Magellan eXplorist 200 GPS Receiver

I purchased my Magellan eXplorist 200 without ever having used or purchased a hand held GPS receiver before. I purchased this mostly to begin "Geocaching", which involves basic coordinate and map reading with some navigational and detective-like skills mixed in. I needed a device that, as a beginner, I could easily figure out and work to my desired level of expertise before moving up the complexity ladder that inevitably grips gadget freaks like mysef.
This unit has performed remarkably well for me. This unit is a basic GPS which is easy to understand and even without a manual I was able to maneuver through the various screens and functionalities and figure out how everything works. I am impressed with its size and light wieght as well as its robust, shock-resistant design. I have already dropped it somewhat severely while caching and it is no worse for the wear. The screen has adjustable contrast and also an adjustable backlight that makes this useful at night as well.
The main navigation/map screen is somewhat customizable and I like being able to decide which information I have displayed. The unit appears to track quickly once it has acquired satellites and more often than not I find the accuracy within 30 meters which is extremely helpful for locating pin-point coordinates. I also have found that the size of the unit makes it suitable to take on my long training runs so that the distance traveled can be measured accurately, a function that I had not initially considered that is becoming more and more useful.
The drawbacks to this particular device I have found to be the lengthy amount of time to acquire a lock on position from the satellites. I believe it takes on average around 8 minutes for my unit to acquire, but once it does it is remarkably quick in response. I have not had any trouble getting satellite signals and trees or overhanging objects or even clouds do not seem to hinder the unit.
One other drawback is the battery life. This unit sucks power, that is for sure! I have made it a habit to check the battery life meter (a handy feature, now that I know the power sucking nature of the unit) before I leave home or civilization so that I am not stuck out somewhere with a dead rig. This has not proven to be a major issue, just something that could be annoying if you are not prepared.

All in all I am extremely happy with my purchase. I found my magellan used for 70 dollars on Ebay and I believe it was a steal. This unit has good functionality, especially as an introduction to GPS units and tracking/navigation. The eXplorist 200 is well built and has useful interfaces for each of its functions and screens. The buttons protrude from the unit and are rubbery for easy use as well and very straightforward.
I highly recommend this to the not-so-serious GPS user who needs to get their feet wet and doesn't mind a no-frills unit.

This device seems to work almost anywhere I take it, and usually has little difficulty in dense forest areas. this has more than enough memory for you to store as many waypoints and Marks as you would see fit for almost any length of a trip, and comes built-in with most major roads and important locations(hospitals, airports, etc) already built in, and does not interfere with the memory performance.

For those of you who will be using this for Geocaching, this device is wonderful. It is almost always dead-on, regardless of what its telling you the error of accuraccy is. It also lets you rename points quickly and easily, so you can use the name of the cache and dont get confused when doing specific ones in a cache-dense area. The device will also sort the list of Marks alphabetically, as well as nearest and furthest, so you can quickly pick the closest cache to start with.
The button layout itself is pretty simple yet very functional for even kids to use; each button is clearly and descriptively labeled, and the main joystick-like button works very well and accurately.

I only have a couple of negative things I can say about this device; you cannot connect it to your computer to download/upload maps, waypoints, and Marks to it; this prevents it from being used by serious geocachers who will go and do 30 or 40 in one day; manually entering a lot of data points all at once does become a little tedious. Magellan does, however, have an explorist model(210) that does about the same thing as this one,costs little more, but has connectivity capabilities; it's almost the same model as this, with the extra connection ability added.

The other problem I have with the device is its power-on satellite up-link (connection) speed; it can take it a good 5 minutes at least to pick up a signal to get even its 2D position. avoid getting this if you're going to be using it for emergency situations where time is critical; higher-end makes and models usually connect within 1-2 minutes tops.

I've owned this GPS for about a week and now I feel I'm ready to review this thing.

I was looking for my first GPS for "field use" and wanted a simple one that didn't burn batteries like crazy! This unit fills the bill. I would suggest downloading the entire reference manual if you don't get one with it.

The controls are well laid out and the unit seems very well made. I like that it is water resistant which makes keeping it clean hassle free!

The down side....

You have to enter data manually and there is no way to download directly to the unit from your laptop, PC or Mac. That may be important to some new users and I have a little buyer's remorse that I didn't go with the 210.

Being a black a white unit means less energy use so you will be able to operate longer in the field. I find color units burn batteries fast! I also like that it uses regular batteries and they can be changed easily.

If you are using this for geocaching, you will be just fine! Natural features such as lakes and major roads are on the preloaded map, but don't expect too much detail like your car's GPS. The back tracking feature leaves electronic "bread crumbs" so you can follow your path back to where you started. That is important, because the GPS will always point you in a direction "as the crow flys" when you are using the compass screen. The back track will keep you on marked trails and roads which will reduced your impact on the land. This helps you "leave no trace".

Once you play around with it for a little while, you will quickly be able to enter data and then navigate with ease.

Last weekend I was all over a large campground and was able navigate back to my camp site from different directing in both day and night time conditions. The red backlight made the display easy to read with no additional lighting. In the evening you may want to bring a light to help you see the buttons on the unit and perhaps your reading glasses if you use them.

Oh yeah....I've already found two geocaches!

This is my second one. Sure there are better ones out there, but for the price it fits the bill for me and does everything I need it for. I use it mainly for hiking, biking and kayaking. It lets me know how to get back, but also how fast/far I'm going.I actually LIKE that it's not rechargable. When I'm out in the middle of no where,it's nice to just chuck a fresh pair of batteries in it, and go. Be warned though,Magellan not only doesn't make this model any more, they don't even work on them, so if your screen gets run over by your Mt. Biking partner, your pretty much out of luck.

The Magellan eXplorist 200 is the 2nd-lowest model in the Magellan family of GPS receivers. The following is a brief guide to the features found on the eXplorist 200 and how they compare to other models:

eXplorist 100 - basic navigation, 20 routes, 500 waypoints
eXplorist 200 - 100 series + North American Highway Map (Unit Reviewed)
eXplorist 300 - 200 series + Electronic Compass (2-axis), Barameter, Altimeter & Thermometer
eXplorist 210 - 200 series + PC Interface, 22MB Memory
eXplorist 400 - 210 series + Rechargable battery, SD Card Slot, Loadable Maps
eXplorist 500 - 400 series + Color Display
eXplorist 600 - 500 series + Electronic Compass (3-axis), Barameter, Altimeter & Thermometer

The eXplorist 200 is great for the casual hiker, biker, geocacher, boater or travelor. The slight cost difference between the model 100 and 200 is worth it for the convenience and potential life-saving value of the main highway maps. If you ever got lost in the woods the eXplorist 200 would allow you to easily navigate to a main road.

Positives

+ Rugged Design is both impact and water resistant
+ Great Accuracy
+ Good Value
+ Clear Bright Monochrome Display with Backlight

Negatives

- Menu Control / Buttons semi-intuitive
- Lanyard Attachment Point too Small

Overall the eXplorist 200 respresents a Good Value in a basic handheld GPS. Casual users will find it adequate for most uses and a good addition to any outdoor or automobile safety kit.