Amazon.com Product Description
The Magellan RoadMate 1470 GPS device boasts a unique 4.7-inch color
touchscreen and ultra-thin design, delivering powerful navigation in a
compact package. This easy-to-use device gives you confidence while on
the road with premium features, including AAA TourBook, highway lane
assist, spoken street names, multi-destination routing, and pre-loaded
maps of North America.
 Powerful navigation in a compact package. Click to enlarge.
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The
exclusive Magellan OneTouch personalized search icons let you easily
bookmark favorite destinations so you can find them anywhere you
travel. Find your favorite café or restaurant in any city with a single
touch. The RoadMate 1470 device delivers your favorites at your
fingertips. Features include:
- Ability to personalize OneTouch search icons with your favorite places
- Announces street names and directions at each turn
- Ultra-wide 4.7-inch touchscreen display
- AAA TourBook and Roadside Assistance menu
- Permits multi-destination routing
- Maps of United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico
4.7-Inch Color Touchscreen
The large wide-format color touchscreen shows your position on the map,
route, destination, ETA, surrounding Points of Interest (POI), signal
strength, next maneuver, street names, and more--all at a glance.
6 million Points of Interest
Easily find what you need. Gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs, and
hundreds of other businesses and services are intuitively categorized
and searchable from the built-in POI database. Most include the phone
number.
Expanded NAVTEQ Maps
Travel the entire United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada with all the maps you need, pre-loaded on the device.
 Brilliant 4.7-inch touchscreen. Click to enlarge.
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 Announces street names and directions at each turn. Click to enlarge.
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 Easily find what you need from the built-in POI database. Click to enlarge.
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 Add Traffic Link for live traffic info. Click to enlarge.
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Text-to-Speech
Hear street names with every voice direction and have a clear
understanding of when to make the next turn while you keep your eyes on
the road.
Intuitive User Interface
Bold,
intuitive menu options make it easy to pick destinations and choose how
you navigate, without even reading the instructions.
Ultra-Thin Design
Uniquely stylish and compact, it's easy to transfer your Magellan GPS
between vehicles, or toss it in a suitcase to take anywhere.
QuickSpell with MultiCity Search
Enter destinations with a few keystrokes. QuickSpell searches locations
and checks spelling to provide you with a simple list of available
destinations.
Auto NightView
Color and contrast adjusts automatically for easy viewing at night.
Multi-Destination Routing
Select several destinations and choose the order to plan a trip in
advance and repeat the same trip again. Easily reorganize, add, or
remove destinations.
Add Traffic Link for Live Traffic Info
Stop sitting in traffic waiting for traffic updates on your favorite
radio station. Traffic Link will alert you on current traffic
conditions for the area in which you are travelling. Simply plug in the
Traffic Link device to your compatible Magellan GPS device, and you'll
receive free information on the type of incident (e.g., accident or
slow traffic), status of surrounding freeways/interstates, and
approximate time until you come upon the issue. With the touch of a
button, Traffic Link will provide you with an alternate route so that
you can avoid delays, saving time and money.
With the Traffic
Link service, you'll also receive special offers from premium vendors.
Simply touch the information on the screen to obtain details on how to
take advantage of the various deals being provided. Stop sitting in
traffic. Get Traffic Link, turn it on, and go! Features include:
- Free automatic traffic updates for life!
- Intuitive user interface clearly displays traffic events
- Reroutes you around reported traffic jams
- Valuable promotional offers from premium vendors
What's in the Box
Magellan RoadMate 1470 GPS receiver; pre-loaded maps of United States,
Canada, and Puerto Rico; windshield mount; adhesive disc for dash
mounting; vehicle power adapter; USB cable; user handbook; user manual
on CD-ROM
Customer Reviews
Wonderful evolution of the Magellan line
I've been a Magellan user for several years - have owned four of
their GPS systems, and always appreciate how they have improved their
products. This unit is my 5th, and replaces a Magellan 4040. After
using it for a while I've confident in saying this is the best one yet!
