Magellan RoadMate 500/700 GPS Review (1 Viewer)

[Craig S]

Well, from Ron's pics it looks like the windshield mount arm is about a foot long, maybe a little less. That should be good.

I ordered one of these today from tigergps.com. Also ordered this carrying case:

http://www.magellangps.com/en/store/...asp?PRODID=966

which TigerGPS has for about $30. I should be able to give this thing a good shakeout on my 4000+ mile road trip to the HTF Meet in LA (and back) in a couple of weeks!

Ron, your reveiw is responsible for me falling off the fence on this thing, you should request royalties from Magellan.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

I just saw in today's newspaper add for Fry's that they are offering the Magellan RoadMate 500 for only $499 (limit one per customer).

It looks like that price is also good through Tuesday. It didn't say anything about being able to get a rain check in the event that they sell out their inventory so if any of you are interested you might want to call ahead before making the trip.

 

[RAF]

Ronbo,

Congrats on your latest toy and welcome to the wonderful world of GPS auto navigation. When I purchased my 2004 Acura MDX it came with a built-in navigation system and I was dubious at the time about how much I would use it (even though it was one of the top-rated units at the time). Now I can't seem to live without it.

Apparently the two systems (Acura's and Magellan) share a lot of common features so I know exactly where you are coming from. In fact, if I changed a couple of words, your review could read like an MDX NAV review. I love both the voice navigation and the ability to command it with my own voice. I understand that the 2005 MDX is going to include some upgraded features including the ability to tie in to real time road reports to change the routing dynamically. I doubt that this is simply a software upgrade so I'll probably have to live without that feature until my next vehicle.

Like I said, welcome aboard!

 

[Gregg Loewen]

hi guys!

Ron, great review. This unit seems way kewl and it would definitely be a must buy for me (as I am currently driving 30-40K annually). However,

I keep oscillating over this unit. I currently use a laptop PC that sits on a permanent mount over my passenger seat. The GPS comes from delorme.com and cost $130. The Delorme unit is about the size of a credit card, connects via the USB port and sits on the dash. The use of the laptop drops the price of GPS navigation dramatically. In addition it allows me to use an Aircard cellular phone which plugs into my PC port and gives me email access while driving (or while stopped anyways ). The Aircard has also rescued me many times when the delorme software has not been updated to include the newest subdivisions. I can just surf over to yahoomaps and pull up what I need to find my destination.

The laptop also gives me a 15" screen size so I can see a lot more detail at a glance. On the down side, I doubt the screen is as near as bright as the Magellan. Both systems offer voice commands and voice controlled navigation.

If I didnt need my laptop at every location I travel to I would have already invested in one of the Magellans.

Darn, what to do...I guess I need to find a rental service for the Magellan product and give it a solid try to see if I could go without my laptop in the passenger seat. Though the cost difference is huge, the Magellan would help me a lot with space issues while travelling, and with the amount I drive may be worth it in the long term.

Ron, I do hope you are bringing it to LA?

Regards

Gregg

 

[Adam_S]

One of my best friends' SUV is tricked out with this GPS. It absolutely rocks getting around LA, but sometimes it can be a bit stupid (had it since March and have never upgraded it though). The unit sometimes has issues of finding where we were at in LA, as though it couldn't find a signel, strangely this never occured downtown but would usually happen on campus at USC, go figure. We used this on a roadtrip from LA to Portland to Seattle end of last semester and it definitely helped us find gas stations and restaurants (eg, "who wants Dennys? «pokes GPS», ahh here's one ten miles up the highway and about two miles off it, sweet.") Not that we really needed it to get from LA to those cities (hmm just drive up the five, that was complex), but getting around Seattle, it was unparalled. Took us straight to the dorm we were looking to meet someone at at Udub, then navigated us to Ivar's on the Pier, then showed us how to get to some of the other things we wanted to get to and took us back to Udub. It's definitely my favorite toy to play with while in my friend's car, even if we know exactly where we're going I want to get it out and set it up.

I noticed Ron said it had trouble finding a place called BJs, I've found the Magellon can be VERY persnickety about spelling. For instance the way to get it to find an In-n-Out burger is to spell it precisely as In-n-out. If you don't have the hyphens in there or you type out and instead of N, the unit will never know what you're looking for. Likewise if you're looking for Trader Joe's and you type out the whole name, you better have the apostrophe in there or it won't find any.

Also we've found a few places it simply doesn't know. Urth Café, one of our favorite coffee spots in LA, isn't on the original map system, in fact we tryed to type in the street address and discovered that Melrose inexplicably ended in her database about 2 blocks before the coffee shop. I think this is actually because it changes from Melrose Blvd, ave, Pl, or St into Melrose Blvd, Ave, Pl, or St at that point and we were telling it to find the address on the wrong permutation of Melrose (again with the persnickety-ness). However when we left Urth Café, the unit had no trouble finding us a route to Amoeba music or an In-n-out. In fact it's quite often more clever than my advice, because she (the unit's name is Judy, short for Judas Iscariot something something something) advised we take the St before Sunset, which would have made us avoid all the traffic on Sunset, wheras I thought we should take Sunset. As much fun as it is to cruise the strip, Judy was right and would have gotten us there much quicker.

