Magellan has finally announced the Magellan eXplorist 500 LE, a new GPS receiver for hikers, kayakers, fisherman, and other outdoor enthusiasts. What is unique about the eXplorist 500 LE is that you can choose between triple-A batteries or a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. The new Magellan 500 LE comes with a 14 channel parallel receiver which is WAAS enabled.
The eXplorist 500 LE is waterproof and weighs less than four ounces. Maps are displayed on a 2.3 inch color, backlit display. You can store additional maps on SD cards.
Packages are offered to bundle the Magellan eXplorist 500 LE with certain maps for different activities. The bundles offer 25% off the original map cost.
Hikers can use the 500 LE to calculate area, perimeter, as well as view vertical profiles of trails. Kayakers and fishermen are offered tools to view hunting and fishing times as well as a sun and moon calculator. The MapSend Lake maps display shorelines, water depth charts, vegetation, bottom composition, and locations of boat ramps.
Geocachers can use the Magellan eXplorist 500 LE for paperless caching by downloading geocache data directly to the 500 LE. Purists can also directly enter coordinates into the GPS.