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Magellan RoadMate 1412 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator by Magellan
Digital Photo Product DetailsManufacturer: Magellan Brand: Magellan Edition: Electronics Format: CD-ROM Platform: Windows Model: Magellan RoadMate 1412 Publisher: Magellan Studio: Magellan Music Label: Magellan Product features: - 4.3-inch WQVGA, full-color, anti-glare, touchscreen display
- 6 million searchable points of interest: Customers can easily search for restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, and more.
- SayWhere: Text-to-speech tells drivers the street name of their next turn.
- Widescreen, ultra-thin form factor with the functionality and navigation features that GPS consumers expect
- SmartDetour: Prompts drivers to route around heavy or stopped freeway traffic
Accessories:
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Magellan RoadMate 1412 4.3-Inch Portable GPS NavigatorCustomer Review: Good unit, some pros, some cons, ultimately went back to Garmin Summary: 3 Stars
I read all the reviews on this unit, and decided that there were lots of reasons to try it:
Smart Spelling (with limitations I mention below)
Multiple point routing (i.e. Creating a trip with multiple stops)
Split screen when approaching a turn
Text to speech that is really easy to hear and does a good job with pronounciation
Large screen
Good price
Ability to see time remaining to destination, estimated arrival time at destination and miles to destination (I don't think the Garmins give you all that)
When I received the unit, it was very easy to set up, create "Home", and start adding address entries. I liked the sound of the smart-spell feature that blanks out street names/Cities when you are typing, only giving you those that apply. However, in reality, it doesn't give you enough flexibility.
There are many things to like, but I want to point out those things that I found not to be so easy:
I was driving between Phoenix and Las Vegas, and wanted to go through Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ, to avoid going over Hoover Dam, which can be really backed up. I was trying to put in the intersection of Arizona State Route 68 and Bullhead Parkway (becomes Nevada Highway 163), so that the unit would route me that way. However, with the limitation of the "smart spell", I couldn't find the intersection, no matter how many ways I tried to spell Arizona SR 68, and there didn't seem to be a way to get around it. Another irritating factor is that, unlike the Garmin Street Pilots I have used, I couldn't tell it to go from Phoenix to Las Vegas VIA Laughlin. The Garmins will ask you "Proceed to destination VIA xxx?", but the Magellan didn't do that (I found out later that I should have created a "Trip", with the routing points built in, then use the "Optimize" feature to have it route me). The minute I deviated from the route it had chosen (US-93 over Hoover Dam), it told me 10 times (!) over the next 10 miles to make a U-Turn. It never did figure out that it could route me to Las Vegas via Bullhead City, which was only 10 miles up the road, rather than hounding me to turn around. The detour feature was just confusing and wrong (detour wanted to put me onto I-40 west to Needles, CA, then north, adding well over an hour! - I'm glad I've driven the correct way many times), nor did the "exclude" feature (lets you exclude certain streets from a route) work for that route, so I eventually gave up, cancelled the route and started over again, once I got to Bullhead City. It's recalculation feature just seemed not to work too well. I really like the idea of being able to build an entire trip with multiple stops on it (the Garmin Nuvi 2xx's don't do that), but it just seems to be too inflexible, unless you are willing to completely give in to the device, without much say on where you're going. While you are en route to the next destination, it just doesn't want you to deviate, which the Garmin has no problem with (like I mentioned, the Garmin asks "Continue to destination VIA xxx?").
Another thing that was causing problems was screen latency (i.e. delays). I would touch the screen to call up a new menu, make a choice or other action, and the unit would not respond for 5-7 seconds. This wasn't constant, but happened frequently enough that it got to be frustrating. I would touch an icon, it wouldn't respond, so I would touch it again, then it would catch up and I ended up going one or two choices past where I intended!
I bought this for my wife to use to get around unfamiliar places, and for us to take on trips. She took it to Los Angeles, and it helped her get through rush hour traffic by using the "Avoid Freeways" routing choice, which she found very helpful. However, the same inability to route "VIA xxx" was a deterrent.
So - The end of this review is that I sent it back and bought a Garmin Nuvi 260w (for $100 more, by the way), which she is much more satisfied with. We used an older Garmin Street Pilot in Europe, and it was a life saver. I think if we hadn't gotten used to the Garmin interface over 1,500 miles, we might have felt differently about the Magellan. However, the Garmin interface suits our style better.
