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| Magellan eXplorist 510 GPS |
| DESCRIPTION: |
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| Exterior Buttons |
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| Microphone location |
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| Detail of the back |
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The Magellan eXplorist 510 GPS Receiver has countless features and is
a great tool for everyone. The unit has a 3-inch color touch screen.
Below the screen on the left is the built in microphone. On the back of
the unit is the 3.2 MP camera, speaker, battery compartment and USB
port. On the top of the GPS unit is a power button and two buttons are
located on the left side of the receiver. You can program both buttons
for easy access shortcuts. Initially, the larger button which has the
camera icon on it defaults to take pictures while the other smaller
button above it defaults to setting waypoints. The battery compartment
has a turn-dial lock that sits between the camera and speaker. Inside
the compartment are slots for two AA batteries and a slot for an
expandable memory micro SD card. The unit has 500 MB of available user
storage so the memory card is not required to use the device. The micro
SD card does not come with the Magellan 510 eXplorist and would need to
be purchased separately if one desires the additional memory. The USB
port is located at the bottom of the unit and has a protective cover
over it. The GPS unit is waterproof IPX-7, so it is built to live in
the elements.
FEATURES:
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| Home page view |
When powered on the Magellan eXplorist 510 goes to the map screen
showing the GPS receiver’s location on a digital map. At the top of the touch screen are icons indicating the battery life, bars indicating
receiver reception and the time is displayed. On the map screen there
are also zoom in/out options (shown as a ‘+’ and ‘-‘) and two small
navigational fields or data boxes displaying the current speed and
bearing. The user can change what data these fields/boxes display. In
addition to current speed and bearing the boxes can display accuracy,
distance to end, distance to next, elevation, ETA, heading, primary GPS
coordinates, secondary coordinates, an odometer, a trip odometer, max
speed, average speed, current time, time to end, time to next, VMG,
date, destination, XTE, DMG, satellite, battery, sunrise, sunset,
course, timer, time travelled, moving average speed, moving time,
stopped time, area calculator, perimeter calculator, ascent average
speed, descent average speed, ascent max speed and descent max speed.
The digital map on the map screen is part of the World Edition
Mapping Software which comes preloaded on the eXplorist 510. The World
Edition Map Series has the road networks in United States, Canada,
Western Europe, and Australia and major roads throughout the rest of the
world. Additional mapping programs can be purchased separately and
added to the GPS unit. Alternatively the Magellan eXplorist 610 comes
with both the World Edition and the Summit Series mapping software. The
Magellan eXplorist 710 comes preloaded with the World Edition, the
Summit Series and City Series mapping software. The Summit Series has
topographic maps of the USA and the City series features turn-by-turn
navigation similar to GPS units designed for vehicles. So these higher
grade GPS units could be purchased instead of purchasing the 510 and the
software. These software add-ons are not necessary to use the
eXplorist 510 however.
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| Picture taken from the GPS |
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| Another picture taken of an arch |
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Pressing the Power button from the map screen brings up a touch menu
allowing the user to turn the unit off, suspend the unit (similar to
hibernate mode on a computer) while maintaining GPS tracking or adjust
the volume and brightness of the screen. Pushing the big side button
with the camera icon from the map screen activates the camera. The
touch screen turns into a viewfinder with a zoom option (shown as a ‘+’
or ‘-‘). At the bottom of this screen is a back arrow, a camera icon
and a paper icon. The back arrow takes the user back to the map screen.
Touching the camera icon takes a picture and touching the paper icon
brings up an options menu where users can adjust camera settings or look
at all the pictures saved on the eXplorist 510.
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| Using the GPS in the field |
From the map screen a waypoint can be created by pressing the smaller
side button. When this smaller side button is pressed the waypoint
screen comes up. The waypoint screen lists several columns that can be
edited by selecting them. The features include the name of the
waypoint, location of the waypoint with respect to the unit’s current
location (distance, elevation ascent & descent and bearing),
description of the waypoint, location of waypoint (GPS coordinates),
attached media to the waypoint (pictures/video/audio) and options. The
options allow users to change units, map options, tracks and alarms. At
the bottom of the waypoint screen are options to simply save the
waypoint (as is) or bring up another menu where the user can save the
waypoint, report its average position, take a picture, add other media,
or record it as a favorite.
