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"Finally, a real all in one unit that is affordable" on by GPS4ME
Pros: Compact, size with large display, vehicle nav with Topo and more
Cons: Lacks Bluetooth, MP4 and games
Summary: This unit tested out great, brighter display screen and faster processor with the familiar Magellan user interface. Audio quality is great also.
Most Magellan and Hertz customers along with first time GPS users will love this unit user interface.
You can go hiking, snowmobiling, Geocaching, 4 wheeling if you are adventurous, and use it like a high dollar GPS vehicle navigation system during the week. This unit includes text to speech and NavTeq map software.
This is about as good as it gets till the MRM 2500 is available, then you will be using it on a boat and more...
I think this unit currently is the best value for a GPS unit that is under $500 price range. Nothing comes close to it, not the TomTom ONE nor the Garmin C330.
Not saying the Garmin and TomTom is not as good, but for the money, the MRM 2200 size and processing speed along with the text to speech feature is just a little better.
Yes, I been using and testing this MRM 2200 unit for a while now and I don't work for Magellan. -
"Excellent Value with VERY POOR Customer Service" on by chitowngolf
Pros: Easy to use with excellent features & excellent value
Cons: VERY POOR customer service & Outdated POI's
Summary: I believe I was the first to buy a 2200T at Bed, Bath & Beyond (using a 20% coupon, the price was $399.99). I chose this unit because of the excellent review from CNET and the cost (this is my first GPS unit). I wasn't dissapointed at all, until I found that the fastest route to work (32 miles / 45 minutes)didn't agree with the fastest route home (60 mies / 120 minutes). It was like the highways to work didn't exist when calculating the way home. I called Magellan's customer service (they are located in India, and it is difficult to understand some of the reps.) which insisted my unit was NOT defective. Even when traveling home and then asking for the fastest route, my first unit would avoid some of the fastest highways (Chicago area). I submitted a couple of emails about the possiblity of receiving a defective unit, but never received an answer. By the way, I did receive an email answer when I asked about an operating manual or the traffic kit, so I know they received my questions. I got fed up and exchanged my unit for another, and am happy to say that this unit performs exactly as hoped. The fastest route to work is the same as the one back home. My new unit displays interstate highway signs, where my old unit didn't. The POI's are a bit old (a couple of restaurants displayed have been closed for 1+ years), but this isn't my main interest for having this unit.
The ease of use, display, detour function and turn by turn navigation makes this unit a 9 or 10. The customer service is a 1 (at least somebody answers the phone quickly). Try this unit, but if you feel some of the routes don't make sense, exchange for a new one immediately. Don't call customer service to see if there may be a problem, because they will tell you that this is the newest unit and there isn't any problems. -
"Magellan 2200T vs TomTom One" on by AquaDocs
Pros: Compact size, simple user interface, clear text, text-to-speech, comprehensive directions, long battery life, easy to view in sunlight, mp3 & image capability, pre-installed maps, flexible re-routing.
Cons: No home AC adaptor, no voice selection, no blue-tooth capability.
Summary: I had one of the last pre-Christmas available Tom Tom 910's on-hold when I unexpectedly came across a Magellan 2200T. At CDN $499 the 2200T was $200 less than the 910 and seemed to have all the features I needed - so I bought it and then went to also purchase the 910 and compare them. When I went to pick up the 910, the sales staff recommended I purchase the Tom Tom One, assuring me it had the same functionality as the 910, except having a smaller screen, smaller hard drive (this turned out to be false - there is no hard drive), no european maps, plus SD capability. So I bought the Tom Tom One and decided to do a comparison with the Magellan 2200T.
The Magellan 2200T took less than a minute to set up out of the box, and within a second minute it had picked up six satellites and was ready to go. We quickly entered the city, street, and address of our destination and it immediately began to instruct us where to turn. The keypad entry was made extra easy as the system anticipated which keys were likely to be pressed next (contect sensitive) and within three to four letters correctly "guessed" the city and then address we were entering. The route selected wasn't what we had expected, but giving the 2200T the benefit of the doubt we were pleasantly impressed - getting to our distant destination in the predicted amount of time. The text-to-speech worked near flawlessly, with only a few odd computer generated pronounciation glitches. The system reminded us of upcoming turns, announced cross streets as we approached the turn, and announced the turn itself with a chime (the sound announcing a turn is user selectable). We purposefully took a series of wrong turns and each time the system took less than 10 seconds to calculate a new route and it smoothly continued. A wrong turn along a long road without cross streets resulted in a warning that we were heading in the wrong direction and an advisory to make a safe sharp u-turn at our earliest convenience.
