Magellan eXplorist 500 GPS Receiver

This item is good for travel, it is very small with a good screen. It uses regular AAA batteries or a proprietary rechargeable (AAA last 6-8 hrs, the rechargeable 17 hrs, they don't tell you that). With that said the battery life is OK. If you use this GPS for camping (finding your way to a paper map point, or to find your way back home) it is very good. I would purchase the rechargeable battery and keep a set of AAA on hand, in case of emergency. As for using it as a street mapping GPS, it is no good without the mapsend software (which is very expensive). You can expand the memory of the device through SD cards, which will allow you to save map data (from the expensive CD). You also need software to transfer the CD map data to the device and a cable.

CONCLUSION: As a camping GPS it is fine. It is small, light, with a good gps receiver, you can use inexpensive AAA bats or a rechargeable bat, and the device is not very expensive less than $200.00 (on ebay). BUT IT IS NOT GOOD FOR CAR USE, NO STREET LEVEL GUIDANCE!.

Pros
Ease of use, rechargeable battery, geocache manager, & memory expandability with SD memory cards.

Cons
High price for additional mapping software ($100+.

The Bottom Line
Pick one of the new Magellan Explorist units and buy it. With all they have to offer, they are well worth the money. Very reasonably priced.


I was new to the world of GPS so I did a lot of research into the different handheld GPS units. The primary two companies that appeared to be at the forefront of the industry are Garmin and Magellan.

I investigated each company and its products and was at first liking Garmin until I looked closer at the Explorist line Magellan offered.

At the time, Magellan only offered the Explorist 100, 200 & 300. These were comparable to the Garmin units with the same types of pros and cons. I was just about ready to pick one up when I heard that Magellan was coming out with a new line of explorist GPS units - the 400, 500 & 600. These units were to be revolutionary to the world of handheld GPS units.

First, they did not require batteries since they came with a rechargeable battery. This was awesome since now you wouldn't have to be constantly changing AA batteries every 2-3 hours of use. A single charge on these new units will last between 12-17 hours. This is a huge difference and absolutely sets these units apart from the rest of the GPS unit market.

Second, the units come with software that allows you to download geocache information directly into the unit. This saves you the time and headaches of having to type in the coordinates for each and every geocache you want to find. Simply go to a site like Geocaching.com, find the caches you want to track, and just download them into the unit using the download manager software provided. Using the software, you can also create your own points of interest that you wish to track of find with the unit. You just need to type the information on the computer into the manager and then just click the download to GPS unit button.

These units come with built-in memory containing U.S. maps for the North America unit and European maps for those units. You can purchase and install an SD memory card in the unit and expand the internal memory to 1G of memory. This is tremendous.

There are many other great advantages to the explorist units, but I leave that to you to see on the Magellan site. I would recommend also checking out the Garmin GPS units so you have a basis for comparison.

As for the differences between the 400, 500 & 600, the 400 display is in black/white/gray, the 500 & 600 are in color and have a digital compass, and the 600 has a built-in altimeter, barometer, and a few other bells and whistles that make it a great handheld for pilots.

I didn't want the black & white display of the 400 since I read that the color display is easier to read in daylight and I didn't need all the extras that the 600 offered. So I happily purchased the 500. I am sure glad that I did.

I love this unit. It is so easy to use. I didn't even need to read the directions in the user's manual to get started. The control functions and menu make setting it up and using it very self-explanatory. When I wanted to get a little more involved with the operation like setting certain waypoints, tracking/back-tracking, etc. I then took a look at the very well written user manual.

If you are looking for the cutting edge of GPS handheld units, look no farther than the Magellan explorist units. You will be glad you did.

This is our fourth Magellan, the second of the explorist series. We find them very easy to use, and their ability to pickup Satellites in all types of conditions, and under heavy cover is very impressive. I have yet to loose tracking with one, even when it's in a pack and in harsh conditions. This is the number one reason I have continued to purchase these units. I have been with many other people in the outdoors when they could not continually keep satellite reception and would loose tracking.

We purchased Mapsend Topo 3D and installed it on all of the receivers. With the unlimitied memory and PC interface, you can transfer info from one unit to another through the computer. We use our GPS units all of the time.

The negatives are: the rechargable battery packs are worthless when in the back country, unless you can find a tree with an outlet for your charger. We purchased the battery adapter, but the AAA batteries don't last as long as they say they will. So far 4-6 hours, even with the light off. Take lots of extra batteries...

The unit is a good unit it tells you what your location is, job done. Magellan does not maintain any product or service for this product even though I purchased it new under warranty.So new software does not support the notes section or download parameters of Geocaching. I purchased this to get a start in Geocaching, I'm sure it would be fun this GPS is not, Magellan is not. The basic map software that is loaded on the unit is so basic you get a brown map with a line for the highway and a blue splosh for the ocean. Then you find out oh you have to try to find old software and it will cost $75 for Topo and if you can find highway software it is $125... NOT A GOOD COMPANY NOT A GOOD PRODUCT...DO NOT BUY Stay AWAY FROM MAGELLAN UNTIL THEY CAN TAKE CARE OF PRODUCTS OR GO OUT OF BUSINESS.

I really was worried at first about if I would like this product vs. the Garmin E-Trex CX and Hcx. But my worries were put to rest when I received mine and my friends received their Garmins. First of all the File structure setup is wonderful. You can change map reagions with easy by pulling differrent files from your sd Card. This right here makes the product worth while. If you are a geocacher like me, this is particually useful when loading different caches as it will only allow 200 at a time. The only 2 issues I have with this device is the internal battery. If you can, get the newer version of the Explorist 500 as it takes basic batteries. I have been caught a couple times with a dead battery and no way to charge it. Also it takes a little time to load when starting up. Usualy about 3 or 4 minutes. I don't know what an average time is for a GPS startup is but it was a little inconvenient.

Despte the couple of issues I have with my Explorist I would not have bought anything different other than a higher Explorist model. While my friends are dealing with limitations with their Cx and HCx, I am far better off.