Wonderful IF you don't use Windows Vista
purchased the Magellan explorist XL in Feb. '07. Since then I've been absolutely disappointed. At the time I was running Windows XP Pro at home and loved the GPS USB cord and being able to upload my tracks into Google Earth. Unfortunately I upgraded to Windows Vista Enterprise due to necessity. I have made numerous calls to Magellan about the fact that the GPS isn't compatible with Vista and have always gotten the same non-committal response. "We'll have drivers in about 2 months." I call back every two months and get told the same thing by the outsourced, barely understandable customer service. I mean, how hard is it to put together a USB driver? It's not! It's now almost 7 months since Vista was retail released. This unit is wonderful if you are using an OS other than Vista or if you don't mind the constant swapping of a SD Card between the GPS and your computer. If you only use Vista, save yourself the hassle and look for another manufacturer.

What a screen
I recently purchased the XL after my Sportrak Color failed to connect to the computer any more. Magellan will fix it, but with limitations of the old, I thought I would just replace it. What a difference! I used both this weekend while Geocaching, and they both acquired the signal at the exact same moment, both had the same accuracy, and both were easy to use, but the XL has a much larger and brighter screen. I am very pleased with this product!

Another bonus - geocaching points are incredibly easy to input through the use of the supplied Geocaching Manager software. It even has a link directly to [...]! Upload took less than a second once I entered the points I wanted to go to.

Now the downsides - with my old unit, I could connect the unit to the computer, and upload maps, regions - whatever - to my unit directly from the software. I now have to export the data to a file, then upload to the GPS separately. Kind of a pain, but much quicker once you have those files created. It would take 30 minutes before to upload a new region, not it goes much faster. Also, it comes with USB, so I don't have to mess with another cable to make the connection. Also, this unit has the capability of using an SD card - which means I can upload the entire US from Direct Route without having to wait every time I move into a new region. Switching between maps is very easy.

Another downside - don't call Magellan for Tech support. You're better off figuring it out on your own. You will speak to someone in India who apparently needs to look up EVERY support question. They'll put you on hold for "just 2 minutes" after you tell them what's wrong. They'll come back on and say "try this" - I already did. Then they'll put you on hold for "just 2 minutes". I went through this for over an hour one night. And any time I've tried to call them, you'll find that you're on hold for quite some time before reaching a breathing human.

Final downside - I'm not able to find accessories for this locally. This includes at our Sporting Good giants (like Cabela's).

BUT - let me say this again - I love this new unit. There are some navigation changes with the unit, but they've made some great improvements.