Reviews
Magellan
RoadMate 700
Powerful, yet mobile in-car navigation system that does
everything a factory system does.
The
Magellan RoadMate 700 is for two kinds of people. First, it is
for those who really, really want all the features of a factory-installed
auto navigation system but somehow couldn't get one in their car.
Second, it is for people who want to use a powerful navigation
system in more than one vehicle without paying for multiple factory
systems. And there is an additional incentive: while the US$1,259
RoadMate 700 isn't exactly cheap, it is still less expensive than
most factory-option systems.
What
Magellan offers here is a fairly handy device (6.5 x 3.2 x 2 inches,
under a pound) that easily mounts in any car via a supplied suction-cup
mounting arm. The display measures about 3.8 inches diagonal÷roughly
the same as a Pocket PC÷but looks larger thanks to its landscape
orientation. Still, that's smaller than most factory systems.
The RoadMate has a touch screen but it can also be controlled
with a set of very well designed controls.
Although
the RoadMate 700 has a CF Card slot, it is essentially a self-contained
system. Unlike most aftermarket navigational units it has a nicely
shock-mounted internal 1.8-inch 20GB Toshiba hard drive where
all its software and mapping data is stored. With that much space,
it's no surprise that the RoadMate contains the complete NAVTEQ
maps for all of North America (as opposed to lesser RoadMate models
that can only store part of the data in their flash memory). The
system also includes over two million points of interest. The
RoadMate 700, in fact, is built on the very same technology as
the Hertz NeverLost system which has been rented millions of times
since its inception. With all that hard disk space, the RoadMate
700 even includes detailed video tutorials with voiceovers, 15
of them. However, the RoadMate is so simple and self-explanatory
that they are barely needed.
How
do you use the RoadMate 700? First you attach the unit to the
sturdy suction cup mount and attach that to the windshield of
your car. To eliminate vibration, I set it up so that the unit
also sat on the top of my dash, as shown in the picture below.
You then plug the unit into the car's electric outlet, rotate
the stubby antenna into vertical position, turn on the ignition,
and you're up and running. One glitch here, actually. If you turn
on the ignition, the RoadMate will boot, but then turn off again
when you start the engine (because the power to the cigarette
lighter in cut in most cars during the cranking process). The
booting process takes about ten seconds, then you are presented
with the obligatory warning screen and you can select one of three
users.
Being
able to customize the RoadMate 700 for three different users is
a great idea. This way you can enter all your addresses, options
and preferences (color, voice, route, etc.) while up to two other
users can enter theirs.
All
menus and options, and the entire operation of the RoadMate 700
are kept as simple as possible÷exactly what you want in an in-car
system. No tiny print and confusing icons here, just large text,
clear voice prompts, and large buttons. When you enter an address
you do it on a large keyboard either via touch or navigation disc.
As you enter letters, the RoadMate automatically grays those out
that are not going to be used and only highlights the possible
next letters. For example, after I entered SACR, only A and E
remained, and when I entered A, RoadMate knew I meant Sacramento
and presented me with a list of the four Sacramentos in the US.
Very simple and efficient.
Since
the RoadMate 700 extensively uses voice prompts and notifications,
it has a fairly large speaker with volume control. At higher volumes
the sound turns scratchy tough, something which annoys me.
In
everyday use, the RoadMate 700 works as well as you'd expect from
a Hertz-tested system. Everything is simple, you can pick shortest
distance or shortest time, freeways or no freeways, and so on.
Finding points of interest was the usual hit-and-miss. Most (though
not all) restaurants I tried to locate were in the system, but
the location wasn't always dead-on. I wish the unit would have
an internal battery so that I could carry it into the house without
it shutting down, but at least it comes with an AC adapter in
addition to the car adapter. Software and firmware updates are
available from the Magellan website at magellangps.com.
Overall,
the Magellan RoadMate 700 is a very good choice for those who
want the next best thing to an in-car system.
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