It can be hard to find the perfect gift sometimes. A present that’s useful, fun and maybe even encourages you spend quality time with your family isn’t something that can be found on every store shelf. But this year, Magellan has a gift that does all those things and it’s sure to put a smile on the face of whoever opens it!
The Magellan eXplorist GC is the first handheld GPS device designed exclusively for geocaching. For those that aren’t familiar with the activity, geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunt adventure that has taken the world by storm. The concept is simple. Check out a geocaching website like Geocaching.com, find a location near you and use your GPS or smartphone to track down the cache.
And now the Magellan eXplorist GC is making geocaching easier and even more fun. This device was designed with geocaching in mind and every feature of the device shows that. I loved the rugged outdoor design; the eXplorist GC is waterproof with a transreflective screen to make reading the device out in the sun a little easier. And because sometimes adventures can take longer than expected, I really appreciated that the two AA batteries that powered the device lasted for up to 18 hours.
But of course, what really made the eXplorist GC so much fun was its exclusive geocaching features. The device comes preloaded with the most popular geocaches in the world and by connecting it to my computer, I was able to download new geocaching location to my device. In fact, this little unit holds up to 10,000 of them!
The Magellan eXplorist GC comes with a thirty-day complimentary Groundspeak premium membership and because that membership allows access to features like paperless caching and uploading your field notes, it really does increase the functionality of the device. Fortunately, a premium membership at Geocaching.com is incredibly reasonable; a one-year membership is just thirty dollars.
Because this device is dedicated to geocaching, it definitely doesn’t have the capabilities of a pricier GPS device but with street maps of the US and Canada and the option of setting waypoints, it’s still possible to navigate to locations other than geocaches with relative ease. And I really appreciated the family-friendly design of the device. The icons were bright and colourful and since the device was built for rough use, I could even let my oldest son check the map and help navigate.
If you’d like to head off on some family adventures of your own, you’re in luck! Magellan is very generously offering one lucky Mommy Kat and Kids reader their own Magellan eXplorist GC handheld GPS unit, a $150 value! To enter to win, just leave a blog comment about whether or not you’ve ever tried geocaching.
I cannot wait to head out on a geocaching adventure with my boys and I have to say, I was a little surprised to find out how many geocaching locations there were right around my rural hometown. If even small-town Saskatchewan has geocaching locations, it really must be a popular activity! Check out the Magellan eXplorist GC for yourself and give a gift that will provide lots of fun and adventure for everyone in the family!
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I have never tried it but I bet my kids would love to give this a go
I haven’t tried it yet!
My kids have geocached with scouts and we would love one of ourown. Such fun!
My kids have geocached with each other. Haven’t tried it myself.
Never but seems interesting!
I have not tried geocaching, however it sounds like a fun activity for outdoor-minded couples to engage in. Beats lying on the sofa watching tv
This would be amazing thanks for the giveaway and good luck to everyone!
geocatching sounds amazing, never heard of it before!! Thanks for sharing info on it and also a great product! Would love a GPS in general, we love to hike the mountains with our kids.
We tried as a family but had no luck using our phones so this would be AWESOME!!!!
I haven’t due to mobility issues, but my eldest daughter has
I’ve never tried geocaching, but have always wanted to. The hubby and I had seen a film about it and went out on a mini adventure where it looked like there was a cache on the other side of a very fast moving river. We didn’t want to take a chance with the river but found it rather interesting that we had just seen the film.