Product Description

The Magellan RoadMate 2000 is advanced vehicle navigation that is pocket-sized making it easier than ever to get where you need to go. Simple touch-screen menus and a built-in interactive map of the continental U.S. makes it easy to select virtually any destination and get voice and visual turn-by-turn directions as you drive. Use the touch screen to enter an address or select a point of interest and get an instant route using the shortest time, shortest distance, most freeways or least freeways. Nearly 1.3 million pre-programmed points of interest enable you to quickly find gas stations, airports, hotels, restaurants and much more. Touch an icon to get detailed information about a destination, including phone number when available. A complete set of advanced features include SmartDetour to route you around sudden slow freeway traffic, multi-destination routing, QuickSpell to quickly enter your destination, and 3D bird's-eye' view to clearly see your surroundings. Bird's eye 3D view Up to 3 hours of continuous usage Select up to 20 destinations to plan out where you need to go in advance, 20 channels SiRF Star III Receiver Adjusts color and contrast for easy auto night viewing Easily enter addresses with Quickspell for efficient auto-complete feature Easily find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, airports, parks and nearly 1.3 million points of interest (POI) Touch an onscreen icon for nearby destination using the Interactive POI icon, see phone numbers and get an instant route Shortest time, shortest distance, least use or most use of freeways and avoid toll roads routing option Create and store personal address and points of interest for easy reoccurring trips One touch shows your location so you can quickly advise roadside assistance or emergency services SIRF StarIII chipset for quick GPS signal acquisition High-impact plastic case Dimensions - Width 4.28 x Height 3.15 x Width 1.12 inch (

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7463 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Magellan
• Model: 980889-01
• Dimensions: 1.10" h x 4.30" w x 3.40" l, .49 pounds
• Native resolution: 320 x 240
• Display size: 3.5

Features

• Advanced vehicle navigation system gives you one-touch access to detailed information about a destination, including phone numbers when available
• Simple touch-screen menus and 40 built-in, interactive maps of the contiguous United States let you select virtually any destination
• Features a 3.5-inch color touch screen display for easy access to navigational information; select up to 20 destinations in advance to plan out where you need to go
• Nearly 1.3 million pre-programmed points of interest enable you to quickly find gas stations, airports, hotels, restaurants and much more
• Measures 4.28 x 3.15 x 1.12 inches (W x H x D); weighs 2.0 pounds

Amazon.com Product Description
Small, powerful and affordable, with a SIRF StarIII chipset for quick GPS signal acquisition, the Magellan RoadMate 2000 makes it easier than ever to get where you need to go. Simple touch-screen menus and 40 built-in, interactive maps of the contiguous United States let you select virtually any destination and enjoy voice and visual turn-by-turn directions as you drive.

A fully-featured vehicle navigation system with built-in maps, a SirfstarIII chipset, and nearly 1.3 million pre-programmed points of interest. See unit in detail or see a product demonstration (requires Flash).

Detailed information is displayed for all trips.

A turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance system allows you to get to your location quickly and safely.

This advanced vehicle navigation system features a 3.5-inch color touch screen display that you can use to enter an address or select a point of interest. You'll instantly receive the best route using the shortest time, shortest distance, most freeways or least freeways-- it's all up to you. And nearly 1.3 million pre-programmed points of interest enable you to quickly find gas stations, airports, hotels, restaurants and much more.

Convenient and easy to use, the RoadMate 2000 gives you one-touch access to detailed information about a destination, including phone numbers when available. Simply touch the icon on the screen, and you're ready to go. You can also save your own personal points of interest to quickly navigate to frequent destinations. When time is of the essence, take advantage of some of the RoadMate's advanced features, including helpful technology that routes you around sudden slow freeway traffic, a multi-destination routing option, QuickSpell software to quickly enter your destination, and a 3D "bird's-eye" view to clearly see your surroundings. You can even select up to 20 destinations in advance to plan out where you need to go.

Great picture quality is a guarantee, thanks to the integrated ambient light sensor, which adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing. In case of an emergency, you'll never have to worry about being stranded; just one touch displays your exact location so you can quickly advise roadside assistance or emergency services.

The RoadMate 2000 also comes with a high-impact plastic case that protects against marks and scratches while the built-in battery delivers continuous use for up to three hours. Easy to transfer between several different vehicles, with 4 GB capacity and optional SD card expansion, this system is ideal for business and personal travel.

