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Customer Reviews

By Comdet

I was a member of Magellan for several years – are the property of their four GPS systems, and always appreciate the way they have improved their products. This unit is my 5 and replaces a Magellan 4040. After using it for a while ‘I am confident in saying this is the best!

The most notable change is the actual size of the units. The screen size was increased, but the unit is thinner and lighter. Very elegant, and the screen is a real joy – crisp, clear graphics even under the sun, and larger on-screen buttons for easy use. The mounting system has been streamlined, and looks and works well. It mounts easily on a support NavMat (basically a bean bag that I got on Amazon. Navmat am a huge fan – makes it a snap to hide the GPS Narry a track. By far the best accessory for any GPS).

The power connector has not been well thought of, though. You have to connect the GPS unit after it is mounted in the holder. They must have moved the connector is a little sideways to avoid.

The button is just a slide-type power button on top. Boot-up time OK – not fast, but not a huge delay is. It does not have a “sleep” mode, so you have to do a cold start every time. Not a problem using real world – for the time you get in your car, the unit is ready to go.

The voice is clear and easy to understand. Not as natural sounding as TomTom, but understandable.

Almost all of the latest GPS unit takes you where you want to go. I found the routing on the Magellans to be very similar to Garmin – could be because both use the same set of maps (Navteq). Shine on Magellan, however, features which I find very useful. The direction of the next turn is always visible no matter how far the next turn will be. Until recently, Garmin did not offer this (which are now on some of their units). Sounds like a small problem, but I find it very useful. Magellan also allows you to easily drop a course (or part). This is a pretty standard feature these days, but Magellan allows you to do this in a moment.

In terms of routing, Magellan offers four options (fastest, shortest, most use of motorways and use less). You can see all four options on the map (a summary), at the same time so you can choose the one best for your needs. Perfect!

Love the AAA Guidebook, which is a unique feature of Magellan. Obtains information about restaurants and other points of interest such as the paper version from AAA. I used a lot in my 4040, especially when traveling out of town.

Other unique features Magellan appreciation and Ding dong “sounds right before a turn (amazingly accurate) And the fact that the software reminds you to” stay on the road today “when you meet the main exits. Some people find that to be annoying, but it has saved me from inadvertently leaving more than one occasion.

A new feature of the Magellan is driving lane. Very nicely done. I used this function on the Garmin unit, and I found it quite useless. Implementation of Magellan is much more useful, with better, clearer graphics. However, no driving courses is available for each road.

The software is also well done – very logical to use. Magellan If you’re a past you can take this and use in a second. If there is a short user guide printed in the box (plus a CD-ROM with more depth), which gets up to speed quickly. The box also includes the upstream, power connector for the car, and a USB cable. It does not include an AC adapter.

OK, now for the bad news. When it comes to customer service, Magellan was horrible. We are talking so bad it is almost funny. I hope this will change – the company was acquired by Mitac end of last year, and perhaps this will signal a change for the better in terms of customer service. Lord knows, that could not be worse.

The leader, in my opinion, customer support and Garmin. They are nice to deal with the phone, e-mail to respond promptly, and provide regular updates of firmware. Every time you buy a GPS as a gift that I always buy Garmin because I do not want to saddle the recipient with the service of poverty that Magellan offers. It ‘a shame, because Magellan has some real advantages to Garmin, and more value for money. Tom Tom is also decent when it comes to support, but they use TeleAtlas maps, which are less complete NAVTEQ (sp?).

Bottom line – if you’re looking for a simple GPS at a good price, it should be on your short list. It lacks features like Bluetooth and an MP3 player, but for me, I want a GPS to provide a guide and not fun. This is a very robust features, big screen, and well designed software. It is also capable of traffic – does not prove that the function outside, so I can not comment on it.

The “safe” bet continues to be Garmin. You pay a bit ‘more and get less features, but you can be sure of a solid support. If the new owners of Magellan will again on track (if you pardon the horrible but inevitable pun) in terms of customer service is not yet clear. I hope so – make a great product!

