60c Or Explorist 500?

[+jde1199]

Newbie needs help...after deciding to pick up a new unit rather than a used one, I narrowed my choices down to a 60c or eXplorist 500.

 

Both are pretty much in the same price range and offer generally the same features...(more or less) and I'm wondering if I'm splitting hairs now and wasting brain cells worrying over nothing because both units are equally fine?

 

I'd be using it as a all around unit: driving, hiking, caching etc.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

[+wickedsprint]

The Garmin 60C is a very nice unit, my vote would be for that, not sure how well themagellans autoroute but the G60C with city select does very well.

[+embra]

I have a 500 and am pretty happy with it. If mutliple waypoint files are important to you, the expandable SD memory is a great feature, and the file management system on the 4/5/600 is nice.

 

OTOH, the interface of the 60c seems better thought out and implemented. Autorouting sounds like it works better on the 60c, too. My impression is that I have seen more irritation with customer policies and communications on Magellan's part than Garmin's. I really wish Garmin made an SD-capable handheld.

 

One other consideration from what I have read here and heard in private communications (no first-hand experience on my part) is that under marginal to poor reception conditions (i.e., under heavy foliage), the explorists have seemed to hold the edge in maintaining a lock.

[+GOT GPS?]

The 60C is the one I got too, and it is the best unit ive ever had, out of many.

 

Ive had:

Magellan GPS 4000XL, ColorTrak, 315, Platinum, SporTrak Color

Garmin GPS III, IIIplus, Vista, V, V, 76S, 60C.

 

The 60C has excellent quality Tracklogging, and Trip Odometer accuracy, due to the fact that it does not use Autoaveraging.

 

For long Trips though, you could use the Explorist 500, and a compact solar panel to charge the Explorist. This would be perfect for those doing the Appalachin Trail in the East, which is over 2000 miles long.

Edited May 19, 2005 by GOT GPS?

[+briansnat]

I have a 60CS and am very happy with it. I haven't compared it side by side with an eXplorist, but I have with a Meridian Gold and I think the 60CS is far better. For one, the user interface makes far more sense. I had my 60CS 90 percent figured out within a couple hours of getting it, without even looking at the manual. The Meridian took a lot more work to learn. I don't the eXplorist's UI has changed that much from the Meri.

 

One thing that stood out was that the 60C(S) holds 1,000 waypoints and I can directly access any one just by keying its name. The Meridian (and I believe the eXplorist too) holds 500 (unless you get additonal SD cards) and it only allows you to sort waypoints by distance or alphabetically, so you have to page thorugh dozens, if not hundreds of waypoints to get to a specific one.

 

The big key for me is that the 60C(S) takes widely available AA batteries. The eXplorist takes a proprietary rechargable. With the eXplorist, you're SOL if the batteries run out while on a hunt.

[+northernpenguin]

One thing that stood out was that the 60C(S) holds 1,000 waypoints and I can directly access any one just by keying its name. The Meridian (and I believe the eXplorist too) holds 500 (unless you get additonal SD cards) and it only allows you to sort waypoints by distance or alphabetically, so you have to page thorugh dozens, if not hundreds of waypoints to get to a specific one.

 

The eXplorist can have 500 waypoints + 200 geocaching points that are active. You can, however store a whack of waypoints in POI files on either the SD Card, or in the 16MB of internal memory. That's the eXplorists strong suit - storage.

 

I've had mine for over a month now, and it's been out with me on 40 geocaches so far. The thing completetly humiliates my old eTrex Legend for keeping a signal lock in foliage and other conditions. I've also got on my unit - at present - about 100 personal waypoints and 4,000 geocache locations (in different files). I've also got track logs that go right back to the day I bought it.

 

The only negative thing that I'll say now that I've gotten used to it, is that the SD card in my eXplorist tends to look like my junk closet with all the files I've got on there - the fact I had to purge my eTrex's memory all the time tended to keep it cleaner for me.

 

Also -- the Mapsend maps are *way* more memory efficient, and I can pack a lot more map into memory than I ever could on my eTrex (even when I compare an 8MB map to an 8MB map).

