Customer Reviews

Magellan eXplorist 400 Water Resistant Hiking GPS

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Out of the box, this unit will not allow you most of it's excellent features, like turn by turn road directions, the ability to enter a regular postal address instead of GPS coordinates to get driving directions, or find out the nearest Chinese restaurant, gas station, or dozens of other places of interest near you, or near any city.

But once fully loaded, this device is like having a pocket sized internet browser, without the internet connection!

And when the restaurants, grocery stores, golf courses, parks, museums, etc, I search for come on the screen, they list the addresses and phone numbers of the establishments as well.

When you enter an address, by street and city, it knows the range of the number of the addresses for that street and you just need to edit it to the exact number address you want. As a road would come near that I had to turn at, the unit would beep slowly, and when I had come up to the intersection it beeped fast. The backlight also came on during times to turn, when it beeped, and then went off again on it's own, which would be great for night driving! (You can turn the beeps off if they annoy you)

You don't need to watch the display at all until a road comes up you need to turn at, and the unit will let you know (beeps and/or lights up) when that is, so you can just enjoy the drive and keep your eyes on the road! BIG TURN ARROWS show which way to go, and it even lets you know what the next street or road name is that will be the next turn in the trip.

Built in help screens, easy to navigate menus and features, I absolutely love this thing now that it works as it should have out of the box.

But even though I had to pay around $300 for it, (prices will be lower as time goes on) I wasn't able to do any of the great things I just reviewed with it.

First I had to pay another $150 for the "MapSend DirectRoute" software. (you can find it cheaper now at many sources) and without this software, you can not do any turn by turn directions or search for nearest Hospital or all the fun stuff I mentioned above.

I had to pay another $75 to get an SD memory card so that I could install the maps into the GPS unit with the software. (These are also always coming down in price)

After spending an additional couple hundred dollars, I still couldn't load the maps into the unit, because even though it states clearly that it is compatible with Windows98SE, it is not.

I have two computers with Win98SE, and I could do everything up to the point of loading the final converted map files into the GPS unit, and that it would not do.

I had to wait for a friend to bring over his XP laptop so that I could load a few maps into my GPS and loading time was very long too, and this was on the latest and fastest computer. However, it is not only loading streets, rivers, train tracks and map info, but phone numbers and addresses of every restaurant, airport, museum, etc too, so there is a lot of info it is storing in the GPS.

Turns out the software was made before the Magellin Explorist models existed, so you need to install yet more software so that the end map files can be properly converted and loaded into the Explorist GPS unit. Some of the instructions you read will make no sense, and you have to read other papers that tell you what to do different with the Explorist, since the instructions are for other Magellan units that work differently.

So read EVERYTHING first before loading maps or installing software. Yeah, not fun, but neccissary, because if you go by the wrong directions, it isn't going to work. It will only allow you to load ONE map area, when in fact, you can load several different map definition areas into the GPS.

You can't load the whole country into your GPS either, it won't all fit. At most, you will get one state or two, but if you just save certain areas of certain states or areas you will be going to, this it will allow you to do. I put in all the specific areas of the only 5 states I travel to, and they all fit on the 512 MB SD card with lots of extra room to spare.

You can buy even more SD cards and store as many states and areas as you want, or delete ones you had loaded and load in more, but this requires computer connection, which I don't have, since it doesn't like Win98.

Now I need a car mount and bike mount which should cost be at least another $50 or so. Then more money for the cigarette lighter power supply.

Oh, and none of the stores the Magellan website lists as carrying these accessories carries them. The web site listed stores like Radio Shack, Walmart, Sams Club, etc, and NONE of the stores listed carry any of the accessories for the explorists. (at time of this review)

So total, I think it ended up costing more than double for this thing, and hours of grief figuring out and loading software, but in the end, this thing is really great now!

I still have to do an additional accuracy test, because even with added WAAS system, the display giving current accuracy never reads better than 30 feet at any time, even when tracking around 8 sattelites, while my cheap Garmin Geko for $50 tells me 15 feet or better accuracy. (Not to say that what each unit is reporting is actual fact)

In doing three quick Geocaches, this unit led me directly to the exact location of the caches to the exact spot. I just walked right up to all 3 of them imediately with this thing, so it is much more accurate than 30 feet, I don't know why the thing doesn't ever report better than 30 feet accuracy when it is MUCH better than that.

One other complaint would be that this unit uses a rechargable pack and won't take batteries. If you are out Geocaching and the rechargable goes dead, then what do you do? I will be purchasing the cig lighter car charger.

