Magellan RoadMate 1470 user reviews

Pros I would recommend this product to any beginner.

Cons On the settings page it states you can change the vehicle type from taxi, pedestrian, bus, etc... I looked everywhere for this option and have come to the conclusion.... it just doesn't exist

Summary Update: Amazon has dropped the price to $134, that's a great price! <a href="http://www.productvibe.com/product.aspx?id=1005"> view full price history here</a>

My wife bought the RoadMate 1470 on (gasp)some shopping network. However, I must say I'm impressed with this thing. Not ever having a GPS before, I can't compare against other products of similar specs. So I will tell you this... I LIKE IT! That's the up side. Now for the few down sides. On the settings page it states you can change the vehicle type from taxi, pedestrian, bus, etc... I looked everywhere for this option and have come to the conclusion.... it just doesn't exist. As a trucker I was hoping to change to a "bus" in order to at least get that route information. I know on the Magellan web sites "Ask Maggie" section, it states that commercial vehicles and restricted routes are not offered on this and a boat load of other models. So, I'm just a bit disappointed they brought it up in the first place and got my hopes up. Boo-Hoo for me, but, this still is a fantastic piece of genius! I bought the traffic link power cable but have not had the chance to use it. (Then found a half price coupon, for the cord, in the box it came with, damn my luck) Yet even with all these little detours in satisfaction I would recommend this to any beginner.

Pros Predictive typing of towns and streets and numbers. Fast calculations of reroutes since the firmware was updated. Larger screen. Easier to get to types of routes. 1 touch Icons.

Cons Mounting of USB plug. Still quirky directions sometimes. Inconsistant routing. Could use something called "Simple route". It should take traffic lights into account when calculating routing on surface streets.

Summary This is certainly a great unit for the money. I think it is better then the other brands out there. The predictive typing is great. Once you have put in the city, You can not misspell the street. Once the street is entered, it only allows valid adresses. The 1 touch is not available on any other unit. Puts all your favorites 2 touches away. Since the firmware update, you have a choice of keyboards and you have more then twice as many 1 touch icons. It also recalculates missed turns much better. The only thing that is lacking is judgement. When it is calculating fastest time and the fastest time involves surface streets, it should take into account that you may have to stop at traffic lights. I calculated 1 route and fastest time was 4minutes shorter then most use of freeways. However, fastest time was on surface streets and involved 6 turns and probably at least 15 lights. Most use of freeways was a straight shot and very few lights. With 15 lights, you know you are going to stop at at least 10 of them for 1 minute each. In other words, there is no way to make the time estimated on surface streets. This should be taken into account. I don't know of any unit that does that. Outside of that, Magellan has always had the best interface and user experience.

Pros The device works fine, although it tells me I have arrived home when passing a neighbors house about four houses away. Fortunately I come home sober and don't go into the wrong driveway. ;-)

Rerouting is very fast. AAA Tour Book info is also great!

Cons Magellan leaves older customers in the dust by no providing the same perks as they now do on almost all of their popular models: free map and traffic updates.

Summary Since Magellan seems to be the only company that has partnered with AAA to provide their Tour Book information (which can updated for free by AAA members) it gives them a definite advantage.

However, even though most, if not all, or their current popular models now offer free map updates (up to 4 per year) as well as free traffic updates, it isn't really a way to keep customers satisfied to make them buy a newer model when they have a perfectly good one still working.

I have two models Roadmate 1475, and Maestro 5310, neither of which are eligible for free map updates. And the updates are not cheap! Two or three updates cost more than a new unit.

If Magellan wants to ensure customer loyalty so that they will come back when a unit fails, they should show some loyalty to their customers by providing the updates as long as they are working.

AAA provides the Tour Book data for the life of the unit; why doesn't Magellan do the same for their updates?

Updated on Aug 14, 2012

One reviewer mentioned that Magellan releases untested firmware updates.

I can attest to that as well. One such updated "bricked" my unit, but they agreed to replace it with a refurbished one even though the warranty period had expired.

One plus....when they did, I had updated maps.

Pros One of the largest screens at the time.

Cons Power cable location The ding at is ridiculous. warranty ran out it it started sending inaccurate data. emails and attempts to send it to them for repair that I would pay they told me they don,t repair them. It is in a landfill somewhere in Texas.

Summary PS I recommend buying an extended warranty on any GPS you buy. Steve