UPDATE: 5/21/09 There is a firmware update on the site of Magellan. N. new features (in terms of new functions), but according to the release notes that improves the overall performance. Easy to install – just follow step by step instructions included. It seems that makes the unit a bit ‘faster, but that may just be my imagination.

By Mary Jo Sminkey “author of cfwebstore” (Carlisle, PA USA)

I used a number of GPS navigation, Garmin and TomTom units in general. I am currently using a Garmin Nuvi 265WT, and I generally find Garmin to give me the best set of features and performance for the price, although I have not found their systems to be particularly reliable, my first had to be sent for repair two times and what I’m currently using often reboots randomly, especially right when I start it up, and often the sound fades out for any reason. So I’m always looking for something that would work even better. This is my first experience with a Magellan RoadMate model, and I was interested to see how it compared. I only used it for a couple of weeks, so I can not report on long-term reliability, but after follow-up comments if you run into any problems in the future.

PLUS
Beautiful, bright screen. Easily one of the best GPS screens I’ve seen. Very crisp and bright, and still visible even in bright light. Typical screen for night vision reverse.

Good maps, clear guidance. Not run into any problems yet where it took me a path goofy …. though I still use a GPS that does not do it now and then! I also like that you can use a zip code when entering addresses. My Garmin unit makes you enter in both city and state, and so does a little ‘setting destinations more tedious than necessary.

The sound and text-to-speech on why I found it very good. I often have problems with my Garmin volume (sometimes it seems only for the Fade Out), no problem at all with this. I did not even need to turn the volume up to hear easily. The article I found it quite pleasant and not too sound generated by the computer. It also has nice tone to signal the curves (which you could choose from) and the timing of this was spot-on.

Quick Start Screen, which allows you to set a group of preferred positions, or, better yet, favorite searches. So if you typically are looking for the local coffee shop when you travel, rather than going through the screens to set the search every time you can save as a favorite. Very useful and has a number of those already established for you as the nearest petrol station.

The number of POIs has been quite impressive, I found much more local shops in my area with the Garmin. Even though not everything …. My church was one that was not included, even if its one of the largest in my city.

About AAA included. Very cool looking for local events, attractions, etc., with detailed information. Not sure what I use this (usually I find this information before you leave), but it was a nice touch.

Multi-destination routing. Allows you to set a complete journey with several stops. This was very easy to use, to reorder the stops, etc.

Includes maps for Canada. Not all GPS units in this price includes Canada. Not that I travel there, but nice to know that I have the papers if I do!

It ‘also nice that uses a standard USB cable. This seems more and more standard GPS units and makes life a lot easier than having a cable owner. I’m careful to label it however, just so I’m not mistaken Mix with all my other cables like.

Against
Slow startup! I got really spoiled by my Garmin Nuvi which started in a few seconds and was ready to sail as quickly. This thing takes much longer to start, leaving me waiting for first I set my destination and go.

Furthermore, the location of the connector for the USB / power cable is just stupid! Completely blocks the mountain, so that you can not have the connected equipment until it slip away. This also means that so can not see where you are putting into it, compared to only be able to maintain unity, stick the plug, and then mount it. I could do with it if there seemed to be a reason to do so …. but simply by moving the plug from the left side to right side of the mountain would have completely solved this problem. It seems like it was put in place one that annoy people!

No Bluetooth or voice command, without music or audiobook support. After all, barebone much on extras. This was a big step down from Garmin Nuvi that cost almost the same thing, only with a slightly smaller screen. At least, I would really have liked to have seen BT at this price. The touch screen is also not always respond and needs a second or even third touching at times. This seemed particularly popular on the Back button. Also, why not include a quick jump back to the main menu or the map? My Garmin has this problem as well, and it’s really annoying when you’re looking for something you can not just “Cancel” to return to the main screen, but to maintain the support page to page to return. Garmin has also now every type of functionality that you can really customize that add to the value of their devices. I like the ability to find an address on Google Maps and send it to the GPS via USB. You can download a custom car is a touch cute (okay, so it is no longer the owner of a large SUV, but at least I see myself driving one virtually!) There are all kinds of paths you can download custom, if the type to which like playing with gadgets. Magellan does not seem to have support for any of this type of additional material, and it certainly delayed Garmin and TomTom in this area.