The Magellan is NOT a bad unit, it just has some quirks that we could not get around.
Description of Magellan RoadMate 1412 4.3-Inch Portable GPS NavigatorThe Magellan RoadMate 1412 is pocket-sized, ultra-thin, and stylish, and features an extra large 4.3-inch wide-format, full color interactive touchscreen. The expanded Points of Interest database offers 6 million built-in destinations for an incredible value. Find fuel, food, lodging, ATMs and hundreds of other businesses and services with a few touches of the screen. Plus, it includes built-in maps of the entire United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Clear 4.3-inch WQVGA touchscreen shows your position, POIs, route, ETA and more on the interactive map | Use the intuitive menu options to pick your destination and choose how you navigate to virtually anywhere. If you want to stay on the freeway, avoid freeways, travel the shortest distance or arrive in the quickest time, your Magellan RoadMate enables you to navigate the way you want. You can even exclude specific roads or freeways from your route and also avoid toll roads. SayWhere text-to-speech tells you street names with every turn-by-turn direction. The advanced QuickSpell feature intelligently searches addresses and Points of Interest, offering you a simple list of available locations. It even checks spelling so you can enter a destination with just a few touches of the screen. SmartDetour prompts you to route around sudden slow or stopped freeway traffic and automatically re-calculates the fastest detour. The integrated rechargeable battery offers navigation for up to three hours. Search destinations, plan trips and enter addresses and personal Points of Interest from a meeting place, restaurant or anywhere power is unavailable. Innovative easy-to-use interface makes it a breeze to find the route to your destination in seconds--without even needing to read the instructions. Click to enlarge. | Adjustable mount for your windshield or dashboard. | Key Features Include
- Large wide-format color 4.3-inch WQVGA touchscreen shows your position on the map, route, destination, ETA, surrounding Points of Interest, signal strength, next maneuver, street names and more at a glance.
- 6 million Points of Interest: Easily find what you need. Gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs and hundreds of other businesses and services are intuitively categorized and searchable from the built-in POI database. Most include the phone number.
- Expanded NAVTEQ maps let you Travel the entire U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada with all the maps you need, pre-loaded on the included SD memory card.
- SayWhere text-to-speech lets you hear street names with every voice direction and have a clear understanding of when to make the next turn while you keep your eyes on the road.
- Bold, intuitive menu options make it easy to pick destinations and choose how you navigate, without even reading the instructions.
- Uniquely stylish and compact, it's easy to transfer your Magellan GPS between vehicles or toss it in a suitcase to take anywhere.
- Select the types of services and amenities you'd like to see and interactive POI icons appear on the map. Touch an icon for a nearby service to see address, phone number (when available) and get an instant route.
- Program any location into the "Home" button and find your way back from wherever you are.
- Enter destinations with a few keystrokes. QuickSpell searches locations and checks spelling to provide you with a simple list of available destinations.
- SmartDetour prompts you to route around suddenly slow or stopped freeway traffic and automatically calculates the quickest detour. No fee or subscription is required.
- Clearly see your surroundings in 2D or 3D with Birds eye 3D view.
- Never miss a turn with Auto re-route and quickly get back on track whenever you take a detour.
- Auto NightView controls color and contrast adjusting automatically for easy viewing at night.
- Choose the way you want to navigate to use the most freeways, least freeways, fastest time, shortest distance and avoid toll roads. Exclude specific streets or freeways after a route is calculated to get there the way you want.
- Multi-destination routing: Select up to 20 destinations and choose the order to plan a trip in advance and repeat the same trip again. Easily reorganize, add or remove destinations.
- Create and save personal Points of Interest for easy reoccurring trips.
- Navigate up to 3 hours when power is unavailable with its rechargeable battery:
- The Centrality Atlas III processor with integrated GPS receiver provides superior GPS performance for accurate and reliable positioning and navigation within three meters.
What's in the Box Magellan RoadMate 1412 4.3-inch widescreen portable GPS navigator, adhesive disk for dash mounting, basic cradle, swivel mount, vehicle power adapter (12-24 watts), quick reference guide and CD, alcohol pad
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