explorist 500

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MAGELLAN - explorist 500

Magellan eXplorist 500 North America Handheld Color GPS

Best Price:$175.70

Product Rating 3.0 out of 5
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Type: Handheld

Merchant & Rating	Product Details	Price*	Sales Tax*	Availability*
Excellent Return Policy and customer service Read Reviews: 4 / 5	Magellan eXplorist 500 North America Handheld Color GPS	$175.70 Buy it from Amazon	WA,ND	See Site Free Shipping on most orders over $25

Excellent Return Policy and customer service Read Reviews: 4 / 5	eXplorist 500 LE Handheld GPS Unit	$188.74 Buy it from Amazon	WA,ND	See Site Free Shipping on most orders over $25

Excellent Return Policy and customer service Read Reviews: 4 / 5	980771-112 EXPLORIST-500LE	$212.80 Buy it from Amazon	WA,ND	See Site Free Shipping on most orders over $25

Shoppers Choice.com Read Reviews: 4 / 5	EXplorist 500 Hand-Held GPS System 8MB of built-in maps and 8MB internal memory to save 5 track log files, 20 routes, and 500 POIs 2. 2 inch 16-color transflective TFT display Expandable SD slot for unlimited memory storage; USB data port Area calculation	$299.99 Buy it from Shoppers Choice.com		See Site

Your brands, Your way, next day Read Reviews: 5 / 5	eXplorist 500 LE Handheld GPS The built-in color map of North America makes it easy to view roads, rivers, waterways, greenways, city centers, airports and other major points of interest. Save 5 track logs, 20 routes and 500 points of interest to the 8MB	$213.34 Buy it from PC Connection	MA, NC, OH, TN	See Site Shipping Info: $0.00

Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5)

