Magellan eXplorist 110 GPS Review

We live in a digital age. Our digital devices make life more convenient for us. Computers help us at home, GPS receivers help us get to where we need to go. But GPS receivers can do more than just tell us how to get around town. Up for review today is the Magellan eXplorist 110.

The Magellan eXplorist 110 is a portable handheld GPS. The eXplorist 110 won’t give you step-by-step directions for getting around town, or tell you where the closest fast food restaurant is. It will however help keep you from getting lost outdoors. It is designed for camping, hunting, or other outdoor activities. The eXplorist 110, even though a more basic model, will still do a lot more than keep you from getting lost.  

Features and specs:

• Easy to Navigate Menus and Rich Graphics A simple main menu, intuitive contextual menus, and vibrant graphics make this device easy to use
• Brilliant, sunlight readable color screen A vibrant 2.2" color transflective screen provides the best readability in direct sunlight
• Rugged and waterproof to IPX-7 standards Focus on the adventure not protecting the device
• High-sensitivity SiRFstarIII GPS with 3-5 meter accuracy 3-5 meter GPS accuracy provides a superior navigation experience
• Pre-loaded World Edition Map Referencing a complete road network in North America and Western Europe and major roads throughout the rest of the populated world to help in orientation. See parks, rivers, lakes, major city points, and other types of land use areas.
• 18 Hours of battery life using 2 AA batteries Go strong for an entire day (or more). No stopping to replace the batteries.
• Suspend Mode The goal is to conserve battery life by putting the device into an advanced power saving mode. Suspend mode will turn off everything expect for GPS tracking. Wake up the device with a single click.
• Paperless Geocaching 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, spoilers, and last 20 user logs among a number of other details.
• 500 megabytes of user memory available Loads of space for waypoints, Geocaches and tracks.
• Record Tracks and See "Breadcrumbs" on the Map Screen Keep a log of all the steps you took throughout the day. Reference your track to find your way back or to keep a digital journal of all your outdoor adventures
• Track Summary Start your journey with one-click and keep tabs on useful statistics such as distance travelled, average speed, elevation gain and descent, and average time to find
• NMEA Message Output (USB Only) For hardcore outdoor GPS enthusiasts who want to connect their device to laptop running VantagePoint software and see your position on computer screen.
• Multiple Coordinates and Map Datum's Navigate around the world and do it accurately. See your geographic location in UTM coordinates or reference the OS Grid for use in Great Britain

The quality is what I have come to expect from Magellan. It is excellent. The Magellan eXplorist 110 came shipped in a attractive green printed box, with pictures of the device and some specs and features. Opening the box revealed the GPS receiver wrapped in a plastic bag, held in a cardboard cutout. Lifting out the cardboard cutout was where the Quick Start Guide was, which was the only included accessory. The eXplorist 110 is a fairly simple device and accessories are not needed. Pulling out the device revealed a solid device with a soft rubber casing. While I would not want to drop the device, I was glad to see that it could take a drop and still survive. It is also waterproof, to handle the outdoor elements. The eXplorist 110 was put together using high quality materials, with a high quality fit and finish. The roundish design felt good, and was sufficiently bright, to be able to read outdoors. The rubber buttons were also very responsive and worked well.

As mentioned previously, the eXplorist is a more basic model in the eXplorist series line-up. With that being said, it does have the features that most will need. If you are a more avid outdoorsman and are looking for more features, there is no need to fret, Magellan has more models for your consideration, such as the eXplorist 310, 510, 610 and 710. But the eXplorist 110 reviewed today will let you see your current location, add way points, plot out routes, and see your tracks. It will even do geocaching.

Everything came together really well with the eXplorist 110. Adding way points, and using these waypoints to make your routes was fairly simple. I really liked the ability to see where you have been. Geocaching is also a good way to get some familiarity of the device. My wife’s grandfather, a hiker, took three of his grandsons on a hike several years ago. They got lost, and thanks to a search and rescue effort, they were found a couple of days later and were ok. The next Father’s Day, her grandfather had a new handheld GPS. The eXplorist is an excellent device that does a lot. While it is a more basic model in the Magellan lineup, it still has a lot of features, and reading the owner’s manual will greatly help in getting the most out of it.

I was very pleased with the performance of the Magellan eXplorist 110. It is rugged, will built, and should give years of service. The display was easy to see and read. The interface and controls were simple to navigate. At an MSRP of only $129.95, the Magellan eXplorist 110 is a bargain! Based on it’s design, features, quality, and performance, the Magellan eXplorist 110 has earned our Value Award. For more info and complete specs, check out their website at www.magellangps.com.