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This powerhouse GPS unit just keeps gaining in popularity. Recently bestowed the honor of being named one of "Oprah's Favorite Things for Holiday 2004" it's just getting better and better every year. With the previous version of the RoadMate 700 lacking in included accessories this years RoadMate 700 hits a home run as Magellan has wisely included in the package a windshield suction cup mount, a 12V DC vehicle power adapter, 110V AC power supply, USB data cable, universal cradle and of course a user's manual. The Magellan RoadMate 700 offers a powerful dash-mounted navigation tool with turn-by-turn voice prompts, making it easy to get to new and unfamiliar locales anywhere in the lower 48 U.S. states and Canada (For a fee it can be loaded European maps using the Magallen web site and the included USB connection cable). It also features a bright color TFT LCD screen (2.25 by 3 inches), touchscreen input, WAAS reception (for 3-meter accuracy), and multiple ways to select your route and then view it on screen.  | | True View 3D navigation shows you the actual road layout. | The RoadMate 700 is one of the few GPS devices that's ready to go as soon as it's unpacked. Its whoppingly huge 20 GB internal hard drive comes preloaded with detailed road maps for all of the U.S. and the southern (most populated) section of Canada, so you won't have to fiddle with selecting map regions from a CD-ROM and having to transfer the data from a PC. If you keep your addresses on a PDA with IrDA capabilities then you'll enjoy the RoadMate's ability to upload the addresses wirelessly and point you right to your destination. In fact each of the 3 profiles that the unit keeps track of is allotted space for 100 addresses, making a total of 300 addresses available. Of course the most important address, home, can always be accessed with just a few clicks and from any menu and the RoadMate 700 will guide you back with ease.  | | You can also choose a map view, or the maneuver list. | If you are planning on using the RoadMate 700 with an older car--make sure it has a cigarette lighter power adapter, or leave enough time to charge it up in your hotel room or office with the supplied AC power cord. This also means that you won't be able to use the RoadMate 700 as a handheld device outside of your car. As for mounting, the included suction cup windshield mounting hardware is quite easy to use and allows you to mount the unit on any glass surface in your car. The RoadMate unit easily clips into the provided windshield bracket and can be tilted and turned with it's adjustable arm so you can see it easily and safely while you navigate.  | | Quickly locate points of interest and amenities along your route. | One of the benefits of the windshield mount is that because it's a suction cup mount you can move it in seconds from car to car with no problems at all. This newer suction cup based windshield mount is an improvement over the older three pronged mount that used to come with the RoadMate units. The older three-pronged mount was inserted into one of the middle air conditioning vents on your dash; the prongs are bendable to help you get the most secure fit, but never gave as secure of a fit as the windshield mount does. But the RoadMate 700 shines as a virtual co-pilot. During our tests, it consistently acquired a satellite lock quickly (within a minute) and displayed our current position. From there, we searched through the vast library of POIs (points of interest) to find our destination (Seattle's baseball stadium). The RoadMate 700 has four different modes of getting you to your destination--shortest route, shortest distance, least use of freeways, and most freeways. Selecting shortest route got us to this venue using very practical directions that weren't far off from what we normally would choose. If you're traveling to a destination that's not a widely known POI (such as a friend's home), no problem. You can enter the exact address into the RoadMate 700--using the touchscreen to tap letters and numbers into several search screens--to have it create a route. (You can also save 100 destinations in the address book.  | | QuickSpell minimizes typing. | The voice prompting was clear and audible (thanks to the two built-in speakers), and we were given ample warnings for upcoming turns. One of the RoadMate's nicest features is the Repeat button (which is smallish, but the only button found on the top of the device). If you miss a turn instruction, press it to repeat the previous voice prompt. Of the three view modes, True View was our favorite--it displays a 3D street-level view that helped us orient ourselves to our surroundings. Overall, we were quite thrilled with the RoadMate 700's features: the color screen was bright and readable even in direct sunlight and the voice prompts were clear and not distracting to our driving. Best of all, the UI (user interface) screens are easy to navigate and--thanks to its large hard drive and map database--it's ready to go as soon as you open the box. While the price is not for the faint of heart, it will be a very valuable tool for many drivers (from business folk to parents) who need to get to unfamiliar locations quickly and smoothly. -- Agen G.N. Schmitz What's in the Box:
RoadMate GPS, a windshield suction cup mount, a 12V DC vehicle power adapter, 110V AC power supply, USB data cable, universal cradle and a user's manual. Unit always ships with most current firmware.
