Magellan eXplorist 500 Water Resistant Hiking GPS(Magellan explorist 500)

Monday, September 17, 2012

Product Features

Waterproof, handheld GPS with USB data port and 16 MB of built-in memory
Includes 8 MB of North American maps with roads, parks, waterways, and more
Unlimited Secure Digital (SD) card expansion for adding maps via CD-ROM or Web
16-color, high-contrast, backlit LCD display; rechargeable lithium ion battery pack
Measures 2.2 by 4.7 by 1.3 inches (W x H x D); 1-year warranty

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Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Outfitted with a 16-color display, a high-speed USB data port, 8 MB of built-in maps, and an additional 8 MB of usable memory, the Magellan eXplorist 500 North America includes all the tools you need to navigate throughout the U.S. and Canada whether in the car or on foot. The device is rugged and lightweight, with a waterproof, impact-resistant plastic housing that stands up to almost every adventure, including whitewater rafting and hiking. At the same time, its pocket-sized chassis, which measures a mere 2.2 by 4.7 by 1.3 inches (W x H x D), is loaded with convenient features, such as detailed, built-in maps of North American roads, parks, waterways, and airports; the ability to save five track log files, 20 routes, and 500 points of interest; and an area calculator that determines the distance between saved points of interest--an ideal function when mapping out hiking trails. Other cool and convenient add-ons include a fish/hunt function that mentions the best fishing and hunting times for a specific coordinate and a similar tool that displays the rising and setting times for the sun and moon.

Should the built-in maps and extra memory prove insufficient, users can load additional map data onto Secure Digital (SD) memory cards using Magellan's MapSend software (sold separately), which is available via CD-ROM and, in some cases, online (your computer connects to the GPS through its USB port). There's no limit to the number of cards you can use, giving users access to everything from detailed street maps to topographical layouts to lake charts showing bottom features and boat ramps. Fun seekers will also delight in the Geocache Manager, which invites individuals and families to download geocache coordinates from specific Internet sites and use them on such adventures as treasure hunts and coordinated community projects. The manager employs a PC-style file system to keep geocache navigation easy.

Adding to the simplicity are the intuitive keypad and joystick controls, along with the one-button access for particularly important features. Unlike with many GPS systems, it doesn't take an expert to start navigating right away. The full-color display also helps first-time users, as it's easier to differentiate between different map features and data.

Additional features include multilingual communication (choose from English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Portuguese, Dutch, or Norwegian); four navigation screens for viewing speed, direction, distance to destination, and more; and a rechargeable lithium ion battery pack that keeps the eXplorist 500 working for up to 17 hours. Conveniently, users needn't remove the battery to charge it; simply plug the charger directly into the receiver and it renews itself.

What's in the Box
eXplorist 500 GPS, rechargeable lithium ion battery pack, warranty card, user's manual.

Product Description

Navigate in color! The 16-color display of the Magellan eXplorist 500 enables you to see where you are in vivid color. With a high-speed USB data port and unlimited data storage capacity via secure digital (SD) card expandability, you can easily add detailed street maps, topo or lake maps from optional Magellan MapSend software. eXplorist 500 is lightweight and pocket-sized so you can take it with you everywhere. The Magellan Geocache Manager enables you to download caches directly to your eXplorist 500 and the PC-style file system helps you to easily manage all of your data. 8 MB of built-in maps and an intuitive interface make it easy to start navigating right out of the box. Save 5 track log files, 20 routes and 500 points of interest to the 8 MB of additional internal memory, but store as many as you want on optional SD cards. You get all this and more, plus color!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 67 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 starsA solid choiceMay 26, 2005

By Earl P. Thayton

I recently decided it was time to retire my trusty (but antiquated) handheld GPS, and I replaced it with a Magellan eXplorist 500. I don't yet have the optional detailed mapping software, so this is a review of just the base unit and the included software. I should also mention that this review is based on firmware 5.1.61, the latest available as of May 2005. Future firmware releases may add more features, but I advise all gadget buyers not to rely on such updates. Buy your toys for what they do today, not what they might do tomorrow!

