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03-05-06
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Accurate and shows step by step directions if the signal is lost (in tunnels, etc.)
Weaknesses:Docking station can be better (hard to attach the GPS) and no battery power.
Overall Evaluation: After using Garmin Street Pilot III, Navman iCN510, and Palm GPS product, this is by far the best. After almost a week, I am quite pleased with this product. You can get it for under 500 bucks on eBay or at BJ's Wholesale Club. You can also get a SW upgrade for $99 that will give you all the functionality of the 760 model costing few hundred more.
02-12-06
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Good navigation, graphics, voice, very easy to use.
Weaknesses:Not very customizable, hissing sounds, sound stops working, touchscreen stops working.
Overall Evaluation: Overall product design is good. But I believe there are some serious quality control issues. It makes hissing sound straight out of the box. Many times the sound just stops and you have to reboot to have sound again. Once the touchscreen stopped working.And I've only had it for a couple of hours...Overall: If you are lucky enough to get a properly functioning unit, it is a good buy.
02-12-06
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: A running unit will help you find your way in most North American Locations
Weaknesses:Outdated Mapping Updates. The Sound Died on my unit.
Overall Evaluation: I have used the technology of the Roadmate through the Hertz Neverlost, and figured it would be worth it to get this unit. I was skeptical about purchasing a new piece of hardware for over $1000 considering it hadn't had any kind of track record before. But, I loved the Neverlost system, so I got it 2 years ago. Great! At first. Then, I noticed that the sound started sounding strange, like hissing and whatnot. And then, the sound.... just.... failed. No voice prompts, no *ding dong!* For trying to navigate, try having a GPS unit guide you with no sound. It ain't good. So now I unplugged the unit. Over a grand, and what I understand is that it's hardware failure. It doesn't add up that this unit, 2 years old, could do this. My father has electronics that are from the 1980's and they still work. And they cost alot less than a thousand bucks.There is also the problem of outdated maps, even though they are sold as updated. Case in point, my 4.26 version software. Try taking the Frederick (MD) exit off I-70 east and there's an exit configuration not in the software. I just bought the software just a few months ago, and there have been a number of routes that aren't working. In Atlanta just this week, I drove on the exit to reach a hotel north of the city in Lothian on I-20. The unit showed there was a mile to go before the exit but the exit was behind me when I realized that the mapping was wrong there. I want to swear by the company and the unit I purchased. But it's now a failure. Beware before you buy. At the very least, purchase some kind of product insurance. In the meantime, I have notified Magellan and plan to check with the Better Business Bureau and check on another course of action.
03-02-05
Duration of ownership: 28 Days
Strengths: - Clear, easily readable screen- Simple, intuitive interface- Usually gives good directions
Weaknesses:- Can be slow to pick up location when first turned on- Windshield mount does not hold as well as it should- At times, visual directions are better than voice direction.
Overall Evaluation: I bought the Magellan for my wife. We just moved to a new area neither of us know, she is a "chicken" driver (won't drive where she hasn't previously been escorted to), and she has a poor sense of direction. She is not technically proficient either. She learned how to use it very quickly with almost no help from me. By the end of the first week, she was calling me at work to tell me how she was on her way from stop 3 to stop 4 of her day's journey and how much she loved this thing. The only issue encountered was when she went out and forgot to raise the antennae. The device will not pick up your location with the antennae down. That said, even when up, it can sometimes take a couple of minutes to locate you. I have seen instances where the audible direction is not as specific as it could be, which can cause some confusion. For example, we were going down a street that came to a split. The street curved to the left, and the right split was actually a ramp to another road. We needed to stay on the street around the left hand curve to the next intersection about 150 feet past the curve, where we were to make a right. Prior to reaching the split, the audio told us to make the next right, while the screen showed the correct path around the left curve. It seems that since the street continued to the left, the audio did not consider it necessary to point out to stay to the left at the split. I will also mention that the windshield mount does not hold as well as it should. It uses a mechanized suction cup, but it will give out from time to time. Today, it fell off the while my wife was driving my son to school. Fortunately my son caught it, but not until after it bounced off the dashboard. I can only hope it is still functioning after the bounce it took.Overall, it's a good device. I have a navigation system in my car, built in from the factory. The Magellan is almost as good with directions as that, except for the specificity of the voice directions. If they can figure out a more stable mounting mechanism for it, it would be better.
02-15-05
Duration of ownership: 14 Days
Strengths: Easy to use, Display is very easy to see, fairly easy to input destination. Voice directions give you plenty of time to change lanes.
Weaknesses:At first there are no directions. It says proceed to route but if you don't know how to get to the route?? On that same note, the other day since I didn't know how to get to the route, it just let me
Overall Evaluation: When I first took it out of the box it thought I was in San Francisco (I live in Los Angeles). I thought maybe in would lock onto a satellite and adjust itself but it didn't. There is nothing in the book that tells you what to do in this case. I found but pressing buttons that there is a diagnostic and you can put in your current location & then it was fine. After that it knows where I am at all times without any problem. I really like that address input is easy and the 4 choices of street or freeway use is great. The voice is easy to understand and give you very good instructions & gives you plenty of time to react also. Some of the downsides that I can pinpoint are: mounting. I haven't even tried the windshield device as I have a car with a wide sloping dashboard. I dont' want it setting right up there and the device doesn't extend or retract. I consider this a pretty high end device. I would think that Magellan would come up with various mounting devices depending on car/van/pickup or whatever vehicle. Sell it as a universal kit, I dont' care. Also as I tried to indicate in the above weakness area, I was in a very unknown area and trying to get out. All the instructions were to proceed to route. Well if you don't know where that route is that is no help. If you make a wrong turn it is great about recalculating the route so that you dont' have to go back to where you made the mistake & start over. Since it can do that so well (and believe me I've already made a few wrong turns or taken another road that I knew better and it recalculates immediately to let you know what to do) I can't figure out why it won't tell me which way to go to start. Don't get the wrong impression from me. I think this is great device. I even use it around home just because I enjoy using it not because I need directions!
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