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 The Best Portable Unit Available! |
| Review Date: December 17, 2003 |
| Reviewer: , Los Angeles, CA |
| It was a battle between the Garmin 2610 and the Roadmate 700. My main criteria is ease of use and accuracy. Actually, I bought this unit for my wife who works as a home visiting nurse. She has been relying on Thomas Guide Maps eversince. So, I want a GPS receiver that is very user friendly, that even a grandma can use. I compared the 2 units side by side at Fry's. I researched the whole Cyberspace for the best car navigation system to date, and I found the answer in the Magellan Roadmate 700. POSITIVE: Wow! The crisp display and big screen was one of the factors that attracted me to the Roadmate. The Garmin LCD has 256 colors while the Raodmate has a TFT with 32,000 color capability. The roads are more easier to look at because of the color rendition. You can even adjust color settings to make it look like the Thomas Guide Maps. We've been using the Roadmate for about 2 weeks now and so far the WAAS is always active. This results in greater accuracy. According to my wife once she is in front of her patients house, the Roadmate acknowledeges that destination has been reached. It also tells whether the house is in the left/right of the street. This proved to be very valuable since she doesn't have to look left and right looking for the house. It recalculates routes very fast in case you miss a turn or exit.
Another thing, don't worry about the flimsy aircon vent mount, just call technical support and they send you a windshield gooseneck mount which is very nice. Now that's what I call customer service! It grips very firmly to the windshield like your rearview mirror. I think it is better than the bean bag dash mount.
The LCD display is very intuitive. It automatically zooms in while your getting near your destination, and it also shifts to 3D when your approaching a turn. When you lose GPS signal while your in a tunnel, the display automaticlly goes to the turn by turn mode so you can still be guided. The touch screen is amazing. Those using the old GPS units with buttons will want this unit. I also like the route exclusion feature. For example, I always want to avoid the 91 freeeway because of the terrible traffic. You can customize it to always exclude it or you can just touch the 91 route in the turn by turn display and tell it to disregard that freeway, and alas! you are directed to take another route.
The unit also assigns up to 3 users, each user setting is customizable, just like when you log in Windows. Within each user you can save up to 100 addresses. Previous destinations are also saved automatically. This is comparable to the waypoint feature in the Garmin 2610.
The voice guidance is all you need! No need to look at the unit while you are driving. As of this time, we have not been misdirected by the vocal guidance on any route. But I will update my review if we experience such. This equals to SAFETY while driving.
For those worried that having a hard-drive in a portable GPS unit might be bad, the internal harddrive that comes with this unit is similar to the microdrive in compact flash cards. The unit is made for rugged use, unlike the ones on PC's.
Roadmate 500 vs 700? I'd say go for the 700. The fact that you don't have to buy additional CF cards in the future justifies the $200 hundred dollar difference. Not to mention that you still have to pre-authorize CF cards for $50 prior to use, although your first one is free.
Another bonus, the unit can be used for off-road driving! I hav'nt tested it but the Magellan website says it is capable of that. I have to call tech support to confirm. NEGATIVE: BAD! The one thing that really bothers me is that there is no post-office listings in the POI. How can they forget the USPS locations. I occasionally look for post-offices while I travel. There is a mention here that the documentation is bad. That is quite true. If you are a non-technical type of person, the manual will suffice. For example, I want to know how to update the firmware and maps, there is no mention of that in the docs. Even though the Roadmate 700 comes with an internal hard drive, it still has a compactflash port, there is no mention of that in the manual if it is operable or not. It does not come with a USB cord nor an AC adapter like the Roadmate 500. How come? This is the top of the line unit.