They should have used a normal DC power connector instead of the bizzare screw in one, but they did this to keep the unit entirely sealed to keep water out. Regular power jacks would let water in, but I won't be swimming or showering with mine, so I would rather have had the traditional power jack and plug.

Hopefully one day soon, someone will make a GPS unit that comes preloaded with all of the US maps from the factory.

Since no one does this yet, I can't really knock this particular brand or model for all the extra work and expense I had to put into it, since any other brand or model would have most likely made me do the same thing.

In the end, it finally does what it was designed to do, and it is working great!

It even gives you accurate time to the second (which it gets from sattelite and is right on with my atomic clock) the date, and tells you the sunrise/sunset times and rise and set of the Moon as well. (and that it does straight out of the box)

There is a base map that IS in this unit straight out of the box that does list major roads (just not small residential roads) but the turn by turn directions feature will not work until you buy the MapSend DirectRoute software and load it into the unit.

I used the unit out of the box for a few months before I was able to get the detailed maps loaded into it, and still had tons of fun with it, but now it is just amazing and has tons of extra features opened up since loading the detailed maps.

Another thing with the software... It asks for the serial number of the GPS unit you have, so if you want to buy two of these units, the software will only work for ONE unit not the other as it checks the serial number of the unit during connection to the computer.

The unit, right out of the box, and without a computer, will let you enter in your name, address and phone number, so if it gets lost, someone finding it can know who it belongs to.

The fact of all the time and extra expense would have dropped the total score of this item to a 2. But I had to give it a 4 because now that it is loaded, this thing is really great!

At the time I got mine, Magellan did not offer preloaded SD cards with specific areas or states, but they may in the future, who knows.

TIP:
The unit came with a plastic film over the screen (like most digital watches and digital camera LCD screens do) meant to be peeled off and thrown away after purchase and I just left it on. I can wipe it off easy and it keeps the screen protected.

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UPDATE
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When trying to find the cigarette lighter car charger for the eXplorist units, the photos online always show a connector that does not look right for this unit. Turns out that you need to use the AC charger/USB cable that came with the unit and the AC part unplugs, revealing the connector that you plug the cigarette lighter connector into.

In other words, the car charger doesn't plug into the GPS, it plugs into the cable that comes with the unit, and THAT screws on the back of the GPS.

However, this means you need to bring the whole big USB cable mess into the car. I did find a place that sells an extra cable, so I can leave one whole mess in the car, and the AC charger cable in the house. I suggest getting the extra cable, because if you lose the one, you can't ever charge the GPS in the house anymore either. Plus if one goes bad, you have an extra ready.

I also found out this unit can tell me where the closest ATM machines are, even ones that are from my specific bank. (when mapsend software is installed)

The eXplorist 400 also has the feature of being able to save Geocaching coordinates direct from a computer (along with hints and notes for paperless caching) but since it doesn't work with Win98se, I am not able to use or review that feature. However, even though I have to enter coordinates manually, I can also enter in the hints or Geocache descriptions, and they show up when searching the Geocache, so you don't have to bring any paper printouts with you. (thus the term "paperless cache")

I also use this to put phone numbers and addresses into saved coordinates, to make sure I know which house number I am walking up to when visting a house for the first time, or call a business to make sure it is open before driving out to it.

Explorist 400 GPS is an upgrade from my previous GPSr, a Garmin Geko 201. I use my GPS for geocaching, tracking hiking and fishing waypoints, as well as a navigation aid while driving.

Pros:

Background and detail maps available
Expandable memory; I have a 1GB SD card in mine
Doesn't lose satellite reception in woods as much as my Garmin did
Long battery life (minimum 12 hours+)
Lightweight, floats and is water-resistant
Hasn't led me wrong yet

Cons:

Had to get separate software to be useful for navigation while driving (MapSend DirectRoute North America)
Proper orientation of USB cable on GPS was confusing at first, but that got straigtened out quickly by a visit to the Magellan website
Full instruction manual is in PDF form, not booklet. More of a nitpick con, really.


Recommendations:
Large capacity SD memory card (256MB minimum if using downloaded maps)
Protection for LCD screen. Either a product like InvisibleShield or at a minimum, a carrying case (I have both)
Once you get your GPS, go to Magellan's website to download latest firmware update. The site also has a diagram for the proper orientation of the USB cable to the GPS.

All in all, I am very pleased with my purchase and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other people.

