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"Thank You - Semi New Magellan Roadmate Review FINALLY!!!!" on by carydc2
Pros: New Product from Magellan - But not the Top of the Line....
Cons: Review Missed all the Features that are new to this unit.
Summary: Obviously there seems to be a bias internally at CNET against Magellan Devices of ANY Kind.
This Editor seems to stay clear unless one of the Other Editors give a good review.
I have tried to find a direct method of communicating with the editors but there is NONE on this site. Or if there is it is NOT obvious.
What happened to all this information here:
Easy-to-use - Quick access to features through simple touch-screen menus and keypad
Intelligently designed - Designed for easy right or left hand driving, with simple menus, convenient keys and a large 3.5" color touch screen, the industrial look compliments any vehicle.
Traffic-ready - Add Magellan TrafficKit to receive LIVE traffic incident reports and avoid accidents, road work and more.
Incidents appear on screen with detailed information
Turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance - BE THERE™ quickly and safely
Built-in maps - 50 United States, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada.
Bird's eye 3D view - Clearly see your surroundings
Digital Music Player - Play your favorite music through integrated speaker or headphones (not included)
Photo Viewer - View your vacation pictures while you're still on vacation
Rechargeable battery - Navigate and enjoy music and pictures away from your vehicle
Multi-destination Route Optimization - Select up to 20 destinations and optimize the most direct route between them
SmartDetour - Customize the settings to automatically route you around slow freeway traffic
Auto Re-route - Never miss a turn and quickly get back on track whenever you take a detour
SmartVolume™ - Turns up the speaker at 45 MPH
Auto night view - Adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing
QuickSpell™ - Easily enter addresses with unique auto-complete feature
Complete mobility - Transfer to any vehicle with no installation
Over 6 million points of interest (POI) - Easily find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, airports, parks and more
Interactive POI icons - Touch an onscreen icon for a nearby destination; see phone number and get an instant route
Customizable route method - Shortest time, shortest distance, least use or most use of freeways, avoid toll roads
Route exclusion - Select street or freeways to avoid
4 easy views - Map View, Bird's eye 3D map, TrueView™ split screen, Maneuver List
Address Book - Create and store personal points of interest for easy reoccurring trips
Instant locate - One touch shows your location; quickly advise roadside assistance or emergency services.
Oh by the way. The USER's guide is not a childrens toy to just tear up and throw away. You might want to take a look at it some time.
Add to that what about the following list of other Magellan Products that You FAILED to cover in a timely fashion....?
Magellan RoadMate 3000T North America
Magellan RoadMate 360 North America
Magellan RoadMate 6000T North America ***** Latest top of their line model....
Magellan RoadMate 700 North America
Magellan RoadMate 760 North America
Magellan RoadMate 800 North America
Magellan RoadMate 860T North America
There is also say where you are functionality that is built in here as well as street name announcements when traveling to let you know which street you are turning on.
There needs to be better reviewing of GPS units here. -
"Great Unit" on by peshopavlov
Pros: Fast and accurate, great price, lots of features
Cons: No text to voice capabilities, does not come with a AC addapter
Summary: I bought it a week ago and put it to the test in my area. Works great and is very accurate, including the voice commands. It does not pronounce the names of the streets but it'll say turn right in (distance here)and alert you when you should be making the turn. I still recommend to check the map and use your common sense, not blindly following the voice commands due to changes to the road, construction, etc. and if you go off the way it calculated, it'll calculate a new route automaticly in less than a half a block. I love the feature where it can show you POIs on the map so you can find the closest gas station for example to the road you are on so you don't have go off your way.Also you can click on a POI icon on the map and will bring its info and ask you do you want to go there. The buttons on the side a very useful and allow fast and easy control of the unit ( compared to a friend of mine who has a Nuvi350: I can store my current location with 2 clicks for example) The unit allows to be customized including 10 or so different color schemes for the map view and different map views during the day and night. I like the detour option but havn't tested it in much detail ( there is not a lot of traffic in my commute and don't think I'll get myself stuck in traffic just to test the unit). Another feature I really like is while the unit is guiding you to your destination, you can go in the list of turns you have to make and exclude sertain roads you know might have been backed up (like with outgoing construction, heard on the radio there was an accident, etc.) and it'll calculate a detour.
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"I returned it, here is why." on by MiamiTechnoLawyer
Pros: Mounting hardware, satellite acquisition speed
Cons: Poor user interface & confusing buttons.