The waypoint feature of the Garmin 2610 is preferred by experienced GPS users over the previous destinations feature of the Magellan. The price of the Magellan 700 is several hundereds more compared to the Garmin 2610 but I think it's features justify the additional cost. What I have listed here is the positives and negatives based on 2-3 week use of the GPS. Hey! The positives outnumber the negs. I also agree with the other reviewers that this isn't a perfect unit, but to date it's the best you can buy. |
Never lost again
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| Review Date: December 22, 2003 |
| Reviewer: Wayne Schulz, Glastonbury, CT USA |
I've only been using my RoadMate 700 for a short time and my experiences echo most of the other reviews here.
Update January 22, 2004: It's been almost a full month with the Roadmate 700. My thoughts now? How did I ever live without this? I've used this extensively to travel all through CT and into NH and MA. I love that I can be in a completely remote location and this device gets me home. Ever single time. I also have searched several times for things like gas stations and restaurants - and it is simply amazing. I like this better today than I did when I bought it. And I'm someone who gets tired of their electronic gadgets quickly.
Update: August 14, 2005 - I go everywhere with this device. I could not live without it. If it broke I'd purchase another on the same day - it's that important in my daily travels. I've never gotten lost with this. I tried the Hertz system while in Florida and it is similar with a smaller screen and fewer functions.
I found it to be very easy to operate. You truly can take it out of the box, plug it in, and within a couple of minutes be navigating to any address using the maps that are all stored within the 10 GB hard drive.
When starting up I find that it has a lag of 3 to 5 minutes where it has to acquire the satellite signal. This may account for some of the reports online of units being broken or not navigating properly. Once the signal has been acquired I had no difficulty with it knowing where I was. (Update 12/24/03: My unit developed a startup/fix time of around 15 minutes so I replaced it with a new unit that did not exhibit this problem. Normal startup/fix time appears to be a couple minutes unless you've moved significantly from where you shut down the device).
The 3-D navigation is nice -- though not all that I had hoped. When travelling 3D pops up a handly graphical overview of where you need to turn next. I think it is displayed a bit early though. I was navigating today and it showed me the turn in 3D about 5 streets ahead of where I needed to be turning. I'll have to see if it is my user error somehow but it seems it would be much more useful if the 3D popped up while you were in the turn rather than several streets back.
I looked at the Garmin 2610 in comparison to this unit. I also considered the RoadMate 500. The Garmin screen seemed smaller and a little harder to operate. The RoadMate 500 is the same unit at this -- without the internal 10 GB hard disk that stores all the maps.
Unfortunately the 700 doesn't ship with an AC power adapter or USB connector (which the 500 does).
The mount that comes with the RoadMate is a plastic coated metal piece that you are supposed to use to attach the heavy unit to your vents. I lucked out and was able to stick it into my dash molding on my 2002 Ford Explorer and it fits tight and is in a good position (use a flat edge screwdriver to slightly and gently pry the molding above the radio out a little and slide the bracket in there). If you call tech support they'll send a free windshield mount to replace the vent mount.
Overall I'm happy with the accuracy and especially the ease of use of this unit. It seems that Magellan has bent over backwards to make this an uncomplicated unit for people who want to plug in and navigate without worrying about loading maps or other technical details. UPDATE 3-29-05: I use this every day and love it. Cannot imagine living without the mapping capabilities. Strongly recommended for anyone who drives alot. |
Magellan Roadmate 700
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| Review Date: October 28, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Robbin R. Runtas, Ball Ground, GA |
I've had mine since June 2005 and its been wonderful. Started out with the 300 but only my home state of Georgia could be loaded so we returned it for the 700 since all of the US and Canada in addition to Europe was loaded. We've used it to take a trip to Florida, the 700 took us to the front foor of my son's college dorm in August.
My husband travels extensively and took the 700 with him to Canada and it worked beautifully! I am notorious for getting lost and this unit has been great!
Our unit did come with the suction cup window mount, AC adapter and USB cable. I'm surprised that the other reviewers didn't receive one.