 

I looked at the Garmin units, as we have a bunch of 'professional' geocachers that use the 60 and 76 series around here, but decided that lack of an SD card slot was a dealbreaker for me. My main mapset loaded in my eXplorist covers streets (with routing) and Topo for my entire province - which is not a small one at all. I live in Ontario.

 

It's nice knowing that pretty much everywhere I could find myself driving in a day, I'll have routeable maps available, without having to drive home first to load a new map set. For geocaching, my eXplorist quite literally takes me straight to the cache more times than not.

[+Rubberhead]

I fish in both fresh and saltwater a total of about 35 days a year. I hunt another 35 or so days a year. I also fish offshore whenever the weather will let me and I drive over 25,000 miles each year. I some hiking off of the Blueridge Parkway and bird watch in South Carolina's lowcountry. The jest of this is that I demand a lot from my GPS units.

 

The GPSmap 60CS that I bought a year ago has left me for want of nothing. It's been the perfect unit for my needs.

 

That is kind of a lie since I'd like for it to be able to store 120 hours of MP3s, take quality 7.2 Megapixel pictures, and talk Bluetooth to my iPAQ, but I think that would be asking too much of the batteries.

[vr12]

What about color screen comparison 60C vs. eXplorist 500 ?

 

14 hours battery life doesn't look much compared to 30 hours on 60C

[+Jamie Z]

What about color screen comparison 60C vs. eXplorist 500 ?

 

14 hours battery life doesn't look much compared to 30 hours on 60C

I own an Explorist 500 and have compared it (briefly) to a 60cs screen. Although the 60cs has 256 colors vs. 16 on the Explorist, I found the screens to be more-or-less equivalent, as far as color goes. The Explorist colors are bright and vibrant and very easy to read. Here's a low-quality pic:

 

 

Regarding battery life, Magellan claims 17 hours with the Explorist. Some real-world tests achieved very close to that--16 hours and a few odd minutes. I understand, according to a RobertLipe post way back, that the 30 hours claimed by Garmin is greatly optimistic. If I recall, the actual battery life was in the low 20 hour range. So it's not as big a difference as you might have first thought.

 

You might have to take into consideration cost also. When I bought my Explorist, I looked at the 60cs also, but I couldn't find it for less than $100 more than the Explorist.

 

While I can't dispute any statements that the 60cs may be a better GPS (or it might not be), it's certainly more bang for the buck.

 

Jamie

Edited May 21, 2005 by Jamie Z

[+briansnat]

t's nice knowing that pretty much everywhere I could find myself driving in a day, I'll have routeable maps available, without having to drive home first to load a new map set.

 

Exactly how far do you drive during the average day? Here is an example of what the 54 megs in a 60C(s) can cover with the City Select routing software (doublee this with Topo):

 

 

I understand, according to a RobertLipe post way back, that the 30 hours claimed by Garmin is greatly optimistic.

 

I easily get 30 hours out of my 60CS's batteries. Sometimes when I see them running low I wish they would run out so I can justify changing them. And the key to me is that I CAN change batteries when they run out. Though the eXplorist appears to be a fine GPS unit, the fact that they don't use field replaceable AAs would eliminate it from consideration in my eyes. If you're out on the trail or a hunt with an eXplorist and your batteries run out, you're SOL.

Edited May 21, 2005 by briansnat

[+GOT GPS?]

What about color screen comparison 60C vs. eXplorist 500 ?

 

Jamie

Of the 2 GPS units in the picture, it looks like the roads are thinner and stand out on the Explorist. Looks like both GPS units would need an anti-glare screen protector.

 

This link has a really nice review of the same GPS 60C that I have

[+Jamie Z]

I easily get 30 hours out of my 60CS's batteries. Sometimes when I see them running low I wish they would run out so I can justify changing them. And the key to me is that I CAN change batteries when they run out. Though the eXplorist appears to be a fine GPS unit, the fact that they don't use field replaceable AAs would eliminate it from consideration in my eyes. If you're out on the trail or a hunt with an eXplorist and your batteries run out, you're SOL.

I stand corrected with the battery life, although I'm pretty sure RobertLipe's FAQ or one of his posts showed a couple of battery tests of the unit. I must be remembering wrong. I can't seem to find it in a search now.