Like most good GPS's these days, the eXplorist 500 includes basic street map data for the US and Canada. It probably won't include the street you live on, but it should have your freeways, highways, major surface streets, and points of interest such as airports. This basic map data takes up about half of the eXplorist's 16MB of built-in memory. The remaining memory can be used for your waypoints, routes, and tracks. If you happen to have Magellan's MapSend software, you can also download detailed street-level or topo maps. (But as I mentioned, I don't have this yet, so I can't review what it adds to the eXplorist 500.)

The approximately 8MB of free memory in the eXplorist 500 will hold a huge amount of waypoints, routes, and tracks. If all you care about is simple waypoint storage and navigation, you won't need anything else. However, the available memory is pretty meager for adding detailed map data. Don't panic, though: you can add a standard, inexpensive Secure Digital card to your eXplorist 500. No proprietary memory cards to worry about!

You can even attach the eXplorist to your computer's USB port and browse the built-in memory and SD card just like a USB storage device. This is very nice, though I should mention that you need to install a driver to connect to the unit, and you must use the included charge/USB cable. This strange cable actually screws on to the GPS--the eXplorist is water-resistant, so they could not put standard mini USB or power ports on it.

On to the physical features... The first thing you notice is the size. The eXplorist 500 is small, though thicker than you might expect. That's OK though, it fits your hand well, and it holds a battery with a claimed 17 hour life. My own informal test got me about 15 hours with the backlight on minimum, which I'd call close enough.

The next thing you notice is the screen. I haven't found the actual pixel dimensions listed in any of the specs; I would estimate it at 240x320. Whatever the value is, it is adequate. The screen is very bright and sharp, though limited to 16 colors. Compare that figure to a PDA and it sounds bad, but in practice I have found that it's enough to present a clear and readable map, which is what counts. You aren't looking at photos on this thing.

The controls are a joystick with built-in button, a surrounding array of 7 smaller buttons, and power and lighting controls on the sides. The buttons feel sturdy and work fine--they are all you could ask for.

The GPS receiver is definitely a cut above the one I bought a few years ago. It can pick up a signal in my house, where my older GPS could not. Thick trees can still confuse it though, but I'd expect that from any GPS.

As for the software: the first thing I'll comment on is the speed of map scrolling and redraw. I'll call it adequate, but not impressive. The map display itself is pretty standard, though highly legible. As you'd expect, you can move the cursor around to select points of interest or create waypoints.

The map can be full screen, or you can display two data fields with it: choose from bearing, distance to next waypoint, speed, heading, ETA, time to next waypoint, time to end of route, off course warning, direction, elevation, time, date, accuracy, average speed, and maximum speed. (The off course and destination events have an optional audible alarm.)

Besides the map, you have a fairly ordinary GPS status screen, trip computer (no customizable data fields), and bearing display (with 2 customizable fields, same as the map).

The included software provides for only the most basic data management. You can move waypoints, tracks, and routes in or out of the GPS. If you have some detailed map data, perhaps from a web purchase, you can add that to the unit too. (I presume that if you purchase Magellan MapSend software, it will have its own interface for adding a chunk of map data to the unit, or creating waypoints and routes.)

Magellan has also included GPS features and desktop software specifically for those interested in geocaching. The bottom line is that these features are useful, but could use improvement.

(...)

On the eXplorist, geocaches are filed in their own points of interest category, so you can choose not to display them. There is a special info screen for caches, showing data from the .LOC file: cache ID, owner, type, location, date placed, date last found, difficulty, hint, and terrain. (Note that the free .LOC downloads from geocaching.com do not contain all of this information. You need to be a paid member there to get more than just the basic data on a cache.) This information is nice to have, but long text runs off the right side of the screen, an unfortunate bug.

Hopefully future software updates will improve the geocaching features, but this is a good start. Overall the eXplorist 500 is a very nice unit, with the battery life and bright screen continuing to be impressive.

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