Magellan has announced the introduction of the Magellan eXplorist 310 GPS receiver, a power-packed, waterproof, and rugged handheld GPS designed for essential outdoor navigation.

The newest addition to the eXplorist family of dedicated outdoor GPS receivers, the eXplorist 310 provides outdoor enthusiasts with many of the features found in higher-end devices, including a premium world map and the ability to upload detailed topographic maps.

Whether for an avid outdoorsman navigating to a favorite fishing hole, an up-and-coming geocacher graduating to more complex finds, or an experienced backpacker looking for a powerful, yet light and portable GPS receiver; the eXplorist 310 is the perfect companion for hundreds of different outdoor activities.

With a vibrant, 2.2-inch transflective color screen, a highly sensitive GPS chipset providing 3-5 meters of accuracy, and the ability to record hundreds of waypoints, tracks, and routes, the eXplorist 310 GPS receiver provides all the essential navigation features required to venture into the great outdoors.

It comes pre-loaded with Magellan's World Edition map, which includes a road network of more than 200 countries. The device supports 10,000 paperless geocaches and users can expand the map detail and coverage by adding regional versions of Magellan's Summit Series topographic maps.

Users start each adventure with a single click, record every step, and monitor their progress by viewing the track summary statistics or quickly find their way home using the backtrack function. Two AA batteries provide up to 18 hours of continual outdoor use.

"The eXplorist 310 is a key addition to our outdoor lineup as it provides users with a high-quality navigation device at an outstanding value," said Justin Doucette, Director of Product Marketing, for Magellan GPS.

"From novice to expert, Magellan now offers the right handheld GPS receiver for anyone who ventures into the outdoors anywhere in the world!"

During 2010, Magellan reinvented its eXplorist series targeting the outdoor enthusiast market, starting with the introduction of the eXplorist GC in March and continuing with the high-end eXplorist 510, 610, and 710 GPS receivers in July.

The high-end eXplorist models each feature a 3.0-inch color touch screen and are equipped with a 3.2 mega-pixel camera, microphone, and speaker to enable users to record and share their adventures with friends.

The eXplorist GC is the only color handheld GPS receiver exclusively dedicated to geocaching. Each of the new eXplorist products were welcomed with positive reviews from both consumers and editors. The introduction of the eXplorist 310 demonstrates Magellan's continued commitment to outdoor navigation with more products planned later in 2011.

eXplorist 710
The top-of-the-line eXplorist 710 combines the best of on-road and off-road navigation. Built-in maps get adventurers from doorstep to trailhead to summit and back. The eXplorist 710 includes both Magellan's highly detailed Summit Series topographic map and its City Series turn-by-turn map that allows users to navigate their vehicles through busy city streets on their way to their outdoor adventures.

eXplorist 610
The rugged eXplorist 610 comes pre-loaded with the Summit Series topographical maps. Both the eXplorist 610 and 710 units feature a 3-axis electronic compass and a barometric altimeter that provide precise orientation, accurate elevation information, and enable weather pattern tracking.

eXplorist 510
The eXplorist 510 combines the user-friendliness of a touch screen with the reliability of two customizable hard buttons that can be programmed to its owner's most used functions. It includes essential outdoor features such as expandable memory, paperless geocaching, GPX compatibility, 16 hours of battery life, high-sensitivity GPS enabling 3-5 meters of accuracy, vertical profiling, a digital almanac, track summary statistics and area calculation.

eXplorist GC
The eXplorist GC is the first dedicated GPS device for geocaching and includes out-of-the-box paperless geocaching - pre-loaded with the most popular geocaches in the world - a brilliant color screen, rich graphics and an easy-to-use interface all packed into a rugged and waterproof device.