Magellan eXplorist 710 Waterproof Hiking GPS

$497.99

Amazon.com

Here’s your best smartphone alternative if you’re thinking about going overseas and don’t want to be shackled by outrageous smartphone roaming fees.   Or if you are hiking on a remote trail and just need to find a campground restroom.  This’ll find it for you!

Worry no more.  You can tote Magellans’ eXplorist 710, a rugged GPS navigation system and so much more.

Whether hiking Cinque Terre on the Italian coast or skiing the back runs at Squaw Valley, you can:

• Capture your route
• Shoot photos
• Make audio notes
• Add waypoints
• Find a restaurant or a restroom

And download it all onto your Mac or PC with the USB port.  And, happily for geocache enthusiasts, you can now go paperless with the eXplorist 710’s pre-loaded geocache listings.

During a recent hike, I liked how the eXplorist 710 easily recorded my route and saved it as a track for future hikes.  I could’ve also created a backtrack route to return to my start point.  I found the One Touch menu easy to navigate but difficult to view in bright sunlight.

• Hand-held speaker, 3.2 mega-pixel camera and microphone
• Pre-loaded with U.S. summit and city maps
• A calibrating, 3-Axis electronic compass
• A barometric altimeter
• Pre-loaded Main Menu with points of interest (water, rest areas, camping), geocaches, geographic landmarks and more

And no matter where you’re headed, the manufacturer, Navionics, has developed  electronic navigation charts  for marine, inland lakes, rivers and trail maps for ski resorts for outdoors use.  Based in Massarosa, Italy, Navionics serves Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.  So downloads for Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and Austraila are available.

You may think this GPS does as much as any smartphone but smartphones can’t handle the wilderness and this is where the eXplorist shines.