Magellan Explorist 710 hiking GPS The Explorist 710 is top of the line in Magellan’s new x10 series of multi-purpose GPS devices and offers preloaded topographical maps, turn-by-turn navigation, geocaching, tracking and a host of other features in one handy robust unit. Magellan eXplorist 710 GPS Take a hike: Magellan's Explorist 710 The first thing you …
"The 710 is powered by two non-rechargeable AA batteries".
Alun, do you mean that's what you used when testing, or are rechargeables specifically ruled out by Magellan for some reason? If it's the latter, then DO NOT WANT. My current Garmin (non-touchscreen) unit will chug along nicely for 12 or so hours on a pair of rechargeable AAs.
Roadtour app with all parks at 50k and in-app purchase for lakes at 25k was £80 total.
Already have a waterproof case for it, battery is plenty for the walks I do but you could buy a booster pack that takes AA batteries.
Of course that means owning an iPhone first but the maps seem a lot cheaper.
You start to realise the benefits of a true gps unit in gaining and holding a signal.
Not long back I went hiking for a week in a remote part of NZ, and it was noticeable that while both my nokia E71 and my friends iphone had gps, the E71 was significantly better at picking up and holding a signal, and both were noticeably inferior to the old garmin etrex we were primarily using. Also, prolonged use of the gps system on the phones dramatically shortened battery life, especially compared with using the same devices for city navigation where A-GPS comes in so handy.
All of the devices were horribly inaccurate for altitude readings without barometric altimeters built in, but you kind of expect that.
That being said, the OS map pack does seem somewhat expensive, but I wonder if it is simply a data pack that can be reused in other devices, or if it is customised for the Magellans. If it can be reused, then many people looking to replace an existing gps should be able to transfer over their existing maps which would reduce costs.
The lake district isn't remote NZ though :)
I don't use it any differently to a paper map, there's plenty of features around to work out where you are and the GPS bit just helps you if you've managed to take a wrong turn (tbh looking at the compass and a map would tell you that quickly enough but it may save you walking 10 minutes in the wrong direction).
I bought a Satmap Active 10 for much less money than this - admittedly this looks a bit slicker but I think the functionality if largely the same. The cost of the maps is a major problem - they seem much more expensive than the equivalent OS paper maps. I certainly would never, ever rely on a phone's GPS in the outdoors. For casual navigation they're fine but if I was battling through mist in the Pennines I know what I'd rather have.
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