Magellan RoadMate 6000T

Summary: I have owned a 3000T for just over a year now and recently purchased the 6000T. My comments are not going to endear me to many but maybe it'll inspire Magellan to try a bit harder next time. In any event...

The Good News:

The 6000T, much like the 3000T, is absolutely dead-on in getting you from Point-A to Point-B. Absolutely no question about that. And when you strip everything else away...that is what it's all about.

[II] The Not-So-Good News:

Where to begin?

(1) Text-To-Speech. Unequivocally and patently horrible in no uncertain terms. Do NOT purchase this Unit for that capability. Do NOT have it yapping away if you're pulled over for a speeding ticket; the Officer will want to give the Unit a sobriety test. Comparing the quality with the Garmin Nuvi-350 (which sounds like a passenger in the next seat) this Unit is horrendously poor in rendering street and exit names.

To wit, using highways I travel with great frequency:

(Uppercase letters are where text is emphasized in it's pronunciation)

(a) I-495: "Fer nine-TEEN-five"
(b) I-93: "Eye nine-TEEN-thee"
(c) Nason Street: "Nah-senh strEET"
(d) Route 2: "ROOT teh yoU"
(e) East Street: eeeeeEEEEEEeeeast strEET"

If anyone doubts that comparison between the speech capabilities of the Garmin Nuvi-350 and the 6000T then run, don't walk, to your nearest Sears. They sell both.

(2) TrafficKit:

Though I have not had the 6000T long enough to install this feature, I can tell you that from having it operational on the 3000T I have yet to see this accurately report any - and I mean any - traffic issues. Okay, it did tell me a few times that there was construction along my chosen route. Bravo.

However, a classic example of recent is when we had snow in the Boston area and Route 93 was awash with auto accidents. Having heard this on the news I thought I would give this feature a decent test in real time. To that end, I waited almost 1.5 hours to ensure the provider had time to synch-up with what was happening, checked the news again, and saw that the road situation relative to accidents was not improving. I then directed the Unit to get me from here to Boston via "Most use of Freeways" (which would have been Route 93) and waited.

The traffic indicator should have lit up like a Christmas tree on steroids. Rather, it sat there fat, dumb, and happy while giving me a 'Green' indication that all was well. Had I believed that, my trip to Boston would have been in the hours. (Btw, we're talking sixteen accidents along Route 93).

Another time I sat on Route 128 (comparable to the Dan Ryan in Chicago) for just over an hour and again there was no indication of the very traffic I was sitting in. The Unit proper did want to reroute me, but this is a function of the Unit proper and not the TrafficKit.

If you are going to pay for a subscription to this service, you may as well find someone to sell you a Bridge first. At least you'll have some phantom resale value.

Back to AM Radio for the traffic reports.

(3) Errata in Upgrade Documentation to latest version 1.22:

Sigh...c'mon Magellan! Get it together!

(3a) You make NO mention that once the Unit is connected to a Windows system that the O/S is going to see this USB device and want the driver to install it. I've been working with computers (Network Administration) for 24 years so it was no big deal. However, for someone not familiar enough with what the heck it is asking for, my guess is that they would have been at a loss. Inexcusable.

(3b) The (worthless) Traffic Icon pursuant to the "What's new in 1.22" should be green only when the conditions mentioned below are listed.

To wit:

"Green
The traffic icon will be green when the receiver is activated, the FM antenna is plugged into the traffic cradle and it is searching for a TMC signal. It will remain green in search mode and once a traffic event has been received or a signal has been received and locked." More here.

Mine is green when holding it in my hand sans any antenna or cradle and standing in the driveway. Maybe I'm conductive to Frequency Modulation. (?)

(4) Windows CE O/S.

Enough said. In typical Windows O/S style there's even a reset key when it freezes and you need to reboot it. Why Magellan doesn't write it's own Source is anybodies guess. It does however beg the question if the Unit will display a BSOD when the Kernel crashes.

(5) Firmware Upgrade Path:

This one I could not believe:

"If your firmware version is 1.15 or lower you must upgrade to vers. 1.16 before installing 1.22." (As taken from here).

EXCUSE ME? Incremental and not cumulative upgrades? Who the heck is writing the Code for this product? Who even follows that convention anymore? New releases should include prior releases! They should be cumulative! Good luck when the current version is at 2.x and you're still at 1.15. You'll be spending the rest of your natural life overlaying upgrades. That is just poor design and implementation, and absolutely no way to deploy a new Rev. I invite a Magellan software engineer to explain the logic behind this; I'd love to know. Seriously, post it here as maybe I am overlooking something.

IMHO, the bottom line? Buy this Unit to accurately get from one place to the next. Do not buy it for it's other "Features".

And no, I do not work for or have any association with Garmin or any other manufacturer of GPS product(s).

Lyman GL DeLiguori, Sr., MCP