Magellan eXplorist 200 Water Resistant Hiking GPS

The first thing that amazed me about this unit is it is so light weight, compact, and fits in the palm of your hand. I purchased a Magellan GPS unit back in 1997 and wanted to update and upgrade. GPS has come a long way since my first unit. This unit was easy to setup and navigate. The onscreen menu system is easy to understand, and the navigation buttons are easy enough to use with one hand. The screen was sharp and clear, and the backlight is more than enough for low light and dark areas. The built in maps of North America (while not side street detailed) are very detailed and accurate for major highways and throughways. It acquired a 4 or more satellite signal within about 1 minute after a cold boot up. It got signal inside my condo unit which is under another second story condo unit!! In the car it worked just as good laying on the seat next to me. I used the built in maps to navigate to another city perfectly. Overall I'm very pleased, recommend this unit, and I'm looking forward to using it for some Geocaching soon.

Being an owner of both the Garmin eTrex, and the Magellan 200, I find that:DOWNSIDE----------------1) The Magellan is slow to lock on and frequently cannot get 3D accuracy with even 4 satellites.2) The carrying case *blows chunks*. A _cheap_ zipper bag that you have to take your belt off to wear it or remove it. Garmin's is form-fitting with a belt clip, clear viewing port, and velcro-- much better.3) The Magellan has *no* interface for a PC, which even the most basic Garmin eTrex has, which is important because the PC interface is used for (cigarette power adapter, PC data uplink, and firmware ugprade to GPS downlink).4) The battery compartment holdig-bolt requires numerous turns to to loosen, whereas the Garm etrex requires 1/2 turn.5) No lanyard comes with the unit, although it has a molded place for one to be attached to. eTrex' come with lanyards.6) Screen has a tendency to repaint, even if you're not moving7) GUI interface is clumsy, and has a "cluttered" look to it.8) the 'joystick' or jog-stick too easily depressed causing you to select something when you were only trying to scroll.9) It has an option to erase the contents of the unit entirely. Why? there is NO WAY TO RELOAD IT.10) This does not show you *where* the satellites are in relation to you, which the Garmin eTrex does.UPSIDE:---------------1) Backlight is very nice2) Screen is larger3) Has a field in it to put identity info or "reward" messagePRICEWISE:---------------Pricewise, the basic eTrex costs $89, whereas this ran me $139. I don't care for the mapping function, it's annoying. I don't use it for road navigation. And I don't know how it would update the maps anyway, without a PC interface to upgrade it.OVERALL:---------------Overall, not worth the money. It falls down in almost all the areas a serious, fast-paced user requires. I rate it about $60 too much in comparison to the Garmin.As it is, I disliked the crummy carrying pouch so much, I found it will barely fit in the extra Garmin eTrex Holster I had. Garmin's are also smaller on the hip. I would not have bought this, but lost my Garmin.I have to say I found the Garmin to be much more professional, functional, and useful, and will end up buying one again. this Magellan goes up on eBay, today.

Why does this handheld need 16 mb of memory when the unit only comes with 10 mb of maps loaded and no PC interface. The specs are misleading and I feel stupid having not done more research before purchasing this unit. The Explorist 210 has a PC interface and 22 mb of space to load more maps if needed. My main gripe is that I work with GIS and I wanted to be able to grab my waypoints off the unit via a usb, but now I have to enter them manually. Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal, but I may have hundreds by the time I'm done. I recommend this unit if you want a nice, light, good display, and feature for the money, but if your looking for PC interconnectivity, then buy the Explorist 210 or 400. The Explorist 100/200/and 300 don't have this feature. Also don't buy the PC cable at the bottom of the page that Amazon recommends because it fits a different Magellan series all together.F Scot

This GPS device is good for the use which I purchased it for. The included maps are limited but sufficient for my needs.Since I use this with topographical maps with reference points printed on it, I don't use the internal maps.If you need internal maps or to be able to download maps this isn't the one for you.If you need an inexpensive GPS that just helps you pinpoint where you are and that keeps track of your route as you go, then this one will work great for you and is very reasonably priced.Pros: It's accurate and low priced. It does the job it was meant to do. It's also rugged and a great size. It does a good job of connecting to satellites - especially in the open or even cloudy skies. The tracking feature is a big help for me. After a hike I can pinpoint exactly on my map the route I took using my mapping software (I use National Geographic TOPO for maps - since it doesn't matter which one I use because I can't download anyway). There's no need to buy the more expensive Magellan mapping software.Cons: It's more difficult than it should be to set a waypoint. The little joystick takes some getting used to for moving around and entering in text. If you're in heavy tree or other cover, it sometimes has a hard time connecting to enough satellites to give a good fix, but it has always given me at least a 2-D fix which is usually close enough for my purposes (not as good for geo-caching probably).I like this unit and recommend it for anyone needing a good, inexpensive GPS for hiking / hunting / camping purposes who use a paper / printed topo map together with the GPS.