Reviews for Magellan Explorist 500LE Handheld Navigation Devic

Magellan eXplorist 500LE

Strengths: Ease of use, front panel controls, fine color screen

Weakness: Can't turn backlight off, use of AAA instead of AA batteries

I own a 210 and 500LE. Both are fine units and are comparable, performance-wise. It is easier to distinguish fine detail better on the 500, but the backlight is rather bright, especially at night, on the 500LE. At night, the 500's display is too bright; it would have been better to be able to turn the display off when it is not needed. The 210's red display is much easier on the eyes for night use. The 500LE's expandability is great and the display is crisp. The ease of use and the front panel controls is a real plus for these units. The MapSend Topo 3D software is easy to use and very detailed. Updating the firmware was easy and no problems were encountered. I will probably use the 500 for traveling outside of the home area where I might need a lot more map storage than the 210 can handle and I will be able to use car power most of the time. I am currently using 1.2V 700mAH NiMH AAA batteries and get about 5.5 hours use time from each set.

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Magellan GPS 500LE

Strengths: Never got a chance to test.

Weakness: Customer support.

I am very dissatisfied with Magellan Navigation Inc. I have owned a Magellan GPS product since 1999 and had assumed they would stand behind their products and quickly resolve any warranty issues. It has been over 12 weeks since I first contacted Magellan for warranty support. I have tried to call the company at many different numbers and can not get through to anyone except "Technical Support".

I purchased a Magellan model 500LE GPS receiver on July 11, 2007. After updating the software the unit would not power on. I then emailed technical support and waited. A few days later I called technical support and was given an RMA number and an address in Fort Worth to send the unit. They also told me it would take 2 to 3 weeks before I would receive the repared unit.

I called the first week in August and was told they received the unit on July 20, 2007 and was told 10 to 15 business days from July 20, 2007 before I would receive my repaired unit. Two weeks later I called and after many delays was told either my unit was lost or could not be repaired and would be replaced. They told me I would recieve a new unit in 5 to 10 business days. I called again the first week of September and was then told they were out of stock for my unit and would be sent the next higher model and again 5 to 10 business days to ship. I called every week thereafter and was always given a weak excuse and I would receive my unit soon.

On October 1 2007, I was told to expect delivery in 5 days. I called on October 8, 2007 and was told not to worry I would receive the unit in 3 days and to call on the 10th for the tracking number. I was assured by both the support person and the supervisor that I would receive the unit by Friday. I could not get a supervisor on the line but was told someone would call me back - this is the second time I was promised a return call that never happened. I called on the 10th and was told the unit shipped and would arrive on Friday but their "system" was down and could not give me a tracking number. The next afternoon a message was left on my answering machine that I would receive my unit in 2 to 3 WEEKS. I called and after 30-40 minutes to just be patient and I would receive a new unit in 5-7 business days.

It has become apparent that Magellan does not care about customer satisfaction or product loyalty. I would recommend to any one looking for a GPS device to stay away from Magellan.

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Magellan Explorist 500 LE

Magellan Explorist 500 LE receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.76 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #16 recreation GPS of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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