Portable GPS Ratings

Magellan RoadMate 1475T 4.7-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic Receiver

The Magellan RoadMate 1475 device boasts the acclaimed OneTouch menu, a 4.7-inch color touch screen, and an ultra-thin design. Preloaded maps and points of interest for the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico make the RoadMate 1470 ideal for both business trips and vacations. LifeTime Traffic Link provides live, onscreen traffic notification updates. Easy-to-use, premium features give you confidence on the road and deliver a powerful navigation experience. Spoken street names and directions so you can hear and see where you need to turn next. QuickSpell with SmartCity search narrows your address and city searches, making destination entry easy. Multi-destination routing with route optimization lets you plan your trip with multiple stops in the order you want or optimize a trip for the most efficient route, saving you time and money. Preloaded maps give you information and directions as you travel the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Millions of points of interest (POIs) help you easily find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, coffee shops, and much more. Highway exit POIs search shows you gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more near upcoming highway exits. Branded POIs display your favorite coffee shops, restaurants, and more by their respective logos. LifeTime Traffic Link provides live, onscreen traffic notification updates. Customizable route method lets you select the shortest distance, fastest time, most use of freeways, or least use of freeways to customize your route. Address book enables you to create and store contact information. Auto night view adjusts your screen’s color and contrast for easy night viewing. Automatic re-route lets you quickly get back on track in case you missed a turn. Plan route on map by simply touching a destination on the map screen and then directly routing to it. Rechargeable battery gives you the freedom to drive wireless or plan your trip wThe Magellan� RoadMate� 1475T device boasts the acclaimed OneTouch� menu, a 4.7-inch color touch screen, Traffic Link, and an ultra-thin design. Preloaded maps and points of interest for the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico make the Magellan RoadMate 1475T unit ideal for both business trips and vacations. Easy-to-use, premium features give you confidence on the road and deliver a powerful navigation experience.

Easy-to-use, premium features give you confidence on the road and deliver a powerful navigation experience. Click to enlarge.

OneTouch favorites menu affords instant access to your personalized bookmarks of favorite places and searches anywhere you travel. Click to enlarge.

AAA TourBook provides ratings and descriptions on AAA approved places to stay, play, dine, and save. Click to enlarge.

Highway lane assist signs show highway signs to point you in the right direction when approaching interchanges and exits. Click to enlarge.

Multi-destination routing with route optimization lets you plan your trip with multiple stops in the order you want or optimize a trip for the most efficient route, helping you save time and money. Click to enlarge.

QuickSpell with SmartCity search narrows your address and city searches, making destination entry easy. Click to enlarge.

The Magellan RoadMate 1475T includes many premier features, starting with Magellan’s exclusive OneTouch favorites menu, QuickSpell with SmartCity search, Traffic Link, and highway exit point of interest (POI) search, to name a few. Magellan’s attention to detail delivers a superior user experience.

Intuitive and robust navigation
The RoadMate 1475T lets you bookmark your favorite destinations and searches with the OneTouch favorites menu so you can access them anywhere you travel. With a single touch, find your favorite cafe or restaurant when you’re traveling within any city.

QuickSpell and Smart City search help you quickly enter addresses and narrow your address and city searches, making destination entry easy. Multi-destination routing with route optimization lets you plan your trip with multiple stops in the order you want or optimize a trip for the most efficient route, helping you save time and money.

Traffic Link is included
It’s frustrating to sit in traffic, waiting impatiently for traffic updates from your favorite radio station. Get out of grid lock- even avoid it before you reach it - because you’ve got the Traffic Link vehicle power adapter to give you subscription-free, live traffic updates.

Safety first on the road
You can keep your eyes on the road as you drive because spoken street name guidance announces the street name along with audible turning cues. Highway lane assist offers visual aids to point you in the right direction and ensure that you’ll choose the correct lane well before your next turn.

Should your vehicle unfortunately break down as you travel, the AAA locate screen provides your location so help will know where to find you. Get support fast with the AAA Member Roadside Assistance1 phone number and your location displayed on the RoadMate 1475T screen.

