Magellan RoadMate 700 Portable GPS Navigator
Magellan RoadMate 700 Portable GPS Navigator
Imagine having a personal assistant in your car, guiding you turn by turn, with a friendly voice and visual signals, even when you don’t know the address. That’s exactly what you get with the Magellan RoadMate 700 portable GPS Auto Navigation System. Forget about sorting through large folding paper maps or taking the time to print out Internet directions. With a built-in map database of the entire U.S. and Canada there’s no need to download mapping information from your computer. Simply turn it on, select a destination using the latest in full-color, touch screen technology or the dynamic backlit keypad and within seconds you’re on your way.Built on the famous Magellan technology found in the Hertz NeverLost system, proven and road-tested by over 4 million drivers, the Magellan RoadMate 700 makes your driving adventure easier and more enjoyable.Lightweight and truly portable, the Magellan RoadMate 700 goes wherever you go, from your personal vehicle to your business car, to your RV.The Magellan RoadMate 700 has over 2 million points of interest built-in, making it easy to find your destination quickly and easily. Search by name or category for gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs, sights, amusements and more, whether you’re driving cross-country or to an unfamiliar address across town.The Magellan RoadMate 700 is ready-to-go, right out of the box, putting the convenience of a personal assistant and the accuracy of vehicle navigation literally at your fingertips.Turn it on and go!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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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.
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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.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Magellan Roadmate map update
If you own a magellan roadmate 700 or 760 you are probably going to need to update your maps on the unit. I found that if you go to [...] they have all the most current mapping out by magellan. I love my roadmate unit and since I spent alot of money on it way back, I would rather just update the maps and keep the same unit.
1 Stars Don’t buy
Magellan Customer service is the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. They offer a free 30 day map update since all of their products ship with out of date maps. This would be a good thing except it is in the fine print of their products and their customer support email address that their website list is the wrong address. I had to get through to their customer service by posting a bad review on their website. By the time they responded my unit was beyond the 30 day limit and they refused to give me the update. This is a bad business practice. Garmin has a 60 day guarantee which is posted directly on their website in plain view.
3 Stars Magellan Roadmate 700
I have had this unit for over 2 years now. I works pretty well once it acquires the satellite signal. It takes about 1-4 minutes to lock on satellites.
I have had trouble with the power cradle as DC in pin somehow got bend and is now broken. It costs $70 for a new cradle, so I decided to get a DC jack and solder it. It seems I am not the only one with this problem, search google.
Would I buy this specific model again? No. Simply because their are newer, better and cheaper gps sets available now.
1 Stars Do NOT buy from Magellan
We bought this 2 1/2 years ago for $800 because it was on Oprah’s favorite things thinking it would be an investment and a quality product and we would have it a long time. Not even a year into owning it a couple of the tongs on the cradle got bent and we had to buy a replacement for $30 (since they’ve jacked it up to $70) because it would lose connection constantly. Well, after a year it kept asking us to update the map and we live in SA and didn’t see a need since we weren’t traveling outside of the city and we knew it well so we didn’t. Then it starting stalling, freezing and basically malfunctioning. We were told to buy a map update by customer service for $99 and that would solve the problem. We bought the update and it seemed to work after that. Now since the cradle tongs are incredibly delicate (and we are careful with it) another tong has bent one the new one. The update map signal came on a couple of weeks ago and what do you know-the gps is malfunctioning again. It seems like Magellan has found a way to make a lot of cash by selling a unreliable product. First you have to pay $99 a year to keep the maps updated or else it will malfuction and if you bend the tongs on the cradle (and you will) you will have to sell out $70 for a new one. Also, it takes FOREVER to find you and sometimes you will pass right by the road you’re supposed to take while it’s deciding where you should go only to have to turn around a mile down the road. That has happened MANY times. I am extremely upset with Magellan since they don’t offer to repair it-only map updates and a trade in where I’m sure they make money off you again since you already paid $800 for this one in the first place. And who’s to say the second one they replace it with will be any better. Save your money and don’t get ripped off by this scam they have going. It’s a money pit and you’re the loser.
1 Stars Very Poor product
I have owned a Magellan Roadmate 700 for four years. It has failed to work on many occasions and I have sent it in for repairs twice with hardware failures. I purchased it from Sharper Image with a 5 year warranty - bad mistake! Service from SI has been awful - they referred me to another outfit - NEW - that handles their warranties - The unit has now failed again!
Magellan has no customer service number or email address - What a mistake! I paid $1,299 for this unit in 2004 - don’t buy this model from anyone and be aware that Magellan does not provide good service.
Filed under: Portable GPS Ratings