The most visible change is the actual size of the unit. The screen
size has been increased, but the unit is thinner and lighter. Very
sleek appearance, and the screen is a real joy -- sharp, clear graphics
even in the sun, and bigger on-screen buttons for easy use. The
mounting system has also been streamlined, and looks and works well. It
mounts very easily on a NavMat holder (basically a bean-bag system that
I got on Amazon. I'm a huge Navmat fan - makes it a snap to hide the
GPS with narry a trace. Best accessory by far for any GPS).
The power connector was not well thought out, however. You have to
connect it to the GPS unit AFTER you mount it in the holder. They
should have moved the connector it a wee bit to the side to avoid that.
The only button is a slide-type power button on the top. Boot-up
time is OK -- not speedy, but not a huge delay either. It does not have
a "sleep" mode, so you have to do a cold boot every time. Not a problem
in real world use - by the time you get situated in your car, the unit
is ready to go.
Voice is clear and easy to understand. Not as natural sounding as a TomTom, but understandable.
Pretty much any recent GPS unit will get you where you want to go.
I've found the routing on the Magellans to be very similar to Garmins -
could be because they both use the same mapping set (Navteq). The
Magellan shines, however, in features that I find helpful. The
direction of the next turn is always visible regardless of how far away
the next turn will be. Up until recently, Garmin did not offer this
(they do now on some of their units). Sounds like a small issue, but I
find it very helpful. The Magellan also allows you to very easily
exclude a route (or portion). That's a fairly standard feature
nowadays, but Magellan allows you to do it in a snap.
In terms of routing, Magellan offers four options (fastest,
shortest, most use of freeways and least use). You can see all four
options on the map (as a summary) at the same time so you can pick the
best one for your needs. Perfect!!
Love the AAA Guidebook, which is a unique Magellan feature. Lets
you get details about restaurants and other points of interest just
like the paper version from AAA. I used it a lot in my 4040, especially
when traveling out of town.
Other unique Magellan features I appreciate is the "ding dong"
sound right before a turn (incredibly accurate!) and the fact that the
software reminds you to "stay on the current road" when you encounter
major exits. Some find that to be nagging, but it has saved me from
inadvertently exiting on more than one occasion.
A new feature for Magellan is the lane guidance. Very nicely done.
I've used this feature on Navigon units, and found it rather unhelpful.
Magellan's implementation is far more useful, with better, clearer
graphics. However, lane guidance is not available for every road.
The software is also nicely done - very logical to use. If you're a
past Magellan user you can pick this up and use it in a second. If not,
there's a short printed user's guide in the box (plus a CD-ROM with
more in-depth info) that gets you up to speed quickly. The box also
includes the mount, power connector for the car, and a USB cable. It
does not include an AC adapter.
OK, now for the bad news. When it comes to customer service,
Magellan has been horrid. We're talking so bad it's almost funny. I'm
hoping this situation will change - the company was bought by Mitac
late last year, and perhaps this will signal a change for the better in
terms of customer support. Lord knows, they couldn't get any worse.
The leader, in my opinion, for customer support is Garmin. They are
nice to deal with on the phone, answer emails promptly, and offer
regular firmware updates. Whenever I buy a GPS as a gift I always buy
Garmin since I don't want to saddle the recipient with the miserable
service that Magellan offers. It's a shame, since Magellan offers some
real benefits over Garmin, and more value for the money. Tom Tom is
also decent when it comes to support, but they use TeleAtlas maps which
are less complete than NavTeq (sp?).
Bottom line -- if you're looking for a straightforward GPS at a
good price, this should be on your short list. It lacks features such
as Bluetooth and an MP3 player, but for me, I want a GPS to offer
guidance and not entertainment. This has a very robust feature set,
great screen, and well-designed software. It also has traffic
capabilities -- did not test that feature out, so I can't comment on
it.
