Stay away from this one
First the first level technical support is terible and the second level technical support is non existant. Letters to the corporate office go unanswered.

I bought it a year ago and have had it in the field twice. It is my fifth Magellan GPS. I continue to use my meridian color.

The base map is terible... for instance it does not show the Hudson or Misissippi rivers. The base map is used at higher zoom levels even when you load a detailed map. This makes getting a "overview" impossible. It took over 1 1/2 months of calls to customer support to tell me that the map as as designed.

The unit is heavy and the battery life for 4 batteries seems the same as the color unit with it's 2 batteries. The size and weight are a tradeoff for the bigger screen.

I use mapsend 3d software and have 3 reistered versions yes one for each of the Magellans that I still own. I dug the XL out last week to give it another try, the annoyance had worn down a little, only to find that the version 1.50 of the software would not let me change back to the XL from using it with my Color unit. I messed up up on this. Support told me that there was no fix except to buy a new copy of the program. If you purchase software you must strictly regulate that it is used only for the XL unit ... If you change it it may not let you change it back.

Magellan is still very good at getting a fix and retaining it and processing the map and gps data..

Excellent Multipurpose GPS
This is a great all around GPS unit. This GPS is not for someone who will exclusively use it in a vehicle. Nor is it the best GPS for someone who will use it only for hiking. It is the best of both worlds.

I fish, camp, hike, hunt and drive. So I wanted a GPS that is portable and could do street routing and display topo maps. The XL's screen size rivals most dashboard mounted GPS units. The screen is twice as big as the screens on the other GPS units in the Explorist series. This makes for a great GPS to drive with.

The Explorist XL uses AA size batteries (4) which is a must if you are going to be away from a power source. If you plan to hike with a GPS you need a standard size battery so you can bring extra. I use rechargeable AA batteries in my unit but I always have AA backups in case I need power and don't have a means to recharge.

This unit was an upgrade for me from the Magellan Meridian Color. The Meridian is about the same physical size as the Explorist XL but the Explorist XL screen is twice as big. After owning other Megellan handheld GPS units for about 6 years I like these units very much. But Magellan's customer and technical support is horrible! Also the software for detailed maps can be pricey ($149) but it is a must if you have one of these units.

Avoid Magellan GPS Products!
There are some very good Amazon reviewers here doing a fine job detailing the pro's and cons of this item, so I'm not going to waste your time detailing the unit. I own this and two other previous generations of magellan higher end color GPSs, so I think I'm pretty qualified to offer an opinion to my fellow GPS users. I have no axe to grind, don't work for a GPS company and just want to save my fellow explorers headache & stress.

GPS units rely heavily upon firmware, techincal support, map software and map software updates. No mater how feature rich, ergonomic or well priced a GPS unit appears (all of which has drawn me to Magellen GPSs), without the back-end software tools & support, the product is a failure. Magellan (Thales) has failed miserably providing quality in any of these areas over three generations and 4 years of products. I have spent nearly 100 hours troubleshooting their firmware update failures, searching for correct firmware, talking to them about promised map updates that never came, waiting months for warranty returned products that fail withing minutes of return, customizing PC data interfaces to insure reliability, talking to useless call centers in India ...the list goes on and on. If I wasn't a skilled and experenced network engineer/pc geek, I would have shot myself years ago due to the troubles I've run into with Magellan GPS products. I would go out of my way to insure a friend would never buy a Magellan product, and would even go so far as insuring that my boss avoided one (and I don't like him all that much!). Look to the other GPS company for nearly trouble free products and support, becuase you will find neither with Magellan! Nuff said?

GPS Upgrade
I have owned a Magellan GPS since 2003, the Meridian Platinum, it recently lost its display forcing me to look for an upgrade. The closest unit to the Meridian was the Explorest 600, but I opted for the Large display on the XL.
I do miss some of the navagation screens the Meridian had. But I am starting to get use to the XL. I laso purchased the Direct Route NA 3.0 and they work well together. Only had it for 2 weeks so I will update this in a month or so.

Magellan Explorist XL Evaluation
Signal reception - excellent. Accuracy - excellent. Screen display - best on market! Joystick control - a dream. PC/Unit software interface - OK (you have to understand the logic behind their programming). If you have problems with XL's heavy weight and low battery life - DEAL WITH IT! because you'll be using an exceptionally good product.