![]() | Auto Market Review |
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AMR Week Peek: Magellan RoadMate 700
The Product Included in the box are power adapters for the car and home, a USB cable and CD (though this unit comes pre-loaded with all US and Canadian maps, and even has European maps, which you need to buy an access code to unlock), and a suction-cup windshield mounting system. For about $20 retail, you can purchase a custom-fit sleeve for storage of the unit. It also has an antenna you rotate up, which can be user-replaced if broken for under $20. The System Unlike built-in systems, portable units need to be in contact with satellites to guide you, so I left my hotel, and gave the unit a try. Driving around in New Jersey, it was quite good. I used it to get from my hotel to the office I was working out of with no flaws, and it definitely chose the best route. Unfortunately, it thought my hotel was at a different exit (30B instead of the correct 30A on 287 in New Jersey), but I knew better than the unit, so I ignored this. Turns out, I should have begun to be worried at this point. In more complicated locales, like New York City, the unit really started to break apart. I was in Brooklyn, trying to get to 50th and 10th in Midtown Manhattan. Although I entered the exact address, and specified New York (and not Brooklyn) as the city, it kept trying to direct me to a random location in Brooklyn. I still have no clue what it was trying to do, but in New York City, a wrong turn can cost you literally hours in traffic. And it did. And this was after it randomly had me exit I-78 on my way from New Jersey to New York City, drive around a block, and get right back on 78. Then, the Target I was going to was on the left, just before the Holland Tunnel, but the unit made me go right, drive around a block, cross over to what would have been a left turn before the tunnel, and then I got stuck. See, by taking that route, I could not legally get to the Target. So, I parked the car in a near by shopping area parking lot and walked to Target. Let's just say I was frustrated enough at that point, and certainly didn't need any other incorrect directions in the city. Unfortunately, the unit wasn't done with me, as it was then that the whole Brooklyn issue came up. Points of Interest (POI) I looked in the manual, but that's a practice to be avoided. It's not well written, and I firmly believe that this should not be necessary. The rest of the UI is so intuitive that it seems odd that such a straight-forward feature would be so hard to get access to, if it even exists. Also, I don't think you would want to have to rely on the manual if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere...assuming you even have the manual with you at the time (I didn't). The Final Review You can't expect every navigation unit to be flawless, but when a unit is the most expensive amongst its competitors, and has been out for over two years, you would think that it would be refined enough to both get you where you need to go, and give you a usable list of destinations in its POI functionality. For me, the Magellan RoadMate 700 is a cool toy that is not good enough to depend on. And for skeptics, I've used several navigation units that I would depend on without any fear. This just isn't one of them. |
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