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| Menu options from Map Screen |
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| OneTouch Menu options |
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Touching the map screen (and not one of the buttons on the map
screen) brings up icons in each corner of the map screen. The top right
corner icon brings up the OneTouch menu. The bottom right icon brings
up the Options Menu, the bottom left icon brings up the Main Menu and
top left corner icon brings up the Dashboard screen. The OneTouch Menu
is a menu that the users personalizes and displays favorite shortcuts to
screens and tools assigned by the user, favorite destinations assigned
by the user or favorite searches that the users defines. There are up
to 12 icons on this menu. It comes preloaded with three icons: Home,
Camp and Car. These locations can be set or changed per the user’s
desires.
The Options Menu allows users to add waypoints, search nearby
[waypoints, geocaches, POI (points of interest), tracks and routes],
start a new track, backtrack, track summary, reset trip odometer, reset
trip time, show compass, maps, map options, edit number of fields,
active track area and lock the screen.
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| Geocache and POI options |
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| Waypoints media |
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| Tracks options |
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The Main Menu screen has icons to start/save track, waypoint list,
tracks list, maps (world maps or other mapping software if on device),
geocaches, routes list, address, media (both adding media and viewing
recorded media) and POI which includes cities, land use, transportation,
water or can be searched for by name. At the bottom of the Main Menu
there is also a back arrow, a tools icon and an icon that has options
for importing data or locking the screen. The tools menu has options to
change settings, profiles (hiker, geocaching, marine, vehicle,
pedestrian, bike and up to two different users), track summary, geocache
summary, waypoint projection, fish & hunt, sun & moon,
geofencing, alarm clock, help, play product demo, screen capture and
owner information.
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| Satellite and Altimeter options |
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| Compass, Road and Strip |
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| Dashboard data profiles |
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The Dashboard screen is an alternative navigational screen with a
mini compass, details about destination and customizable navigational
fields. The Dashboard shortcut can be customized to display a number of
different screens instead of the dashboard. Screens that can be
displayed are the compass, road, strip, satellite, altimeter, data only
and profiles. All of these options can be handy tools for navigation
and it is really easy to customize the menu to display whatever
information the user desires.
IN THE FIELD:
With so many features the eXplorist will have something to fit almost
everyone. I obviously love the features tested years ago that are
common with GPS units today. Tracking progress, setting waypoints,
defining routes, monitoring progress, backtracking, display compass,
satellite reception & tracking and knowing my location all come in
handy in the backcountry. These are priceless features that work well
on the Magellan eXplorist 510.
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| Geotagged picture of rock art |
I really like the interaction between features that just a few years
ago where not found in GPS units and even today are not commonly on a
GPS unit. I love being able to take a picture, record video or record
audio and then tie that to a waypoint if desired. Media does not have
to be tied to waypoints but the ability to do so is neat. In
Canyonlands National Park I was able to take pictures and record video
of a rock panel with ancient Native American art on it. The art was
made in two different eras. One set was made by the Puebloan Indians
while the other part was Archaic. I was able to add a voice memo
clarifying this. I added all three media types to the waypoint
indicating where the rock art was. The ability to tie media to waypoints
can be really useful in a place like Grand Gulch. In addition to the
beautiful scenery there are typically Ancient Indian Ruins, rock art or
geologic formations every mile from Kane to Bullet Canyon. Remembering
where which items were is extremely difficult with the abundance of
things to see. Combing waypoints and pictures makes a trip like this a
lot easier to remember where things were when explaining it to others
and can be helpful in planning return trips to the same area. To me,
tying these applications together in one form or other adds a lot to a
trip both during and afterward.
The navigation within the eXplorist 510 features is another thing
Magellan has done well. The two hard side buttons and touch screen
makes it easy to activate the camera or add waypoints which is nice
because I can access those items quickly and don’t even have to think
about where they are in the menus if I don’t want to. Having these
options handy and quickly accessible is nice because I don’t have to
wade through menus when a photo opportunity is present and likely to be
gone shortly. Basic navigation should never be too difficult so having
the waypoint button on the side is a nice touch as well. The touch
screen makes zooming on the map and finding features easy. I really
like the customizable OneTouch Menu. With this I can program which
features I use the most and then I rarely have to use any of the other
menus. For example whenever I go to a new trailhead I always like to
note the location of where I parked the car. With the OneTouch menu I
have the car location bookmarked as a favorite. At each new trailhead I
can edit the location of the car by touching an edit icon in the
bottom, right hand corner of the OneTouch menu then touching the car
icon. It asks me if I was to save my current location as the new car
location. I push yes and it saves it as the new car location. When I
want to go back to my car I simply go to the OneTouch menu, push the car
icon and push “GO” and the GPS will point me to the car.
