Sunday, March 18, 2012

Magellan eXplorist GC gets support for topos and aerial imagery

Magellan eXplorist GC with National Geographic Topo maps

Magellan eXplorist GC with National Geographic Topo maps

The latest update to the geocaching-centric Magellan eXplorist GC has given it the ability to accept National Geographic Topo and Digital Globe aerial imagery content. The GC has no expansion slot, but does have 500MB of memory available for added maps, etc. This doesn’t turn the GC into a great hiking unit, as I believe it still lacks some significant navigation features, but it should expand its capabilities for both urban and backcountry geocachers. read more

Hands on with National Geographic TOPO for Magellan handhelds

Magellan National Geographic TOPO

Screenshots of National Geographic TOPO maps for Magellan handhelds

Earlier this year, Magellan announced a new partnership with National Geographic to bring USGS topo maps to Magellan handhelds. I’m currently testing the eXplorist 510 so I thought this would be a good time to check out the new map downloads. read more

Magellan eXplorist line gets USGS topos via National Geographic

UPDATE: Here’s my hands on review of National Geographic topo maps for Magellan receivers.

Magellan has extended their ongoing partnership with National Geographic, bringing USGS raster topo imagery to the eXplorist line. Just like Garmin’s BirdsEye Topo, this will be a subscription option running $29.99 per year.  read more

Topo.com goes away, takes SuperQuads with it

Late last week I received an email from National Geographic Maps, informing me that their Topo.com website would be discontinued in 30 days, as they transtion to a new partnership with AllTrails.com. The National Geographic Topo desktop software will continue to work, although it is unclear if new updates will be forthcoming or not. This appears to primarily affect Magellan Triton users who have purchased Topo SuperQuads. If that’s you, you should read the info below and save those files to your hard drive over the next few weeks. read more

Satmap Active 10 TREK review

Satmap Active 10 TrekThe Satmap Active 10 TREK has finally come to the US, four years after its introduction in the UK. And what a difference four years makes. We didn’t have touch screen Oregons then, and super-thin iPhones and GPS receivers with raster imagery were just starting to be seen. But in 2011, the Satmap is reminiscent of the tech of yore, feeling more like a clunky PDA than a cutting edge piece of gear.

read more