Magellan eXplorist GC
The Magellan eXplorist GC is a Geocaching GPS unit that is specifically for the sport and has features that make geocaching not only fun but easy as well.
Ease of Use, Performance: 20/25
Look & Feel: 23/25
Features 24/25
How much I enjoy 24/25
Total: 91/100
Magellan has come out with a geocaching handheld GPS unit to fill the gap between inexpensive GPS units that are too basic and more expensive but maybe too fully featured units. The Magellan eXplorist GC is a geocaching unit, geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt using a GPS unit and caches that people have hidden all over the world.
If you have never heard of a geocache the website explains it in much better detail but I will elaborate some, a geocache is a small to large container with a log and maybe more. The owner of a cache hides it somewhere around the world and you try to find it using the GPS coordinates.
Caches can be thumbnail sized screw top containers with only a slip of paper for a log or ammo can sized boxes holding logs and trade items(treasure). There are even caches called Geocoins and Travelbugs that are simple coins and dogtag shaped identification items with a tracking number.
The Geocoin and TRackingbug have a tracking ID which is used to check and track the device instead of a log and both items can be moved while Geocaches are stationary objects. When the owner of a cache, or finder of a Geocoin or Travelbug, places a cache they record the cache in the list of caches on the Geocaching website.
You can find caches to hunt for on the site by location and several other ways and start your search for the buried treasure, sometimes it almost is. Caches are hidden in plain sight, disguised as other objects or natural items and even placed underwater or on cliffs.
Each geocache is given a difficulty rating by the owner and verified by users so that easier caches are simply ones anyone, even handicapped people, can find. The most difficult require special gear or knowledge such as scuba or climbing when caches are under water or in difficult terrain like cliffs, caves or mountains.
Each geocache has not only the location given in GPS coordinates as latitude and longitude but a description on the website and sometimes clues to help find it. They also have the size of the cache from those coins and tags to larger boxes as well as a log of people who find and sometimes helpful but often cryptic clues as well.
The Magellan eXplorist GC is a geocacher's dream in a handheld GPS unit with direct download of all information found on the website at Geocaching.com directly to your GPS unit. The unit comes with preloaded caches from the most popular tourist attractions around the world but you will undoubtedly load ones closer to you.
When you open the package the GPS unit comes complete with everything you need aside from a computer to get started on your geocaching. You have the handheld unit, instructions, a USB cable and batteries in the box and the unit is very simple to use when you know what you're looking for.
Using the GPS unit and knowing about latitude and longitude comes hand in hand with geocaching and suffice it to say that if your interested in geocaching your going to learn a lot about all of that. Geocaches are hidden and found using their latitude and longitude and the Global Positioning System of satellites in space.
The satellite system gives your handheld GPS unit the coordinates that the unit is positioned at and using this you can find any particular location by these coordinates. Finding particular geocaches is also easy by simply choosing the Hide & Seek a Cache from the Geocaching website.
Using this page at the Geocaching website you can enter one of numerous ways to find caches and when they are listed simply load them to your connected GPS unit using the small GPS symbol with the arrow. You can only load one cache at a time but it goes quickly with a simple pop up window that asks which type of GPS unit you have and a download button when you have gone to the correct page for the eXplorist GC.
Once you're ready to look for the cache you can go to the list of caches on the eXplorist GC and tell the unit to find that cache or simply go the boxes on the screen that are the caches. Once you are near a cache you can click on the cache to find it or get information about it but the information may be limited if you're not a premium member of the geocaching website.
One point of contention that I have with the Geocaching website and the Magellan unit is the full descriptions and hints are not loaded to the GPS unit unless you have a paid subscription with Geocaching.com. The unit does come with a free 30 day membership as a trial but for the full descriptions on the unit after the trial you will need to pay for them.
The membership is currently $10 for three months or $30 for a full year which is not that bad for a hobby and the benefits of full descriptions and more. If you're really into geocaching you will have to pay for the benefits of having everything at your fingertips and a few benefits at the website like customizable searches.