I've purchased both Garmin and Magellan GPS receivers, used almost exclusively for geocaching. Magellan has proven superior for many reasons. First, the user interface is much more intuitive and easy-to-read. Satellite acquisition also seems to be much quicker. Finally, with the Garmin, satellite reception seems to be lost very easily with even limited overhead tree cover -- the Magellan maintains a signal.

My Magellan Explorist 400 was recently stolen and I'm replacing it with the same exact model. I can't live without it!

My pro/con list looks the same as that of gfisher so I'll not repeat it. If you buy this, make sure to go to the Magellan website and download the PDF version of the COMPLETE user guide. What they include in the box is just the Readers Digest version. You'll be glad to have it.

I really enjoy the 400 and found that up grading from the 200 was a good move. Acuracy is pure magellan, EXCELLENT! No matter what the model. The extras here I like are the optional SD card for adding more detailed maps and most of all the NMEA output so you can use it with Microsoft steet and trips or any other preferred software. Very durable as expected with all the explorist models, adding the mapsend 3d topo usa program for another $70.00 (+-) made this gps perform like a race horse! The only thing I think should be included is a dc power cable. The other slight issue, did not have anything to do with the gps, but the user! Shop around, these models are often in a bundle, what I paid totally for it including software was far more than the current "wilderness bundle" now offered with software, carrying case, power cable etc. Regardless, you will be pleased I know I am, me and my son have had some good geocaching times with both the 200 and 400!

Needed this to find some survey markers on some land I just bought. It came 21Mar2007, I unpacked it, and surprise, NO AC CHARGER IN THE BOX, only a piece of paper to mail in for a "free" AC charger. This despite Amazon saying there's an AC charger in the box and the box itself saying there's an "AC Cable" inside (as well as a "USB Cable").

What IS in the box is:
1 Explorist 400
1 oddball "USB to Magellan GPS non-standard connector" with a doodad half way up to plug in power supply from a real AC adaptor.
1 Lithium Ion Battery
1 battery carrier doodad which accept 3 AAA batteries and fits where the Lithium Ion battery would go IF you could ever charge that sucker up.
2 manuals and a "Read Me First" sheet all of which assume you have a proper AC adaptor and make no mention of the doodad which accepts the 3 AAA cells.
2 CD's, one with software and one with maps you can't use unless you buy an "unlock" from Magellans website.
A piece of paper to mail in for a "free" AC adaptor that connects to the oddball USB cable half way up.
Also, on the box (underneath a peel-off sticker) and not properly in it, is a coupon code and instructions for getting 3D Topo maps of the continental USA at a big discount(apparently Magellan doesn't think Alaska is US territory).

Got on the phone with Magellan, berated the customer service rep, and was promised a "free" charger via UPS in a week or so (not good enough for me because I needed it NOW to do what I need in enchanted New Mexico before leaving next week).

I put 3 AAA's in the battery carrier doodad, installed that instead of the Lithium Ion battery, hit the on switch and the thing lit up.

Next step, connect the USB cable plug one standard end into laptop and clamp the oddball 6-contact connector on the other end to the GPS unit. This connector is NOT foolproof and CAN be clamped on 180 degrees out of proper alignment. Found that out when the laptop wouldn't find the GPS unit. The cable goes backwards from the direction a mouse cable goes, back under the unit instead of out away from your hand, even though there's a catch on the connector which might (but does not) engage a recess on the GPS unit when you connect the cable like a mouse would like it's cable connected. Admittedly the manual DOES show how the cable should properly (but not obviously) be connected backwards from how a mouse cable would be.

Finally got the thing to communicate with the laptop. File transfer works fine, with the usual "your GPS unit (or camera or cell phone or whatever) appears as an external disk drive" behavior.

Bought the unlock for the 3D topo map at the discount price from Magellan over the web for the discounted $9.95, subsequently discovered the map software expects a COM serial connection and doesn't recognize the Explorist's perfectly good presence at the end of the USB wire. Put that problem away for later.

Whomped up some coordinates for survey stakes from county maps, USGS maps, USGS aerial photos, Google Earth sat-photos, etc, etc, starting from township corner on the USGS map and matching trees on the USGS aerial and the Google sat-photos to locate the corner in Google Earth. Measured from the township corner to locate a slew of lot corners in Google Earth.

