Magellan EXplorist TRX7 Review

Rick Sosebee
by Rick Sosebee
Getting to know the latest in off-road guidance


Following off-road trail systems can lead you into adventure, but if you do not have a good map of the trails you will often find yourself stumped as to which direction to go. Enter the Magellan eXplorist TRX7.

Not only does the eXplorist TRX7 have access to maps of more than 44,000 OHV trails already loaded, but you can also map and share your own trails with friends and family. We had a chance to spend some quality time with this device while on several recent adventures across the United States. We fell in love with the large and easy to see screen. As well, the way the unit tracks our every movement makes mapping our rides a cinch.

Magellan eXplorist TRX7 Kit

The Magellan eXplorist TRX7 Powersports kit comes with everything you need for your next off-road adventure.

For our initial dip into this new eXplorist TRX7, we wanted to speak with someone who had the inside scoop on the device. That person is Richard Tinnell, the product manager for the eXplorist TRX7. Not only was Tinnell a key cog in the development of the TRX7, but his personal love for everything off-road brought a connection that Magellan could not ignore.

Tinnell explained that every little detail added to the TRX7’s functionality was to not only enhance the experience from a basic GPS device, but to give off-road enthusiasts information on the trails just in case the person viewing online wanted to travel the same trails. Lets say you want to locate a trail for your next ATV or UTV ride that you have never experienced before and you have some reservations on just how well your machine can handle the terrain. Before going in blind, you can check out the search feature in your eXplorist TRX7. If anyone has ridden here before and properly used their eXplorist TRX7 the way it was intended, then you may find a detailed map along with waypoints on cautionary conditions of the trail. It does take the dedication from the owner of the device to input important information, but it asks before saving just how your ride was and offers the ability to input the trail’s conditions right then. There is no searching for the page as it comes up during the save process.

Magellan eXplorist TRX7 Moab

Inputting trail information after your ride is simple and intuitive.

Off-road enthusiasts can not only log in how much they had to use four-wheel drive, but also make notes of other items like rocks, mud and steep inclines or declines in the trails. You can set waypoints to obstacles in the trails so others who follow you will know when and where to expect the next big challenge. The TRX7 even allows you to measure the amount of mud/sand/rocks (by depth) in the notes of the journeyed trail and the conditions of these obstacles. This device gets really deep when talking about terrain and types or conditions and we find this very good information to have if we’re going into the trail for the first time. The user experience is just magnified and the TRX7 gives up info you thought you may have not needed until now.

Our first ride in the trails with our eXplorist TRX7 was at Durhamtown Plantation in Union Point, Ga. Although the staff at DP had given us a paper map that was extremely informative, it lacked the ability to really speak to us about the trails. We recorded almost every trail we had ridden during the day and it was a very easy to find our way back to several places that we had wanted to revisit. The weather had been cooperating, yet the gulf had spiraled a big storm up and the overcast dreary day finally dropped a little rain on us as we were starting for the truck. The eXplorist TRX7 is encapsulated in an IP67 rated drop, shock and weatherproof enclosure so we had no worries about the changing elements. The mud on the TRX7 also seemed to wash off with little trouble or worry of infection to the sensitive sections of the device. We had only recorded 20 miles of trail on this ride, but we experienced plenty in the wet, muddy conditions.

Magellan eXplorist TRX7 ATV Mount

An ATV rack makes for a sturdy mounting point for an eXplorist TRX7.

The very next week we headed off to the hot desert area of Southern California near El Centro and rode around Superstition Mountain. This was not only a dramatic change in weather conditions, but it gave us more varying terrain to log into our journal on the TRX7. The dry, hot and very dusty sand combined with rough and rugged mountain ranges, rocky, tight trails into the steepest ridges provided not only us, but also viewers of our journal some light into the terrain there. Laying down a very good 40 miles during the day, we actually had two eXplorists on hand. Yamaha had its own mounted to a YXZ1000R via the passenger handhold and we mounted ours to the cubby right in the center of the dash on the same machine. It was very interesting to see the two different mounting points and also the way the device held up under both.

The Powersports package for the Magellan eXplorist TRX7 comes with a beefy RAM mount to be used on tubing. This is a very solid mounting position and seemed to hold our TRX7 in place very well. Simple hand tools and a good mounting point are all you need to get the beast locked in place. As we mentioned the day was hot (95 degrees) and dusty, but the eXplorist TRX7 never gave us a reason to doubt it.

Magellan eXplorist TRX7 Screen

We took our eXplorist TRX7 for a dusty desert ride in a Yamaha YXZ1000R.

We have been on other rides since these mentioned above, but we will share those in future posts. Each and every time we took the eXplorist TRX7 out and mounted it to the cab of our vehicles it was exciting to know we could recount where we had been and most of what we had experienced all saved in this slim device. Once we finished each ride the WiFi connectivity of the TRX7 allows us to load our trips onto the www.myTRXjournal.com site for all to view. The internal storage has up to 8 gig’s waiting to save your adventures and comes loaded with Hi-Res TOPO 3D maps of the country already loaded on it. Rumor has it that a camera and possibly other condition-sensing devices are in the works.

If you want to find an adventure yourself, we would encourage you to look into the Magellan eXplorist TRX7 because it is robust, intuitive and reliable.

Get Magellan eXplorist TRX7 Here

Rick Sosebee
Rick Sosebee

Whether he is in Mexico covering the Baja 1000, building ATVs for local racers, or out enjoying the trails, Rick’s passion shows in his stories. Learning to wrench his own machines from his grandfather, Rick also has an undying appreciation for the mechanics of off-road vehicles. Do not let the dirt and mud fool you, though, as Rick also has a deep love for street cars.

More by Rick Sosebee

Next