Magellan RoadMate 700 user reviews

Pros Easy to use, fast, compact ,and a miracle device!

Cons Mount is difficult for me to take off

Summary After doing a lot of investigation about the perfect GPS, I opted for this one and I must say I am not the least bit disappointed. I have to admit, I get hopelessly lost -- always have and probably always would without this device. It gives very clear, consise directions -- two mile warning before turn-offs. I now feel comfortable making long road trips by myself. It is absolutely everything I had hoped for and oh so much more. Great having many options for shortest distance, shortest time, avoid highways, calculating mileage and times, changing voice prompts, various displays for day and night, option settings for nearest facilities. Wow! Also, I believe I got a great deal. Amazon was having a "one day special" for $739 -- I haven't gone back to see if this "special" continues but from all the prices I looked at, this was the cheapest. Someone referred to a compact flash card not included (it is not needed)

Pros Big, bright screen, big hard drive

Cons Out of date maps, poor rural directions

Summary I have had the Roadmate 700 for almost a year and use it frequently on trips throughout Texas and New Mexico. I researched all the similar GPS Units before I bought it and think I made the right choice at the time. It has a large hard drive with a huge data base of roads, POIs, etc. The screen is bright and easy to see, even in full daylight. It comes on and locates the satellites fast. Overall, I am happy with it except for two problems:

1) The maps are out of date. There have been many times I have noticed that roads and freeways been built and exits changed that are not reflected on the maps. Some of these changes are as much as 10 years old. In one case, I was trying to get to an address and found that the entire subdivision I was looking for was not in the Roadmate at all. The subdivision was 14 years old and the entire area was just shown on the map as vacant land when I finally found my way there without help. Magellan has an update for sale on their website, but, based on the description, I don't think it corrects any of these problems.

2) It doesn't know the difference between paved and dirt roads. If you select the "shortest distance" option, at least in a rural area, the Roadmate will take you down dirt roads and through some very "senic" county to your destination. By contrast, if you select the "shortest time" option, it will take you WAY out of the way to keep you on major highways; as much as 40 miles in a 200 mile trip. It doesn't result in the shortest time as the other (paved) roads are not any slower than the roads it selected.

I wish there was a way to actually compare the newer units to see if the maps were any more up-to-date and how they calculated routes.

Pros if you know where you are going the unit will not disappoint you.

Cons very expensive, unreliable, limited assistance on points of interest,over one hour wait to locate your unit

Summary when the unit works it is generally accurate. However, it can give you wrong turns at crucial times. It has also just frozen up on me during a trip. I never know when it is going to work properly. I find myself printing maps when I can off the internet as backup. For the cost of the unit that is a little more work than i think i should do. The points of interest feature is a nice sales gimmick but falls woefully short on performance.

Pros Ready out of the box; technology supported by Hertz

Cons No disappointments (yet)

Summary I've just received my Magellan 700 RoadMate, so I haven't really stress-tested it yet. However, I have used Hertz NeverLost in the past, and it's gotten me home in situations where I might otherwise have been forced to sleep on the side of the highway. My experience with NeverLost was ultimately the deciding factor in choosing Magellan over Garmin or TomTom.

Primarily, this review is to itemize the package contents as they've apparently changed over the last year or two. Earlier reviews on CNET and other sites bemoaned the RoadMate's lack of standard included accessories; it now comes pretty loaded.

I purchased the unit online (from a well-known site that, curiously, was not listed in CNET's price comparisons) for under $800.00. Included were:

*GPS unit w/ 10 GB hard drive, 4.32 firmware
*cradle
*suction cup window mount
*DC cigarette lighter power cord
*AC power cord
*USB cable
*CD

Just plug it in and turn it on. I live in the New York metro area, so I was unable to pick up an indoor signal either at home or the office (even right next to the window). But once it was mounted in the windshield (and after I remembered to raise the antenna) it established a lock in a couple minutes.