Magellan RoadMate 700 - 3.8 in. Car GPS Receiver
- Form Factor: Fixed
- Map capabilities: Internal, Download maps
- Receiver Type: 12 Channels
- Enhanced accuracy: WAAS enabled, EGNOS enabled
- Screen Size: 3.8 in.
- GPS Type: Automobile
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Wish I'd chosen a different brand
Pros
Nice voice, fairly intuitive operation
Cons
Unreliable, failure prone, substandard support
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
There's better choices at any price. Even if you see this dud at a big discount, stay away.
Chose this unit after checking the reviews - it was highly rated so I went ahead and bought it. Initial setup went easily enough and the unit worked well. First sign of problems came when I received a letter informing me that an upgrade was available.
Buying the upgrade was a frustrating experience. After reading the serial number from the unit to the "support" person and having them argue with me about it being a valid number - I looked at the back panel serial number and it had one more digit than the internal number did. They couldn't provide an upgrade for the internal number, but they did charge me $100 for an upgrade that won't install because the serial number is wrong. Their solution? Send the unit back and pay more money to have them load it. Never mind, because:
Its ability to locate itself was deteriorating. When turned on it'd show the last known location - then it might be 5 minutes or maybe 20 minutes before it'd "orient" itself and start tracking its location. Once it started tracking it would work OK - unless it hung; it does this from time to time now and nothing short of pulling the power plug will break it loose.
Then the touchscreen lost its calibration; now when you press on the screen, your press is recorded about 3/8" to the right of where you pressed. That makes most of the functions unusable - and now it's putting up nag screens because the software is over a year old and hasn't been upgraded.
Through all of this, Magellan support has been uniformly unacceptable. I don't know what nationality the support staff is, but they aren't very helpful and apparently the only option is to send the unit in with $100 and wait a few weeks for repairs.
Three failures in less than a year, paid software updates that won't install, useless technical support. It'd be a great unit if it worked right - but it doesn't, and the company doesn't seem to care.
Buying the upgrade was a frustrating experience. After reading the serial number from the unit to the "support" person and having them argue with me about it being a valid number - I looked at the back panel serial number and it had one more digit than the internal number did. They couldn't provide an upgrade for the internal number, but they did charge me $100 for an upgrade that won't install because the serial number is wrong. Their solution? Send the unit back and pay more money to have them load it. Never mind, because:
Its ability to locate itself was deteriorating. When turned on it'd show the last known location - then it might be 5 minutes or maybe 20 minutes before it'd "orient" itself and start tracking its location. Once it started tracking it would work OK - unless it hung; it does this from time to time now and nothing short of pulling the power plug will break it loose.
Then the touchscreen lost its calibration; now when you press on the screen, your press is recorded about 3/8" to the right of where you pressed. That makes most of the functions unusable - and now it's putting up nag screens because the software is over a year old and hasn't been upgraded.
Through all of this, Magellan support has been uniformly unacceptable. I don't know what nationality the support staff is, but they aren't very helpful and apparently the only option is to send the unit in with $100 and wait a few weeks for repairs.
Three failures in less than a year, paid software updates that won't install, useless technical support. It'd be a great unit if it worked right - but it doesn't, and the company doesn't seem to care.
