Magellan busts out 510, 610 and 710 eXplorist outdoor GPS for all you... outdoors types

Magellan's just updated its eXplorist handheld outdoor GPS units. The 510, 610 and 710 (as they are called) all feature 3-inch, touchscreen displays, 3.2 megapixel, auto-focus cams, plus a microphone and speaker for recording notes along the way. They're also waterproof, and come pre-loaded with maps of the entire world. The 710 unit comes with the most detailed on and off-road maps of the series, and both the 610 and 710 feature 3-point compasses. The new eXplorist units are available now, and the 510 will run you $349.99, the 610 is $449.99, and the 710 is $549.99. Full press release is below.

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Magellan® Launches Next Generation of eXplorist® Outdoor Handheld GPS Devices


Rugged, Waterproof Navigation Devices Are Designed to Enable Recording, Geotagging and Sharing of Outdoor Adventures

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Magellan today unveiled the next generation of its award-winning, rugged eXplorist handheld GPS devices for the outdoor recreation market.

The new eXplorist 510, 610 and 710 devices allow adventurers to navigate to outdoor destinations worldwide, capture geotagged photos along the way, and share their experiences online when they return home. Each eXplorist model combines high-sensitivity GPS, an intuitive user interface, easy-to-read mapping and accurate navigation. The new series of handheld GPS units are being revealed at the OutDoor Trade Fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and will be available to consumers in North America, Europe, and many other countries worldwide in the 4th quarter, 2010.

"With the popularity of social networks, the GPS industry is shifting towards more online experience sharing," said Justin Doucette, Director, Outdoor Product Marketing, Magellan. "There are many sites that allow for geographic and multimedia data to be posted and shared with others. The eXplorist series allows users to bring their adventures home with them, catalog for future reference, and share online with family and friends."

All three new eXplorist handheld GPS units come equipped with a camera, microphone, and speaker to enable users to record and share their adventures with friends.

Each eXplorist device features a 3.0-inch color touch screen, a 3.2 mega-pixel camera with auto-focus, microphone and speaker to record geo-referenced images, videos, and voice notes. All products in the eXplorist series are waterproof (IPX-7) and come preloaded with the most detailed worldwide map in the industry. Magellan's World Edition map includes a complete road network for the U.S., Canada, Western Europe and Australia, as well as water features, urban and rural land use, and a realistic shaded relief background.

The top-of-the-line eXplorist 710 combines the best of on-road and off-road navigation. Built-in maps get adventurers from doorstep to trailhead to summit and back. The eXplorist 710 includes both Magellan's highly detailed Summit Series topographic map and its City Series turn-by-turn map which allows users to navigate their vehicles through busy city streets on their way to their outdoor adventures. The eXplorist 610 and 710 feature a 3-axis electronic compass and a barometric altimeter that provide precise orientation, accurate elevation information, and enables for weather pattern tracking.

Each model in the eXplorist series also includes several innovative features, such as Magellan's award-winning OneTouch™ favorites menu, enabling users to instantly access bookmarked locations, searches, and functions. The industrial design incorporates silent proximity alarms. And, to complement the 3.0-inch touch screen, each device has two customizable hard buttons to take a photograph, mark a waypoint, or provide quick access to a number of other preferred features.

The new eXplorist devices also include essential outdoor features such as expandable memory, paperless geocaching, GPX compatibility, 16 hours of battery life, high sensitivity GPS enabling 3-5 meters of accuracy, vertical profiling, a digital almanac, track summary statistics and area calculation.

The Magellan eXplorist 510 GPS device will be introduced at an M.S.R.P. of USD $349.99, the eXplorist 610 at an M.S.R.P. of USD $449.99, and the eXplorist 710 at an M.S.R.P. of USD $549.99. The units will ship with a standard mini USB cable and 2 lithium disposable AA batteries. With the purchase of a Magellan® eXplorist GPS device customers will receive a 30-day free premium membership to http://geocaching.com.

The new generation of eXplorist GPS handheld devices joins several other new introductions by Magellan this year in the outdoor navigation market. The eXplorist GC, a device 100% dedicated to geocaching, and the ToughCase™, a device that transforms your iPhone or iPod Touch into a rugged, handheld GPS device, were launched earlier this year.

For more information, visit magellangps.com.

About MiTAC Digital Corporation

MiTAC Digital Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MiTAC International Corporation and promotes and sells products and services under the Magellan brand name. Magellan assists people to travel, work and play with leading portable navigation and positioning solutions across multiple consumer markets. Recognized as an industry innovator, the company is the producer of the award-winning Magellan RoadMate® portable car navigation, Outdoor and Mobile navigation devices. MiTAC Digital Corp. is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information on Magellan visit magellangps.com.

