Customer Reviews

Magellan eXplorist 500LE Water Resistant Hiking GPS

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Unit has a great display, is accurate, and easy to navigate, fast response time recognizing movements, but. . .

The optional maps are very inadequate for my fishing interests. Too few lakes, don't even have floating nav aids along northern Lake Huron, no water depths there either.

I am pretty computer savvy, but it's taken me over a month to get the file system and POI's/geocaches organized and working right. I'm not sure what is going on with the "computer style" filing system, but while it is a good idea, it appears unreliable, with files mysteriously disappearing, only sometimes reappearing. There may be something about the setup or use of the device I havne't figured out yet, and the support web site is useless.

Here is an example of the problems: I couldn't get my computer to recognize the unit (USB connection). I tried and tried everything I knew, and finally tried their phone support. I kept getting put on hold for long periods, then finally called their sales number for a RA to return it. I said I either needed to return it or get a computer expert to help me. They got me a computer expert who spent over 45 minutes with me to no avail. I finally inadvertently disconnected the phone line, waited 15 minutes for her to call me, she didn't, so I called again. I asked for the same person, but the person on the line said she would connect me but wanted to ask a question first: "In what direction is the USB cord going out of the connection to the GPS, across the unit or out away from the unit?" I said away from the unit. She said reverse it. I did and the computer recognized it in an instant, and has every time since. Why should a cord be installable in two directions, work only in 1?

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.

I bought this and needed some help understanding the software. Confusing websites. When you call, you can't understand the service people who speak English very poorly. It's a real headache to figure out what they are saying. Magellan is not a customer-friendly company, and they don't seem to say much more than scripted comments. I just didn't like dealing with Magellan.

The unit worked well until the SD cover broke off. Battery compartment is hard to remove to get to the SD card. I returned the GPS to the store for a refund and am trying to figure out what to buy next. Maybe I should wait for a company that will make their GPS Mac compatible. The GPS industry overall seems ten years behind the times on dealing with the public.

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.

The gps works good but comes with very little instructions. However most can be downoaded as a PDF from the Magellan website(of course they don't tell you that anywhere in the package)
I suggest not using the backlight, it will run out the batteries in 3 hrs and without it you get a little more time from AA's, go for the lithium. I purchased all the chargers for the gps, however all must be plugged into the usb cable with is a bit cumbersome to attach.
Would still recommend this for the hunter and outdoors man.

I purchased this unit from REI. They always stand behind their products. Thanks goodness! If you read a couple of the other reviews you'll see... SD Card door broke off, battery hard to remove, downloading cache info is difficult and transfers with limited info. Been there, done that! Battery door removal is a joke. Taking mine back today and buying Garmin eTrex Vista HCx. $50 more but not designed like a toy. Buy Garmin if you're looking for a hand held. Oh, and if you need help with your Garmin, you'll be speaking with someone who speaks English.

I rec'd an Explorist 500 LE for Xmas. Right off the bat I've been pretty thrilled with it. It does its job great! Its fairly intuitive and easy to use. Accuracy is amazing!
BUT...
1) Its a battery hog. 3 Alkaline AAA's last about 6 hours. 8 hours with lights and alarms off. Titanium batteries are 5 hours better Lithium will give you 16.
2) You have to purchase every scrap of software that's "included" at $149.99 a pop. Included is not what it seems.
3) "No access fees" to what exactly I don't know.
4) Product documentation and support is a joke. The USB cable is proprietary instead of a regular mini and the mounting port is ambiguous so that attachment of the cable can help but be wrong. You end up calling support, yes India, and it took six phone calls and 12 hours for them to tell me my cable was upside down.
Tt seems to be a great functioning unit, but I believe I really would have rather had a Garmin eTrex. Watch out for the misleading product packaging and bait and switch accessories offer.

this is the second gps I have owned. the usb cable is a major problem,It wont let your computer recognize it.I rebooted everything to no avail. what a piece of junk!!!
The 210 model is a better unit.I bought the 500Le thinking it would be easy and a good upgrade NOT. I am buying a Garmin. Allen

Flimsy internal battery carrier snapped. Found one on that E site for MUCH less than Magellan would cost. Magellan support offers friendly people who want to help you, no really they do. But wanting to, and actually being able to, are entirely different things.

This is my 1st GPS and bought from Costco for [...]. I figured if its as bad as they say I can return it. First off, the entire connection to the USB port is a non-issue once you figure out that the moron that developed it put tabs on the plug that lead you to install it upside down. After an hour of messing with it, I tried it the other way and it instantly worked and has ever since. I think this is why so many people have problems connecting it to the PC. The unit seems to be accurate, but sometimes gives screwey distances. If you scroll thru the menu it corrects itself (dont know if all GPS units do this or not). The "windows file system" is very difficult to figure out where files are sent to and how to find them again. Its much easier to use points of interest and locate them by area, alphabetically, or by distance. This unit can use AAA or the li-ion battery which I dont have but will soon get because like other reviewers, it eats batteries quick.

All in all, it seems like an OK product with some glitches. Without another GPS to compare it to I give it a 3 due to the poor file navigation interface.