Outdoor Resource Center

Contributor: Sheri and Randy Propster, From: Backpacker

Let’s say you’re preparing for an epic backpacking adventure, you’re gathering all the essential supplies, and you’re adding the trip enhancers you need to ensure your trip is unforgettable. You know you need to go lightweight because the plan is to hike multiple miles each day and you’re visiting a destination that offers those never ending and breathtaking views that come standard with terrain that has plenty of ups and downs. But hey, it’s an epic trip, so you wouldn’t even consider leaving some of the most important enhancers behind.

You want to be able to navigate to and from the trailhead and spoken turn by turn directions sure beats taking your eyes off the road to check the map, so you make sure you have the address you need to punch into your GPS during the trip to the trailhead. Once on trail those City Series Maps won’t do you much good and you definitely want to be able to navigate out there in the wild too, so 1:24,000 quality Summit Series Maps are a must add. While you’ve polished your map reading and compass using skills during your pre-trip planning, it sure would be nice to have technology that can plot your precise location, track your route, and mark your waypoints, so in addition to a GPS for the car, a handheld GPS will surely make the cut too.

You’ve heard there are some cool geo-caches along the route and you really want to check them out, so you print a pile of directions from geocaching.com, it’s just a bunch of paper so it can’t be too much extra weight, can it?

You wouldn’t consider taking this once in a life time adventure without packing a camera and your home movie collection is overdue for an addition, so you grab the video camera too. And since video isn’t nearly as memorable without audio, you throw the microphone in the mix as well.

Huh, that idea of going lightweight seems to be becoming more and more elusive. Or is it? If you’re able to pack all of your enhancers into a single 6.87 ounce item you could still go lightweight. Is that possible? Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. We’d like to introduce you to the eXplorist 710.

Thanks to Magellan we now have access to a handheld GPS that comes pre-loaded with World Edition, City Series and Summit Series Maps, that offers voice spoken turn by turn directions to get you to the trailhead, that utilizes touch screen technology with a four corner pop-up menu that’s as user friendly as we’ve seen on a GPS, that allows for quick and easy downloads from and uploads to geocaching.com for your much more efficient paperless geo-caching, that incorporates a 3.2 mega pixel auto-focus camera, that shoots video, and includes an internal microphone for capturing audio and an internal speaker to play back the moments we capture on the device while still in the field. Looks like you’re back to that going lightweight idea again!

So now let’s say you wisely packed out all your must-have enhancers by simply packing the 6.87 ounce eXplorist 710. You’ve enjoyed an epic day in the backcountry and you’re lying in your tent at the end of a long day on trail. You kick your feet up to relax (feet that aren’t so tired because you successfully pulled off packing a lightweight kit), you grab your GPS and with a tap of the screen you can proceed to watch a multimedia playback of all the day’s highlights in the form of a slideshow of photos, videos and audio files that you were able to attach to your recorded track and your marked waypoints throughout the day on trail. Before you dose off to dreamland you’re able to unwind while reliving the joy you experienced exploring the sights and sounds you were able to capture.

When you get home from your epic trip, load your files into the Vantage Point program on your computer, watch your track in a 3-D fly-over, share your photos and videos with your family and friends, and show them the exact spot on the planet where they can go to see and hear it all for themselves, and do it all with a huge smile knowing that you have just explored, captured, and shared like never before thanks to a handheld unit you know like to think of as entirely different creature in the world of GPS.

See the Magellan eXplorist 710 in action on the 2012 Get Out More Tour in this short YouTube video: Randy and Sheri introduce the Magellan eXplorist 710.

For more click: Magellan eXplorist 710

Stay posted for more Get Out More Tour gear highlights and reviews as the 2012 Tour rolls on, and to experience the Get Out More gear and skills show live and in person, check the Tour Calendar for an event near you.

See You Outside,

Sheri and Randy Propster