Magellan RoadMate 2000 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
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.
THis GPS is excellent and this solves the purpose of GPS and navigates excellent. Point of Interest and its menu is excellently designed so that you can see the customize POI like american food, mexican food etc. U can see the POI on the screen itself on direction menu and just touch it and it will show you what kind of POI it is.
I recommend this GPS for all users unless you have big bucks to spend for luxury items.
Actually this COULD have been a great GPS! And, it has a "really nice" opening for a SD Memory Card. But, I just called Magellan and was told, "Oh, the European Maps won't be made available for this model." That's ridiculous in my opinion----to make a product that won't accept "maps from other countries". I mean, someday, in about 10 years, you MAY want to go to London...or Paris....or Rome...and drive around in a rented car, right? So, then you find out yourself----because Magellan won't tell you up front----you find out yourself, "oh, I have to buy another GPS that will accept European Maps." Phooey! Magellan should have in big letters on the box: "WILL NOT WORK WITH EUROPEAN MAPS". But, it leaves that information up to the customer to seek out. I wouldn't buy this product for that reason alone! If you agree or disagree email: boland7214@aol.
PS: If you want to bring your GPS to Europe, check out Garmin GPS. Also the Garmin C530, for example, has a screen that is easier to read because the information is in BIGGER LETTERS and always on top.
PPS: To be fair, if you are SURE you only want to drive in The USA The 2000 is worth looking into because it worked very well for me around my neighborhood. And, there is another similer model for $100 more (!) that I was told "will have capability to work with European Maps IN THE FUTURE SOMETIME!" That model is the Magellan 2200T.
I bought the Roadmate 2000 and at first it was great. I was able to obtain a satellite fix in about 1 minute out of the box. On my first trip there were no maps, just the street I was on. I tried playing with the zoom and nothing helped. After about 1 hour, the unit spontaneously rebooted itself and asked me if I wanted to continue my route. After that all seemed well and the mapping worked fine. However about once every hour or so the unit would reboot again. I tried calling support but there was a total failure of communication. What they would say made no sense and after 15 minutes of frustration, I hung up and returned the unit.
Amazon replaced the unit, but the new unit would not get a satellite fix at all. Another call to the Magellan support desk was worthless. They kept apologizing and repeating whatever I said (I presume the support person was in India). They suggested that it could take 15 minutes to get a lock every time I started the unit. That is insane. The second unit went back as well.
While the first unit was working it did a great job routing and rerouting as I missed a turn. My only complaint was that if you are "on a route" but not a highway, you have to cancel your route to use the POI locater. In other words, if you are going some place that doesn't take you on a highway and you decide to look for a MCDonalds, you must cancel your current route to navigate to McDonalds instead of just adding it to your itinarary. Bad idea.
Did I say that Magellan customer support is worthless?
I don't know what pretend people.. this magellan is basic in all sense.. don't have bluetoot, don't have mp3 but if you need something to go from a to b quickly and easy, this is the gps.
Magellan help me navigate every day in california delta, thousand littles routes are memorized in this little gps; this magellan drive from San Francisco all the way to New York, withound any problem at all..
Finally it's inexpensive, simple and functional.. the rest.. well.. the rest can buy an expensive garmin or tomtom... magellan is enough for me..
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.
The good news, the Magellan RoadMate 2000 is an excellent, inexpensive GPS that is very intuitive to use.
The bad news, I am at least the second person to report major problems that developed after using the Magellan RoadMate 2000 for a couple of days. The GPS works, the computer will calculate routes but it keeps saying "Proceed to Route" and give no visual or vocal guidance.
Since I knew this going in it was the reason I purchased it at Amazon instead of BuyDig or Beach Photo where the price is less and I don't have to pay WA sales tax. I can just imagine trying to return this thing to one of them. As one of the previous reviewers mentioned, Magellan has outsourced the tech support to somewhere where they speak marginal English and are totally worthless.
When it was working, I really liked - hopefully I won't have problems with the replacement.
This product is great. It is easy to use and very helpful. Purchased it for my wife and she loves it.
Good overall, but it needs to have the more current street info. Roads built 3 years ago don't show up. Occationally makes you drive in a longer route when picking the shortest time route. Also, Points of interest needs to be better refined, if you choose POI info around exit it can give info 70 miles away (not too helpful). However, I have learned to rely on it. It always seems to get you at your desired destination.
I have been using this item for the last 2 days or so, and overall it has worked well. It's POIs are pretty good found most of the places I was searching for. As included in other review I've experienced the reboot problem which is really annoying, and also the Proceed to Route problem. Other than that the GPS is excellent.
