Customer Reviews:
 Hard to use, gets lost in trees and has a short battery life August 5, 2006
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I've been using this unit for bike training, and I have to admit that I'm not impressed. The user interface is cumbersome, and the displays cannot be customized. For instance, I'd like to see a map, speed and trip distance on the same screen. No dice with this unit. You have to click NAV, then scroll through three screens then hit enter to see the trip odometer. Not easy to do while you're riding. All of the other features are just as cumbersome to use.
Lately I've been measuring it against a $40 cycle computer. The cyele computer wins hands down. The Explorist takes up to 10 minutes to acquire a position, and doesn't accurately report speed until it does. Out in the open, it works just fine, but once a few leaves (very few) get in the way, it gets totally lost, and can measure neither speed nor position. It just freezes on the last known position. One time I stopped under some trees and it registered my speed as 17.3 MPH for nearly two minutes while the bike was completely motionless.
Battery life is another problem. It takes 2 AA batteries, and they last about three hours when the unit is on. They last only for about 2 days if the unit is turned off the entire time!
 Magellan Explorist 200 August 3, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is my first GPS. I've had fun playing with it, and it does a great job of tracking. I bought it to find coordinates on USPS Topo maps, which it does perfectly. It also has built-in mapping of major highways and landmarks, such as lakes. It will show you exactly where you are on the highways and other areas. I couldn't be more satisfied.
 Magellan eXplorist 200 July 14, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I use my hand-held GPS units mainly for geocaching, hiking and hunting. I don't download any data into my GPS units, so I prefer more "basic" models. I started with a basic yellow Garmin eTrex, and it worked fine, except for losing satellite signals indoors, under heavy tree cover, and sometimes in the car. I just got my new Magellan 200 the other day, and it works great. I think it has several advantages over the Garmin: larger display screen, easier data entry, and it maintains a satellite signal indoors, under tree canopy, and in the car. Both my Garmin and Magellan work fine, but I would recommend Magellan if you are going into dense woods or into any other areas that might interfere with the satellite signal. My only complaint is that the Magellan doesn't have a carry strap like the Garmin.
An excellent entry-level GPS device June 10, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had been searching for a decent pedometer (for fitness walking) for a while and decided to give a GPS unit a try. I must say that I am impressed with the Magellan eXplorist in that it can tell me how many miles I have travelled as opposed to just counting steps; and being able to give me an indication of my speed is an added plus. I have also used the eXplorist in the car and found that it is generally able to pick up the satellites and get a fix if you leave the windows open (handy for checking speedometer accuracy). The menus and the navagation of the screens is fairly straight forward and I found that I was able to use most of the items without having to resort to the manual. I do, however, have to ding the eXplorist on a couple of items: First, the joystick is a bit clumsy to use - especially if entering a name for a Point of Interest. Second, some of the maps loaded into the unit appear to be out of date - at least for my area - as I saw one state highway on the map; GA 50; which was redesignated in my area as GA 520 about 15 or so years ago. Its not that big of an issue to me, but if you are using the unit for auotmobile navigation, you might want to keep it in mind when using the eXplorist 200. That not with standing, if you are looking for a decent entry-level GPS navagator at a decent price, the eXplorist 200 is certainly worth a look.
excellent for entry level geocaching May 24, 2006
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I've tried several GPS receivers, mostly loaned from friends, and settled for this one for various reasons. The main activity was going to be GEOCACHING with my children, and was planning to give it to them for use. I fully expect that the children will eventually break it, either from a fall, or whatever. I tried a friend's Garmin 60cs, which is a marvel of electronics and usability, but quite frankly, if my child was going to break it, its cost of over $400 would have given me a heart attack. I noticed that both Magellan and Garmin are pushing color displays, but at twice the price of the grayscale displays. That is really only needed for maps, to discriminate a state road from a local road. For geocaching, grayscale is good enough. From reading the previous reviews, one good comment made was on the fact that the 200 does not allow uploads or downloads (you'll need a 210 for that). But is it worth it $100 more ? the electronic compass can be replaced by a regular $10 compass, and the barometric altimeter is subject to atmospheric nuances that can make its reading inaccurate with a margin of error of 10 meters anyway. So I don't consider these two features a must-have. Also noted is that the color displays drain batteries much faster. Another reason for choosing this model. Also noted was that on long camping trips away from a rechargeable-from-car appliance, a model that uses disposable batteries is better than rechargeables. From reading the reports and reviews, I had some concerns on the time-to-first-signal (could be too long) and the accuracy of the position given, and loss of signal. It proved to be not a problem. As for the uploading of geocaching data, I am printing the pages describing the cache, printing a topo map, and then, entering them manually as I start a trip. Entered 20 coordinates in 30 minutes, and the joystick interface worked out great when picking the alphaletters to name the mark, better than with a Garmin. One beef I do however is that the names of the mark cannot be more than six chars long. The 210 allows up to 20. Life ain't perfect. To summarize, my biggest determinant on chossing this model was price, since I completely expect that the kids will break it. If it takes a year for that to happen, a hundred is a price I can live with for a year of activity. More than a hundred, I would get upset.
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