Summary: I tried a Magellan 3000T GPS while on vacation in L.A. I returned it Radioshack and then bought a Garmin C550. I had been a passenger in a car with a Garmin C330, but mistakenly thought that one brand of GPS was as good as the next. Getting around Los Angeles was difficult, and the RadioShack by the hotel had only had Magellan and Tom Tom, units. I had no time to shop around. The Magellan was on sale and was recommended by the sales representative. My assumption that one brand was as good as the next could not have been more wrong. This purchase was a mistake.
Let me start by saying something nice about the Magellan, it has an excellent mounting mechanism, that is more flexible, more secure, and bigger than the Garmin. The Magellan also acquires satellites faster.
For me, the make or break feature in a GPS is user interface. On the Garmin, the interface is so simple there is no need to read the manual. Everything you ever do on the Garmin ( C330, C340, C550) is done with the touch screen. The menus are intuitive and nothing is buried deep in multiple sub-menus. With the Magellan, you have to click on numerous buttons and its hard to tell which button does what. Reading the manual, preferably twice, is a necessity. If you are lost with the Garmin one red traffic light is all you need to input an address and be on your way. I have inputted addresses while driving but this in not recommended or particularly safe. With the Magellan, you are going to have to pull over and park.
The display on the Garmin is much better. On the Garmin your vehicle appears on a 3-D map as a car icon facing in the direction you hare presently heading. On the Magellan you are a flat triangle on a pretty much 2-D map. When you make a wrong turn the Garmin is quicker to realize your diversion from its plan and quicker to recalculate a new route.
Having used both, the Garmin is much easier to input addresses and searches for points of interest, (restaurants, gas, etc), it has a more up to date list of restaurants well organized by category, its maps are more accurate / up-to-date (at least in L.A. and South Florida), and it is easier to understand where you are and where you are going. -
"Great in comparison to others. And here's why" on by randalusa
Pros: BUTTONS instead of nothing but touch screen. Touch screen IS available too. Excellent, soft lighting w great colors. Lighting fast re-routing. Easy to know exactly where you are. Speaker and voice.
Cons: Lacks a few on-screen extras of competition, such as speed (available, but requires one click). All of these things are over-priced for what they do. No bluetooth IF you need that. I do not.
Summary: Got it last night after TWO Magellan 800's died in 10 days and I tried a Navman 550 for a few days and RETURNED it, choosing not even to turn the thing on the last couple days before getting around to shipping out.
First, I want stinking BUTTONS. Have you seen what touch-screens look like after a long time of use? Also, a button can be FELT without looking, which facilitates use while driving (duh). Think about it, Garmin and TomTom. While driving!!! Get it?
Plus it shows me you spent some money on the product instead of one cheap 4-inch screen with all software doing the rest.
And the Magellan buttons can do almost everything. They CAN do everything for normal use.
So far, the only thing I've seen needing touch is to switch from 2D to 3D. Since I don't switch back and forth (and it arrives in 3D mode), no need to ever touch the screen for me, and thus no need to try and decide which cloth won't scrath the thing while wiping off fingerprints.
Anyway, it is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship too.
Oh, almost forgot, I can see no reason to get the Magellan 6000T at SEVEN HUNDRED dollars except for the bluetooth phone capability. Not important to me. Cool though, just not worth another $400, or even another $200. Okay, maybe another $200.
The 3000T goes for $500, which is the only one of these things venturing near value for the cash. In my case, after returning the two broken Magellan 800's to Fry's last week, and returning the mail-order Navman 550 yesterday, I wandered back into the store yesterday afternoon wishing something new might have come out.
In fact, I considered opting for another Magellan 800, as they were on sale at $299 previously. Maybe my third try would function beyond a few days. The clerk pulled out the 3000T (totally unexpected by me) while looking for the 800.
I was in shock. IT had a price of $299 on the box. I didn't want to bother with another 800 anyway. Plus the 800 lights were TOOOOOOO bright and all one color. Otherwise, they are the same product internally, except the 3000T allows you to change various on-screen colors, which is great. I immediately changed the terrain to a soft blue from white.
And I turned down the brightness about 3 levels, which tells you right away whether sufficient brightness has been designed in.
The clerk verified the $299 price. I grabbed the thing like Grinch finding a bunch of presents under the tree. At this price, I have considered buying them for my sisters.
Oh yeah, the review.
The speaker's voice is a very pleasant female thing. That might be taken for granted until hearing the boring American voice on the Navman, or then opting for the British Navman voice because the speaker doesn't put out sufficient quality on the American choice.