Compared to other GPS systems I have used this one would rate very mediocre. I picked this up at Costco for 350 -25 rebate, plus tax in NYC would be about 350. I purposely bought it at Costco because they have a no questions asked return policy. The minute I started using it, it started to glitch. Addresses, roads, on/off, reset, functions, and a few other things that just glitched once in a while. I would not recommend this GPS just simply because it was not well made and the software in the system is just flawed. I will be returning it in about a month after I am done playing with it.
Picked up the 2000 for my GF yesterday for a trip she had to take today. Pricing was in the mid 300 range.
Performance, the screen, map and directions are pretty good. The screen isn't as high resolution as some I've tried, but it's more the accurate and the touch aspect of it works very well. The user interface is a bit clunky.....but extremely simple to use which was a big plus for someone that isn't familiar with a GPS (My GF).
The "proceed to route," issue that has been mentioned on this board and others, is a bug. In order to correct, use the reset switch on the lower left corner and push it in the opposite direction of the location it is in....then back and the system will reset and the issue will disappear. Someone mentioned that Magellan will be releasing a patch for the issue.
FYI: We've had no issues with the unit in the 15 or so hours we have owned it. 4 of those hours my GF has been using it.....so far so good.
I just bought the RoadMate 2000 and its a great GPS system most of the times.
What bothers me is sometimes it will not tell you to turn on a street even though its been outlined by the program . The same street exists in the system but it doesn't come up on the directions and if you only pay attention to the audio you will miss the route. I have looked up to see if they have an upgrade for the program but untill this date they haven't come out with one that is very necessary. Everything else is great on this one. I use it every day to deliver Papa Johns Pizza and it helps me get there quicker.
We use the Magellan to help our service techs find houses in New orleans.
Since so many street signs are still gone, the magellen 2000 is great.
Just got the unit installed last night. Didn't have to read the users manual, yet, but was really disappointed in the window mount. It doesn't have a good way if position it if you have a long dashboard, so it's a good ways away from you to control. It needs a better window mount.
I liked the directions given by the VZ Navigator better somewhat, but they can still lag a bit in crucial times (like the turn you JUST missed) and recalculation of the route (thus paying a connect charge again.) However, it wasn't bad for the price.
So, all in all, it's not bad for under $300. Just need to get something like a telescoping window mount from Panavise so i can reach it.
Saves me a lot of time when I would have gone the wrong direction without it. I like the way it recalculates the path when I choose to deviate from it's instructions. It tells me when I am approaching a critical intersection or when a future change of street is going to be required. Neat piece of equipment.
The product worked fine, then it would freeze or sometimes it would go into endless recalculation of the route. I called cust service 4 times in 2 days. I was put on hold an average of 10 minutes. Every time I called they asked me the same info (most annoying: 'when did you purchased it?')and gave the same solution. I demanded that they send a replacement; that was over 2 weeks ago.!!
In my search for my own GPS unit to keep in my car, I was debating between Magellan and Garmin, and ended up going with Megellan simply because it was in-stock at the time.
So far, I'm happy with it. I have used the Magellan 700 series GPS in the past (my husband owns that one) and so I'm more familiar with how this one works because it's very similar to that one...and in some ways easier. No longer to I have to look at the menu buttons on the side and try to figure out which one to press. This unit has the menu on the screen and just about all of the same options of the 700 series. The only differences I've seen so far have been it doesn't speak the street names (which is fine because I disabled that function whenver I used my husband's GPS) and it doesn't allow settings for more than one user, again fine since for the most part it's just me using this one.
Overall I'm happy with all of the features of this unit and even happier with the cost, at about 1/4th of what we paid for the 700 series unit just two years ago.
Convenience and nice functionality as with most touch-screen GPS devices - you know what standard GPS's are supposed to do so my review won't cover that stuff. The RoadMate 2000 does all the standard stuff as well as the rest. I love(d) mine, BUT...
WARNING: Although the unit as a whole is physically pretty tough (I had dropped it on asphalt twice from waist-height and it kept working perfectly) the touch-screen is VERY delicate. One relatively light bump directly on the touch-screen was all it took to completely destroy the unit. One little crack in the LCD layer renders this unit 100% unusable. The bump that killed mine was NOT from a sharp object. In fact it was from my knuckle - fairly light incidental contact that ended my automated navigation journey instantly.