Went to transfer the coordinates to Magellan GPS data files and found that the Magellan files use a quirky coordinate encoding. Here's a sample file:
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$PMGNWPL,3551.817,N,10638.598,W,0002411,M,JOE'S GRAVE,,a*17
$PMGNWPL,3551.827,N,10638.629,W,0002398,M,DAVE'S CHAIR,,a*5B
$PMGNCMD,END*3D
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Turns out the algorithm is 100 times the degrees plus the minutes expressed as a decimal number, so "3551.817" means "35 degrees 51.817 minutes". I put together a spreadsheet to convert degrees-as-decimal-numbers to the Magellan format and after some cut-and-paste fork and file switching I had a nice rectangular array of property corner location-estimate POI's showing on the Explorist 400 screen.

Drove ~100 miles to the property area (Buckman, NM) and zeroed in on the township corner with the GPS unit within 10 feet LIKE A CHAMP!!! Found another survey marker, then the AAA batteries (depleted by hours of experimentation and learning exercises) went south and the display locked up and the buttons stopped working. Put in fresh batteries, pushed the on button, NOTHING! Howled at desert sky and cursed Magellan roundly. Enlisted the help of Paul the friendly hippy hermit, the ONLY resident of Buckman, NM, and with his magnetic compass and knowledge of the land, pacing off distances, we found some more BLM survey markers. As daylight waned Paul went one way and I went another midst the cactus and the pinon trees. Sat down, checked the batteries in the GPS unit, reversed them (the battery carrier is NOT marked with polarity indications) and IT CAME BACK TO LIFE with no data loss!!!

Paul hollered he had found a marker 2 lots away from my lot. I marked it's coordinates with the GPS unit, set the cursor to the estimated true location of the NW corner of Lot 180 of Section 31 of T19NR18E township, and the GPS unit took us to the old (1961) BLM marker (hiding under a Pinon tree with no flagging or lathe to keep it company, just south of where I estimated the night before) within 10 feet! BINGO!!!

I am currently trying to figure out whether the Lithium Ion Battery can be charged using the power provided by the laptop through the USB cable. The unit's batery charged indicator says the thing is connected to external power when the USB cable is hooked up. So far the results are inconclusive, I'll check again in the morning. (Checked in the morning - the thing CAN be charged off PC power via the USB cable! See my comment to this review.)

In summary, what is in the box is not what you may expect, you may get a unit with no charger, lots of stuff is NOT covered in the manuals, the battery indicator ALWAYS says 100% when running on AAA cells and polarity is not marked on the AAA carrier, the built in base map shows only major roads (freeways, etc), and the map software Magellan sells/unlocks is not obviously compatible with USB devices (although there may be a way to solve this, just not an OBVIOUS one).

OK, given all of that, when you get the hang of it, this thing works very, VERY well. As long as the battery lasts, anyway.

I bought this GPS because my Magellan Sport Track Pro was crushed. Long story.

This unit is easy to use, and it has most functions that most people will want to use. It does have a few minor issues that most people will not have a problem with, but I do not like.

First of all you can set only set the elevation, distance and speed to either metric or U.S. On my sport track pro you could set speed to MPH, distance to km and elevation to feet. I can think distance in km, but not elevation. Some maps have the elevation (index countour lines) in feet and others in meters. It's pretty simple to change back and forth, but I like the option of setting elevation to what map I am using, distance to km and speed to mph. No matter what GPS unit you use with whatever map software you should ALWAYS have a "real" map if you are going off the beaten path.

The second issue with this GPS is it has a rechargeable battery. For most people who are out for a day hike this is not a problem. I may be away from any electrical power source for days on end. I like to be able to throw a couple of fresh AA batteries in and keep going. You can not do this with this GPS. On a positive note battery life is excellent and as stated should be more than enough for a day hiker.

Using SD cards the memory is only limited to the storage capacity of your card. This is a great feature for downloading maps and saving waypoints. You will never have to worry about storage space.

The only con to the SD card is you have to remove the back and put the card in a slot under the battery. Not a major problem, but it does take a minute if you want/have to change cards.

The unit is rugged and waterproof. I would suggest getting a screen protector (you can buy ones for a PDA and cut them down) because the screen will scratch if you are careless.

If you want to use this in your vehicle you will need a charger/power cable. You can get one here on Amazon, but you will also have to use the cable that comes with the unit. The only cigarette power cables I have seen plug into the cord that comes with the charger/USB cable for your computer. That cable has a USB plug that you do not use unless it is connected to your computer. You wind up with about three feet of useless USB cable hanging on your dash. Magellan needs to come up with a different power cable.

I am going to sell mine and get one that uses regular AA batteries. Because this unit is rechargeable I only give it three stars.