 

As far as the proprietary battery in the Explorist--that was a sticking point for me, too. But now that I've used it for several weeks, I think I like it.

 

Charging it is as simple as plugging it into the computer, so when I'm getting my PQs ready for a day of caching, I hook up the GPS, and more often than not, when I'm ready to go, so is the GPS. I've never yet had it come close to dying in the field.

 

Of course, I realize it could happen, so there are already several options for charging the Explorist in the field, none of which are any more cumbersome than having to carry spare batteries already.

 

I mean, how often do you run out of batteries on your cell phone, for example?

 

Jamie

[vr12]

I found the screens to be more-or-less equivalent, as far as color goes. The Explorist colors are bright and vibrant and very easy to read. Here's a low-quality pic:

 

 

Regarding battery life, Magellan claims 17 hours with the Explorist. Some real-world tests achieved very close to that--16 hours and a few odd minutes. I understand, according to a RobertLipe post way back, that the 30 hours claimed by Garmin is greatly optimistic. If I recall, the actual battery life was in the low 20 hour range. So it's not as big a difference as you might have first thought.

 

You might have to take into consideration cost also. When I bought my Explorist, I looked at the 60cs also, but I couldn't find it for less than $100 more than the Explorist.

 

While I can't dispute any statements that the 60cs may be a better GPS (or it might not be), it's certainly more bang for the buck.

 

Jamie

screen vertical size is smaller on eXplorist.

 

Regarding 60C/CS power consumption when I got my 60CS I did some measurement and 30 hours is about right, in battery saver mode it is even more then 30 hours.

[+badlands]

.........................................

Regarding battery life, Magellan claims 17 hours with the Explorist. Some real-world tests achieved very close to that--16 hours and a few odd minutes.................................

Yesterday I turned on my E500 on at 8am and it died at 6:30 pm. 10.5 hours of continuous use.

 

I suspect the sort battery life was due to the backlight as it was a bright sunny day.

[+embra]

Yesterday I turned on my E500 on at 8am and it died at 6:30 pm. 10.5 hours of continuous use.

 

I suspect the sort battery life was due to the backlight as it was a bright sunny day.

Yes, the 16+ hours was with hardly any backlight on.

[robertlipe]

I stand corrected with the battery life, although I'm pretty sure RobertLipe's FAQ or one of his posts showed a couple of battery tests of the unit. I must be remembering wrong.

 

It's late and I'm tired. I don't know that I've ever collected precise data, but II should disclaim that any data I have published wouldn't be from measuring idle time while sitting at a desk, but measuring the time that matters to me - the time I can spend caching with it. This involves extensive route calcs, screen updates, compass use, and likely some backlight usage. On a long day, that does involve compass and backlight. For either the Plat or the 60CS, that means if I start the day with fresh cells (I use 2300 NIMH energizers these days) and I can count on exactly one battery change for either line and need to budget accordingly.

 

I'm sure that I can up with a case that approached the 20 hours of published life, but for real life use, I've never seen anything approaching that.

 

I mean, how often do you run out of batteries on your cell phone, for example?

 

My cell fone will run for several days without excuses. The difference between three days of me yakking on it or six days if I forget to plug it in doesn't matter much to me. If I could get that kind of battery life from an explorist or I could use $2 NIMH batteries instead of a proprietary $40 pack, I'd be much happier with the situation. There are some tradeoffs with the internal batteries.

 

Still, for MOST GEOCACHERS, I think the convenience of charging at your desk or in the cradle is a win.

[HokieBird]

Regarding autorouting for the two units, is there any consensus on which is better? I've been leaning towards upgrading to a 500/600, but want to make sure the directions in the car work well. Is the experience anything close to Hertz's NeverLost?

[+embra]

I don't know how NeverLost performs; but I'll attest as an eXplorist user that the 60c/s is the hands-down winner at autorouting. The Magellan implementation is basic; it gets you from where you are to a given destination, but it may or may not pick the best route. You cannot set via points to shape the route, you cannot set preferences in terms of roads to prefer or to avoid. It just takes what it thinks is the quickest way, and it's not too smart in how it goes about it.