The "safe" bet continues to be Garmin. You'll pay a bit more, and
get less features, but you can be assured of solid support. Whether
Magellan's new owners will put them back on the right track (if you'll
excuse the horrid, but unavoidable pun) in terms of customer service is
not yet clear. I hope so -- they make a great product!
UPDATE: 5/21/09 There's a firmware update on the Magellan site. No
new functionality (in terms of new features) but, according to the
release notes it improves overall performance. Easy to install - just
follow the included step-by-step instructions. It seems like it makes
the unit a bit faster, but that could just be my imagination.
Great screen, and lots of POIs but needs to catch up to rest of the GPS market
I've used a number of GPS navigators, typically Garmin and TomTom
units. I am currently using a Garmin Nuvi 265WT and I generally find
Garmin to give me the best set of features and performance for the
price, although I've not found their systems to be particularly
reliable, my first needed to be sent for repairs twice and the one I am
using currently often reboots itself randomly, particularly right when
I start it up, and often the sound fades out for no reason. So I'm
always on the hunt for something that will work even better. This is my
first experience with a Magellan RoadMate model, and I was interested
to see how it compared. I've only been using it for a few weeks, so I
cannot report on long-term reliability, but will post follow-up
comments if I run into any problems in the future.
PLUSES
Beautiful, bright screen. Easily one of the best GPS screens I've
seen. Very sharp and bright and still visible even in bright light.
Typical reverse screen for nighttime viewing.
Good maps, accurate directions. Haven't run into any problems yet
where it took me a goofy route....although I've yet to use a GPS that
doesn't do it once in awhile! I also like that you can use a zip code
when entering addresses. My Garmin unit makes you enter both the city
and state and thus makes setting destinations a bit more tedious than
need be.
The sound and text-to-speech on this I found very good. I often
have volume problems with my Garmin (sometimes it just seems to
completely fade out), no problems at all with this. I didn't even need
to turn it up all the way to hear it easily. The voice I found pleasant
enough and not too computer-generated sounding. It also has nice tones
for signaling the turns (which you could select from) and the timing
for these was spot-on.
Quick launch screen which allows you to set a bunch of favorite
locations, or even better, favorite searches. So if you typically are
looking for the local coffee shop when you travel, rather than going
through the screens to set up the search each time you can save it as a
favorite. Very useful and has a number of these already set up for you
like closest gas station.
The number of POIs was quite impressive, I found a lot more local
stores in my area than with the Garmin. Still not everything
though....my church was one that was not included, even though its one
of the largest in my town.
Included AAA information. Very cool search for local events,
attractions, etc. with detailed information. Not sure how much I'd use
this (typically I'd research such information before leaving!) but it
was a nice touch.
Multi-destination routing. Allows you to set up a complete trip
with several stops. This was very easy to use, to reorder your stops,
etc.
Includes maps for Canada. Not all GPS units in this price range
include Canada. Not that I travel there, but nice to know I have the
maps if I do!
It's also nice that it uses a standard UBS cable. This seems to
becoming more standard with GPS units and makes life much easier than
having a proprietary cable. I'm careful to label it however, just so I
don't accidentally mix it up with all my other similar cables.
MINUSES
Slow startup! I've really gotten spoiled by my Garmin Nuvi that
started up in seconds and was ready to navigate just as quickly. This
thing takes considerably longer to start, leaving me waiting for it
before I can set my destination and drive off.
Also, the location of the plug for the USB/power cord is just dumb!
It completely blocks the mount, so that you cannot have the unit
plugged in until you slide it on. This also means you then can't see
where you are plugging it in, versus being able to just hold the unit,
stick in the plug, and then mount it. I could deal with this if there
seemed to be some reason for doing it....but simply moving the plug
from the left side to the right side of the mount would have completely
solved this problem. It just seems like it was put in the one spot that
would annoy people!
No bluetooth or voice command, no music or audiobook support.