Occassional operating system hang/freeze notwithstanding (most reviews for this product mention this shortcoming - the reset switch always does a good job though), I was always pleased with the RoadMate's functionality and ease of use. I'm replacing my broken 2000 with a "ruggedized" Magellan CrossoverGPS - same chasis/profile as the RoadMate 2000 but with traffic-jam-reroute, off-road tracking, topographical maps/functionalities, 8-hour battery and couple other extras - well worth the additional $160.
All in all, for the money, the Magellan RoadMate 2000 is hard to beat! Get one if you're on a constrained budget, but be careful with it!
When I bought this for my husband for Christmas, I didn't know what to expect. But when we first tried it on our first car trip, it was amazing that it "holds your hand" through the entire trip. And if if you make a wrong turn, no problem, it will reconfigure the route for you and put you back on track, without you having to do anything. It also knows exactly where YOU are and you can see upcoming bends in the roads and upcoming exits on highways.
The only thing I found odd was just for laughs I put in my work address, which is only 10 minutes away from my house and even as I was pulling up to the door, it was telling me to make a U-Turn when possible. Besides from that, I still love it because I can find my way now around different cities VERY easily!! Buy this if you take a lot of road trip or when visiting people where you've never been. Magellan will take you to their front door and actually announce when you've arrived. It talks to you.
purchased this GPS and had to return it just one week later because it would freeze up and would also just start to reset itself over and over.
received a new one and a just over a month later after doing the magellan update for this system i lost all audio functions. called customer support (which is a joke in itself) and was told that my issue was being sent up to another tier af service and i would receive a call within an hour. no call and it is now going on 7 hours....something tells me i wont be geting a call back.
plan on calling corporate to complain becasue i do not want this unit and would not recommend it to anyone.
I love my Magellan RoadMate 2000. It is certainly worth the nominal cost to have the assurance of finding my way through unfamiliar areas of the city. I like the fact that it is easy to use and is small so that I can carry it in my purse.
I bought this unit for my wife and we received it this week. It works great. When I registered the unit on line I found that Magellan's website showed there were software updates for this unit (Roadmate 2000). I downloaded the update and after some difficulty I was able to perform the upgrade. I then found that the voice prompts no longer worked. I logged back onto their webpage and found that the firmware upgrade had been removed due to a technical issue they are working on to correct. I verified all of my settings and finally called Magellan support. The support group was hard to understand (they are located in India) and were unable to help me. I asked if this was a problem related to the upgrade since the voice prompts worked fine before the upgrade and they would not say. They asked that I upgrade the unit again (although the screen showing the firmware and OS versions showed the new version numbers) but by this time I was low on battery charge and could not perform the upgrade. This unit did not ship with an A/C adapter. I asked if there was a way to backout the upgrade and he (Tom) informed me there was not. I asked the tech again if this was a known issue and what other issues I might experience with this "upgrade" and after some time on hold he once again was evasive and would not answer my questions. I asked for a supervisor and after some more time on hold he told me one would call me back within 24 - 48 hours. I was not happy with this and said that was unacceptable to which he put me on hold some more after I told him I thought 1 to 2 hours is more along my expectations. He came back and said a supervisor would call me back in an hour. It is well over an hour and no call so far. I tried their Corp office and was routed by an ARU back to India. I called their Corp office again and after attempting the dial by name directory got to a receptionist named Marti who would not connect me to management. She said she would send me to Quality Assurance and they could escalate to management if necessary. I spent about 15 minutes on hold and was finally disconnected. I love the Magellan GPS units and I have three (Blazer 12, Explorist 210 and the Roadmate 2000) and each time I have had to call tech support I am very disappointed. I have to say I will not recommend their products to anyone else since I am really getting the impression they are disconnected with their client base and provide at least some answers.
To be fair Tom (tech support) did say the updated firmware will be out within a weeks time. However, until then I have a nice map on a video device with no audible prompts whatsoever. If my wife was not already used to the unit I would pay 100 bucks more and get something by another manufacturer.
In summary be careful with firmware upgrades and don't expect good customer service if you need Magellan's help.
I was very pleased with the purchase and prompt delivery of my new GPS. It was a pleasant experience. Delivery was prompt.
Quit crying about the fact that the little lady's voice tells you to turn but doesn't, by voice, tell you the street's name. The name of the street to turn on, is clearly seen on the bottom of the screen (and it warns you with a big arrow which way your going to turn) and the street your presently are on, it is clearly seen on the top of the screen.
