was a SporTrak Pro. After I had it four months it fell into the door jam of my Jeep without my knowledge. When I opened the door it fell to the concrete in my garage resulting in a small crack in the screen. I called Magellan, and then shipped it to them. Four days later is was back in my hands with a new screen.... along with a free neoprene carrying case, a car windshield mount, and a car charging/data cable. Almost $100 in free accessories. Not exactly the greedy gouging goons you describe.

[+AB4N]

That being said, I dont encourage you to get an explorist 500 or 600. If you really need a color screen, check out Garmin's 60cs or 60c. They both use AA batteries and they last almost twice as long. You wont be buying something that could leave you in a potentially bad situation out hiking somewhere, and you wont be supporting the ever increasing trend these days to make everything with sealed rechargeable batteries!

The battery life of the Garmin 60 series is real nice. But how often is anyone going to need more than 17 hours of use before they are near power or a car? I don't see battery life as an issue when choosing a modern unit.

 

What is most important is does your GPS get you to where you want to go? With my $225 SporTrak Pro I have whipped the pants of a Map 60CS, more than once. The guy just couldn't believe that his $500 unit wasn't any more accurate than his, and then he really got ticked when he lost signal and I still had six satallites on the screen. Until Garmin can make a GPS that keeps a signal when I am in the woods or riding my bike I'll keep buying Magellan.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

But how often is anyone going to need more than 17 hours of use before they are near power or a car? I don't see battery life as an issue when choosing a modern unit.

 

 

That is your view on the matter. What about everyone elses? Did you stop to think that some of us DO actually hike for extended periods of time in the outdoors? Not all of us just use a GPS to go find 1/1 geocaches in the local park every saturday afternoon with the whole family.

 

And honestly people, there are NO advantages to using these ridiculous proprietary batteries! What is driving your zombie-like passion for these things?

 

1. They dont last longer than the traditional AA NimH setup

2. They have half the cycle life on average than AA NimH

3. The difference in weight of the entire unit with the different types is negligable

4. The size of the units are exactly the same.

5. They cost an arm and a leg to replace

 

I guess a good way to relate this would be this: Imagine you drove a car that had fuel system that required a special fuel ONLY available at 1 place, your local car dealership. Everytime you wanted to fuel up, you HAD to go to that particular dealership. Oh yeah, and if you wanted to carry spare fuel, you had to get a specially approved container that costs $100 to store the spare fuel in.

 

This is exactly how the select group of us "keep it AA powered" folks on this board feel about these prop. batteries. Its the GPS company's way of keeping its users "on a leash".

Edited May 14, 2005 by Tahoe Skier5000

[+EScout]

Regarding the battery issue:

The advantage of the eXplorist is ease of charging. I have the swivel mount, with the cord attached. Charging is easy, just snap the GPSr into the mount and it is charging. Compare this to opening the unit, removing the batteries, putting the batteries in the charger, taking batteries out of charger, then back in unit....I have a cell phone and PDA that use LiIon rechargebles and I would hate life if I had to do this everyday. I put them in a mount and charge them every evening ( I use them every day for work.)

 

The eXplorist can be charged with a USB port in the computer, AC wall wart, cig lighter adapter, and a small AA box (with 4 AAs) for field charging. Very handy options. Its possible that replacement batteries will be made inexpensively like the cell phone batteries that I can get for $5 on ebay.

Edited May 14, 2005 by EScout

[+EScout]

Regarding the number of waypoints. There are two types of waypoints that can be loaded, Geocache points with a limit of 200 and POI (standard waypoints) with a limit of 500. This is the file limit. You can put unlimited files, and have one of each type active at a time (they will all show on the screen.) So, take a .gpx and create a file with 500 caches on it. This can be done in seconds with GSAK/GPSBabel.

 

Compared to the Meridians, the eXplorists have increased utility in the manipulation and management of waypoints, routes and tracks. If you play with tracks and routes and convert tracks to routes, you will have fun with the eXplorist. Given all the pluses, I agree that the EXplorist is missing some of the great features such as waypoint projection, and some of the screens.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Regarding the battery issue:

The advantage of the eXplorist is ease of charging... Compare this to opening the unit, removing the batteries, putting the batteries in the charger, taking batteries out of charger, then back in unit....

Good grief... Are you being serious? Is it really that tedious to do one extra step to charge the batteries? Is it really worth paying extra money for the battery? Is it really worth dealing with a battery that doesnt even last as long as NimH?

 

Seriously, ease of charging?! Give me a break, its not that hard people. Takes me all of 10 seconds maybe 8 to put the batteries in the charger...

[+AB4N]

But how often is anyone going to need more than 17 hours of use before they are near power or a car? I don't see battery life as an issue when choosing a modern unit.

 

 

That is your view on the matter. What about everyone elses? Did you stop to think that some of us DO actually hike for extended periods of time in the outdoors? Not all of us just use a GPS to go find 1/1 geocaches in the local park every saturday afternoon with the whole family.

I cache long hikes too, few of which last 17 hours. I would venture to guess that is really the case for you as well. Why don't you point us to your long entries for all these long adventures where you needed more than 17 hours GPS time? And even if it is a weekend trip my GPS doesn't need to be on the whole time. I could probably hike two or three states of the Appalachian trail with 17 hours of GPS time. After all, there is a trail to follow, I'm probably not going to get lost - and it isn't loaded down with caches so that I need to keep the unit on.

 

However if I am on a road trip driving across country, my eXplorist is charging while it is in the cradle. I could travel the world and hike for miles without ever having to pop the cover.

 

Yeah, changing batteries is not that big of a deal, but neither is spending a few extra dollars for a spare battery. I still have two arms and two legs. I am not on a "leash". If someone doesn't want to buy an extra battery from the manufacturer then there is always eBay. Right now there is an eXplorist battery on sale for $10.

 

Now I guess we'll hear about the exploding bateries with maybe a dozen high media play instances in only a few cell phone models, out of an install base in the hundreds of millions.

[+GOT GPS?]

 

I would prefer the Explorist 500 over the others. With my Garmins, and the SporTrak Color, it's such a pain to be opening up the battery door alot to change batteries, and it can be a problem like with the tight fitting SporTrack protective cover to make that harder to be changing batteries. With the Garmins, the problem is the bouncing around of the AA batteries causing the Shutt-offs, for which Ive had problems with my GPS V's and the GPS 60C, but never had the Shut-offs with Magellan units. I would like to see somebody develope a new battery Door for the Explorist that would allow the AA batteries or even the 3 volt lithium batteries, but this modified Battery door will make the GPS a little bigger, but still good to use on long trips where you are backpacking for several days, like on the Appalachian Trail in the Eastern US. They can come out with more options, if somebody will come forward with prototypes of different battery housings for the Explorist GPS units.

Edited May 14, 2005 by GOT GPS?

[moonpup]

With my Garmin units I have never experienced loosing power from the batteries coming loose since garmin started adding foam padding behind the connecters to make a snug fit.

 

Granted, this was a problem with earlier units. It's nice to see a company making changes based on user feedback. Has Magellan done that?

[+AB4N]

With my Garmin units I have never experienced loosing power from the batteries coming loose since garmin started adding foam padding behind the connecters to make a snug fit.

 

Granted, this was a problem with earlier units. It's nice to see a company making changes based on user feedback. Has Magellan done that?

That is a good question, and I sure hope so when it comes to the eXplorist. Since it has only been out a few weeks since they were released will have to see. Their customer service has been top notch in my experiences. And they have made firmware updates for most units over time, so hopefully some of our initial complaints get fixed - and I would imagine that they will.