The Tom Tom One setup was also straight forward out of the box. However, we quickly realized that there were no maps installed in the unit, and we had to insert the provided SD disk containing the maps. The sales person had told us the maps were installed on a 10 Gig harddrive. The need to insert the SD also revealed another sales information error - as the unit did not have mp3 capabilities like the Magellan 2200T. Similar to the 2200T, the Tom Tom One was simple to use, but did not have the assisted keypad entry system, requiring the address to be completely typed in. On the road, we discouvered another functionality error on the part of the salesman, the Tom Tom One does not have text-to-speech capability. In direct comparison with the 2200T and it's reassuring guidance announcing cross streets, a "count-down" proximity to the next turn, and what street or highway exit you are about to take - the Tom Tom One was relatively silent, annoucing only when a turn was required, and when a destination was reached. Only the text on the screen let us know what street we had turned on. The ability to select a system voice and bluetooth capabilities of the Tom Tom One quickly paled in comparison to the utility and reassurance provided by the text-to-speech capability of the Magellan 2200T.
Final considerations in favour of the 2200T is the ability to add terrain mapping through the purchase of an optional SD containing maps (enabling the unit to be used off-road), it's thinner and smaller size compared to the Tom Tom One, and it's current ability to integrate with Google Earth (presumably the Tom Tom One will also have this ability at some point).
I gave the Magellan 2200T a rating of a high 9, in comparison (following the same rating guidelines) I gave the Tom Tom One a rating of 7. Three additional features I would have liked to have seen in the Magellan 2200T, in order of importance, are: 1) an AC adapter for in-home charging; 2) some voice selection; and 3) bluetooth compatability.
Both units were simple and intuitive to use without the need to reference the manuals. -
"Overall, RoadMate 2200T is very good for the money. Affordable and easy to use. Recommended." on by ddtd
Pros: Screen is easy to read, voice is clear, not too bulky compare to other similar products with the same range of money. But it and you will like it.
Cons: Menu navigation is a bit confuse, you will need to play with it for a few times to get use to it. Music sound is not that great. Photo viewer is an OK.
Summary: Overall, RoadMate 2200T is very good comparing to Garmin Street Pilot C340 (I previously owned C340)or other similar products as the same price range.
The good: Turn-by-turn guidance with text-to-speech is surprisely good and is very close to human voice, unlike the Street Pilot C340's text-to-speech, which is very much computerized. You may store new address to favorite folder or leave it in previous address folder. Remind you at 1 mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile and in between 400-200ft. You may select Fastest, shortest, Avoid highway for individual trip instead of preset like Street Pilot C340 (which you use select at System level). The detour option is really a nice feature that will allow you to take alternate route if there is a slow down in between 5 to 10 minutes. You may select either 3, 5, 10 or custom distance to be detoured. Fast "lock in" signals.
The bad: Navigation menu is not that easy to use compare to Street Pilot C340, you may need to play with it for a few times to get use to. Missed turn route recalculation is too slow ccompare to Street Pilot C340 (approx. 5-10 seconds when SP C340 took less then 5 seconds to recalculated). Portable? depend how you see it, but it is still a bit bulky and will not fit in my pocket for sure.
The Urly: Beware, please charge the battery before use (unfortunately, there is no AC/DC adapter so you will have charge it from your car). You will also need to "reset" before use, the reset switch in on the left side of the unit... Unlike other units, you have to slide the button up then down to reset th eunit.
Overall, the unit performs well and worth the money. Recommended. -
"OK, but Garmin nuvi 350 is better" on by pctx
Pros: Price, weatherproof
Cons: Slow, poor Mac support
Summary: My wife calls me directionally challenged. Since I started a new job that required a bit of travel, I decided that I should get something that would help me at home and in my travels. This is my first GPS so I wanted to test a similar Garmin unit vs. Magellan. Both use the Navteq maps (which I understand is better in the US), rather than the TeleAtlas maps. I did some research on all the other brands (MIO, TOMTOM, etc.), but did not have the time to test them all. My criteria was something that I could use in a car and possibly on foot. Therefore, I wanted a portable unit that was reliable/accurate, had good battery life, and was not too expensive. I kept my budget at $350. Again, after some intial internet research, I chose to test the Magellan 2200t and the Garmin nuvi 350. Also, since I have both a PC and a Mac, I wanted to have something that was compatible with both (without having to use too many 3rd party apps)
COMMON FEATURES:
MP3 player built in.