Back to the Navman for a second, ONLY the Navman 550. It is a beautiful piece of work and has ALL the BUTTONS, hence my choice of only Magellan or a Navman 550.
Unfortunately, the Navman has terrible audio. That said, it CAN be heard if you love the product. And I would have put up with the one flaw were it not for other flaws.
You see, I had those two broken Magellan 800's before the Navman. And their performance so far exceeded the Navman. I said performance, meaning rapid re-routing, easy screen to know where you are.
Otherwise, the Navman and others offer extras (unneeded for navigation) that are cool to own. The Navman even tells what address you are at, a number that changes as you drive down the street. Way cool.
But that one went back via UPS yesterday, a functioning unit that has the frills but misses the basics. Too long to re-route (already too late for the missed, missed turn), completely blew a complicated on-ramp. AND the screen leaves me wondering where I am because of being too busy.
The early Magellan 3000T models (the ones on display in stores and pictured here on CNET) lacked text to explain what the buttons were for. To my delight, the one inside the box has the text (Enter, Escape, Locate, Menu, etc).
There is a remarkable sofffffft blue light incorporated into the power button that tells you the unit is in sleep mode. Just another of the thoughtful additions included.
By the way, I loooooooove extra features and frills. It took me some reflection to give them up for the Magellan. In the end, and let us not forget the features the others lack (namely, buttons), the great operation, wonderful audio, easy to program and completely accurate attributes of this model, plus them dang buttons, leads me unusually satisfied at a nearly optimum level.
Oh, I forgot about grocery stores. The Navman (ask THEM why) lacked the category altogether in the POI folder. Dumb!
My main purpose for this thing: Aside from the coolest toy to come along in years, I often go to new towns for running construction jobs. Upon arrival, I need to find a Del Taco, Home Depot, Ralphs (grocery), a church, Wal Mart, nearby dentist, hospital, police, all that stuff.
Previously, I drove around looking, tried to find a phone book outlet, then discovered maps.google, which is a great feature (Del Taco near Escondido, CA), though won't take you there, won't remember what you've found,,,).
A GPS with a thoughtful POI (Points of Interest) database (and the Magellan is quite satisfactory in that department) is like having a local in the seat next to you, taking you everywhere needed, including parks, tourist sites, even nightclubs if wanted. Last night I asked the thing for the nearest ski resorts. There they were.
Last thought: don't think the unit has no convenient features. It easily shows direction of travel (N, E, W, S, NW, NE..). A pretty green and yellow arrow indicates direction of next turn. The street name is right there next to the arrow. A red arrow points to the overall direction of your destination. Two more indicators show distance to next turn and overall distance to destination. The last is an ETA countdown clock.
When programming in a destination (or choosing one saved or driven to previously), the user is allowed to choose from:
1. Shortest Time
2. Shortest Distance
3. Least Use of Freeways
4. Most Use of Freeways
Saved destinations are those in your Favorites folder or (it keeps this category automatically) "Previous Desination," and I think there are a couple others on the page.
GET one of these things, especially if Fry's has any left at $299.99. I want a whole box full of them. Witnessing the trend, I figure full-button capability may end up completely unavailable before long. -
"Good but sluggish" on by Rick5990
Pros: Navigation seems very good
Cons: User interface is counter-intuitive, display changes can be SLOW
Summary: Overall, nice unit. My first navigation GPS. The address lookup can be quirky if you don’t know the exact zip, city, or street name (i.e., if the address is in Clinton Township, but the mailing address is different...good luck). I moved past this thinking I could work around it.
A major issue is the user interface is counter-intuitive. However, I thought I’d figure it out sooner rather than later.
The thing that pushed me to take it back…press the zoom in, zoom out, 2-D/3-D, etc. button…sometimes the unit responds immediately, but sometimes it takes minutes for the unit to acknowledge that it should do something, then awhile longer for it to do it.
I drove around Detroit for a few days – it did a nice job. I used it in Manhattan – it took a long time to acquire satellites (understandable considering the high-rise buildings), but once it acquired the satellites, I drove under cover briefly, then it wouldn’t track again until I re-booted (two bridge tolls and a half-hour later). Going up-state NY it did great. Coming back, at one point I asked it to use ‘least amount of freeway’, then I realized that I may not want to travel that route and wanted to recalculate using ‘shortest time’, although I was able to engage this function several times before – I couldn’t get the unit to do it when I most needed it.
Navigation is good, but I had too much trouble with the user interface (and I’m a gadget geek). It’s going back. I guess I’ll try Tom Tom next.
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