Basically very barebones on extras. This was a big step down from the
Garmin Nuvi which cost almost the same, with just a slightly smaller
screen. At the very least, I really would have liked to have seen BT at
this price point. The touch screen also doesn't always respond and
needs a second or even third tap sometimes. This seemed particularly
prevalent on the Back button. Also, why do they not include a quick
jump back to the main menu or map? My Garmin has this issue as well,
and it's really annoying when you are searching for something that you
can't just "cancel" and go back to the main screen, but have to keep
backing page by page to return. Garmin also now has all kind of
features you can customize that really add to the value of their
devices. I love the ability to find an address on Google Maps and send
it to the GPS over USB. You can download a custom car which is a cute
touch (okay, so I no longer own a big SUV, but at least I can see
myself drive one virtually!) There are all kinds of custom routes you
can download, if you are the type that likes to play around with your
gadgets. The Magellan doesn't appear that have support for any of this
kind of additional stuff, and is definitely falling behind Garmin and
TomTom in this area.
Some things are not very intuitive and the manual is very bare
bones, so not much help. For instance, there was an option in the
settings for the display, but on changing it, I found that I was stuck
with just 2D display options. It took me awhile to figure out how to
get it back to 3D (clicking on the main map screen). Not including the
3D setting in the same place is quite confusing.
One thing that really bugged me was that it wouldn't save a
location based on solely the GPS location. I've never had a GPS unit
that wouldn't do this....you just save the location and rename it to
something meaningful. On the Magellan though, while it would let me
"save" I still had to actually enter an address! Seems kind of silly to
require this when you are using a GPS which should be able to just save
the location automatically, address or no. If there *is* a way to do
this, it certainly isn't very obvious! I also found it needed to really
get right to the location that you were navigating to in order to
consider the trip completed. Very frequently when I turn it on it wants
to resume the same trip, even though that's where I am! It should be
less picky about this.
The headsup display was not one of my favorites. With the Garmin, I
was able to see my upcoming turn, estimated arrival time, current
speed, and even would display the local speed limit (when available).
The Magellan was much more bare bones. I could get the next turn, and
the time of arrival, but it uses the same space to show my current MPH
so I have to toggle back and forth (while driving) if I want to see
this. I really like using my GPS as a digital speedometer so this was a
big negative for me. This is definitely personal preference though.
Some people may prefer the more minimal information on this screen and
more surrounding map visibility.
I also didn't care for how it displays the phone number separately
from the address when viewing POIs. I'm not sure why you wouldn't
display the phone number on the same screen as the address, this just
seems unnecessarily complicated to have them in different places. I
really like the Garmin info display which includes everything on one
page, and also includes call buttons (since that device supports
bluetooth phone calling).
I did not receive the TrafficLink with this unit, so am not able to
review how well that works. If you are not able to find a deal on this
that includes the TrafficLink for free, that really does hurt the value
a bit. My Garmin unit included free traffic on the device (albeit with
some ads) so if I lived in an area where I wanted the traffic support,
that extra $80 cost would definitely play a part in my decision as to
what device to go with (comparisons of how good each traffic service
are notwithstanding).
Overall, you'll want to evaluate it against other devices at the
same price. If you can find a good deal on it, it might be worth
considering for the excellent display and strong database of POIs. But
for me, it's just not in the best-of-class category.
Magellan RoadMate 1470 a winner and best buy for ALL
The NEW Magellan RoadMate 1470 is a feature rich product at an
affordable price. I can tell you this unit includes tons of features
that are not normally found in the low $200 price range.
My first impression of this unit is without reservations or doubt
this unit by far is one of the better GPS unit offered by Magellan. One
must ask how Magellan can offer so much at a price that is so
reasonable. What RoadMate features has been eliminated for this new
Magellan RoadMate 1470?
Answer: Nothing, Magellan gave us everything at a price that is unbelievable!
The NEW Magellan RoadMate 1470 offered at a price of less than $239
and is currently the best value for your dollar. This full feature
Portable Navigation Device offers all the features you will need to
route from point A to Point B anywhere in North America, Puerto Rico
and even Mexico if you select to purchase the optional unlock code for
this expandable GPS device. Magellan have introduced the most
affordable full feature GPS currently available and I feel they have
accomplished this successfully.