However she can be very wrong about some things. For instance once we were down in Santa Monica and told her to find the shortest time to Amoeba music in Hollywood, she had us take the 10 all the way back to the 110, the 110 up to the 101 and the 101 to the Hollywood exit, a huge circle entirely dependent on traffic and the 110 north can be especially nasty between the 10 and the 101, anytime of day or night. So we took the 10 to La Brea I believe and then just drove across town to Hollywood and probably saved a ton of time from sitting in traffic on the freeway (if it was say 2 in the morning, it might have been faster. And another time on coming back from Hollywood, she routed us to go all the way across town to Western first then to drive all the way down western to the 10 then take essentially 2 blocks down the freeway and get off on Vermont. It would have been a lot less city driving if we'd taken La Brea down to the 10 and the 10 across town down to Vermont, but apparently she did that route because the way the 10 curves it made the La Brea driving longer than the Western driving, but apparently failed to consider how far we had to drive across town from La Brea to Western.

And my friend tells me when she first got the unit, it thought she was in San Francisco and she actually had to 'gasp' read the instructions to reset it/get it to work properly.

Overall though it's a wonderful toy and very useful to get around LA in, especially finding gas stations, parking centers, or places to eat. They're definitely a lot of fun to play with, even if you know where you're going

Adam

 

[Craig S]

Thanks for that tip, Adam. My RoadMate will definitely be put to use helping me find In-N-Outs when I get out west!!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Craig,

I have decided to bring my RoadMate out to Los Angeles.

I even ordered an extra windshield mount so that
I do not have to remove mine from my car. I will
simply attach the new windshield mount to the rental
car.

Before you come out to Los Angeles.....

Turn on your GPS unit. After the Magellan logo
screen it will list what version software you are
running. Most likely it will not be 3.52 so you
need to upgrade.

Be certain you go to this page:

http://www.magellangps.com/en/support/software.asp

Click on the Magellan 3.52 Firmware Update

You will be asked to REGISTER your GPS unit first -
so have your serial number ready.

After registering you can download the 3.52 update.

Hook your GPS unit to your computer via the serial
cable. Downloading and installing the updates will
take approximately 15-20 minutes with a broadband
connection.

It is essential you have the new firmware
installed before coming out to LA since the newer
software is far more updated than what comes packaged.

 

[Craig S]

Ron, thanks for the tip. I actually went out to the site to grab the update so I'd have it when my unit came in, but ran into the registration prompt. Sounds like that update adds a lot of new features.

I can't wait to wring this thing out on the open road!!

 

[Mark Leiter]

I’ve been eve-balling these Navigation systems for several years now. I would really like to get one for my auto. Like others here I do a lot of traveling and can’t say how many times I’ve been in a strange city and I would loved to have had this device to help find locations. Still the price point at the time (over $3,000) made me hold off. Now that they have come down to the $1,000 level I’ve been looking into it again.

Ideally, I would like to upgrade the dash my ’99 Seville with an ’04 dash with the factory Nav. system installed. However, after talking to me dealer I found that in order to do this I would need to replace the entire wiring harness at a cost of about $3,000 before I even considered the dash conversion. This basically rules this option out for me.

I next considered after market systems, most notably the unit made by Alpine. The system installed was still too expensive (about $2,300) for my budget. I also just didn’t like how the Alpine looked after the installation.

With the emergence of the Magellan and Earthmate products a lot of these issues seem to have been addressed. Magellan’s windshield mounted units seems like the best solution to the whole ergonomic problem of a permanently mounted system. While Earthmate goes a step further being able to place the whole unit, PDA or small Laptop, into the glove box. Also both systems have a very competitive and reasonable price point of around $1,200.

I would be very interested in opinions and comparisons of those that can closely examine these product side by side.

 

[Craig S]

Got my new toy today.

Like Ron said, setup is just about as easy as can be. The windshield suction mount exceeded my expectation. That sucker is strong!

Before I did anything else, I ran the firmware update. Then I popped it into the car, turned it on, and sat in the driveway until it was able to make a satellite lock. The manual says this could take up to 15 minutes; in my case it took 4-5. Supposedly this long lock time is a first-time calibrarion. Ww'll see tomorrow.

Once the unit had correctly located me on my home street, I used the POI search to plot a route to the nearest Taco Bell (hey, it was the first thing I could think of, and NO, I didn't actually get anything to eat). Once I got there, I did an address search on my house and told it to take me back. The unit routed flawlessly. It seeme very accurate. It gives .5 mile warning before turns, with nice big graphics showing you the intersection. All in all, a big for my first experience.

One negative - the RoadMate bounces a bit when moving - this is to be expected given the nature of the beast. But my unit rattled while moving. Very annoying. After I got back, I tightened the screws in the mount. Hopefully that will fix it. Ron, does yours rattle while driving?