 

Edit to add: I'd go so far as to say their *is* consensus on this point. I don't know of anyone who regards the Magellan DirectRoute autorouting as superior to the Garmin product. Don't get me wrong; autorouting on Magellans is still useful enough to be quite valued in my use. But I envy the things that can be accomplished on the 60c/s...and lock under foliage is not an issue when you're in a moving car.

Edited May 23, 2005 by embra

[+DD214]

I've have both a 60c and a 500.

 

I've been a loyal Magellan fan for the past 3 years, so natuarally I upgraded to the explorist series. I've had it a couple of weeks and I've been very impressed. It maintains a solid lock under heavy tree cover and the color screen is fantastic, although I find it a little hard to view in direct sunlight. I really like the geocaching mode, but it would be nice to be able to mark caches as found, or delete them. I've never had an issue with the LiIon battery, although I would have prefered AA. Overall, I don't have any real complaints. It is a solid unit, and a worthy upgrade from my Meridian Gold.

 

That being said, I just received my new 60c today, and I am blown away. I need a second unit for whoever happens to be caching with me, and I decided to give Garmin a try. I haven't had a chance to test it as thoroughly as I have my 500, but my initial impression was absolute awe. There is so much more depth to the interface that the two can't even be compared. It seems to have a faster processor than the 500, as map redraws take about half the time, and there is hardly any delay when switching scale. I don't think the screen is much better than the 500, only a little larger, and it is easier to see in direct sunlight. Magellan should also take notes on how Garmin has implemented their geocaching mode. The only real downside to the 60c that I have found is its lack of removable storage. I can't complain too much though, as I loaded 75% of Maryland including Baltimore, all of DC, and 50% of Virginia, in both MapSource Topo and City Select, and I've got ~10MB to spare.

 

Unless the 60c has any real problems out in the field, I think I will be using the 60c as my GPSr of choice. I would recommend both units without hesitation, but so far I think the 60c is the superior unit. If I run into any problems out in the field, I'll update this post as necessary.

Edited May 25, 2005 by DD214

[+jde1199]

Thank you all for the great info!

 

I'm leaning towards the 60c due to it's auto-routing capabilities.

[+embra]

If that tips the scales for you, I'd say go for it. 60c/s owners seem to love their units.

[+briansnat]

Thank you all for the great info!

 

I'm leaning towards the 60c due to it's auto-routing capabilities.

Both auto route. The Garmin software is a bit better though. It handles missed turns automatically. With the Magellans you have to hit GO TO again if you miss a turn. Not a major thing, but if you're driving in city traffic you don't want to be playing with your GPS.

[+northernpenguin]

Thank you all for the great info!

 

I'm leaning towards the 60c due to it's auto-routing capabilities.

Both auto route. The Garmin software is a bit better though. It handles missed turns automatically. With the Magellans you have to hit GO TO again if you miss a turn. Not a major thing, but if you're driving in city traffic you don't want to be playing with your GPS.

The non-auto rerouting doesn't bother me much. No big deal to reach over and hit Goto/Enter, and I can control the timing of the reroute calculation. My only routing complaint is the lack of an option to avoid toll roads. We have a rather expensive one of those in Toronto.

[flir67]

60c does seem very nice but is magellan the only company that combines water and land use into the same program. on my 600 I can switch between water use or land use to show the best options for a all in one package with out having to buy new lakes or ocean software. I guess it depends on your use of gps. I remember reading this being one of magellans old marketing ideas. I don't know if the garmins have both integrated or not.

[+GOT GPS?]

I have noticed that Magellan tends to carry over simular Operating Software from GPS, to GPS, and by so doing it maybe hard to iron out bugs in the Magellan Firmware, like the Trip Odometer comming up short in every one of my Magellans, due to Autoaveraging at walking speeds. The Explorist is the biggest jump from previous Magellan GPS units, with the Older Mapping software that can no longer work with this all new technology. MAGELLAN, why can't you write into the Firmware, a switch, to allow people to turn Autoaveraging ON or OFF???