Listen to this story; I was visiting my folks down in San Diego this last week end. In the evening and in the dark I had an emergency eye problem, and had to go to the Kaiser Hospital E.R.
My daughter put in the address. It immediately directed us there and found the hospital quickly at night, and there was the big EMERGENCY ENTER HERE RED SIGN. Thank God for this little GPS machine. Then after the E.R. visit (STILL AT NIGHT), it took us to our Hotel that we, on our own, did not know how to get there. We had to trust the Megellan Roadmaster 2000, and we are so glad we did. What a life saver.
Then the next day after leaving the Hotel, it got us to the doctor's office for the follow up on my eye problem. I love it when it says, You have arrived". My wife and daughter had to depend on the GPS, they could not depend on me I was incapacitated, that night, and it saved us yelling and screaming trying to look at a regular paper map at night in the car.
Go out and buy one now you may need it this evening. Do it now!!!!
The Magellan Roadmate 2000 is a great value for the price. It is packed with features, easy to use and ready to go out of the box. The only feature that I wish could be included is being able to select a destination using Longitude and Latitide coordinates. Many gas stations, truck stops, campgrounds, etc. are listing their coordinates as locations.
Purchased item for trip from San Francisco to Reno and surrounding areas.
For $250 it's one of the best buys around and paid for itself on this trip. There were times when I didn't think directions were the best way when looking at the map, but if you have no clue how to get there, this is one of the cheapest and best ways to do it.
I went with this unit based on the Magellan name but have been very disappointed. The Magellan name doesn't mean what I tought it did. It worked fine for a week, then became very sporadic at holding a signal. Tech support had me ship the unit back for repair, and it was returned two weeks later with the same problem. That led to more calls to tech support with long waits on hold only to be told I had to ship the unit back again for repair. I'm hold again now as I write this. Bottom line is that I've owned this unit for nearly two months and have gotten maybe 8 hours of use out it. Save your money. Buy another brand. Or just get a map.
For $249 that's what i paid and it's cheaper now, you do not get Water Resistant. I am able to now use it on my motorcycle. You get 4gb?, unheard of for $249.99, Turns to Night Contrast automatically? Wow! clear Loud Voice, Wow! and Touch Screen and Sunlight Viewable, AWESOME!
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.
I just got it so I can't really say much about it except this: when compared to Garmin Nuvi 350 (with which I had a chance to play) it's much bulkier and heavier. I don't know what kind of pockets do you need to have to just "stick it in"as some people are saying. Sure, Roadmate 2000 is twice as cheap but consider this, while inside the house the Garmin unit would show my direction and even speed instantly! The Magellan roadmate is not this sensitive and showed original north direction no matter where I turned and went. I know you don't need GPS inside your house, hopefully, but, nonetheless, it tells you something. Buttom line is that may be it's a good GPS for the money, but I personally, am going to stick with Garmin.
The item came with missing parts. The company then tried to make me go thru hoops to discourage me from getting the missing parts.
They finally told me the part was back ordered and told me they would send it.
Four weeks later and I have nothing and by the way Amazon said it was not their problem.
I will never purchase on Amazon again.
My unit worked fine for a year until I loaded the upgrade to get the new streets etc.
It then would freeze up lose the signal and leave me stranded. I added an outside the car antenna and that didn't help. I call tech and got India I could not understand the person. They then asked I pay another $99 to get the latest upgrade. I had just paid $99 in December 2006 but was told that did not cover the new needed upgrade which will cause the unit not to freeze up. Stay away from Magellan...buy another brand.
1. size is small and easy to handle
2.screen is easy to see and adjusts to night driving
3.touch screen is easy to navigate
4. makes it easy for a complete moron to operate
5.set up is fast and painless
6.voice is clear and easy to understand
7.3hr charge makes it a great unit to carry in pocket.(yes its that compact)
8.being a moron i definately chose the proper unit
This is a warning to people buying this product. Warranty does not cover physical defects.
The touchscreen can shatter on this unit and it will cost you $150 to repair it. Without the touchscreen the item is completely useless. The last thing you want to happen is that when you're on the road, you find one morning that the touchscreen has shattered and you have no directions to get out of there.
I called support (in India) and they said warranty only covers software defects. I bought it 2 months ago and they said no physical defects was covered in the warranty.
I suggest getting a different product or a laptop based GPS receiver (way cheaper and more functionality)
I purchased the RoadMate four weeks ago. I have used it daily in areas where I don't know the streets. The map database is filled with errors, missing streets, and incorrectly named streets. The database seems to be fine if the streets have been there for more than 7 years. The rest is hit-or-miss, mostly miss.