Review	Rating	Last Updated
It would be zero stars if I could The unit worked great in the US, we moved to Europe, I bought MapSend Direct route Europe, in the UK... The software didn't work, their customer service is non exsistant! I am proceeding with action in court, having wasted countless hours in emails, phone calls and letters, not including money spent pursuing them... AVOID AVOID AVOID, ( I recently bought a Garmin Nuvi.... aahhhh!) All the good reviews are meaningless, as they obviously haven't attempted dealing with customer service!	1	Today
Magellan Explorist 500 Like many others, I find the manual instructions are useless. Positive comments: I like the saved route function that can be played back for review in color code for the different travelling speeds. Or maybe I'm impressed easily. NEGATIVE COMMENT: waterproof NOT! Already had to replace the battery due to the cover does not remain sealed. I suspect the lid is not stiff enough to retain its shape. You can press the lid down when the one and only screw is tightly secured. Not good. There may be other damages...not sure. The company apparently does not to provide any updates or patches to allow using the new vista computers or linux operating systems. It would be nice if file names could be set through the computer and sequencially named.	3	Today
Poor quality product I really wanted to like this unit. The graphics were nice, features were nice, my family had a lot of fun with it at first. Then the memory went out on it and I called Magellan (long wait time) and they said to send it in. After 2 months I got it back and it didn't work at all right out of the box, then I noticed it wasn't even my unit, they had exchange it for a different one that didn't work! Of course I had to send it in (again at my cost) and after another 6 weeks wait they send me back the second unit in working condition - well it worked for about a month, which, for me included using it about three times. No, I didn't mishandle any of these units. I am very disappointed with it.	1	Today
Magellan support doesn't exist I purchased a new Explorist 500 in August 2006. It works fine although doesn't seem to lock onto satellites as quickly as Garmin GPS. I have on occasion tried to get through to their support both in email and on the phone and I don't think Magellan support exists. When I had to buy a new home computer and it came with Windows Vista, I received a canned reply from Magellan that said basically I was out of luck that there is no way the Explorist 500 will talk to Windows Vista. I will not buy another Magellan product due to the lack of support and the fact they seem to be way behind in technology. Windows Vista has been around for almost two years. Plenty of time for someone to develope a patch.	3	Today
Magellan GPS Products - Customer Beware Megellans "customer service" is by far the worst we have experienced. Based on our experience, it appears that Magellan's customer service tactic is to put the customer on hold for long periods hoping that they will hang up, always making the customer call back, never agreeing to follow up with a return phone call or e-mail and making false promises. I'm assuming all with the intent that the customer will eventually just give up. Not only has Magellan not stood behind its product, its customer service people are obviously trained to give customers the run around. What a NASTY way to treat people. Read on if you want details of what we have been through. In April of 2006 I bought my husband a Magellan Explorist 300 for his birthday. It was to replace a 10 year old Magellan that was much larger and heavier. After several months the NAV button wasn't working properly. By the time he got around to call "customer service" it was a couple of weeks after the 1 year warranty. He was told the warranty would not be honored as it had expired. We paid to ship and repair the unit. When we got the unit back, it was not the one we sent in as it had a different serial number. The NAV button of this replaced unit did not work. My husband called within a week, of receiving this "repaired" model and was told by "customer service" that the Explorist 300 was discontinued, they would not honor the "repaired" model and that they were no longer servicing the model. He was then told he would just have to buy another model. He indicated that this was not acceptable and pressed to speak with a supervisor. He was first told no supervisor was available and with further pressing was put on hold for 10-15 minutes before a supervisor responded. She indicated that they would provide him with an Explorist 400 at no charge, but that they were out of stock and he would need to call back in a week. After the week, the call was a series of holds (always 10-15 minutes each time) before a supervisor came to the phone. This supervisor said the Explorist 400 was out of stock as well as the Explorist 500 and that they would ship him an Explorist 600. After two weeks went by, my husband called to find out if the Explorist 600 had been shipped. They said it would be shipped within 1 week and when my husband asked by what mode of transport, they indicated UPS. When he asked them to provide the tracking number he was told to call back in a couple of days for it. He calls back a couple of days later and again after a series of holds was told the Explorist 600 was being shipped out and that he should have it in a few days.....again he's instructed to call back for the tracking number. He calls back days later, again a series of holds, and is told the computer system is down and he will have to call back the next day. He calls back, again a series of holds. The "customer service" rep promises that this time it will be shipped and that he will even send an e-mail providing the tracking number within 24-48 hours. You guessed it....no tracking number. My husband calls every week and is "promised" that it will be sent (this time) and he will receive it in 3-5 days. This has been going on for over two months now and still no replacement model. My husband is determined to get Magellan to stand behind their product, but I think it is an exercise in futility and that he will never get the replacement model he was "promised".	1	Today
