Magellan Explorist 600

[gruntfuttock]

Hi, This is really a bit of a rant, but also a warning for others. I had a Magellan 600, great unit for what I wanted but after not using it for a while (about 4 months) I decided to fire it up only to find it was dead. Oh well I thought battery flat. Plug it in to the car and let it charge. After 24 hours pressed the on button and it did fire up, but shortly after there was a message saying "low battery" and it shut off. Could not get anything out of it at all. I thought maybe it was not plugged in right and did not charge properly. So I plugged it in again and made sure it was correct, left it for 24 Hours and the turned it on. All it did was went Fizz and that was that.
Sent it over to the company for a quote and it will cost me $426 to fix it.

I asked why it did this and this is the answer it got

"
The battery has its own charge sensing circuit, if this fails it can tell the gps to pump more power into the battery, it overheats, swells, fails and takes out the gps with it."

So if any of you get a problem with your GPS units that they don't seem to charge properly, replace the battery!

I am not very happy. Buy a $600 unit and it only lasts and 2 1/2 years.

Now I have got that off my chest, what is the opinion of the members of what should I do. Fix up the old one? OR buy something new and better quality?

If I go for the latter option, what sort of thing should I go for???

I do not want to buy something new every two years as i just cannot afford it. So if that is all the new things last now, I'll buy a road-router for Kmart for $100 and use maps and they can put their new GPS units you know where!

Thanks for the feedback

[Xavie]

I know of 3 other magellan units that died and Magellan kept blaming the customer but I'm sure that it is very widespread. Not all were 600's 2 that I know of I think are called 550's or 500's.... Anyway, they weren't just batteries as I understand but the folks i know of threw 'em out and bought Garmins.

Pity because some of the features are amazing but if this unit doesn't work then what is the use.

Xav

p.s. every time I read your username I read it as grunt to f%%%..... Am I the only one???

[Captain_Rightfoot]

p.s. every time I read your username I read it as grunt to f%%%..... Am I the only one???

No, it's just you.

I'm now glad that my XL has AA's in it.

[gruntfuttock]

I know of 3 other magellan units that died and Magellan kept blaming the customer but I'm sure that it is very widespread. Not all were 600's 2 that I know of I think are called 550's or 500's.... Anyway, they weren't just batteries as I understand but the folks i know of threw 'em out and bought Garmins.

Pity because some of the features are amazing but if this unit doesn't work then what is the use.

Xav

p.s. every time I read your username I read it as grunt to f%%%..... Am I the only one???

Thanks for the feedback!

I WAS pleased with Magellan, now not so sure. The unit preformed well, although it did drop out from time to time.

As for my name, well I cannot be held responsible if your mind is below it's normal hight

But just so as you know.

The word futtock (nautical) first appeard in the English language around the 13 century from unknown origins. It is one of the ribs in the frame of a wodden vessel.
See also Urban Dictionary: gruntfuttock

[Bushwanderer]

I have to agree with Xavie, Garmin seem to be the manufacturer with the ultimate reliability.

[INter674]

don't go there had 3 Explorists in 12 months, each one with a different issue - all replaced under warranty, goo, but lost 3 month use in the mean time, and now the warranty is out....so throw away if it fails again...waste of money me thinks!!

[disco gazza]

Had a 500...
On a trip up to Qld(Bundy area),it powered down..
Couldnt get it too come back on.
Sent it over to WA(where they apparently fix them),told it was going to cost $370 odd dollars to put in a new board.Told them to just send it back..
The 500 was just over 16 mths old...
I went and bought a Garmin 60CSX for $440.....
My 2c worth.

gazza

92 disco tdi