If you zoom out from the lowest scale, the unit often doesn't display the street names where you can read them, or only displays them for a moment. It also requires you to know the city that you are in to select the street. It does not offer suggestions, or a search by street.
I contacted Magellan for help with all the errors in the maps. They said tough, we don't offer an update and have no plans to do so.
If you have to know where your going, CHOOSE ANOTHER UNIT! Make sure it has easily updated maps at no cost or low cost.
Avoid the RoadMate!!!!
I'm so glad I bought this product at Target where they have a full 90 day return policy. It's a joke of a GPS. I ended up getting the Garmin Streetpilot c340 (see my review there) which is 100 times better than this.
The Magellan Roadmate 2000 has only one good thing about it. The voice is nice and clear and sounds like a human being - THAT'S IT! That's the only thing that's nice about it.
It told me that left was right and right was left, it couldn't find obvious streets in my own town that have been there for years. I asked it to find a Walmart nearest me (as a test). There are like 6 Walmarts in my city! The closest one in recommended to me was in the NEXT city over 100 miles away! WHAT??? And the on screen graphics look like a video game from the early 1980's, I could hardly tell what I was looking at! It was trying to insert little graphics of forks and knives (for restraunt) and a car (for auto service) and it looked so bad that it was more confusing that anything.
The funniest thing about this GPS was that I emailed tech support and they emailed me back telling me to update the software (which I already did to no avail). And... The inside of the box had this little sticker that said (almost with a desperate tone) "Please don't return this item to the store you bought it at, if you're having trouble please contact our technical support." It was like they were almost admitting that they had a sucky product because they had to put a sticker in the box like that. They must have people return the item a lot.
I got my money back, but not the time I wasted.
Performs easily and accurately. Saved us several times in our travels to destinations we were not sure how to get to them.
I haven't had any mechanical issues and I love the voice commands and night viewing,etc. I find the graphics easy to view and all in all have really loved having it, especially for the price. That said, I have had a few confusing moments, such as the time I was on my way to a meeting in a conference room at a hotel and the GPS said "You have arrived" when I was exactly in the middle of a bridge-I am not kidding. Luckily, I could see the hotel on the service drive next to bridge, but it took some old fashioned looking around and circling back to figure out how to actually get to the hotel. Another time, it had me circling between two turn arounds on a boulevard in a sort of an endless loop- turn left in .5 miles, turn left in .5 miles (which is not a left at all but simply a way to make a U-turn on the boulevard). Finally, I got off a construction bogged highway to take the scenic route and was enjoying the road less traveled until the Roadmate had me make four right turns in a row-count them-you are back where you started! In every case, I eventually got where I was going by using the map rather than the directions and a general sense of direction, so for that, I really love the darn thing. And in the interest of fairness, it has also saved us, such as the time when my daughter's competition dance team coach got directions to the wrong high school off MapQuest and only realized her mistake after we arrived at 7am after driving for two hours and we punched in the right address into our Magellan and it saved the day! After reading the other reviews, though, I am afraid to update my software, which I haven't done.
It hardly works for it always freezes, always give wrong directions, and has very bad support, to make a long story short.
It hardly works for it always freezes, always give wrong directions, and has very bad support, to make a long story short.
I haven't had any mechanical issues and I love the voice commands and night viewing,etc. I find the graphics easy to view and all in all have really loved having it, especially for the price. That said, I have had a few confusing moments, such as the time I was on my way to a meeting in a conference room at a hotel and the GPS said "You have arrived" when I was exactly in the middle of a bridge-I am not kidding. Luckily, I could see the hotel on the service drive next to bridge, but it took some old fashioned looking around and circling back to figure out how to actually get to the hotel. Another time, it had me circling between two turn arounds on a boulevard in a sort of an endless loop- turn left in .5 miles, turn left in .5 miles (which is not a left at all but simply a way to make a U-turn on the boulevard). Finally, I got off a construction bogged highway to take the scenic route and was enjoying the road less traveled until the Roadmate had me make four right turns in a row-count them-you are back where you started! In every case, I eventually got where I was going by using the map rather than the directions and a general sense of direction, so for that, I really love the darn thing. And in the interest of fairness, it has also saved us, such as the time when my daughter's competition dance team coach got directions to the wrong high school off MapQuest and only realized her mistake after we arrived at 7am after driving for two hours and we punched in the right address into our Magellan and it saved the day! After reading the other reviews, though, I am afraid to update my software, which I haven't done.
