This thing is built like a tank. It has taken some pretty hard knocks and kept on working. Not even skipped a beat. For example, I was mountain biking a good 11 MPH downhill and the thing flew off my bike mount (custom made by me, guess it didn’t quite do the job). It hit the rocks hard, but it stayed powered on and it still works. This has happened twice. I no longer use the bike mount. Anyway, it has also been submerged in water while on, so I can confirm that it is waterproof, and dropped several other times.
The reception is also excellent. It takes a little while to get a signal, but once you have one, you REALLY have one. I once forgot to turn it off and put it in my backpack then put my backpack in a car trunk and drove home; it tracked me all the way home. Remember GPS is line-of-sight. Another time I got a signal through an airliner window and tracked my journey to England. The batteries did pretty well. I think I went through about 1.2 sets of batteries on a 17 hour flight. Alkaline. Needless to say, the unit has a lot of miles on it.
As for the screen, I wouldn’t know how easily it scratches because whenever I get a device like this I immediately put a ’screensaver’ screen protector on it. It’s a vinyl film that you can cut to fit the screen. Buy them at a camera store or online.
As for the software, it’s okay. I wish the software that handles the .loc files supported mass import because I do some geocaching and I just want to put all the caches in my area in there and wander around in the park until something is in my proximity. It’s a little quirky too, save often or you might end up accidentally importing one file instead of adding to the list you already have, and it will wipe out your list.
The accuracy is pretty good, although sometimes it seems to change it’s mind. this is mostly under tree cover. It will tell you you are 6 feet away, then 30 feet, etc. But you can’t really expect great accuracy under tree cover. You can usually get 9 foot accuracy with no tree cover, at least in my town in CA, USA.
It takes a minute to hook the USB cable up to the unit, but that is because the connection has to be waterproof.
Overall, it’s easy to use, it has a nice backlight, you can set your own and POIs quickly and easily. The map is easy to read, you can see the POIs on it and tell it which POIs you want to see, and there are a lot of things you can customize. It has features aplenty, If I could change one thing about it, it would probably be the software. If I could change another thing, a higher resolution screen would be nice. Some of the comparable Garmins have higher rez screens.
Here’s some screen protectors to buy, [...] for 12 sheets:
Universal Digital Camera LCD Screen Protectors for All Screen sizes up to 3.50″ X 4.25″
I think there must be a problem with the amazon price here, [...] for this thing is outrageous. I got mine for [...] two years ago.
I hope you all find this helpful.
Google Videos - magellan explorist 210
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don't buy this, it's too old
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on MapSend
Magellan eXplorist 210 GPS track shown on PC screen using MapSend Lite run at 50X speed.
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GPS
The Magellan Explorist 210 GPS device is meant for folks who will use it hunting, hiking or geocaching.
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