The Magellan RoadMate 1470 offers so much more, it is BIGGER,
Thinner, Smarter and faster than all the older GPS system offered by
Magellan at a competitive price similar to the older RoadMate units.
Currently this MRM 1470 is the lowest GPS priced available that offers
a large 4.7" display with full features including full map coverage of
NA map and expandable to Mexico and future Europe maps loaded in a
Micro SD card as an option.
How is this entire GPS product possible at the price it is selling
for? It offers a much bigger display, 4.7" diagonally and yet the
overall physical size is slimmer than a GPS that offers a 4.3" display.
It includes smarter features such as OneTouch, quick spell, smart city
search, this unit will find street address or POI you are looking for
much faster than what is currently available on the GPS market. This
unit is Faster and have the ability to search through the entire NA map
data base without having to select different map regions such as
Canada, Alaska, Mexico to start a route, it covers the entire NA
mapping software in one region so one would not have to fumble around
switching regions to route to a destination that is not in the lower 48
states. These RoadMate 1470 also calculates a route much faster and
offers not one route but 4 different route options. Route options such
as Fastest time, Shortest distant, Most use of freeway and Least use of
freeway all presented to you on the display map when you select to view
the route options. This will not limit the user to only view the route
the unit recommends the user to take but at the same time it will
display all available routing options. User has the option of selecting
different routing method or to view all the available routes on one[
display screen at the same time .
This Magellan RoadMate 1470 is Thinner and a more attractive GPS
unit over all. It is almost the thickness of an iPhone yet offers much
larger display in almost the same size form factor as the older
Magellan Maestro 4250/4350/4370 units.
This new generation of Magellan GPS systems is also Smart enough to
not only detour at a specific selected distant such as by 3 miles, 5
miles and 9 miles if one wish to bypass a certain stretch of road or
highways that is on the route under detour option, but one can also
selectively detour one segment of the route by selecting the street or
highway you wish to avoid. This type of flexibility offer the user the
ultimate customizable routing option available on some selective higher
price GPS products, and this type of features may not be found on some
affordable lower end competitive GPS products currently available on
the market.
Unlike some similar competitive GPS units that require you to
pre-plan a route on a computer and input the routes you wish to take to
customize your route. The multiple route destination feature list
allows user to plan a trips or destinations one after another in
advance, this unit can store multiple routing destination from one
destination to the next in advance, and this can aid the driver from
having to input each address they wish to go as they reach each
destination one at a time. The route optimization feature option offers
even more benefit to users, it will optimize your multiple route
destinations by distant and time, this feature offers the most
efficient way to calculate multiple routes to ALL of your selected
destination starting from the nearest address to the furthest without
you having to figure it out on a paper map or on a computer. This type
of advance multiple destinations routing feature is found mostly on
more expensive higher end GPS units.
The OneTouch feature revolutionized the industry by allowing user
to quickly find the destination without having to fumble through
address book or points of interest category and fields, without having
to select cities, streets and numbers, it is truly a OneTouch feature
that allows user to quickly and efficiently route to their most visited
or desired POI or addresses quickly. This feature is by far one of
Magellan best offering to eliminate the need to hunt for certain
locations you can simply store most used POI such as the brand of gas
station you use like Chevron or Shell, the coffee house by brand such
as Starbucks coffee or Peets coffee, banks, ATM, rental car facilities,
airports etc. This OneTouch feature enable user to only find the
nearest brand of POI you wish to patronize and will not display ALL
irrelevant brand of the gas stations or coffee houses near you when you
select the OneTouch feature. This option reduces a lot of time for
sorting out unwanted contents.