The Magellan eXplorist 400 is a feature packed Global Positioning Satellite receiver that should be seriously considered before any other if you want accessories such as memory expandability and PC connectivity to upload topographic and/or street maps to your GPS -- all at a value price point.

While this model can be used for car travel, the eXplorist 400 is a compact, handheld unit that's intended for hiking, orienteering and other fun in the great outdoors. It weighs about six ounces with a backlit B&W screen that's the size of a closed paper matchbook. Backlight is red and settings are low, high and off; the display is easy to see and use in the dark, but it does run the battery down quickly. According to the Magellan website, a fully charged battery will last up to 8 hours using the full backlight. With the backlight off, the battery will last up to 17 hours of continuous use; that's about three hours longer than the usual rating of about 14 hours for a pair of AA alkaline batteries.

The eXplorist 400 model provides virtually unlimited memory expansion with the Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot (an SD card is about the size of a postage stamp); it's located inside the unit under the rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. The method for charging the battery is to attach the PC USB connection cable to the GPS unit and then plug either the AC adapter or DC car charger into the cable; proper orientation of the PC cable to the back of the unit is not covered in the paper Basic User Manual that comes in the box, but it is in the Reference Manual that's on the installation CD. Included software comes with a MapSend Manager and Conversion program that is only compatible with Windows 2000 and above so you can use MapSend, Magellan's topographic and street mapping/routing software that pre-dates the eXplorist series. It comes on CD-ROM that runs on your PC, and you need the above noted utilities to upload maps to your GPS.

The unit is a lot of fun to use while the action buttons, menus and display are fairly intuitive; there's a lot to cover regarding usage so you will want to spend some time experimenting with it before venturing too far afield. Once you do, however, you will find it to be accurate and confidence inspiring. While the packaging says the unit is waterproof to IPX7 rating (a European test specification), it only covers accidental immersion in just over three feet of water for about thirty minutes. The battery compartment lid doesn't look watertight enough to meet this specification even though there's a gasket under the lid around the opening for the battery/SD memory slot, so just be careful with it around water.

GPS units generally have a fairly high learning curve, and the more you want to do with them the more complicated they become. Magellan models have a quality feel to them, but the documentation and website you need to use leaves something to be desired because they have a lot of gaps.

As always, appreciate the beauty of life in the outdoors while staying safe!

I've been using GPS devices for nearly 15 years. This device is very cool. If you are planning on using it for Geocaching, consider getting the Magellan Mapsend DirectRoute in the US. I also purchased the Mapsend TOPO thinking that is what would work best for Geocaching.

Unfortunately, getting to the AREA of the cache is often difficult in urban environments. The DirectRoute is MUCH better with this device as it will get you to the general area and then you can switch to direct arrow once you are out of the car!

I purchased the Explorist 400 with Mapsend for wilderness travel. Getting the detailed maps set up were far from intuitive, taking several hours to figure it out, and I am computer literate. Once set up, it did function well for four days in backcountry, then the screen froze into tiny dots. I was able to reset it, but since then it cannot effectively pick up satellite signals -- it will find, maybe, one signal even if standing in a clearing. Either the antenna or some other electronic component is defective. A reload of software did nothing.

I contacted Thales customer support, and my email was ignored, other than a form email telling me I would receive a response in 24 hours. Maybe the email went to the Bizarro universe, but I'm still waiting for my reply.

Any piece of electronic gear can be defective, but the poor integration with detailed maps and a total zero for customer support earns this product ZERO STARS.

Buy the Trex instead.

I agree with other reviews. This unit is totally useless unless you buy additional mapping software...and a memory expansion card. So consider that in the overall purchase price.
My unit from Amazon came with a map software purchase coupon for $9.99 (this offer may be expired by now).
Battery life is excellent
Backlight is excellent. (has two levels of brightness)
Satellite tracking is excellent (I typically track 9-10 even in the woods. There has only been two times when I lost tracking and then I was in a deep ravine with almost total tree cover.)
Display is good. Grayscale...I keep on high resolution all the time. Makes for a slight delay in zoom speed, but resolution benefits outweigh speed issues.
For those of you who may chicken out and buy a model 200 or 100...buy this one. You will need the expansion card option.
My advice...download the entire owners manual from the Magellan web site (PDF format) and study it well. Then begin to play around with this unit. Get involved in Geocaching too. It will help you learn more of the features faster.
I have also used this unit for a travel GPS. Signal remains strong even inside a mini van.
I don't really have a "CON" to write about this unit. It is a great "first purchase" GPS. Durable, fits in pocket, and good controls.