Some things are not very intuitive and the manual is very Bare Bones, so not much help. For example, there was an option in the settings for the display, but to change, I discovered that I was stuck with only the display options in 2D. It took me a while ‘to understand how to get back to 3D (clicking on the main screen map). Not including creating 3D in the same place is quite confusing.

One thing that really I was always under control would not only save a position based on GPS position. I never had a GPS unit that would not do this …. just save the location and rename it to something meaningful. At Magellan, however, and allowed me to “save” I still had to actually enter an address! It seems kind of silly to ask this when you use a GPS, which should be able to save only the location automatically, the address or not. * * If there is a way of doing this, it is not very obvious! I also discovered that he needed to really get right into the position that you were surfing in order to examine the journey completed. Very often, when I turn on it wants to resume the journey itself, even if it’s there I am! Should be less demanding on this.

Headsup display was not one of my favorites. With the Garmin, I could see my turn is decisive, estimated time of arrival, current speed, and would even see the local speed limit (when available). Magellan has been much more Bare Bones. I was able to get the next round, and the arrival time, but uses the same space to show my actual MPH so I have to go back and forth (while driving) if I want to see this. I really like using my GPS as a digital negative, so this was great for me. This is definitely a personal preference though. Some people may prefer more minimal information on this screen and greater visibility map around.

Even I do not care how you see the phone number separately from the address when viewing the POI. Do not know why you see the phone number on the same screen as the address, this just seems unnecessarily complicated to have them in different places. I really like the Garmin info display that includes everything in one page, and includes the call buttons (as such device supports Bluetooth cell phone call).

I have not received TrafficLink with this unit, so they are not able to assess how well that works. If you are unable to agree on this, which includes TrafficLink free, which really hurts the value a bit ‘. My Garmin unit including the traffic on the device (albeit with some ads), so if I lived in an area where I wanted to support traffic, which cost $ 80 more would certainly play a role in my decision on which device to go with (as any good comparisons of traffic service, though they are).

In general, we recommend that you evaluate against other devices at the same price. If you can find a good deal on it, it might be worth considering for displaying excellent and strong database of POIs. But for me, it’s just not in the best-of-class.

By James Keh “GPS4ME” (San Jose, CA USA)

The new Magellan RoadMate 1470 is a feature-rich product at an affordable price. I can tell you this unit includes tons of features not normally found in the low $ 200 price range.

My first impression of this unit is without reservation and without doubt this unit is by far one of the best GPS units offered by Magellan. One must ask how Magellan can offer so much at a price that is so reasonable. What features RoadMate has been removed for this new Magellan RoadMate 1470?

Answer: Nothing, Magellan gave us all at a price that is unbelievable!

The new Magellan RoadMate 1470 has offered a price below $ 239 and is currently the best value for your dollar. This full function Portable Navigation Device offers all the features you need to route from point A to point B throughout North America, Puerto Rico and Mexico, even if you choose to purchase the optional unlock code for this upgradeable GPS device. Magellan introduced the feature most convenient GPS track currently available and feel that they have achieved this success.

Magellan RoadMate 1470 offers much more, is larger, thinner, smarter and faster than all the great GPS system at a competitive price offered by Magellan, RoadMate similar to large units. Currently this is the GPS 1470 MRM lowest price available, which offers a large 4.7 “display with full features including full map coverage of NA and expandable map for Mexico and the future of Europe maps loaded on a Micro SD card as an option .