Customer Reviews

Good Value But ...
This GPS system is fairly cheap and does most of the things you would want a GPS unit to do - get you from point A to point B. Basically, that's all I really wanted when I bought this unit and I am happy to say that it has been pretty successful in doing that. I had a little trouble at the start because it wouldn't lock-in my route and always had "Proceed to Route" on the screen even though I was already on the road and moving to my destination.

Having said that, this machine has a few annoying issues. First, it sometimes just restarts automatically and could leave you hanging if you have to turn or something. Second, it gets lost when you are surrounded by tall buildings. Hence, you have to be sure that you know the turn-by-turn directions prior to entering business districts, etc. Finally, it's "shortest time" route may not be the optimal route every time. I went on a trip to Milwaukee to Chicago and the GPS took me through rural Northwestern Illinois, which increased the travel time home from 2 hours to 3 hours. I don't know what happened there, but be sure to check the route before you embark on a long trip (I learned this lesosn the hard way).

For city driving, I think this unit is fine. It has gotten me to most places without any real issues. It's also cheap, which is good for reluctant first-time buyers. After you get a GPS unit though, you will surely ask yourself why you didn't get one any sooner.

An OK GPS Device
I bought this GPS device in the black Friday's sale from Best Buy. I drove about 200 miles with it. This is my experience.

Pros:

1. Small size. The device is quite small. The 3.5-inch screen occupies most of the face. It's only as deep as a cigarette package. The portability is nice.

2. Ease of use. There is only one button on the side of the device. User's input is all through the touch screen. There is a product manual. But the only time you need to read the manual is about how to unlock the device the very first time you use it. After that, everything is intuitive and user friendly.

3. Receiver chip. It uses SiRFstar III receiver chip, the latest microcontroller chip from the world's largest GPS chip manufacture. This chip is used by other GPS devices, which can be 3 times as expensive as Magellan RoadMate 2000. Since the receiver chip is the single most important factor determining a GPS's positioning capability. Compared with other GPS devices, there shouldn't be complaints on the accuracy and signal acquiring speed since they are all using the the same chip.

Cons:

1. Random crash. It happened twice to me since I bought it and drove with it. The first time, I was in the middle of some operation on the screen. The second time, it just crashed when I made a sharp turn on a simple local road. When it crashes, it will reboot automatically and resume the route in totally 4 or 5 seconds. There is really no influence on using it unless you need the direction right at that time. However, this can be annoying.

2. Failure to direct on the go. Today my friend drove me from my home to a nearby airport. I turned on the GPS while we were on the road. It acquired signals in 3 to 4 minutes (reasonable for a cold start) and calculated the right directions. However, it consistently asked me to "proceed to the route", which means to the GPS device I wasn't on the right route to the destination although we were driving precisely on the freeway suggested by the GPS. As a result, it wouldn't give us any turning guidance, although I could see the arrow moving on the correct highway. I am not sure what caused the issue. And I will try later to see if I could duplicate it. But this is a quite serious flaw because when it happens, the GPS device is totally useless except that it shows where you are. I really hope they can release a firmware update to fix this as soon as possible.

3. Crude interface. The interface seems to me quite crude. The color scheme is harsh and lines are jagged. Although it doesn't affect the usage at all, I hope it can be more appalling to people's eyes.

In general, I'd say this is an OK GPS device. On the hardware side, there are really no much complaints. But on the software side, there are some serious things to be ironed out. I only wish they can release the updates soon to fix the problems before I can recommend this device without any reservation.

Not bad but has some flaws
This is my second GPS unit. The first one I used was the VZ Navigator on my cell phone. Compared to my cell phone GPS, this one is seriously lacking in built-in points of interest. There are no listings for businesses such as movie theaters or drug stores. It lists symphonies and repertory theaters, but no cinemas - go figure.

A more serious problem is that it seems to take forever to calculate your route, even after it acquires satellite triangulation. Sometimes it takes over a minute to calculate your route. Then when it does, the screen just says "Go to route." I don't know what that means except that it doesn't start giving directions right away even after it spends a minute or so calculating your route.

The display is excellent. And when it finally finds your route it works well. It did reboot spontaneously a couple of times, which was annoying. I'm considering returning it, but I'll try technical support first.