Magellan Roadmate 360 GPS Vehicle Navigation System - 980668-20
by Magellan
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Digital product summary information
Manufacturer: MagellanBrand: Magellan
Edition: Electronics
Publisher: Magellan
Studio: Magellan
Music Label: Magellan
Accessories:
- Bracketron UFM-300-BX Nav-Pack Weighted GPS Dash Mount/Carrying Case
- NAVGEAR Universal Dash Mount
- GGI International LCD Screen Care Kit, with Overlays, Care System Microfiber Cloth / Wipes
- Bracketron UCH-100-BL Universal Cup-iT Mount with Grip-iT for GPS
Digital camera reviews of Magellan Roadmate 360 GPS Vehicle Navigation System - 980668-20
Digital camera Review: Amazing!
Summary: 4 Stars
Just purchased the roadmate 360 last night, very impressed!
I took it out of the box in the parking lot of the store. Took a quick look for any cautionary notices on the paper work that it was packed with. Found none that pertained to the safety of the unit its self. I then pluged it into my cigarette lighter hit the on button. And within a couple of seconds it pinpointed where I was. I then tinkered with the touch screen for a few moments and was able to program my home address.
Low and behold it gave me perfect directions right to my garage door.
I am still playing with it now, one feature I found that is histerical. When you choose languages, you get two English choices. One with an American accent the other sounds. Australian.
True, but all kidding aside. This is really fun and very useful. My brother has a built in system in his Acura MDX. That system is awsome! The pros to his system is that it is built in and provides a huge screen.
However you can't take it with you, when you are in another vehicle. The 360 seems to do everything his does in just a little smaller scale.
I will re review in a couple of weeks, after some more play time.
I did try to call the tech support line for this GPS before purchasing, however was unable to get even basic answeres.
I'm not sure how I will do if I really need tech support.
For the time being Im very please!
Review Update.
I still feel the same way as the above review. In the meantime I also purchased a Garmen Street Pilot C340 which seemed to have features that the Magellin lacked. I will refere to the Garmen As "gar" and the Magellin to "mag"
Both units work well, however I feel much more confident with mag. for instance, when you are drivng along mag will tell you to prepare to turn on the right, lets say about a half mile in advance.
Then as you get closer to your turn, she will remind you again, at that time the screen splits in half and a very! obvious right arrow in this case appears.
Along with the split screen, depending on how fast you are traveling, a bar graph similuar to what you see when your uploading files on a computer appears toward the bottom of the screen.
It starts out bright Yellow then turns to black as you approach the exact point at which to turn.
The unit also chimes which lets you know that you are to turn right now!
I think that feature is priceless. It's impossible to miss your turn. It is always dead accurate. Another example of what mag offers. Let's say you are driving on a long stretch of highway, and are in a pretty big hurry to get to your final destination, but you see a great photo op.
You can mark that spot and return back to it at a later date. I don't believe that gar will do that. I think that feature is way nice!
Mag's windshield mount is ok as long as you bent it in such a way that mag herself is resting on the dash. If not she will bounce up and down like a bobble head doll. Her touch screen is not always perfect to the touch, but if she does not get any worse, I will be fine with her.
You can also quick scroll via actual hard buttons as well as touch screen. I find the buttons useful.
I like the fact that mag allows you to customize your display so as to show you little icons of certain points of interest. i.e. gas stations, stores ect ect. along your route.
Mag also allows you to advance the map up you travel route in order to see where these places are, as well as all the curves on the road ahead.
As for gar? gar's windshield mount is fantastic! gar looks great above the dash. Gar has an internal battery, which means you can run gar in the car or anywhere for hours without being attached to a power cord. Though gar does not come with a home A/C charger you can slowly charge gar's internal battery by hooking it up to your P/C via USB plug provided.
You can also use gar in other countries by purchasing additional interfaces, something I don't think you can do with mag. Gar also knows when it is dark outside and will adjust his display to compinsate, unlike mag whom you have to go into a menu system in order to dim the screen. Gar also has a dimmer control on screen at all times, he too has a volume adjustment on the side two items that I think are hands down better than mag.
I travel between San Francisco and Palm Springs weekly, It usually takes mag about 15 min to aquire her bearings, I have not taken gar down there yet. I will next week, and will be able to see how long he takes.
As for re-routing they both are about the same, I have been running both side by side in my car for the last week.
gar has in some cases asked me to make a u turn in the same area that mag says keep going and turn on the next turn, which tells me that gar is putting you through an unecessary u turn process.
As for gar's voice to speech feature. It's novel, but I find myself wanting to look up at street signs before making my turns.
Many citys, such as san francisco have street signs that are hidden. So I find myself looking for the sign rather than the road.
If gar had the last min before turn split screen feature as well as the bargraph showing you precisly when your turn is coming up and the turn chime. It would kill mag.
Gar also offers an upgrade to aquire real time traffic reports, however it again is a pricey part and involves haveing it installed into your car's existing antenna system. It also requres an ongoing montly fee.
I think though gar looks great on my dash and is truly a very nice product. Unfortunatly I find mag safer to be with in unfamiluar territory. She too is a couple of hundered dollars cheaper.
I know too that in a year or so, the prices will come down a whole lot. And one of these two companys will offer a GPS that has both of these features I find to be very important.
I will probably return gar and stick with mag.
I hope this was of some help.
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