The Magellan eXplorist 500 is part of Thales’ latest handheld series. It sports a 16-color TFT screen, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and an SD expansion slot. The eXplorist 400 deletes the color screen; the eXplorist 600 adds an electronic compass, thermometer, and barometer.

The pocket-sized eXplorist is the smallest and lightest of Magellan offerings. Meridian, SporTrak and 300-series users will find the user interface immediately recognizable. The four navigation screens (map, compass, position and satellite) are virtually identical to previous generations. Only two screens offer customizable data fields, a step backward for Magellan handhelds.

The eXplorist 400, 500 and 600 support optional detailed mapping, including DirectRoute which will give the eXplorist autorouting capability. The GPSr has 8 megabytes of internal memory out of the box, but the true advantage comes by inserting an SD card for up to one gigabyte of storage for map, waypoint and route files. Files are transferred via a supplied proprietary cable which plugs into your computer's USB port.

Files on the SD card are managed by a slick folder hierarchy much like Windows operating system. Geocaches, waypoints, routes and detailed maps are each stored in separate folders for quick and easy retrieval. The SD card (and internal GPSr memory) can be opened as a drive on your Windows system.

This 14-parallel channel WAAS receiver has some big shoes to fill when it comes to reception – the Meridian and SporTrak have established strong reputations for holding satellite lock. The eXplorist continues this tradition – reporting accurate positions even under dense tree cover, although urban canyons can give it some trouble. Turn it on and the GPSr will take a little longer than expected to find its initial position, but then performance is similar to the Meridian.

Magellan gambled by foregoing AA batteries and using a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. The battery is smaller and more powerful than AA batteries and can be recharged at any wall outlet or even through USB. Disadvantage is that external power sources are sometimes not available. Battery life is rated at about 17 hours.

Geocaching application(s): This is a GPSr after all, and will work perfectly for geocaching. The Geocache Manager is a welcome acknowledgement from Magellan, but its features are only partially helpful – you get the cache name, ID, owner, cache type, coordinates, date placed, date of last find, the difficulty and terrain ratings and the hint. You'll probably still want to carry the printed cache pages or a PDA. On the map screen, geocaches appear with the proper icon, just like on geocaching.com.

Pros: Color screen, SD expansion, small size, rechargeable battery pack, file management.

Cons: Limited user-customizable data fields, rechargeable battery pack.

Bottom line: For those geocachers who travel great distances, the eXplorist can hold all the maps and waypoints you want. Then again, aside from the great color screen, the Meridians could do that, too.