2010 MiTAC International Corporation. Magellan, Roadmate and the Magellan logo are registered trademarks of MiTAC International Corporation and One Touch and ToughCase are Trademarks of MiTAC International Corporation and are used under license by MiTAC Digital Corp. All rights reserved. iPhone and iPod are trademarks, of Apple Inc, registered in the US and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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[Nanosman1994 Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:34PM]

still using my palm pre GPS

[purfikt Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:45PM]

@Nanosman1994
Yeah, how exactly is that related whatSOEver

[Nanosman1994 Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:52PM]

@purfikt i said what gps i use instead of the eXplorist outdoor GPS

[uckApple Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:54PM]

@Nanosman1994

$400 for a GPS isnt a good deal..

There are $99 GPS devices at Canadian Tire that work just as well, this coming from a person who bought a $369 GPS device at futureshop and took it back and tried the canadian tire one, only to find absolutely no difference.

[whiskers Posted Jul 16th 2010 1:02PM]

@uckApple

Is your device waterproof? Does it have a camera? Does it record notes?

My $100 Mio is all the GPS one might ever need, but for taking it out of the car it kind of sucks - in everything - bulkiness, battery life, screen brightness, inability to lock the screen, awkward to carry, etc.

[alexz Posted Jul 16th 2010 1:43PM]

@Nanosman1994

My Garmin Oregon eats Palm Pre's and craps Magellans.

[flett Posted Jul 16th 2010 2:23PM]

@Nanosman1994 - how about a compass, a map and a machette. just like indiana jones. oh, and a satchell

[Fritz Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:36PM]

Touchscreen interfaces are a dumb idea for a supposedly rugged GPS.

[Wolfticket Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:55PM]

@Fritz
I would say the ideal is a touch screen, but with really good non-touch controls as well. This seems to have that.
TBH, I don't see why they haven't gone the whole hog and put at least some basic phone hardware in this. Where you do have signal A-GPS is much quicker to get a lock, and even the most hardened outdoors type is starting to admit that a mobile phone is pretty vital in emergences and handy at other times.

[Fritz Posted Jul 16th 2010 3:31PM]

@Wolfticket

I have no interest in turning my gps into a phone. I very rarely use my gps in locations that have access to cell signal. I have a Garmin eTrex Hcx. It has buttons laid out specifically so that it can be used one handed when my hands are covered in mud. It also has well over 20 hours of battery life in general usage. I have taken it on week long backpacking trips and only changed the batteries once. Adding cellphone hardware would most likely shorten the battery life, so would a touch screen. At best, the cell phone hardware would just take up space in the device.

[Ignoramus Posted Jul 17th 2010 6:40PM]

@Wolfticket He shat on your life.

[mikemanblah Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:40PM]

Are you gellan

[aaronbustillos Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:44PM]

outdoors type...engadget readers....oh you

[uckApple Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:55PM]

@aaronbustillos

Im an outdoors type.

How else would I get to the library to go read my favourite website ever?

[Stephen M Walls Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:47PM]

Perfect for Geocaching! (www.geocaching.com)

I've been using the iPhone 3GS for as long as I have had the hobby.

[tengobotas Posted Jul 16th 2010 3:56PM]

@Stephen M Walls anyone who spends $400 to geocache has missed the point of geocaching.

[naashak Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:47PM]

Engadget is slipping - its 9:48am PT and where is Engadget breathless commentary of the Apple press conference where Jobs Gods parts water and changes the laws of antenna theory????? Does the iPhone still rate a 9/10? The suspense is killing me.

[IAMKITTY Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:56PM]

@naashak

I agree. Cnet's is running.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20010731-37.html?tag=smallCarouselArea.0

[anonymouspam Posted Jul 16th 2010 12:51PM]

I don't know why they didn't just develop a cell phone with incredible navigation. They would have sold like crazy.

[moco Posted Jul 16th 2010 4:16PM]

@anonymouspam like an Ovi Maps equipped Nokia?

[tengobotas Posted Jul 16th 2010 3:54PM]

overkill. this is for bored dads who want to be mountaineers.

[tonywalk Posted Jul 18th 2010 4:37AM]

Fed up with Garmin and Magellen ripping us UK consumers off, a company started up with the aim of producing the best GPS unit for us outdoor folk.

I give you the Satmap 10. Own one myself and it is utterly superb for use outdoors. Hopefully one day they'll release it in the US with a 50-100% markup of course (see earlier paragraph).