Magellan 500LE Explorist GPS - Reviews???

[sneak_e_pete]

Hi there, my local CT has a Magellan 500LE Explorist GPS down to $129.99 from $299.99. Anyone have any reviews on it? I will be using it for fishing only...marking spots, etc.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Dutch]

I have one - don't buy it!

 

Magellan CS is terrible, leave it at that.

 

Magellan no longer supports this model and haven't in over a year. Very slow to pick up satellites. You would need to buy their out-dated maps for the lakes and driving directions. Probably an extra $150-$200.

 

Very clunky and not user friendly system.

 

Battery life is very bad with 3 AAA batteries, you would need to buy the charger and additional magellan battery for about $50.

 

I went toe to toe with their CS when mine died - tried to give me a triton unit in exchange, except I would have to buy all new maps as mine werent compatible. Triton was garbage too.

 

CTC shouldn't be carrying this unit, no longer supported by the manufacturer. I politely indicated that to them and got a $50 gift card for my troubles.

 

Do yourself a favour, spend more $ and get a garmin.

[Lunker777]

I just bought a magellan last night... hahah I paid $80 for a Meridian gold last night used.

 

hopefully I haven't wasted money !

[pike slayer]

i had the magellan explorist 500 but with the regular batteries like you would find in a cell phone. i bought it last year for $150 and it was $50 for the maps of ontario. it took HOURS to try and figure out how to upload those maps and you gotta be some kinda computer god to figure the crap out. once that was figured out and done and i got to use it for a while i really liked it. this summer i was hiking into a hike and on the way back to the truck i lost the damn thing. so i've been in the market for another one and ive been looking at getting the same one because i'll have all extra chargers and mounting brackets and all that. but seeing is how magellan no longer supports the explorist anyone want all that stuff???

[Bigfisherman]

I also have a magellan explorist 500 its a 05 model same issues as others mentioned and the nav stick is broken so I can't even use it properly now, basically only use it to find out trolling speed now.

[sneak_e_pete]

Thanks for the feedback! I will wait for the Garmin Etrex to come on sale again.

[Dabluz]

I have used a handful of GPS's over the years. I started with a Garmin 45. I say that the best GPS is still the Garmin Legend. You can make a 12 volt power cable for about 5 dollars for it. You can download free topo maps on the internet for it. Yes, it only has 4 megs of memory but that is lots of memory for outdoor use. You copy what you need from your home computer towards the GPS. On top of that, there are a bunch of free mapping programs on the internet so that you can store all of your outings on your home computer. Sure, the old Legend is still black and white screen but is colour really necessary?

 

As for the newer more sensitive chips.....they do not do very much. I now have an old 1994 Lowrance IPro that I paid 80 dollars (with maps, power cable, suction support, holster, external antenna) and it is faster than a Garmin 60CSX or a Colorado and just as accurate. The problem with the more sensitive chips is the fact that they also pick up signals that have been reflected by the mountains or buildings. These signals induce position errors (due to the additional distances that these signals add).

 

One day while attending a Geocaching reunion, my old Lowrance got a fix while I was in the middle of a classroom that had only 2 small windows. Everybody else had fancy new Garmins and nobody could get a fix. I think that one person had a Garmin Etrex and they also got a fix.

 

If you want to get a speed reading while trolling, make sure your GPS will take a reading at very slow speed. Some GPS's will only give a speed reading if you are going more than 4 mph.