UPDATE 2: Read my hands on review of the Magellan eXplorist 710.
UPDATE: Here’s some screenshots and a discussion of capabilities and accepted map formats.
As expected following the success of the Magellan eXplorist GC, the company today announced several new additions to their updated handheld platform: the Magellan eXplorist 510, 610 and 710.
Each model comes equipped with a 3.2 megapixel geotagging camera, along with a microphone and speaker for field notes. They sport a 3.0” color screen, which is significantly larger than the eXplorist GC’s 2.2” screen. The new models include a pre-loaded “World Edition” map that features a full road network for the US, Canada, Western Europe and Australia. Release is slated for the fourth quarter of 2010.
The new eXplorist x10 series adds Magellan’s popular OneTouch favorites menu found on their recent auto units, “enabling users to instantly access bookmarked locations, searches, and functions.”
Here’s the skinny on the differences:
- Magellan eXplorist 510 – The base model includes expandable memory, paperless geocaching, and a rated 16 hour battery life; MSRP $349.99
- Magellan eXplorist 610 – Adds a tri-axial compass and barometric altimeter; MSRP $449.99
- Magellan eXplorist 710 – Adds a “highly detailed” topographic map and turn-by-turn directions; MSRP $549.99
This is welcome news. The company did a very good job with the eXplorist GC and it appears that we will once again have several companies marketing quality handheld outdoor GPS receivers, which is a big win for the GPS consumer.
Here’s the full news release:
Magellan® Launches Next Generation of eXplorist® Outdoor Handheld GPS Devices
Rugged, Waterproof Navigation Devices Are Designed to Enable Recording, Geotagging and Sharing of Outdoor Adventures
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire/ — Magellan today unveiled the next generation of its award-winning, rugged eXplorist handheld GPS devices for the outdoor recreation market.
The new eXplorist 510, 610 and 710 devices allow adventurers to navigate to outdoor destinations worldwide, capture geotagged photos along the way, and share their experiences online when they return home. Each eXplorist model combines high-sensitivity GPS, an intuitive user interface, easy-to-read mapping and accurate navigation. The new series of handheld GPS units are being revealed at the OutDoor Trade Fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and will be available to consumers in North America, Europe, and many other countries worldwide in the 4th quarter, 2010.
"With the popularity of social networks, the GPS industry is shifting towards more online experience sharing," said Justin Doucette, Director, Outdoor Product Marketing, Magellan. "There are many sites that allow for geographic and multimedia data to be posted and shared with others. The eXplorist series allows users to bring their adventures home with them, catalog for future reference, and share online with family and friends."
All three new eXplorist handheld GPS units come equipped with a camera, microphone, and speaker to enable users to record and share their adventures with friends.
Each eXplorist device features a 3.0-inch color touch screen, a 3.2 mega-pixel camera with auto-focus, microphone and speaker to record geo-referenced images, videos, and voice notes. All products in the eXplorist series are waterproof (IPX-7) and come preloaded with the most detailed worldwide map in the industry. Magellan’s World Edition map includes a complete road network for the U.S., Canada, Western Europe and Australia, as well as water features, urban and rural land use, and a realistic shaded relief background.
The top-of-the-line eXplorist 710 combines the best of on-road and off-road navigation. Built-in maps get adventurers from doorstep to trailhead to summit and back. The eXplorist 710 includes both Magellan’s highly detailed Summit Series topographic map and its City Series turn-by-turn map which allows users to navigate their vehicles through busy city streets on their way to their outdoor adventures. The eXplorist 610 and 710 feature a 3-axis electronic compass and a barometric altimeter that provide precise orientation, accurate elevation information, and enables for weather pattern tracking.
Each model in the eXplorist series also includes several innovative features, such as Magellan’s award-winning OneTouch(TM) favorites menu, enabling users to instantly access bookmarked locations, searches, and functions. The industrial design incorporates silent proximity alarms. And, to complement the 3.0-inch touch screen, each device has two customizable hard buttons to take a photograph, mark a waypoint, or provide quick access to a number of other preferred features.
The new eXplorist devices also include essential outdoor features such as expandable memory, paperless geocaching, GPX compatibility, 16 hours of battery life, high sensitivity GPS enabling 3-5 meters of accuracy, vertical profiling, a digital almanac, track summary statistics and area calculation.