How is this possible at all GPS product selling price is? Offers a much bigger display, 4.7 “diagonal, but the total physical size is thinner than a GPS, which offers a 4.3″ display. It includes smart features like OneTouch, magic quick, smart city search, this drive is address or POI you are looking for much faster than currently available on the GPS market. This drive is faster and have the ability to search through the database NA entire map without having to select the map of different regions such as Canada, Alaska, Mexico, to start a route, which includes the entire NA mapping software in a region so it would not have to rummage around the regions of passage en route to a destination that is not the 48 states. These RoadMate 1470 also calculates a route much faster and does not offer a way, but 4 different route options. Route options, as the fastest time, shortest distance, most use of highway and less use of highway were all submitted to her for the map display when you choose to display the route options. This does not limit the user to view only the path to recommend you to take, but at the same time we show all available routing. You have the ability to choose the routing method different or all the routes available to view on a [screen at the same time.

The Magellan RoadMate 1470 is thinner and more attractive on all GPS units. It ‘almost the thickness of an iPhone display still offers much larger in almost the same size form factor, like the old Magellan Maestro 4250/4350/4370 unit.

This new generation of GPS systems, Magellan is also smart enough to not only divert selected from distant as 3 miles, 5 miles and 9 miles, if you will pass a certain stretch of road or highway that is on the road under deviation , a choice that can also selectively divert a segment of the route by selecting the street or highway that you want to avoid. This kind of flexibility to offer end-user the option of routing customized GPS products available on some selective price higher, and this type of functionality can not be found on a lower end of competition at an affordable price of GPS products currently available on market.

Unlike some similar competitive GPS units that require pre-planning a route on a computer and the entrance of the routes are to be taken to customize your itinerary. The most popular destination route list feature allows you to schedule a trip or destinations one after the other in advance, this unit can store routing destination from one destination to another in advance, and this can help the driver to have to each address input that want to go how to reach each destination at a time. The option to route optimization feature offers even more benefits to users, optimize your route longer distances and time, this feature offers the most efficient way to compute the routes to all of your selected target from the ‘address closest to farthest, without forcing the user to understand it on a map of paper or on a computer. This type of advance multi-destination routing feature is available only on more expensive GPS units finer.

The OneTouch feature revolutionized the industry, allowing users to quickly find the destination without having to fiddle with Address Book or points of interest of the class and field, without having to select the cities, streets and numbers, is truly a One Touch that allows the user to quickly and efficiently route to their most frequently visited addresses or POI you want or quickly. This feature is by far one of the best offers for Magellan eliminate the need to hunt for some towns, you can simply store the most used POI such as the brand of gas station is used as Chevron and Shell, the coffee house by brand like coffee Starbucks or Peets coffee, banks, ATMs, car rental facilities, airports, etc. OneTouch This feature allows the user to find just the marca nearest POI you want to sponsor and will not display all brands of gas stations or irrelevant of coffee next to you when you select to use the One Touch. This option reduces a lot of time to sort the unwanted content.

AAA Tourbook option allowing the user to not only see how many AAA approved Hotel and Restaurant Association’s diamond rating and where they know that it is safe to sponsor, but it allows Destinations Tourbook as additional attractions, events such as art festivals and wine , and the city-sponsored events such as Harvest Festival Art and Craft, Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook-off among many other events that is available. This type of performance is available only to AAA members in the past and now with the new Magellan RoadMate GPS systems, are included in this benefit, with all their GPS unit. The option also offers Category AAA AAA Approved Auto Repair recommendations as a benefit. AAA to keep their AAA approved auto repair facilities to a much higher level, and monitor any complaints or issues of dispute which may arise from all auto repair facilities, which is AAA approved. If their customers be dissatisfied with their AAA repair of motor vehicles, AAA interject and help mediate and resolve complaints. AAA may act as a mediator to resolve any differences between an AAA approved repair facility and their customers. Most of the time you will find AAA side with the consumer and the repair order to resolve any disputes or complaints. This benefit is extremely useful to consider if you travel to unknown places and the vehicle should happen to need repair, you want to participate with a AAA approved auto repair facility.

The Tourbook also offer a guide to Campgrounds closer, this is a category of major points of interest to understand for users of such content.

The final offer is unfortunately only for AAA members that a AAA membership card. For all members of AAA, they offer a ship off the socio aka Show Your Card and Save.