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(More customer reviews)This GPS does so many things its difficult to know where to start. So, I'll start with the negatives...First, the unit comes with Energizer Lithium Ion batteries; unfortunately, the ones I received were dead from the get-go. (Unit wouldn't turn on. Tried some rechargeable batteries, and everything lit up wonderfully.) And on that note, the unit can even optimize itself for alkaline, lithium, or rechargeable batteries, so you're well covered there!
Other slight negatives: it takes several seconds for this to "boot up." It's not horrible, but it's not ideal, either. Also, when the screen gets wet, it's a little difficult to "scroll" through menus (it's touch-screen.) Again, it's not bad enough to worry about - and given touch-screen technology today, it probably cannot be bettered by any competitor.
Now, the actual device: I've never owned a Magellan, always going with Garmin for both handheld/hiking GPS's and car navigation as well. This Magellan is great; the screen is bright and crisp, the menus (for the most part) are simple to navigate and understand without having to go through any manuals. Not just a hiking GPS, it can also give you street directions while driving (though it doesn't have the text-to-speech stuff so it says to "turn right" and not "turn right on Main Street.") The amount of POIs (points of interests) is somewhat staggering: not only main attractions and stores and such that most car navigation GPS's can do, but also water and various "outdoor" attractions. It is seemingly built for handle both hiking and metro areas equally well.
The 3MP camera is nice to have; it produces images clear that look good on-screen, but you won't be printing any glossy landscape scenes with it. (The camera has digital zoom but no flash.) A great add-on to the GPS that isn't obtrusive in any way, so if you want to use your digital SLR instead, you don't even notice the one attached here.
The signal remained very strong on a path about 8 feet wide with tall trees all around; while I haven't tried it in a urban city area (tall buildings, where car GPS's often fail), for outdoor areas, I feel it did quite well. There is somewhat of a heft to the device; you're not going to strap this onto a ball-cap like you can with some of the smaller hand-held GPS's (Geko's, for instance.) But, put into a pocket (mine kept signal inside a jacket pocket) or clamped to a backpack or belt, and you'll appreciate the quality and heft and not really think much about how heavy it really is. (Only a pound or so, but it feels quite solid to just hold it in your hand.)
As far as batter life: I have some 4-year-old rechargeable batteries that I've been using (they're on their way out...don't hold a full charge anymore), and I've got about 4-5 hours of battery life (so far, they're not entirely dead yet.) You can configure the screen to dim itself quickly or wait in bright mode if battery life is paramount and you don't have others (or go into "sleep" mode, where the screen goes off completely, but the unit continues to track your movement.) I've actually made the screen stay bright for some time while I show it off and played with all its features, and, given the batteries I've been using, it's performed quite well.
While I haven't dunked it in water (and don't plan to, on purpose at least), it's held up to quite a bit of rain on a couple mild-to-moderate hikes and hasn't been bothered at all. I wish I could speak more to its many geo-caching features, but I personally don't do that; if you do, I have no doubt that this eXplorist would do the job, and do it well.
Would definitely recommend, perhaps for both a hiking and car navigation GPS, though for car navigation, some kind of dash-holder would be nice so the passenger doesn't have to hold it. A great GPS unit that doesn't seem to have much in the way of competition at all: for consumers, this looks like the best-of-the-best.
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Magellan eXplorist 710 Waterproof Hiking GPSRugged and waterproof (IPX-7), the eXplorist 710 combines high sensitivity GPS reception with easy to read mapping and accurate navigation. Find your way using more than 30 navigational data fields. Create waypoints, record tracks, and route from point to point. The integrated 3.2 mega-pixel camera, microphone, and speaker enable outdoor enthusiasts to record geo-referenced images and voice notes. Relive your outdoor adventures on the device, on your computer, or share with others on various online communities like geocaching.com.
The eXplorist 710 packs the most accurate maps into the palm of your hand. The World Edition map allows for 2D or 3D viewing angles. It includes a complete road network in United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia and major roads throughout the rest of the world and provides cartographic orientation in almost any location. This unique, preloaded map also includes water features, urban and rural land use, and a realistic shaded relief background. The eXplorist 710 also includes City Series and Summit Series USA maps, Summit Series USA is a highly detailed topographic map based on 1:24,000 scale source maps. The maps includes contour lines, land use areas, trails, waterway7s and points of interest. Locate the nearest trailhead. Search for the nearest bike shops, fuel stations, or potable water source. Navigate safely in 3D perspective view while knowing the boundaries between private and public lands. City Series USA allows your eXplorist device to navigate through the city streets with turn-by-turn directions on your way to escaping to your favorite open spaces. Enter a variety of destinations, including address book entries, waypoints, geocaches, or previous destinations.
Enjoy paperless geocaching with the eXplorist 710. Download and view more than 20 unique characteristics of each cache and view, search, filter on the device. Details include name, location, description, hider, size, difficulty, terrain, hint, and recent logs created by other geocachers.
The best of both worlds, the eXplorist 710 combines the user friendliness of a touch screen with the reliability of two customizable hard buttons. Program the hard buttons to your two favorite or most used functions. Powered by two AA batteries, the eXplorist 710 will last up to 15 hours under normal conditions. To help conserve power, use the suspend mode to turn off the device but maintain GPS tracking. You can also adjust power management settings to your preference.
Magellan's award winning OneTouch favorites menu is now on our handheld devices. It provides instant access to bookmarks of favorite places. Set your home, base camp, and car. Easily re-assign a new location for each new adventure. 12 customizable icons to create personalized searches, save unique locations, or assign quick access to your favorite screens.
eXplorist 710 Features
Which eXplorist Is Right for You?
What's in the Box Magellan eXplorist 710 GPS Receiver, Standard Mini USB Cable, Quick Start Guide, 2 AA Batteries, Geocaching.com 30 Day Free Trial Flyer, Energizer Battery Coupon
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