Currently I do not have a membership other than the free trial one with this unit and do not have plans any time soon to pay for one. I will simply plod along with the simple searches and printing out each description for each cache when I go look for one instead of the paperless method of loading them onto the GPS unit.
Without the paid membership you still get the full locations, each geocache on your GPS unit and being able to mark each as found or not on your unit. You simply do not get the full description and the hints, if any, to download onto your eXplorist GC for easy reading.
If you want to or plan to geocache regularly the subscription is worthwhile for some and for others it would not really be worth the cost, it's really up to you. I find it just as easy to print out the descriptions and you do get all the information you need to find the cache just not the nitty gritty details.
Once you find your cache you can log in that you found it on the eXplorist as well as write any notes down but this is one feature I am not too happy about. The eXplorist GC is difficult to use for texting, much like many cell phones or the Nintendo DS, as you only have the simple joystick button to use for selecting and entering letters.
The onscreen display will show a whole keyboard of letters and to type anything in you move the cursor to the letter, number etc. and enter it. The sentence you are entering for notes on cache finds or if you did not find it will appear above the keyboard but this is a time consuming and tedious process.
Using the eXplorist GC is simple, power it up and let it find satellites is the first part, it will usually take a minute or three for the unit to find the five or six it needs. Once you have the unit on and ready simply find the geocache your looking for on the geocache list and press go to.
Other features like tracking, waypoints and the compass all work just fine and even finding caches is a simple process where you just click on the cache and hit find it. The GPS unit will place your waypoint at the cache and give you a line to follow but this is as the crow flies and not as the human walks.
You can zoom out and in easily to get specific to your immediate area to help narrowing down where the cache is or out to help navigate streets and any obstacles between you and that hidden treasure. The eXplorist GC works very well and is quite easy to use, easily a beginners GPS unit with plenty of features but a low price tag.
Some of the features like waypoints, the notes for found and unfound caches and even tracking are not all that necessary but nice to have if you want to get further into using your new handheld GPS. The eXplorist GC works great and I just hope that Magellan will be coming out with some brackets soon, I could not find a bracket for the eXplorist GC but I did make one.
One thing I did discover on my own, you can change the backgrounds of the screen so it is easier to read the smaller lettering. The screen resolution is pretty high for a small screen, 240x320 size at about 72 pixels/inch, so the letters and words are a bit smaller on the screen and a bit more difficult to read than other GPS units I have.
To make matters worse the backgrounds have patterns in them to make some areas of the screen more difficult to read, but the screen backgrounds are saved as PNG files. Using Photoshop I simply copied a background from the GPS unit and erased everything then saved it back as a new background.
It worked like a charm and now I have a plain white background that makes reading the words on the screen much easier, especially in full sunlight. The screen is a bit difficult to read when you're out during a sunny day but simply turning and tilting the screen makes things easier which is usual for GPS units in general.
I've had a lot of fun reviewing the many GPS units I have received and the eXplorist GC is by far one of the easiest to use in terms of both the unit itself and loading the caches directly from the Geocaching website. The handheld GPS unit does not have up loadable maps or topography maps but it does have worldwide street maps for helping you find the caches.
Major features such as rivers and lakes are shown, parks and wildlife refuges have color codes while roads and highways are labeled but there are no buildings or businesses marked. The map and GPS unit itself are easy to use and finding caches is simple with the Magellan eXplorist GC handheld geocaching GPS unit.
If you want to get into the treasure hunting fun of geocaching the Magellan eXplorist GC is a fantastic GPS unit for beginners and will serve itself well for the price. For well under many other handheld GPS units and a bit above the Geomate Jr. I previously reviewed the eXplorist GC has plenty of features at a great price.
I highly recommend the Magellan eXplorist GC for a first geocaching handheld GPS unit that will be perfect for years of geocaching fun.