Sunday, March 18, 2012

Magellan eXplorist PRO 10

Magellan-eXplorist-PRO-710A little over two years ago, MiTAC purchased the consumer products division of the old Magellan Navigation company. The latter went on to become known as Ashtech, continuing to sell professional grade GPS receivers under the MobileMapper brand. I don’t know if there was a two-year non-compete clause or if that doesn’t apply in this case, but MiTAC’s Magellan GPS is back in the game as of today, announcing the Magellan eXplorist PRO 10.

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Magellan eXplorist 710 review

Magellan eXplorist 710

Magellan reinvents the handheld GPS interface

The Magellan eXplorist 710 is the top of the line unit in Magellan’s new eXplorist x10 series, offering a preloaded topo map and turn-by-turn directions, allowing it to serve as a dual-purpose unit. It also includes a barometric altimeter and tri-axial electronic compass.

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Magellan eXplorist 310 announced

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UPDATE: See my hands on Magellan eXplorist 310 review.

The Magellan eXplorist 310 has been announced ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, bringing an entry-level model to the new eXplorist handheld GPS line. The 310 utilizes the same hardware as the eXplorist GC, which has a smaller, non-touch screen as opposed to the eXplorist 510, 610 and 710. As an aside, I’ll have a hands on review of the eXplorist 710 posted in the next few weeks.

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Magellan eXplorist 510, 610 and 710 unleashed

Magerllan-eXplorist-710
UPDATE 3: Read my hands on review of the Magellan eXplorist 510

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.

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Magellan eXplorist GC review

Magellan-eXplorist-GC-review

Hands on with the Magellan eXplorist GC

The Magellan eXplorist GC is a new introduction designed to do one thing well – geocache! It has a 2.2” color (non-touch) screen, 18 hour (rated) battery life and a highly detailed  worldwide basemap. And while it isn’t designed for backcountry navigation, it can accommodate 500 waypoints and a 5,000 point tracklog. Really though, the eXplorist GC is a one-trick pony aimed at geocachers, with a low and sure to be discounted MSRP of $199.99.

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Magellan eXplorist GC first looks

Magellan-eXplorist-GC

UPDATE: I’ve posted my hands-on review of the Magellan eXplorist GC.

Magellan is announcing a new handheld today – the eXplorist GC, which is designed specifically for geocaching. I’ll have a full review up soon but I wanted to go ahead and give you a sneak peek.

The eXplorist GC is set up for full paperless caching, meaning there’s no need to print out a bunch of info from geocaching.com before heading out. Perhaps the nicest feature in this respect is the ability to sort / filter caches in just about any way and combination you can imagine.

The interface is pretty intuitive. In my early testing I’ve been fairly impressed and think Magellan may have a winner here. I’ve included a couple of screen shots showing the filter feature below to whet your appetite for the full review. In the interim, is there anything specific that you want to know about the eXplorist GC? Chime in below and I’ll try to include it.

Expected to be available next month, the eXplorist GC is priced at $199.99 (MSRP).

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Magellan Triton custom maps

Triton_ozice_and_nav_n_go

There’s been a lot of progress recently on making custom maps for the Magellan Triton series. For any of you with these handhelds, here are some resources to check out…

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Screen visibility problems on the new generation of handhelds

Triton_and_colorado

UPDATE: Screen visibility took a major leap forward recently with the Garmin Oregon 450, and it appears that later production runs of the 550 series now include the improved screen.

The new Garmin Colorado and Magellan Triton series (and now the Garmin Oregon too) have higher resolution screens than anything we’ve seen before in handheld GPS receivers. But those gorgeous and detailed displays come at a cost. Many early adopters have been surprised by the decreased visibility of these units in their natural habitat — the great outdoors.

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Magellan Triton 1500 review

Magellan_triton_1500

The Magellan Triton 1500 is one of a new series of handheld GPS receivers from Magellan that can display USGS topo maps (raster imagery) from National Geographic. I’ve had the unit for over six weeks now and have put it through its paces.

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Magellan Triton 1500 – First impressions

Magellan_triton_1500_2UPDATE: Read my Magellan Triton 1500 review.

I’ve had a few days to try my new Magellan Triton 1500 and have decided to post some initial impressions, since a full review isn’t likely till after the holidays.

Cable snafu

After a stumbling introduction, Magellan seems to be going the extra mile to assist folks who received units without cables (short of moving their tech support back to the U.S.!). If you were one of the unlucky recipients of a Triton 1500 sans cable, email me at rich at makeyourownmaps dot com and I’ll try to put you in touch with someone who can help.

Hardware

The Triton 1500 fits nicely in my hand and feels solid. I like the touch screen and am finding it relatively easy to move back and forth between it and the button controls. I am not finding it necessary to use the stylus that often.

The buttons are stiff, and will take a little getting used to. They are backlit, which is a nice feature. One of the worst things I can say about the hardware at this point is that the screen isn’t that bright. You have to hold it at the proper angle to view it in sunlight, and even then it is difficult. It is nowhere near as bright as my Garmin 60CSx. I’m assuming that Magellan made compromises here to save some money and to be able to bring the unit to market at a lower price point.

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