Magellan RoadMate 700 - 3.8 in. Car GPS Receiver

Magellan finds its way into my car.

My first GPS was a street pilot color. The very first GPS with a color screen. I paid $1000 for the unit PLUS $100 or so for the CD software PLUS another $125 or so for the 16 meg (that's MEG) of flash memory. As a GPS, it one thing really well…told you where you were and on main freeways (like official interstates), it would display the next upcoming exit. On non interstate free ways, it just displays the freeway you're on and direction. If you wanted a turn by turn guide…you had to PROGRAM it in. No automatic planning and no re-planning if you missed your exit. I am basically on the floor laughing about those who actually 'complain' about route planning. Try a GPS without one! One thing you could kind of do was to program an address, hit the 'got to it' option and it POINTS in the direction you need to be. Forget that you would need a plane to get there by the route it was planning! Also, inputting the address was a complete disaster. You use a toggle switch and go letter by letter to spell out the city, street and number on a horrific scroll menu that is similar to a Las Vegas slot machine.

Why all this mumbo jumbo before getting on with the Magellan? I wanted to let people know how far along GPS has come along.

Welcome to touch screen technology. Select what you want (new address, addresses from memory, previous destinations), tell it how you want to get there…shortest time, shortest distance, no freeways, most freeways are the options. I usually use the shortest time but if the freeways are all jammed up, I use the least amount of freeways option and it will take me through the side streets. This is an especially handy feature!!!

Unlike the street pilot that asks for a city first, the Magellan asks for a street name first and then gives you the list of cities with the same name as the street is found, select that one and then put in the house number. Why is this more efficient to me? Because, here in Southern California anyway, suburban cities borders are a total blur. The street name continues easily into 3, 4 even five suburban cities. For some reason, punching in the street name first (again of the super easy to use touch screen) is easier than trying to figure out the city. In fact, forget about comparing the Magellan to a six year old flash memory driven GPS with limited available memory and speed. Let's compare the Magellan to my wife's car. Not just any car but a 2006 Mercedes S-Class, car that really has no to little comparison.

The Mercedes GPS sucks. How much does it suck? When I got my new 2006 E-Class Mercedes, I specifically asked to NOT have the factory GPS. I slapped on my Magellan. Even my wife with her top of the line car is envious of the Magellan. Unfortunately, Mercedes GPS is standard on her car…otherwise, I would have justified in getting her the Magellan 800!

Why would a GPS system from the top luxury car maker in the world have such a horrid GPS? Yep! No touch screen! It is a nightmare to use the freaking push buttons to, again, input the critical info. Additionally, you start with the city which I found, again, to be more inefficient. What's more, the Mercedes GPS for some reason doesn't recognize an unincorporated city (which Southern California has) so trying to find a non-existent city in their GPS system is maddening. The funny thing? I can find the street name!

Now, you're thinking that the new 2007 S Class has got to have a better GPS, right? Nope! Same old inputting with no touch screen, only instead of reaching over to the dash to push little up, down, left, right buttons…you get to use a larger round toggle paddles (an idea they STOLE from BMW 7 series). Also, still no unincorporated city listings.

I am a guy who uses GPS guidance to its fullest extent. I am not interested in points of interest or where the nearest park is. I need to get to point A to Point B FAST!!! If I miss my turn off, I want instant or near instant recalculation of another route. It may not be the smartest route if a local that has been living there for 30 years would take but it would get me to the destination a lot faster than if I were circling around lost and stopping in the countless gas stations asking for directions only to find the attendants don't live in the area and have no idea where I want to go because they don't speak English.

The Magellan has a turn by turn direction function but doesn't give the street names it wants you to turn on. That is on the new 800! What it does do is give you a lot of advance warning of which lane to be in and when you need to turn. The Mercedes' GPS will all of a sudden say 'get into your left lane' then immediately say 'turn left now'. Frustrating and dangerous.

The display of the Magellan is very simple and effective! The top of the screen shows the road you are currently on. The bottom shows the street you are going to turn on, compass direction, estimated time to destination (which is incredibly accurate given the variability of humans) and distance left to destination. When you make an unplanned turn due to construction, avoiding a police chase or just feel that you are smarter than the Magellan, it immediately says 're-calculating route' and instructs you what to do next. Gone are the usual freak outs of 'great, I missed my turn off…now where am I, where am I going and it sure doesn't look like we are in Kansas anymore Toto!'

Another great feature of the Magellan is that there are three user memories. Do you really need three? I just use the one for myself but it is a great feature to have. Each user has the capacity to store a hundred destinations. Also, there is a menu selection of 'previous destinations which is very fast and easy to get to. The previous list can hold a lot of addresses and almost acts like a user memory.

Want to know another 'trick'? When you hit the view button, you will see three things: the street view, the next turn street view AND the list of turns! The last one can be very important for anticipation and planning. I like to familiarize myself with the upcoming street names. It is like having a Mapquest print out without having, ummm, the print out.

Other cool things it will tell you when you hit the locate button are things like, speed, altitude, number of communicating satellites, what street you're on, what the upcoming cross street is, what hundred block of the street and cross street you are on. This is A LOT of information that I would not look at while driving but is sure helpful if you pull over to view.

Guys! Here is the best, and I mean the best, reason to get a GPS. No more arguing with your wife about directions and being lost! A GPS purchase will 'almost' eliminate the 'you are lost, you don't know where you are going and you missed the turn off, now we are lost' comments, arguments and frustrations.

The biggest weak point of the Magellan is the windshield mount. It scares me every time we go over a big bump. I think the suction cup is going to fail and the whole unit is going to come crashing down. This has only happened once. I transferred the Magellan to a rental truck in which I was moving stuff. I didn't clean the windshield good enough and the suction was weak. Other than that, the suction is surprisingly strong! It does shake like a demon though when you hit a hard bump or something. Also, the volume know is located in a somewhat awkward position and I never remember which way to turn the dial. I always end up turning the volume dial back and forth trying to figure out which way to increase or decrease the sound. But this is a small grumble.

So there you have it, the SHORT list on why the Magellan is in my car!!!