I'd buy another in a heartbeat. My husband now has a built in GPS system in his car so this one belongs to only me now! |
Some people are very misleading
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| Review Date: February 3, 2004 |
| Reviewer: dbeofam, Owings, MD United States |
| To the reviewer below from Tualaton: Too bad it didn't work out for you. But just to clarify some mis-leading points (using your numbers) 1. Agreed. Tech support needs work
2. Check your cig plug. Most power issues have to do with auto cig plugs that are a little too small. I never had problems, but I use a Radio Shack swivel 2-1 adaptor (use the radar detector at the same time) that works great.
3. The sound on these units is the loudest and clearest out there. I'm really baffled by your comments on this one.
4. Yes there is. You can add any address at any time to favorites. If you're talking about way points without an actual address, there's even a way to do this, although not as easy as on the Garmin.Check out the tips on gpspassion.com
5. Yes there is. The Roadmates will be upgradeable via USB or CF, and will have updates annually.
6. Read some of the many other posts and realize that Magellan gives their gooseneck mount free. It is an excellent mount, but yes, I agree with you that multiple mounts should ship with a unit of this price.
7. Auto contrast may be hard to notice. My unit is easy to see in all types of light, even bright sunlight with sunglasses on. You do know those settings are adjustable, don't you?
8. I rarely lose blue WAAS lock, even in the city. I've driven through really bad storms, including heavy sleet without losing it. It's an known fact that weather has little affect on GPS. If you can't get a good signal, maybe your unit was in fact bad. |
For the moment, the best portable GPS on the market
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| Review Date: February 7, 2004 |
| Reviewer: Michael A. Israel, United States |
I have owned a few Garmin units over the years and was always generally pleased with them. This was my first Magellan and I must say that I have been extremely impressed.
The screen quality is incredible. Regardless of lighting conditions it is always easily visible. It is also the largest display available in a portable unit.
I especially like having the entire US mapping built into the unit. No downloading or swapping memory cards on extended trips.
I have found that the voice prompts are clear, audible, and make sense MOST of the time. It does have some quirks such as telling you "Left Turn Ahead" when the road on which you are travelling has a large curve or similar change. Again. play with it for a bit and you will learn to discern the quirks. The proposed routings, even on back roads, are not always perfect but are usually pretty close to what a knowledgable traveler would do. At the very least, it will always get you there and it has never tried to send me up a one way or into a lake as some other units have. In some instances, increased "intelligence" about certain roads would be welcomed. In Pennsylvania there are a number of so called highways which are more like parking lots with traffic lights every 1/2 mile. In these cases, the RoadMate does not always have the smarts to know that there are some roads which are hardly the "fastest route". In some instances, the parallel "secondary road" is a better choice than the "highway" but the Magellan does not know this.
I do like the ability to exclude a current road from the route. This has bailed me out of a traffic jam in unknown territory on more than one instance.
I do agree with criticism that it should be easier to add a waypoint to the address book and I hope this might be addressed in a future software upgrade. The database of restaurants, attractions, etc. appears to be very complete and thorough as I have discovered in numerous states. Even local pizza joints are listed.
The unit seems to lock onto signal quickly and holds it well. Most of the time I am in the blue signal which shows WAAS. Yes, WAAS was another big plus on this unit in terms of accuracy.
I agree that the unit should ship with more than the vent mount. The vent mount either works very well or not at all depending on vehicle. However, a quick call to tech support and they sent out a windshield mount ASAP when I simply mentioned having trouble with the vent mount. Yes, it should also ship with the PC cable as it does on the 500. Finally, while the touch screen works well, a remote would be a welcome accessory when cruising down the road at high speed.
Bottom line is that right now this is probably the best portable GPS unit available. Maybe not as good as the $3,000 custom install but perhaps better in other ways. I demand a lot from my electronic toys but I have no regrets about this purchase.
UPDATE: Several years now since I wrote this review and the RoadMate is still hanging in there over many journeys. What has really impressed me is the software updates. Magellan has updated the interface, added voice announcement of street names, etc. I consider this a real testimony to supporting their products rather than forcing them into obsolesence so that yoy buy the next model. If you purchased one of these and have never upgraded the software you are really missing out. I have tried several other brands and newer models. While features like bluetooth are nice, I have yet to justify the cost of replacement. One of my newer cars has built in GPS. On really long trips I still take the RoadMate as it often finds roads not shown on the DVD based system.
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