How can I backup the included basemap to protect myself against the dreaded "Press ENTER to configure NAND problem"?
Conneect your Magellan Explorist XL™ to your computer. Choose menu->advanced->communications->file transfer->internal memory. The contents of the device's memory will show up as a mounted disk on your computer. The directory (folder) is 'Background Maps' and the file you need to save is 'BASEMAP.MGI'.
Windows users may have to explictly enable showing hidden and system files to see it.
2.
What's changed in firmware revisions?
These products have not seen a lot of updates and Magellan is pretty stingy with information on the various versions. (If you have the version numbers here, please do use the link at the bottom of the page to provide those.)
2.10 (February 2007):
Fixed a problem where the Test card feature under Advanced Utilities caused the unit to do a soft reset.
Fixed a problem with Direct Route North America ver. 3.0.
3.
Can I update the firmware?
Magellan has been very scant with firmware updates on this product line. As mentioned above, 2.57 was only released for the European and Australian models. Some U.S. users report success upgrading their models; others silently ignore the upgrade attempt or just quit working. There have been attempts to correlate success with serial numbers, but the results are inconclusive.
4.
Should I even try to update the firmware?
Between the guarantee that WAAS will no longer work, the reality that the newest firmware isn't available for products sold into all countries, and the oddities of some units rejecting or even "bricking" during a firmware update, it's difficult to recommend the process.
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