Ready to roll
You’re ready to travel with preloaded maps and points of interest for the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico that make the Magellan RoadMate 1475T ideal for both business trips and vacations. (Mexico map activation available for purchase on www.magellangps.com).

With millions of points of interest at your command you can easily locate gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, coffee shops, and much more. If you need more information or you want to save money, select the AAA search menu after your search entry. AAA TourBook provides ratings and descriptions on AAA approved places to stay, play, dine, and save.

When you’re traveling down the Interstate and need to find gas, food, or lodging in a hurry, touch the highway exit POI icon to see which upcoming highway exits have the services you need.

Turn it on and go!
The Magellan RoadMate 1475T is loaded with premier features you’ll need to get you where you want to go.

Magellan RoadMate 1475T Features

• OneTouch favorites menu affords instant access to your personalized bookmarks of favorite places and searches anywhere you travel. With a single touch, find your favorite cafe or restaurant when you’re traveling within any city.
• Traffic Link provides subscription-free, live traffic updates.
• Redesigned 4.7-inch color touch screen provides powerful navigation that’s easy to view and use.
• AAA TourBook provides ratings and descriptions on AAA approved places to stay, play, dine, and save.
• AAA Member Roadside Assistance gets you help fast with a toll-free member service number to assist you in finding an AAA approved tow truck or repair shop. The menu also shows your exact GPS location so you can provide precise information to your location.
• Highway lane assist signs show highway signs to point you in the right direction when approaching interchanges and exits, and ensure that you’ll choose the correct lane well before your next turn.
• Spoken street names and directions so you can hear and see where you need to turn next.
• QuickSpell with SmartCity search narrows your address and city searches, making destination entry easy.
• Multi-destination routing with route optimization lets you plan your trip with multiple stops in the order you want or optimize a trip for the most efficient route, saving you time and money.
• Preloaded maps give you information and directions as you travel the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. (Mexico map activation available for purchase on www.magellangps.com).
• Millions of points of interest (POIs) help you easily find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, coffee shops, and much more.
• Highway exit POIs search shows you gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more near upcoming highway exits.
• Branded POIs display your favorite coffee shops, restaurants, and more by their respective logos.
• Traffic Link provides live, onscreen traffic notification updates. (This accessory is sold separately).
• Customizable route method lets you select the shortest distance, fastest time, most use of freeways, or least use of freeways to customize your route.
• Address book enables you to create and store contact information.
• Auto night view adjusts your screen’s color and contrast for easy night viewing.
• Automatic re-route lets you quickly get back on track in case you missed a turn.
• Plan route on map by simply touching a destination on the map screen and then directly routing to it.
• Rechargeable battery gives you the freedom to drive wireless or plan your trip when your vehicle’s engine is turned off.

What’s in the Box
RoadMate 1470 GPS receiver, Pre-loaded maps of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, Traffic Link vehicle power adapter, Windshield mount, Adhesive disc for dash mounting, User handbook, USB cable

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Not what I expected
I went shopping looking for the Garmin Nuvi 265T or 265WT, and instead brought home the Magellan Roadmate 1475T because it had an instant rebate and the features were comparable to the Garmin. I read some quick reviews when I got home and there were mostly very positive reviews about the 1470 model, and I quickly found out the 1475T is the 1470 but with the optional traffic receiver already included in the box so you don’t have to buy it separately. I was excited that this was a great buy and took it out for a test run.

The first time I used it, on my way home, it totally bypassed my house and took me nowhere near my house. I was curious where it was going to take me but gave up and decided to just go towards my house because it was late. But I did stop and re-entered my home address, but this time included the hyphen (dash) mark between two numbers and it did end up taking me to my house. The hyphen is optional though, and I thought that since there isn’t any other possible address in my zip code with the same street numbers it should of known this. Oh well, I thought no big deal, I just have to remember to include hyphens.