AAA Tourbook option enable user not only to view the many AAA
approved Hotels and Restaurants by diamonds rating and where one knows
it is safe to patronize, but it allows additional TourBook Destinations
such as Attractions, Events such as Art and Wine festivals, and city
sponsored events such as Harvest Festival Art and Craft, Santa Cruz
Clam Chowder Cook-off among many other events that is available. This
type of benefits was only available to AAA members in the past and now
with these new Magellan RoadMate GPS systems, they are including this
benefit with all their GPS units. The AAA Category option also offers
Approved AAA Auto Repair recommendations as a benefit. AAA hold their
approved AAA auto repair facilities to a much higher standard, and they
oversee any complaints or dispute issues that may arise from any auto
repair facilities that is AAA approved. Should their AAA customers be
dissatisfied with their car repair, AAA will interject and help mediate
and resolve complaints. AAA may act as a mediator to resolve any
differences between an AAA approved repair facility and their
customers. Most of the time you will find AAA will side with the
consumer and request the repair facility to resolve any disputes or
complaints. This benefit is extremely useful considering if you are
traveling in unfamiliar locations and your vehicle should happen to
need repair, you would wish to participate with an AAA approved auto
repair facility.
The Tourbook also offer a guide to Nearest Campgrounds, this is a
great points of interest category to include for outdoor type users.
The final offer unfortunately is only for AAA members that carry an
AAA membership card. For all AAA members, they offer a member ship
discount benefits aka Show Your Card and Save. This benefit allow AAA
member to save as little as $1 off to 10-20% off on many services and
merchandizes including restaurants, saving from company such as UPS
stores savings up to 15% on copies, faxes, mailboxes etc and 5% on
shipping or save from truck rentals such as Penske Truck Rental from
10% for local rentals and 12% on one-way rentals. Theme park discounts,
hair cut discounts, vision care discounts to discounts to sporting
events, the list just keeps going. This type of benefits is very
worthwhile if one was to decide to make a road trip or go on a
vacation. These benefits are also great from someone that is driving
all the time.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with AAA but I have been an
AAA member for many years and enjoy the savings they have to offer.
Remember to enjoy these show your card and save benefits, one must be
an AAA member or be with a friend that is an AAA member.
This new Magellan RoadMate 1470 is bigger, slimmer and it is also
smarter. For those of us that have a difficult time spelling out street
names and Cities in Hawaii or Puerto Rico, names like Kaneohe or
Wahiawa in the State of Hawaii, one may have difficult time guessing
how to spell the city name. With the Magellan RoadMate and the smart
city search feature, it will display the City name as you type in a few
letters on the spell screen, and also will blank out the letters that
is not associated with any cities making it easier to find the city of
your choice. If you are near the city you are searching for, the name
of the city will pop up first which makes it easier for you to find
surrounding cities near your location. This Smart City Search is an
excellent feature to aid anyone in spelling cities or street names. The
Quick Spell street name search functions similarly that it only offers
alphabets letters of available street names and will blank out letters
that are not associated with any street name in that city. This enable
the user to narrow down the search unlike many competitive units that
requires the user to type in the full name before it can determine if
it is available or not.
Audio quality provides louder speaker volume output. One of the
biggest complaints as to portable GPS systems are the audio output is
never loud enough. This new Magellan RoadMate 1470 outperforms in sound
volume than the higher end Magellan Maestro's 4250 and 4350/4370's. So
if volume is a concern to you, this would be the unit for you. If you
drive a loud/noisy vehicle such as a large SUV, truck or a convertible,
you may wish to consider this GPS model.
The Magellan RoadMate 1470 Text size is physically larger making it easier for vision impaired user to see the input keys.
One feature that is very helpful is now the unit will display the
ETA on the POI menu when you select a category and POI, this will allow
user to understand what the approximate ETA will be to route to the POI
user selected.
The Exit POI is a very a nice feature that allows users to know
what Gas Stations, Hotels, and Restaurants etc that are available in
the up coming exit while routing on freeways and highways.
