Magellan eXplorist 600 GPS Receiver

Hey Folks,

I purchased a explorist 400 for myself the same day my wife purchased the 600 for me as a gift. I was playing with the 400 on the way home and I liked it. Then I dug into the 600. The color screen is fantastic. This is the first color screen I've had on a GPS so I'm quite impressed on how it makes using the GPS a bit easier. My wife also got me a 1gig SD card for the unit, and I have the detail map loaded for Colorado from MapSend 3D (the CD version). I like the fact that MapSend 3D has local trails (looks like from trails.com) included on the map. You can search for specific types of trails such as Hiking or Mountain biking and it will show you where they are. This will come in handy on our camping trips away from our usual stomping grounds. The 600 has temp and barometric pressure... but I've read that they are inaccurate.. I have not checked them. For GeoCaching I like the 600 better than the 400 due to the electronic compass. You can stand in one place and line up the Bearing/Heading readings to find the cache a bit faster. I used the Magellan Geocache manager to import some local caches... pretty easy to use.. but doesnt seem to have a way to add new caches to same data file... This could be a good thing so you can select the caches to be displayed for only the area you are in? It's kinda cool because it uses the same little "green box" icons that geocaching.com uses. Battery life has been great. It is a bit longer on the 400 vs the 600, I think this is due to the backlite on the 600 being on more of the time. I read where you can use a cell phone battery ( part # SNN5595B ) for spare so I got one on ebay for about $10.00. With the two batteries should have easy 24+ hours of run time. It holds sat lock very well. I live up a canyon, and my Meridian Platinum looses sat lock in some areas, but the 600 and 400 track the entire way.

Overall I would say I like the 600 more than the 400, just for the electronic compass and color screen. I would say the MapSend 3D is a MUST for this unit to meet it's full potential. But read the instructions for uploading the map info to the 600 (and 400), you have to use the conversion manager software included with the unit.. can not go directly from Mapsend to the unit. If you hike or mountain bike, the trails.com info on the GPS is nice to have.

Carry On
Phill

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I was not willing to pay more for a product I was not too familiar with. I am having fun and learning a lot about these type of devices and sharing the information with friends. I even hope to put it too good use, exploring around in tropical rain forest is serious business, since people get hopelessly lost by just wondering off a short distance. These type of gadgets can save lives. It is also important to keep up with a rapidly changing world so it goes beyond being an amusing toy or fun item. Thanks.

I like the GPS unit its self, but what makes me upset is that it did not come with an AC adaptor like it said it would. I contacted the dealer and they told me they would send one out. They have not and the only way to charge it is off the car. It is very frusterating and I wish they would send it like they said.
I did save money buying it off ebay, but I have to now find an AC unit to charge it. Overall I would not of bought it and spent a little more to get all the parts necessary to use it.

I previously owned one of the original Magellan gps's. The unit never did function properly. That all changed when I purchased a new Magellan Explorist 600. This unit works beyond belief. You are probably wondering why I only gave it 4/5. The reason being was due to a glitch in the machine, software I would presume. I was thinking to myself oh no, not again. I contacted Magellan support and they helped me resolve the problem and the unit has worked flawlessly ever since. Many people give their support a bad wrap, I had great customer service. The good! This unit locks onto Satellites and stays locked on, even in very heavy cover, the 3-axis compass rotates and shows position very accurately. I compared it to a manual compass. Can even be held vertical. The map updates quite quickly with change of position. I have tried Geocaching and it is alot of fun. The unit is the perfect palm of your hand for easy toting. There are many other things you can do with this unit which I have not tried. Just wanted to let other know my experiences thus far, which I normally never do. Was it worth buying, you bet! Hope this helps.