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"Extremely Poor Features" on by lgldsr
Pros: Gets one from 'A' to 'B' flawlessly
Cons: Too many to list here - see Review
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 -
"The right unit for someone that needs BT, TMC and TTS" on by GPS4ME
Pros: All in one with an affordable price to boot
Cons: Input buttons are easily activated by mistake
Summary: For someone that is looking for a full feature, full attribute GPS system with tons of points of interest, this is the right unit.
Having full feature with Bluetooth, Traffic information, MP3 player, text to speech, Picture viewer, tons of Points of interest along with an internal battery at an affordable price to boot. This unit seems to be the best Magellan have to offer currently.
I give it a 9 out of 10 rating for over all performance and feature that is available on this Magellan Roadmate unit. -
"EVERY OPTION YOU COULD ASK FOR IN A GPS UNIT" on by tf11083
Pros: TOO MANY TO LIST....SEE REVIEW
Cons: PRICE...BUT...YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
Summary: You want a 3.5" color screen? You got it.
You want multiple destinations? You got it.
You want multiple route options? You got it.
You want a nice sized hard drive? You got it.
You want text to voice? You got it.
You want bluetooth? You got it.
Plus Navteq maps, millions of POI's, traffic antenna (with 15 month subscription), car charger, window mount, dash mount, leather case. Tomtom and Garmin don't have all these options in one unit. You have to either give an option up or wait for their upgrades. I researched the net for weeks and realized the 6000T has everything you could ask for in a GPS receiver. I've used it about a dozen times and it's gotten me there problem free. You will NOT be disappointed. -
"well it will get you there" on by brian826
Pros: it will get you there
Cons: there are many
Summary: I bought my 6000t to replace my Roadmate 700 when the hard drive crashed. This was the only unit the would offer the best route between multiple points (what a joke). There still is no option to set start and end points as you can do with Microsoft mapping products, helpful if you start and end at the same place. When you do ask it for the best route it fails to acknowledge bodies of water, for example enter address in Niagara Falls, Hamilton On, and Toronto ON it would route you from Niagra Falls, then Toronto, then Hamilton, great if you are in a vehicle that can travel over water and land. When entering addresses it would be faster to look them up on a map due to how slow it acknowledges what you enter. You cannot look up a specific hotel in a city, you can enter a city and it will give you all of the hotels in that city that you can scroll through, and if it is not in the top 100, oh well. This feature works great in cities like NY where you cannot even get out of the A's. The bluetooth works great if you are stopped, but then why would you need bluetooth, once you get moving the road noise quickly overcomes the loudest volume setting. The traffic feature is non existent, has not worked once, even in construction zones that have been there for months. As far as the other features, who cares. I have a radio, I can hardly imagine what kind of music quality I could get out of this, if I could even hear it, and why would I want to look at pictures while driving. So all in all it will get you there, which is what I need this for, but the bells and whistles are garbage.
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"Great portable unit that is feature rich" on by jackiebuy
Pros: Device has lots of great features
Cons: Functionalities are not intuitive
Summary: This is a great feature rich portable unit which is light and the use of SD card allows for saved data. BT functionality is very useful and easy to use. However, unit functionality is not easy to navigate through due to non-intutive menus. Easy to forget how to do fundamental things. Aside from this the commands are clear and easy to follow. Re-route option is great.
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