The next day I was in another town and decided to go to a local Lowe’s Home Improvment Store. I searched the POI’s and could not find one. I searched by name and category and couldn’t find one. Then I tried searching for “LOW’ because I might be spelling it wrong but still no luck. After much fiddling, I finally typed “LOWE’S”, and included the apostrophe (’) between the E & S and finally got multiple locations to choose from. At that point I was thinking that this device requires you to be precise with your searches or you won’t find anything. I’m not a genius and sometimes I won’t know the exact spelling of a POI, so I’ll be screwed when that happens. Heck it didn’t even have a Lowe’s listing under it’s “home improvement” category, and there was one literally 2 miles from my location.

Another thing that irks me is that it always tells you your destination is on the wrong side of the street. All three times that I arrived home it told me my house was on the opposite side of the street, and I tried arriving from both sides of the street, and it always told me the opposite side. This also happened when I arrived at somebody else’s house in another town. This would be a big deal if my destination was on a wide, busy, two-way street and I’m looking one way for my destination and end up passing it because it’s on the other side!

Another negative, and this is well documented in other 1470 reviews, is the location of the USB port on the device. It’s too close to the mounting bracket and the cable part that attaches to it is “L” shaped, so it’s impossible to plug in the unit and then mount it. You have to mount it, THEN plug it in. But then your doing this blind because you don’t have a clear view of the USB port when it’s already mounted. This is annoying,and requires lots of fumbling when your setting up. However you can work around this by mounting it on the suction cup before you attach the suction cup to the windshield, then plugging it in, then attaching both to the windshield. At first I thought I was doing something wrong, then finally realized that this is clearly a design flaw.

Another flaw - Lane Assist feature. This is a great feature when it works, but once it told me the exit is on the left when it actually was on the right. The device also depicted the exit to be on the right, but the voice kept saying it’s on the left. In unfamiliar territory, and when you’re not looking and just listening to your device (like you should be doing most of the time), this can cause you to miss your exit!

There was one thing this device did very well - avoid a traffic jam. It alerted me of upcoming traffic on an expressway. I told it to avoid this traffic, so it took me off the expressway and guided me to another expressway that runs parallel to the other one. I got off the expressway just when traffic was slowing down, and I knew there really was a delay because the electronic traffic sign on the expressway confirmed it. I got home in no time thanks to the device. This was one of the primary reasons I wanted a GPS. I live and drive in the NYC and Long Island area and think this feature is a necessity if you have a GPS. That’s why I was originally looking for the Garmin Nuvi 265T, because it has lifetime free traffic, and so does the 1475T.

I really wanted to love this device. The screen is big and beautiful. The One Touch interface is convenient. The AAA guide is useful. The maps and routing are easy to use. The Magellan “chime” right before a turn is appreciated. The price is right - lower than other devices with comparable features. But I can’t get past the deficiencies, especially since they seem so basic. And after reading all the horror stories about Magellan’s customer service I’m afraid of what will happen if I ever need the device serviced. I have another 28 days to return this device for a refund, which I will do way before that. I’ll probably spend the extra $70 and get the Garmin Nuvi 265WT. I’ve only heard positive things about the device and the company.

5 Stars way better quality than Garmin
I have been a dedicated GPS user for the past 4 years. Usually i only buy Garmin, until i recently purchased the 755t. The first unit i got had a defective screen that picked up letters and numbers from different parts of the screen, imagine trying to unlock the device and never being able to put the right pin in. Also the volume was ridiculously low, i could barely hear it with everything turned off. I got a replacement from Amazon and had the same problem. After an hour on hold with Garmin, Yes an HOUR on hold, i was told it was a software problem and i had to wait. I paid way too much for that unit to wait. I never had it lock up though like alot have reviewed.

Then I did alot of research and i came up on the 1475t. I absolutely love this unit, the Volume is LOUD. very clear, and the text to speech is excellent. I live in San Diego and the traffic receiver works great, the screen is very responsive and accurate. I was able to get all my addresses on there quick. it is not perfect, it has a couple of details that needs to be fixed. Sometimes the routing is weird, and the charging cable is a pain to put on.

After dealing with Garmin’s horrible quality and horrible customer service, i am giving this 5 stars as it had made my work alot easier. it gives you alot more details on the freeway onramps you need to take. and i am very nitpicky about my electronics. I will only buy Magellan from now on. I am very impressed

Buy/More Info

Filed under: Portable GPS Ratings