Also, while I was downloading the firmware update, the same page had a link to an optional update:
Ron, have you installed this one?? I'm on dialup at home and therefore didn't try to get it, but I'll grab it at work tomorrow.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Craig,

The 115 MB file is the one you need.

There is a secondary file that you DON'T need. It
is basically a language pack.

Now....after you install the new firmware, follow
the instructions for going into the RoadMate setup
screen and telling it to give you split-screen display.
This ADDED feature is so cool! It will give you a
split-screen close-up of any upcoming turns or merges.
The feature will NOT activate unless you go into the
RoadMate and tell it to do so. The instructions on
doing it are loacted on the firmware update page.

Concerning the rattling and windshield mount....

The Roadmate does shake a little on its mount though
I found it quite negligable and with no rattling.

As solid as you think that windshield mount
is -- it isn't. I have had it fall off a few times,
though fortunately not while driving. It seems the
problem is when I remove the RoadMate from the power
pack. The added force of removing the unit is a bit
of a strain for the windshield mount.

Despite the mounting flaw, I am still VERY impressed
by this unit. It is such a cool toy to drive around
with for the fact that the GPS pinpoints you on the
map the entire trip. You see yourself passing
streets while seeing their names pop up on the GPS
screen. While traveling on freeways you see all the
individual EXITS pop up on the map as you drive past
them.

For those of us that either can't afford a factory
installed unit for our car this is the best alternative
available. You can't get lost with the RoadMate.

 

[Tony Loewen]

Hey guys, I've been more of a garmin fan for quite some time. They have a new unit coming out any day now, the Quest. I pre-ordered mine about a month ago. It looks very similar, although I don't believe it is touch screen. I think that Garmin's MapSource line of software beats Magellan's hands down, and their coverage of Canada is well ahead as well. It also might be a few dollars cheaper too. $642.84 U.S.D. versus $1299 for the 700 and $999 for the 500 plus.

Might be worth checking into for you guys.

PS, Garmin's website says that they are now shipping.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Tony,

Checked out the Garmin. Looks pretty good.
It seems somewhat smaller than the Magellan
RoadMate including the overall viewing screen size.

Sounds like it could be even a cheaper alternative
though I am uncertain how it holds up to the more
expensive GPS units.

Thansk for the information

 

[Craig S]

OK, here's today's experiences.

Still rattling. I am getting concerned about this. I am going to try to pinpoint the sound to the unit itself or the mount. Maybe we just have bad streets down here. the vibrating/ratting is not nearly as bad on the Interstate.

This morning I tried to enter the address of work. It couldn't find either of the cross streets. That was ... surprising. Even odder, I had it on the position screen as I drove to work, and when I turned on to the streets it couldn't find earlier, it DID correctly identify them. Hmmm...

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Craig,

This is what I would do....

Shake it in your hand. Does it rattle? If so
it is probably an internal breakage.

Return it to the store and get a new one before
you leave.

I don't notice any rattle on mine.

 

[Craig S]

I haven't noticed the unit itself making any noise when handling it. Going to double-check tonight.

Returning and getting a replacement by the time I leave is is not an option, as I ordered online.

 

[Craig S]

Well, crap. :frowning:

There is something loose in my RoadMate. It's only evident when it's shaken a certain way, but the bouncing around on the windshield mount is enough to set it off. It sounds like a part that's not completely screwed down, as opposed to something that's totally loose and floating around in there.

I tried to open it, but after removing the four screws on the back the two halves were not easily coming apart, so rather than make things worse, I screwed it back together again.

Not sure what to do. Magellan doesn't appear to have a network of authorized repair centers. I may call them tomorrow and see if they have any ideas - maybe they can walk me through opening the unit.

The thing still works, so it's going on the trip. I guess I'll just turn up the stereo to help drown out the rattles. Luckily it is not nearly as bad on the Interstate, where I'll be doing most of my driving. After the trip, I guess I'll request an RMA and send it back to get them to tighten it up.

 

[Randy_Mann]

How is the roadmate finding personal address' like of your family members. I'm just concerned that I will not be able to find them (not family members) but home addresses that I would like to go to? Has anyone punched in a bunch of house numbers and tried to see if the roadmate can locate it?

 

[PeterFIL]

Ron - Very nice review & thread on the Magellan nav device.

One reader (Robert, I think.....), who has a nav unit built into his Acura MDX, added an interesting comment "...I love both the voice navigation and the ability to command it with my own voice."

Would a voice command feature be helpful in the Magellan product family? Why?

Reason I am asking is that I do product planning in a small company that designs compact technology for embedded voice dialog.... (based on speech reco, text-to-speech, and other core technologies)... and I'm interested in user thoughts about what future nav units should do/could do.

Peter F

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Peter,

Voice command would be very helpful for this reason....

You have to sit and program the RoadMate before
starting on the road. This process can delay your
travel by a few minutes.

With voice command, you could simply say the address
and let the GPS unit enter the information for you.

Additionally, should you need a direction repeated
or perhaps you need to suddenly change your itinerary
you could simply do it through voice commands.




Randy

It seems the GPS unit works best when you have
a specific street and house number to program into it.