Picture viewer.
Text to speech (speaks the street names)
SiRFstarIII chip (faster and better sat. lock)
Fairly compact(Garmin is smaller and lighter)
Rated battery of 4-8 hours
Sub-$350 (Magellan was less expensive)
POI database
Screensize (3.5”) touchscreen
External SD memory slot
USER INTERFACE/SCREEN: advantage - GARMIN
Garmin had the better interface. It just looked more “polished” and smoother in the map renderings. Lines were more jagged on the 2200t. I was also able to choose an icon for my vehicle for the nuvi and found that there were more free ones available for download. If there was a way to change it in Magellan, I could not find it. Also, it was nice to see that the nuvi calculates the expected arrival time and shows it on the screen – very useful if you think you are going to be late for something so you can call. I could also touch and drag the map on the screen like I was grabbing a google map. I don't recall being able to do this on the 2200t.
EASE OF USE: advantage - TIE
Both were easy to get up and running. I did not find one easier to use over the other.
SPEED: advantage – GARMIN
This was a peculiar one. For the Magellan, the initial speed to boot up to the user screen was faster, but the time to acquire the satellite signal was slower. The Garmin initially boots and loads the maps, but it was like it was acquiring the satellites at the some time it was loading the maps. So while I had to wait a little longer to get to the user screen, I found that the satellites were locked in by the time I had enterd a destination. So from initial boot to navigation, the edge went to Garmin. Also, while navigating, the Garmin was quicker to recalculate the route if I missed my turn/exit. I missed 2 re-routed exits on the Magellan because I had passed them before the 2200t could tell me.
SENSITIVITY/SATELLITE ACQUISITION: advantage – GARMIN
I was able to keep a signal indoors on the nuvi where I lost it in the 2200t. Maybe it was due to the external antenna on the nuvi. I also noticed that if I was moving and turned on the units, that the 2200t would take much longer to lock. I'd be almost a mile into the drive before the 2200t locked. The nuvi did it in less than half the time.
ROUTING ENGINE: advantage – TIE
Both units did a great job getting me to where I was going. I did read on the internet that the Garmin does a slightly better job. My test was not long enough to notice much of a difference.
TEXT TO SPEECH: advantage – GARMIN
There were some instances where the 2200t did not mention the street name that the nuvi did mention in the directions. I also liked that I was able to choose from the different languages and accents on the nuvi (male, female, British, Australian, American English, etc.). The 2200t had one voice. If there were others, I did not find them.
PORTABILITY: advantage – GARMIN
The nuvi was smaller and lighter. It was easy to slip in my pocket and came with a leather holder to protect it. The 2200t was slightly bulkier. I did like that the 2200t was weatherproof.
ACCESSORIES: advantage – GARMIN
Both came with car and wall chargers, suction cup window mount, dash disk mount, usb cable. Garmin did a better job of designing the mount. Attaching and removing the nuvi to the mount was an easy one handed maneuver. I needed to use 2 hands to remove the 2200t from the mount.
PRICE: advantage – MAGELLAN
The 2200t was $100 cheaper than the nuvi. But looking back, the nuvi is a much better investment and value.
SOUND QUALITY: advantage – MAGELLAN
The speaker on the 2200t was louder. When I turned up the volume on the nuvi, there were some slight cracking.
POINTS OF INTEREST(POI): advantage - GARMIN
Garmin had way more POI locatoins (6million vs 1.5million). Also, I found that it was much easier to import custom POIs from the web with Garmin. Most of the files I found were formatted for the Garmin (just simple .csv files) and I never had to do any conversions. I had to convert .csv files into a Magellan file format before I could load it to the 2200t. Also, the Magellan application did not support the Mac.
SUPPORT: advantage – GARMIN
Never had to use it, but at least they listed a number to call for GARMIN. Magellan needed me to create and account before they gave you that info. Why make it hard for customers to find a way to contact you for support?
MAC SUPPORT: advantage – GARMIN
I could not use the Magellan with my Mac. No issue with the nuvi.
Overall, I feel that the Magellan 2200t does an OK job. I just felt I made a better purchase(even though I paid more) with the nuvi. There were several deal breakers for me with the 2200t:
1.Slow response in recalculating routes 2. General slowness from moving from screen to screen 3. Lack of Mac support 4. Size/weight (vs. nuvi) 5. POI database 6. User Interface
If you can budget another $100, then I'd go with the Garmin.
Magellan RoadMate 2200T user reviews
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