Magellan RoadMate 700 Automotive GPS Receiver

The Magellan RoadMate 700 was a breakthrough when it
came out, well worth the roughly $1000 I paid for my
first one. It's all the more impressive now that you
can have one for well under $100.

Pluses:
The unit has built-in maps of the entire USA (and
Canada, I think). That means it's plug-and-go.
Attach a suction cup, plug into the cigarette lighter,
and you're ready to navigate. You don't have to take
it to your PC and download maps of your region into
it, as you have to with many of the low-end newer
units. This also means you can take your RoadMate
when you fly across the country. In a few seconds,
you can stick it into your rental car and drive off
navigating. I've done this and been very glad I did.
Having good directions in an unfamiliar city is even
more valuable than at home (duh).

The routing algorithm is as good as any unit out there.
The user interface is simple and intuitive, so you won't
need to read the manual. The voice is pleasant, easy to
understand, and not gravelly like a small Garmin that I
tried. The receiver is excellent, usually gets a fix
quickly, and is usually able to maintain a fix under
reasonably dense tree cover and in all but the deepest
of "urban canyons." Newer units with the SirfStar chip
set are probably even better, but Magellan had among the
best pre-SirfStar receivers, and it's definitely good
enough to keep you navigating in most places. The maps
will be a little out of date now that this unit hasn't
been made for a while -- but all GPS units' maps seem to
be out of date and it doesn't seem to me that these are
noticeably any more behind than other units.

Minuses:
Here are what I see as the major disadvantages to
the RoadMate 700:

1. Mounting it is a pain. The gooseneck suction cup
it comes with really isn't adequate for the size and
weight of this unit (it's bulkier & heavier than newer
units). I had a hard time finding a mounting method
I was really happy with.

2. The touch screen isn't very responsive, especially
compared to newer units. Expect to have to press several
times, sometimes get a delayed response, and sometimes
you'll get the next letter, like you type "M" and the
unit thinks it was "N".

3. The software is buggy in small, strange ways. For
example, I put a place in my address book and then
changed its name and it stayed at the bottom of the
list instead of moving to where it should now be in
alphabetical order. And sometimes I press a button
and the speaker will give me 3 or 4 seconds of static,
as if it was trying to play a pre-recorded voice message
but nobody remembered to record that one.

4. There are a lot of bad units out there! I have now
had five of these units at different times, and had
to return three of them. One of them had a bad
touch-screen. One had a touch-screen that stopped
working when it got hot. One came to me with no map
installed. I think this model had manufacturing or
reliability problems even when it was new, leaving a
trail of bad units in the field. Some of these bad
units show up on eBay, sometimes with good disclosure
and sometimes not so much.

For this latter reason, I think you'll be happy
with the RoadMate 700 if you get a good one, but
the odds might be against getting a good one.

I highly highly recommend this unit -- if you
buy it from your mom!

If you're buying from a stranger, choose something else.
Really.

This GPS does exactly what I need it to do, get me from point A to point B throughout the day. Does it have it's quirks, sure. For instance, sometimes when a street changes names, it states it as a turn. Not a huge deal though, if you look up, you can see the routing and realize it's just a road name change. Haven't had it for that long, so I'm not sure if it has this feature, but it would be nice if you could look things up by zipcode as opposed to city or town. I live in the suburbs of Baltimore, so sometimes areas are considered Baltimore, other times a specific town, but being able to look up a street in the Baltimore area under just Baltimore or zipcode, instead of the specific town would be nice. Example, if you live in Pikesville, your return address could be either Pikesville, MD 21208 or Baltimore, MD 21208 and both would be correct, but not so in the GPS, you have to choose Pikesville. This GPS is a little on the bulky side, but I like it, and enjoy having all the buttons right up front. That way I'm not stuck using the touchscreen, although it has not given me any reason not to like the touchscreen. I have no problem seeing the screen, no matter what time of day. Buttons light up at night, which make it easy. And when I make a wrong turn, or make a detour, it automatically recalculates a new route so I can still find my intended destination. Overall, I'm very happy with this GPS. It doesn't have many of the extras other GPSs have now days, but if I want to watch a movie or listen to music, I have better devices for those activities. Devices which are intended to do those things. And this GPS does a pretty good job at what it was intended to do, get me where I need to be.

I like the size, voice quality, and price. I do not like the fact that does not have all the newer roads in Atlanta, I cannot erase previous destinations, it will not connect to my computer to update with the cable included. It is probably an ESO problem - Equipment Superior to Operator. It is all I need, though, and for the price, I am quite happy. I bought it because the brand X that I bought a year ago for $100.00 quit on me, and this was the best name brand GPS I could find for the money. It was listed as NEW, but when it arrived, the box said RECONDITIONED. It serves its purpose for me to get around Atlanta. I do not travel much, so it's fine.

This Magellan Roadmate 700 GPS was in perfect shape, complete as described. My son originally bought the same model when it first came out - and paid almost 1,200 dollars. OK, it was just released, with all the fancy features that are now available on the hundred buck variety. Still, I bought one for parts, and when I found it worked better than the one I had, I traded GPS with the new one - and my antenna - and it works perfect. Turn by turn directions, even speaks in English, German, French, and Spanish. It's just as good or better than the Tom Tom I had before I picked up the Roadmate for under $30.00 on E-Bay.

Downside: It's much bigger, and heavier than the new sleek models.

Upside: It's directions, graphics, speech directions, everything is as good as the ones available now.

WE purchased this make for one of our vehicles a year ago. We were going from California to Texas, but driving to Minnesota to pick up a great Ebay purchase.
We could have used a map or MapQuest, but we wanted to know the best route,find
a motel, find a restuarant all the things the first two options can't give you.
Our purchase of this unit was one of the best buys we ever made.We entered our
destination and drove STRAIGHT there. We traveled when some of the worst torna-
dos hit last spring and we didn't waste time taking the wrong turn or not being
sure where we were.This unit showed us where to find an ATM and get gas. It
even tells you how far you have driven & how MUCH further you have to go AND how
long until you get there. In Kansas City, it rerouted us BEFORE we got into
heavy traffic due to an accident up the highway. Tell me what map does that for
you?? We use it ALL the time, even on short trips. We NEVER leave home without
it! It was easy to setup...easy to use. The unit is lite up--no need to stop
and pull out a flashlight or turn on the dome light to read a map at night.I
travel at night alone on occasion and I don't always feel safe pulling over to look at a map if I think I might be lost. The unit uses voice prompts to tell you in advance your next turn. One feature I love with this unit is there is
NO guessing how long to get from point A to point B. The satelite knows where
your home address is and after you enter your detination address it tells you
how many miles to get there and how many hours it will take you to get there.
I don't know about you, but I hate to try and " quess-timate" this myself. We
love this unit so much, we purchased another on Ebay just like it for our son
for Christmas. He is a beverage salesman in San Diego and even though he has
lived there his entire life he says this has helped him so much. He loves it
and like us, would reccommend it to anyone.