There is usually more than one way to get to a sub menu on the
eXplorist 510 and exploring around with menus on the touch screen is a
great way to learn where features are located therefore it usually does
not take long to find what I’m looking for. For example there is more
than one way to activate the camera feature on the GPS. The easiest way
for me is to press the hard button on the left hand side of the unit. I
can also go to the Main Menu, press media and there I have the option
to activate the camera, video camera or record audio. Both ways are
easy to find and get there but I like having multiple ways to activate
features on the Magellan 510 eXplorist. If I really like a feature I
can save always the shortcut to it in the OneTouch menu as well.
The Magellan eXplorist 510 is a great tool with lots of fantastic
features. There are two minor things I would like to see improved on
the unit however. First is the microphone. I have a hard time
understanding what I recorded when I play it back. I initially thought
that maybe it was the speakers but after listening to speaker quality
when I play the demo I find the speakers are great. This leads me to
believe the microphone could use some improvement. The second thing I
would like improved on the eXplorist 510 is the side scroll/slidebar in
the submenus. I have a hard time using it without accidentally hitting
one of the buttons instead. I think making this thicker or the buttons
not as wide would help. Some menus have a down arrow option and if this
were available on all screens that scroll then it wouldn’t be an issue.
Part of this could certainly be me as well and nothing to do with
Magellan. I tend to keep short fingernails and have fat fingers so I
believe that contributes to my issue. I have tried using the scroll
with a stylus and it works fine but I would rather not have to carry
that around with the GPS unit. These are just minor areas for
improvement and overall I think the eXplorist 510’s good points far
outweighs these minor issues.
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| Geocache features |
Geocaching is another fun outdoor activity that it seems the Magellan
eXplorist was made for. The eXplorist 510 features paperless
geocaching and has 1000 already loaded geocaches on it but can hold up
to 10,000 geocaches. Users can upload GPX files to the unit as well.
The thing I like about paperless geocaching is it doesn’t only have GPS
coordinates of the Geocache (although it does have a submenu screen for
that too). It lists the size of the cache as well as the standard
ratings for difficulty and terrain. There is a place for a description
and of course a screen that tells you the distance, bearing and
elevation loss/gain between where the cache is and the GPS unit’s
current location. The Geocache feature also has submenu screens for
recent logs posted by others, hints, cache attributes, stats &
history of how long it takes the user to find the cache, etc. Not all
of the caches have all the features filled in. For example some may not
have hints, while others may not have recent logs but that is part of
geocaching and not Magellan’s responsibility. The Magellan eXplorist 510
also has the option to attach media (video/audio/pictures) to the
cache’s coordinates. I really love this as one can document finding the
cache as well as recording what it looked like or add audio as to where
the cache was hidden. There are also options to note if the cache
needs maintenance and of course display the location on the map screen.
All of these features really enhance the geocaching experience.
There are many more features and options on the Magellan 510
eXplorist and covering them all would create a novel. The Magellan 510
eXplorist does a nice job of balancing standard GPS navigation and
customizable data display by using a combination of hard buttons and the
touch screen menus. The 510 eXplorist has so many nice features that
it’s sure to have something for anyone who uses a GPS. It’s definitely
worth seriously considering when purchasing a GPS unit.
| Manufacturer |
MITAC International Corporation (Magellan) |
| Weight |
6.8 oz (195 g)
8 oz (227 g) with batteries |
| Price (MSRP) |
$349.99 |
| User Generated Content |
* Accepts GPX Files Yes * Waypoints 2000 * Routes 200 *
Geocaches 10000 * Legs Per Route 500 * Paperless Geocaching Yes
* Picture Viewer Yes * Tracks 200 * Points Per Track 10000
* User Data Online Sharing |
| Some Features |
* Battery Type 2xAA * Battery Life 15 Hours * Camera Yes * Microphone Yes * Waterproof IPX-7 * Speaker Yes * Available User Storage 500 MB * CPU 400MHz * Expandable
Memory microSD * Suspend Mode Yes * Internal Memory 2 GB * Preloaded
Maps World Edition * Uploadable Maps Yes * Points of Interest
Yes * Vertical Profile Yes * Area
Calculation Yes * Hunt & Fish Calendar Yes * Sun & Moon
Information Yes * Coordinates
Systems & Datums Yes * User Grid Yes * Map
Updates * OneTouch
Favorites Menu Yes
* Audible Proximity Alarms Yes * Silent Proximity Alarms Yes |
This story was originally posted April 4, 2011.