For Cyclists: Solid and reliable - software could be better MY EXPERIENCE: I used the Magellan eXplorist 500 on a 400 mile bicycle trip from Baltimore to Central New York, and I've also used it on a 150 mile ride across Flordia, and several shorter rides. THE GOOD: The screen is easy to read, the maps accurate, and the user interface easy to use while cycling. The unit is remarkably accurate, locks onto the sattelites very quickly (often within seconds). The bicycle mount seems just about sturdy enough - I added some insurance by applying some Velcro, and I clip the wristband to the bike. With those modifcations, the unit has been rock steady in the mount. The unit has been totally reliable, and has enabled me to navigate territory previously unknown to me with confidence. The rechargeable batteries usually last a full day of cycling (usually, about 8 hours for me), and are easy to change. The waypoint alarm is quite useful in ensuring turns are not overlooked. The breadcrumb tracking feature is useful and a lot of fun to "replay" after the trip! The unit seems very solidly built. A 1 Gbyte memory card holds enough information to go almost anywhere. THE BAD: I don't like that one cannot view distance travelled, speed, and the map at the same time, no matter how one attempts to configure the unit. The PC mapping software strikes me as primitive, and poorly integrated with the unit. The Magellan software I have (admittedly several years old now) requires file formats to be translated using a special kluge utility when transferring data from the PC to the GPS unit or back. File handling firmware in the GPS unit is somewhat difficult to use. Batteries are proprietary, so there is no such thing as just buying some out on the road.	3	Today
Unreliable; customer "service" a joke Unreliable pile of 'you-know-what'. Worked fine for about 2 months then refused to power up. Fresh batteries, no go. Called customer "service". Outsourced call center to India; rep followed generic script telling me to: 1) use lithium-ion batteries, and 2) press "power + NAV" simultaneously. As suspected, bogus advice. Fresh batteries metered out to 1.62 volts each / 4.84 volts total. Yes, I tried lithium-ion batteries anyway. Still no-go. Am still waiting for Magellan/Thales to respond. Am still owner of unreliable GPS. Still have about $400 invested in unit plus software and maps. Still kicking myself for buying a Magellan product. Don't do it. Really -- don't do it.	1	Today
Worst Customer Support on the Planet My GPS is an eXplorist XL. I assume the guts are the same, so here goes. I cannot begin to express how disappointed I am with this Magellan GPS. I have been an exclusive Magellan user since 1999, but am now officially fed up. Customer Support: Lack of. Magellan simply has the worst possible record responding to requests for support. When you call, after being on hold for hours, the person on the phone is clue free. The Web site is inpentrable. When you can't get on the site for any reason. Or when you can't download something, there is no clue as to why. By trial and error I have discoverd you have to turn off ANY firewall, and set your Explorer preferences to accept all cookies. New firmware upload. It corrected nothing I cared about, and completely messed up the Geocaching Manager capability. When I upload Geocaches the machine arbitrarily drops several ... but you have no idea beforehand which are dropped. Paperless system: With the memory card (I have 1GB, you should be able to store thousands of Geocaches and ALL the associated text. Nope. You get the name and a few items off the Geocache page. Clues over a few words are truncated. The "beeper" is misleading. It beeps whether you have done what you wanted or not. Example: I want to edit some coordinates on a marked fix. I use the joy stick to move from number to number. The GPS beeps whether the move was made or not. The beep is independent of the desired result. When you push the joystick you get a beep whether or not an edit was made. A ver annoying feature. When you do a Go To on a Point of Interest, you cannot see the icon on the compass page. It is too small. It needs to be White and larger. Now it looks too much like the Sun icon. On a Go To the "compass needle" need to point to the destinaiton instead of North. This option needs to at least be selectable. You need to be able to put yourself at the bottom of the screen so you can see more of what's coming up. I don't care much about what's behind me...this needs to be a selectable option. Reliability: A friend teaches GPS at the College level. After 6 years with Magellan he recently moved to Garmin due to poor reliabiliity of the receivers. His experience in large classes was a return rate nearing 40% Good things. The XL is very rugged. I have dropped it on rocks from "too high" and it has survived well. The color screen is large and easy to read. Verdict: Get something else.	1	Today
Good GPS This is a very neat unit. The color display makes all the difference compared to an earlier version I have used - the Magellan MAP 330. Although it has fewer screen displays than the 330, all the necessary information is available including vertical profile (with the Mapsend Topo software) and it is much more readable. The GoTo pointer is constantly updated on the move as you approach a destination (although I would like to see a thicker line for this function). I am very pleased with the unit and in fact bought a second one for my son.	4	Today
Slower and full of problems! I had the sportrak color for about a year and loved it before I lost it. I got the Explorist 500 as a replacement. At first, I didn't like it because they took away alot of the menus and I was afraid of having a proprietary rechargeable battery. Then I got used to it although it navigates/zooms more slowly than my Sportrak did. What I liked the least was the compass didn't correct itself when I turned without walking like the Sportrak did - the Sportrak moved like a real compass! I kind of got used to that but after about 8 months of use it started giving me "Invalid Basemap" errors when starting up most of the time. I have tried the online support with Magellan and they have been very slow and haven't helped at all. I will be calling them shortly to see if I get any help there. There are a few other minor things I dislike such as not being able to modify geocaching waypoints without connecting to my pc. I am considering a Garmin replacement if Magellan can't help me resolve this issue.	1	Today

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