 

The thing about Garmin, is that they have tended to start over almost from scratch, with each new line of GPS units, like jumping from the GPS IIIplus to the GPS V, and then to the GPS 60C/CS series, with each new GPS missing some stuff from the previous series, but incorporating new stuff, like when the GPS V was the first small handheld unit for less money that could Autoroute like it's bigger brothers, then Garmin Introduced the use of VIA points on the GPS V, for autorouting. Whats funny now is that every Color GPS from Garmin all have the same Look-and-Feel with their Firmwares, like the Color eTrexes, 60C/CS, and 76C/CS.

[freeday]

Garmin is great

but under trees you may have "lost signal"

http://web.utanet.at/rohmhube/gps-bilder/gpsvergleich.htm

 

eXplorist still works

[+DD214]

I just got back from a lunch break cache that was located under very heavy tree cover; there was a light rain and dark ominous thunder clouds. Less than ideal conditions to say the least. I didn't have my 500 with me, but I used the 60c. My reception dropped from 8 satellites out in the open, to 5 in the trees. I never lost my 3D fix, and the accuracy was always right around 12 - 25 feet. I walked directly to the cache using the map page zoomed to 20 feet. From my experience with the 500, it probably would have held lock on more satellites, but the 60c still performed admirably.

[+briansnat]

Garmin is great

but under trees you may have "lost signal"

http://web.utanet.at/rohmhube/gps-bilder/gpsvergleich.htm

 

eXplorist still works

Those photos are not very good comparisons. The Geko vs. 60C photos have the Geko in optimim position (flat) and the 60C out of optimum position (upright). Another photo its comparing a GPS made for automobile use (probably with an external antenna) inside an automobile alongside a 60C.

 

Photos like this really don't tell you much. Here is the much maligned eTrex next to a vaunted Meridian (and two Lowrances). At this point in time the eTrex had 8 sats to the Meri's 4. Does that make it a better unit? No. It just means it was getting better recption at that moment.

 

Edited May 25, 2005 by briansnat

[+DD214]

Sometime in the next couple of days I'll take my 500 and 60c out into the forest and snap some pics of them in thier optimum positions - horizontal for the 500 and veritical for the 60c.

[+Marky]

Photos like this really don't tell you much. Here is the much maligned eTrex next to a vaunted Meridian (and two Lowrances). At this point in time the eTrex had 8 sats to the Meri's 4.  Does that make it a better unit?  No. It just means it was getting better recption at that moment.

 

One of the reasons for the eTrex vs Meridian signal strength is that eTrex get their best signal when laying flat on a ground plane (the picture looks like it is in the optimum configuration). The Meridian wants to be vertical, so it is currently in its least optimum configuration.

 

--Marky

Edited May 25, 2005 by Marky

[+EScout]

The Magellan is laying flat which will affect its reception considerably because of the gain pattern of its antenna. Think of a half sphere over the magellan as it is standing vertically. The others have patch antennas which are made to be used flat/horizontal.

[+briansnat]

One of the reasons for the eTrex vs Meridian signal strength is that eTrex get their best signal when laying flat on a ground plane (the picture looks like it is in the optimum configuration). The Meridian wants to be vertical, so it is currently in its least optimum configuration.

 

The Magellan is laying flat which will affect its reception considerably because of the gain pattern of its antenna. Think of a half sphere over the magellan as it is standing vertically. The others have patch antennas which are made to be used flat/horizontal.

 

 

True, which makes my point. Photos like those are not a good test of which unit gets better reception.

 

Here's another one showing a 60CS with 6 sats, a Magellan with 5, an eTrex with 6 and two Lowrances with 5 each. Again, it only means that the Garmin was getting better reception at that instant. 5 minutes or an hour later the results could have been reversed.

 

Edited May 25, 2005 by briansnat

[+suemac]

I have a 60cs; a coworker has the 500. I love my Garmin, but I wish it had an external card slot like the Magellan. I *really* wish it had the 'geocaching' mode the Magellan has - gives you data like who hid the cache, difficulty and terrain ratings and hints right on the waypoint screen. I could *almost* leave my pda at home with that info on my GPS.

[robertlipe]

Funny. I've hunted a wee bit with an explorist and found a couple of caches with a 60CS and find they both miss the mark. The Garmin geocaching fixtures are, however, actually useful enough that I put up with the lesser reception. I find the Explorist geocaching mode to be not very _useful_. (I've had cache type, diff and terr in my receivers for well over three years.)

