Finding My Place in the World

I've now officially entered the world of GPS with the purchase of Magellan's eXplorist 210. And now I know just where I am in the world...

I received a few gift certificates for Christmas this year and decided to spend them on a new toy for myself. I've been wanting to purchase a portable/handheld GPS for a while so it was off to the internet for some research.

This is a relatively new offering from the Magellan eXplorist handheld GPS line up. Magellan has a few handheld series available. The Meridian, SportTrak, and the eXplorist. Each one has many styles to choose from. Let me suggest right off the bat that you visit their website to see a side-by-side comparison of their product lines. There are soooo many variations among the units that I won't even scratch the surface here. I decided on the eXplorist line because of the size and options offered. I decided on the 210 specifically because it fit my budget and provides great value for the dollar.

First off, what do you get...

The package contained the GPS unit, installation software for the PC, a "lite" version of Magellan's MapSend software, instruction booklets, and a PC cable to connect the GPS to my USB port. That last piece was very important to me... as some other units I looked at (Garmin's eTrex line for one) came with either NO cable or a serial port connection - slooooow to say the least.

I opened the box, slapped in a couple of AA batteries, and turned on the unit... ready to start tracking my location. The very first time you boot the unit you have to accept a disclaimer, so I said yes. I then entered my state, so the GPS had a starting point to "cold start" from... and satellite acquisition began. (A side note. In GPS land, a GPS receiver will "cold start" if it does not know it's exact location and look at a list of satellites on it's horizon to try and connect to. Once you are regularly using the unit, it remembers where it was at last shutdown, so it can usually find the satellites quicker when you turn it back on... known as a "warm start")

While Magellan's documents state that "cold starts" take less than two minutes, you must be in absolutely ideal conditions with a 360 degree unobstructed view of the sky. For most users, this will rarely happen. Therefore, I found that my cold starts have usually taken closer to 4-5 minutes to acquire initial location. "Warm starts" are listed at less than one minute Magellan's documentation. I have found this to usually take 1-2 minutes... but have had it happen in as little as 30 seconds.

The eXplorist 210 comes with a basemap of the US(or Europe with the purchase of that version). This map contains major highways and waterways. Don't expect much more than that. I live in a major city and the only streets included were the interstates and "US" highways through town. If you want details, you'll need to purchase one of Magellan's MapSend products. Here's one of the pros and cons of the 210. On the con side, it does not have any ability to expand memory (via memory cards), but on the pro side, it has about 22-24 megs of open memory space internally. Using the included PC cable and purchasing the optional MapSend software, you can load detailed city and town street maps, marine maps, or topographical maps into your 210. This gives a much greater ability to track your path.

Speaking of tracking your path, the 210 operates pretty much like any other GPS unit. A positive note here is that the receiver updates it's position every second. Some units update at much slower rates. The internal software gives you the ability to track your route (say you're hiking somewhere) and then all you have to do is click "backtrack" when you're done and the 210 will create a reverse route to lead you back. When detailed maps are loaded, the 210 will also allow "rerouting" for when you decide to take a little detour and need help getting back on track. Another side note here... I was seriously considering Garmin's eTrex Vista as well. When detailed maps are loaded into the Garmin unit and you've planned your route, it's locked in. So if you get off the route, you can't just push a button and get updated directions. The 210 will allow this.

The 210 is also a fairly easy-to-use unit. The buttons are somewhat intuitive. To an experienced GPS'er, they probably make a lot of sense. Me being a newbie, I still figured out basic operation very quickly. The receiver can pretty much be used single-handed, which can be very important when you're in the great outdoors. All the buttons are well-marked and easy to reach. The greyscale screen has proven easy to see thus far. It also has an orange backlight with two intensity settings that work well in the car at night.

In terms of PC connectivity, the 210 is one of the least expensive receivers on the market that will allow you to upload/download data right out of the box. The included USB cable will connect to your PC and allow you to download your track logs, upload info from Magellan's mapping software, or connect to an NMEA compliant system (i.e. your laptop PC running Microsoft Streets and Trips). My side note here... while you can download data out of the 210 into just about any GPS compliant software, you can ONLY use Magellan's proprietary MapSend software to load detail maps INTO the 210. Remember that when you purchase a handheld GPS device. Both Garmin and Magellan work this way, and that "cheap" GPS receiver suddenly becomes considerably more expensive when you go to buy the software and load up detailed maps.

To wrap things up... I really like this GPS receiver so far. If you want something really portable, this is a great value-for-the-dollar unit. It is NOT a bright color screen, detail map GPS unit for your car. If you want something like that, you'll need to spend $500+. If you want something portable so it can be used for geocaching, biking, hiking, AND in your car, give this unit a look. It's a great entry into the GPS world.

What I like:
Size; cost; ability to load detailed, re-routable maps; PC connectivity; easy to read display; battery life

What could improve:
Satellite acquisition time; a known Magellan "bug" that causes the time stamp to be wrong on occasion; need for proprietary software to get detailed maps

UPDATE
Thought I'd add in a quick update about the connectivity of this unit. I purchased a copy of Microsoft's "Streets and Trips 2006" for $30 (with rebate) and loaded it on my laptop. I plugged a few geocaching coordinates to MS Streets, connected the eXplorist to the PC, and away I went. My laptop sits on the passenger seat and gives me voice prompts for turns and all... so no looking at the screen is necessary. Even though I can't do it officially, I'll add a half-star to my review. The connectivity is fantastic.

UPDATE: 1-2-2007
Wanted to add a new update that my initial "cons" have mostly been removed. Magellan recently released a firmware upgrade and after installing it to my 210, satellite acquisition time is greatly improved. Also, I've been using the unit for over a month now with the new firmware and have not had the "time bug" show up. My time setting has remained correct the whole time. This unit continues to improve!