The Magellan eXplorist 510 GPS device will be introduced at an M.S.R.P. of USD $349.99, the eXplorist 610 at an M.S.R.P. of USD $449.99, and the eXplorist 710 at an M.S.R.P. of USD $549.99. The units will ship with a standard mini USB cable and 2 lithium disposable AA batteries. With the purchase of a Magellan® eXplorist GPS device customers will receive a 30-day free premium membership tohttp://geocaching.com/.
The new generation of eXplorist GPS handheld devices joins several other new introductions by Magellan this year in the outdoor navigation market. The eXplorist GC, a device 100% dedicated to geocaching, and the ToughCase(TM), a device that transforms your iPhone or iPod Touch into a rugged, handheld GPS device, were launched earlier this year.
About Rich Owings
Great! Now if they will only support it after the sale.
Rick
Yeah, support seems to still be a weakness for them.
This pretty much confirms that the Triton line is dead; according to the Triton Forum, they announced at GeoWoodstock that there wouldn’t be any more firmware upgrades for that line.
I’m concerned about the effects of the higher resolution and touchscreen on screen visibility. Even Garmin has realized that’s a serious issue for many people, and have released the 62/78 series that backs off from both touch and high resolution in favor of being able to see the screen in full sunlight. The lack of raster imagery is probably a dealbreaker for me.
I haven’t seen resolution specs yet. I hope it’s not too high. I think that is a bigger factor in brightness than the touch screen layer. I saw a report that they will accept .rmp raster format maps… http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?s=&showtopic=254787&view=findpost&p=4401133
I saw that, too, but there’s no mention of that in either the press release or the specs on the product pages. Not sure where they’re getting that information.
They do have one feature that Garmin should definitely copy on their touchscreen units – two programmable hardware buttons for quick access to desired features.
Seems to me that only an uninformed buyer would sink this amount of money (about equal with Oregon series) into an unproven product backed by a company notorious for terrible customer service and lack of support/upgrades after the sale. On the other hand, I hope magellan has turned things around. Would be nice to have a viable alternative to Garmin. Also, I am dubious about Mio’s dedication to the Magellan line.
I’ve updated this post with a couple of interesting links, showing screenshots and a good discussion of accepted map formats.
Looks pricey on those units. But it should noted that Magellan is currently owned by MiTac which seems to be serious about putting out a quality product. The previous owners of Magellan was something called Shah Capital Partners which ran Magellan into the ground with the Triton line and gutting their car unit lines as well. I own a Explorist GC and while it’s a good unit, the Delorme PN-30 costs about the same but gives far more features.
The quality of Magellan units has improved quite a bit in the past year. Now they need to work on their support and service, which is still pretty bad.
I’m not sure its quite fair to compare pricing of a recently released unit with one that is officially discontinued. Wait a few months and I bet you’ll see the GC for $150 or less.
The Triton 2000 is the biggest piece of crap I’ve ever owned, absolutely the worst purchase I’ve ever made. Repaired under warranty but still NEVER delivered on half of the so-called revolutionary features it claimed to have. Will the new owners and the new models be worth it? I got wind of a trade-in program. We’ll see. Magellan has sunk so low it will take an extraordinary device to turn that around.
Yeah, the Triton was pretty bad. I was impressed with the eXplorist GC and am hoping to have a 710 in hand for testing in the next few days, so stay tuned.
I’ve stayed tuned. Any quess when you’ll be posting a review for the 710?
No later than January 31, but perhaps as soon as Jan. 25 or 26.
MiTAC now owns Magellan and they are headquartered in Taiwan.
Garmin is headquartered in Olathe, KS USA
Any questions? I think I would rather call for support to KS vs Taiwan.
Actually Garmin is now a Swiss company. Guess it was a better tax shelter than the Caymans where they were based until last year.
Are Magellan’s call centers in the US or Taiwan or…?
i see no one asking and im done searching so i thought i would just ask. after you buy the gps do you get free maps after?
Many auto units come with lifetime map updates. Handhelds don’t. I don’t think there is any way to update the basemap in the Magellan eXplorist line, even by paying for them, though you can buy full-blown highway maps for them with turn-by-turn directions…
http://www.magellangps.com/Maps/Outdoor-Maps