[+briansnat]

I *really* wish it had the 'geocaching' mode the Magellan has - gives you data like who hid the cache, difficulty and terrain ratings and hints right on the waypoint screen

 

The 60C does have a geocaching mode. If you load GPX files on it you will see the cache name and who hid it. Using GSAK, you can add terrain and difficulty ratings if you are so inclined. Hints, no.

[robertlipe]

I *really* wish it had the 'geocaching' mode the Magellan has - gives you data like who hid the cache, difficulty and terrain ratings and hints right on the waypoint screen

 

The 60C does have a geocaching mode. If you load GPX files on it you will see the cache name and who hid it. Using GSAK, you can add terrain and difficulty ratings if you are so inclined. Hints, no.

Geocache mode on the two product families have almost nothing in common.

 

Garmin's is a point-to-point routing feature that lets you toggle between the waypoint comment (which, as you observe, can be populated with hint, diff, terr, and other thigns by programs like GSAK) and the nav data. With the press of a button, the waypoint icon will change and an entry will be created in the (poor) calendar app for the day it was done. Doing this makes it disappear from future "find nearest geocache" searches.

 

Magellan's isn't a navigation mode, but rather a new waypoint type that formalizes several fields including diff, terrain, cache type, placer, placement date, and date last found. Data created in this file format (Geocache Manager and the current betas of GPSBabel are all that I know of that will do it; GSAK will probably do it very soon.) will show up with the icons from geocaching.com for multi, virt, event, etc. on the maps. It's a distinctly different new waypoint category and can be picked from any place you would normally select a Point Of Interest (nee waypoint)

 

Magellan's approach lets you bank switch around geocache sets indepently of other waypoints but makes the distinction that they are uneditable. (booooo) Garmin's treats them pretty much like other waypoints, but makes them "special" for searching and navigating.

 

Neither company got this perfect, IMO. They each got a different 40% of it right.

[+Marky]

Neither company got this perfect, IMO. They each got a different 40% of it right.

I'm still optimistic that Magellan will 'fix' it's geocaching mode into something that is useful. I am going to assert my will onto them until it happens.

 

--Marky

[vagabond]

and the debate goes on

Edited May 26, 2005 by vagabond

[vr12]

Regarding 60CS power consumtion:

I just measured how long 60CS runs on 1700 mah NiMH - 12 hours of integrated

use during time span of 1 month with minimum use of backlight and compass.

 

Keep in mind it is rechargebles which discharge by itself, I think discharge rate is about 10% per month, I also have been leaving GPS in hot car during day which accelerate discharge.

 

Alkaline have capacity around 2800 mah, which should give you around 30 hours.

Edited May 26, 2005 by vr12

[+geobc]

Yesterday I turned on my E500 on at 8am and it died at 6:30 pm. 10.5 hours of continuous use.

 

I suspect the sort battery life was due to the backlight as it was a bright sunny day.

This comment caught my eye because it seems so out of touch with my experience with my 76C (same hardware has the 60C/S). In any unshaded light, bright or overcast, I've never needed to use the backlight. The screen display was very easy to read.

 

Only at dusk or in darkness (duh) have I had to resort to using the backlight.

 

In the car, the backlight gets used more frequently, though, due to the high contrast btwn the shaded interior and bright view outside the car.

 

 

GeoBC

[+DaveA]

The non-auto rerouting doesn't bother me much. No big deal to reach over and hit Goto/Enter, and I can control the timing of the reroute calculation. My only routing complaint is the lack of an option to avoid toll roads. We have a rather expensive one of those in Toronto.

As an FYI, you don't have to hit goto and then enter, you can simply press goto twice. Much easier as you don't have to take your eyes off the road to do this.

 

I agree with you about it being nice to control the timing of the reroute though. One of these days I am going to have to get a Garmin, never owned one, but the 60cs does sound like a really nice unit.

 

Over time I have more or less gotten a feel for how the Magellan determines a route and I know at what points on my route generating a new route will have the best effect. Never having used a Garmin for auto routing it is hard for me to compare the 2 though.

 

Still, the 60cs is a really nice looking unit. Too bad these things aren't cheaper and we could all have 6 of them ;-)