The BEST GPS on the planet! Ive tried MANY!!!

GPS units are like cellphones. There are many different brands, models, features, and price points, and it can get really confusing choosing the right one.
I have tried MANY of the major brands, and many models of each so my review of this unit is VS many different models and brands.
Below are some reasons why I think this is the best GPS so far to date, and why I bought these for my mini-fleet.

1) ITS FREAKIN HUGE!!! I love the size!!! Some reviews stated it wobbles. Thats EASILY fixed. Lower it on the windshield till it's resting against the dash yet still stuck to the window. No more wobble. It works better there anyways!
No, its not Too big. Its not too big for my service vans and its not too big for my personal minivan. Like the cliche... Size is everything! The screen is 7". I had a Tomtom XXL before this one, and it didn't seem any larger to me than the 4.5 I had prior to that. This thing looks like a mini-laptop on your windshield. People in the next vehicle over have actually pointed at the GPS! LOL More screen doesn't necessarily mean more detail, it mostly means bigger letters.
2) HUGE BUTTONS!!! The letters and numbers are HUGE!!! I LOVE IT!!! No more hitting the wrong button because you need a Stylus to touch the screen as I always felt with my 4.5" Garmins. I have big hands, and I hated trying to touch an H without hitting a G or J. The touchscreen keyboard is large. Again. Size is Everything.
3) LETTER ELIMINATION!!! Most of my searches are for residential homes. There is nothing more annoying than typing in a long street address only to have it search (Garmin) for 30 seconds then tell me the address doesn't exist. This simply can NOT happen with Magellan. Because as you type each letter, all letters that are not possible are removed. You still see them but they are darker and cannot be touched. So if you have a rural area INSIDE your city that no one seems to know why they have their own address, you can save yourself a lot of typing. If your searching for Jonesville Street Extension and you type JO and then the N is not lit, you know to check the city. No Jonessville Street Extension exists in that city. One-touch back and Try a neighboring community as the city! You just saved yourself a LOT of time & typing!
4) ROUTE OPTIONS Most people who own this model probably dont know this option exists, but before you hit the GO button you CAN (if you wish) hit ROUTE OPTIONS at the lower right screen, and immediately little bars start filling up. When they stop, hit MAP at the same bottom Right, and it shows a map overview of your route with up to 4 different ways to get there. (Most Highway, LEAST Highway, Fastest, and Shortest) choose the one best suited. Great if you know in advance of a traffic or road repair on a certain route. Also splendid if you drive commercial vehicles and wish to eliminate backroads. OR if your in a sports car and speed limits and curves mean nothing to you, choose the shortest route with back roads!
5) BASICS No fancy voices. (3 voices, 1 of each) No unnecessary nonsense. Just a huge GPS that will get you there. No GPS is 100% perfect, and this one is no exception but all things considered, its a heck of a lot better than the many I had prior. And unlike the annoying Tomtom, this one shows rural road names, not state roads numbers that no one recognizes or uses.

Great screen, good for a RV or Truck.

Great for my father, senior with a RV and large 7 inch screen is easier for him to read. Fairly easy to use, i think he and my mother will easily navigate with the unit. BUT, i have owned tom toms and other gps units in the past and can say I MUCH prefer the menu system and way you navigate and use the menus on tom toms and garmins... perhaps it is personal preference or just what i am more used to... i will say that the lane assist and large screen really help when you approach large freeways/interstates in the really big US cities.... came in very handy! Purchased this unit for 140.00 off ebay and it was well worth the money for that price...it is rather large for a car or suv...but perfect for a RV or Trucker....hope this helps somebody....cheers.

Looking for Value? You Found It Here.

The price was right, and the GPS was much larger than I imagined. It's operation is very straightforward, and the ability to hear the directions instead of watching the screen, also a great feature.

Comes with a very nice windshield mount, and ability to dash mount as well. The 7 inch Magellan is a better value than the smaller units, costing more. It's easy to view screen, is adjustable on a ball mount, and can be pivoted quite easily. Volume and brightness controls are easy to use, even on the go.

The only real "flaw" would be, the very short battery life, once you unplug the unit. Magellan claims "up to 30 minutes" once you unplug the unit, but 10-15 minutes is closer to reality. Most likely, you won't be carrying this large unit as a handheld, so it might not be a problem for you.

I gave it 5 stars on display, features, ease of use and overall value. Why spend more, for a screen half the size? The 7 inch Magellan is easily the best value for the money.

Much more then expected

I recently purchased the Magellan RoadMate 1700 to replace an aging Garmin Nuvi that I've had for many years. The Garmin was great but the maps and POI's were woefully out of date. For a little bit more then the cost of updating the Garmin maps I thought I'd give "something new" a try.

I was immediately attracted by the large 7" screen. (this feature can be a bit too much in anything smaller then an SUV or mini-van) I need a GPS daily in my job and the large "at a glance" screen seemed perfect. I had studied it's features and though it didn't seem to have any breakthrough technology it also didn't seem to have any fewer features then the Garmin I was used to. I was surprised to find the Magellan packed full of features that for some reason seemed to be overlooked in most of the reviews I'd read.

One of the best features is the lane indicator feature which upon approach to a complex highway interchange it duplicates the overhead signs to indicate the proper lane for your route. It also announces the name of the road in conjunction with the usual turn commands. It's POI's are up to date and bountiful. It's AAA travel guide is great for long trips.

And the big surprise to me was the amount of tech data (altimeter, ETA, satellite coordinates etc.) that a tech-head like me just loves to mess with.

The graphics are great and very map-like as opposed to the Garmin's rather "cartoonish" graphics. The screen is very customizable to display 2D, 3D POI's etc. but unfortunately does not allow for color changes, but the standard graphic colors are fine for me.

It's navigation has been dead-on accurate, the most important feature.

All and all this is a superior GPS system at what is basically a starter price point.

Very Big! Great Value!

I bought this GPS because of the price on the auction. A brand new RoadMate 1700 can cost upwards of $300.00USD, I got it for under half off ($122) so I had to get it regardless of needing it. Anyways, this GPS is an excellent choice for big trucks, or SUVs or even Semi-Trucks. This GPS barely fits inside of my 2009 Malibu. The height of GPS plus the small mount it comes with, makes it pretty impossible to find a nice spot on your windshield for this massive screened GPS. After I found a spot for it, it powered on to a HUGE display with a very informative map.

The Good: Lots of features. Lots of screen to play with. Relatively lightweight for its huge size.

The Bad: HUGE! Im serious when I say that this GPS was made for big trucks and/or SUVs or similar size vehicles. This GPS takes up a lot of space on the windshield and can be a hazard if your windshield is small to begin with. The address book option where you can select to route to that address...The button is really small and you gotta kinda aim your finger to hit the right spot to get routed to that address.

Overall: Very pleased with this GPS. I got it for the size of the screen and I'm no less than excited to have it.