This unit being offered at less than $239 includes the latest and
freshest mapping software version 35 which is Q308 mapping software
from NavTeq. The average map update cost these days is $49-$79 and
considering all the new features this Magellan RoadMate 1470 unit has
to offer, it's a bargain and the intelligent solution to keep your GPS
fresh and up to date. Remember when you buy these new model GPS units,
also includes the 1 year factory warranty.
Lane Assist feature is new to Magellan on the RoadMate product
lines. Again this type of advance features are normally offered in
higher end PND products. Lane assist enable user to know well in
advance what highway or freeway lane they should be in before the exit.
This feature is extremely helpful in cities such as Los Angeles that
have multiple freeway interchanges, exits and entrances that could
easily confuse any driver, with the lane assist feature, the user will
be knowledgeable as to which lane and exit they need to take before it
is too late. This by far is one of the more desirable feature much like
Text to Speech, it keeps the driver better inform as the routes the GPS
is directing the driver to take.
The famous patented Magellan Chime/ Bell just-in-time warning
feature offers a warning such as "ding-ding" just before the execution.
This warning feature allows the user not only to be sure that they are
asked to take the turn or exit at the right time, but that they are
taking the correct turn and not the street before or after. Too often
on short city streets that a warning such as left turn on 3rd street
may not be enough if you are in heavy traffic and focusing on the heavy
city traffic on the road, sometimes street signs are not easily found
and the bell chime confirms that you should make an immediate turn
after the chime offer user another level of confirmation.
By far the Magellan RoadMate 1470 offers the most warning of any
GPS units, on a normal freeway exit, it will announce 2 miles before
the exit, 1 mile before the exit, .5 miles before the exit, .2 miles
before the exit and the warning chime just before the exit. On shorter
city streets it may only announce .2 of a mile left turn on 3rd street
and the bell chime will sound off just before the necessary turn. And
if the warning is not enough, you can always select the repeat audio
command feature to hear the distant count down if you are unsure when
you are going to make the turn. You may ask yourself how this warning
feature is different than most other GPS systems currently available.
Most competing GPS products may only announce left turn ahead and you
may have 2 streets one after another and will have to confirm by taking
your eyes off the road and reconfirm via map screen which is not the
safest way to navigate in a busy city. Magellan has the right solution
by offer both Text to Speech and bell warning chime Just-In-Time before
the turn. This is something that is a feature that is much desired and
not found in competing GPS products.
Traffic Information, if you are a heavy commuter and requires as
much traffic information as possible, you may consider the Magellan
RoadMate 1470 offers free lifetime traffic service with the optional
traffic receiver. This is a necessary feature to have if you are
spending a lot of time on the freeway or highways.
Overview: Bigger, Thinner, Smarter, and Faster. This Magellan
RoadMate 1470 is currently the only FULL feature we can find at less
than $239 and we feel for a portable navigation device that includes a
large 4.7" display, OneTouch patented feature, Text To Speech, Lane
Assist, AAA TourBook, millions of points of interest, 2D-3D views map
display with a loud audio output speaker is the only intelligent choice
for educated consumer to consider. This is the unit that we recommend
for the consumer that is looking for the right product at a great price
without sacrificing a lot of the advance features currently available
on the market today.
No GPS unit is without its limitations, this unit lacks some of the
features such as Voice Recognition, BlueTooth, MP3 player, Picture
Viewer, Pedestrian mode, ability to route to Lat/Long coordinates, and
the DC power cord mount is not user friendly since it interferences
with the windshield mount and there is no real way to remove the unit
from the mount using one hand.
There appears to be a slightly longer boot up time than most GPS,
approximately 3-40 seconds which feels long when the average units
boots up in about 10-15 seconds.
Although there are tons of new POI's, there are some older POIs
that are missing for whatever reason I am not sure, but the POI seems
to be different not necessary a lot more but just more new categories.
Over all, this unit is highly recommended for the features it has
to offer, the sturdy routing and the Magellan legendary ease of use.
James Keh aka GPS4ME/PND4ME also Auto Nav 2000 Plus, Inc / Auto Nav Direct
