I received a free Magellan eXplorist GC GPS to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

Magellan eXplorist GC GPS

I’ve been wanting to try geocaching for a while. It just seems like such a fun way to go on a treasure hunt. Except, you know, without the pirates and what not. Not that there’s anything wrong with pirates! I just don’t really feel like getting cursed or anything! Anyway, geocaching has been high on our to-do list for well over a year, but I never had the tools to do it. Now, thanks to Magellan eXplorist GC GPS , though, I do!

I’ll be honest- when I opened up the box with my Magellan eXplorist GC GPS , I was totally confused. I really had no idea where to start! I stared at it for a few minutes, then decided to do something I rarely ever do…I read the directions! My dear, departed grandfather would be so proud. He always read his manuals from front to back before he even turned on a new gadget (considering he got a new gadget every week, he did A LOT of manual reading in his life!). Once I read the directions, it became a little clearer what I need to do.

The first thing I needed to do was head over to geocaching.com. Once there, I just put in my zip code and it gave me a ton of results. Like thousands, starting with the closest. I was so surprised at how many caches there were just within a few miles of my house.

Geocaching

Once there, I could set up my account and load a few geocaches into my Magellan eXplorist GC GPS. Actually, I could load 10,000 into it. That’s about how many it can hold. I figured I’d start a little slower though! From there, it’ s just a matter of driving close enough to the area so we can start walking to discover the treasure!

Geocache1

The Magellan eXplorist GC GPS is so small, it can fit right in your pocket. Take a look at a few of the many features of the eXplorist.

  • Easy enough for a newbie, but advanced enough for an expert.
  • Set waypoints and see them right on the cache instead of having to go to a separate screen.
  • Super easy to connect to geocaching.com.
  • Comes with a 30-day premium membership to geocaching.com.
  • A completely paperless experience! Everything you need is right there on the screen.
  • Super sturdy, so you don’t have to worry about breaking it. I mean, I wouldn’t drop it off a mountain or anything, but if you happen to drop it, it’s not going to be ruined. It’s also waterproof!
  • Batteries last about 18 hours. I’ve turned it on and off so many times while learning to use it and taking it out exploring and I’m still running on the same batteries.
  • Accurate to 3-5 meters, so you’ll literally be right on top of the cache when X marks the spot!

Seriously, this little device has so many features, it would take forever to list them all! Check out all the features on the Magellan eXplorist GC GPS .

Geocache2

It’s easy enough that even Jacob could follow it. I love that it’s small enough to even fit in his little hands! I think it’s a great way to teach him about following directions, and about latitude and longitude.

Unfortunately, I lost every picture that I took in in July prior to today (I had to replicate a few of the pictures for this post) in a memory card mishap. I’m so depressed about that! We had such a great time exploring with the Magellan eXplorist GC GPS. I can’t wait to do it again!

Check out the  Magellan eXplorist GC GPS  website for more details and to purchase. The unit costs $149, and is worth every penny if you enjoy geocaching!