Performs easily and accurately. Saved us several times in our travels to destinations we were not sure how to get to them.
This is a warning to people buying this product. Warranty does not cover physical defects.
The touchscreen can shatter on this unit and it will cost you $150 to repair it. Without the touchscreen the item is completely useless. The last thing you want to happen is that when you're on the road, you find one morning that the touchscreen has shattered and you have no directions to get out of there.
I called support (in India) and they said warranty only covers software defects. I bought it 2 months ago and they said no physical defects was covered in the warranty.
I suggest getting a different product or a laptop based GPS receiver (way cheaper and more functionality)
I purchased the RoadMate four weeks ago. I have used it daily in areas where I don't know the streets. The map database is filled with errors, missing streets, and incorrectly named streets. The database seems to be fine if the streets have been there for more than 7 years. The rest is hit-or-miss, mostly miss.
If you zoom out from the lowest scale, the unit often doesn't display the street names where you can read them, or only displays them for a moment. It also requires you to know the city that you are in to select the street. It does not offer suggestions, or a search by street.
I contacted Magellan for help with all the errors in the maps. They said tough, we don't offer an update and have no plans to do so.
If you have to know where your going, CHOOSE ANOTHER UNIT! Make sure it has easily updated maps at no cost or low cost.
Avoid the RoadMate!!!!
I'm so glad I bought this product at Target where they have a full 90 day return policy. It's a joke of a GPS. I ended up getting the Garmin Streetpilot c340 (see my review there) which is 100 times better than this.
The Magellan Roadmate 2000 has only one good thing about it. The voice is nice and clear and sounds like a human being - THAT'S IT! That's the only thing that's nice about it.
It told me that left was right and right was left, it couldn't find obvious streets in my own town that have been there for years. I asked it to find a Walmart nearest me (as a test). There are like 6 Walmarts in my city! The closest one in recommended to me was in the NEXT city over 100 miles away! WHAT??? And the on screen graphics look like a video game from the early 1980's, I could hardly tell what I was looking at! It was trying to insert little graphics of forks and knives (for restraunt) and a car (for auto service) and it looked so bad that it was more confusing that anything.
The funniest thing about this GPS was that I emailed tech support and they emailed me back telling me to update the software (which I already did to no avail). And... The inside of the box had this little sticker that said (almost with a desperate tone) "Please don't return this item to the store you bought it at, if you're having trouble please contact our technical support." It was like they were almost admitting that they had a sucky product because they had to put a sticker in the box like that. They must have people return the item a lot.
I got my money back, but not the time I wasted.
I just got it so I can't really say much about it except this: when compared to Garmin Nuvi 350 (with which I had a chance to play) it's much bulkier and heavier. I don't know what kind of pockets do you need to have to just "stick it in"as some people are saying. Sure, Roadmate 2000 is twice as cheap but consider this, while inside the house the Garmin unit would show my direction and even speed instantly! The Magellan roadmate is not this sensitive and showed original north direction no matter where I turned and went. I know you don't need GPS inside your house, hopefully, but, nonetheless, it tells you something. Buttom line is that may be it's a good GPS for the money, but I personally, am going to stick with Garmin.
The item came with missing parts. The company then tried to make me go thru hoops to discourage me from getting the missing parts.
They finally told me the part was back ordered and told me they would send it.
Four weeks later and I have nothing and by the way Amazon said it was not their problem.
I will never purchase on Amazon again.
My unit worked fine for a year until I loaded the upgrade to get the new streets etc.
It then would freeze up lose the signal and leave me stranded. I added an outside the car antenna and that didn't help. I call tech and got India I could not understand the person. They then asked I pay another $99 to get the latest upgrade. I had just paid $99 in December 2006 but was told that did not cover the new needed upgrade which will cause the unit not to freeze up. Stay away from Magellan...buy another brand.
1. size is small and easy to handle
2.screen is easy to see and adjusts to night driving
3.touch screen is easy to navigate
4. makes it easy for a complete moron to operate
5.set up is fast and painless
6.voice is clear and easy to understand
7.3hr charge makes it a great unit to carry in pocket.(yes its that compact)
8.being a moron i definately chose the proper unit
I went with this unit based on the Magellan name but have been very disappointed. The Magellan name doesn't mean what I tought it did. It worked fine for a week, then became very sporadic at holding a signal. Tech support had me ship the unit back for repair, and it was returned two weeks later with the same problem. That led to more calls to tech support with long waits on hold only to be told I had to ship the unit back again for repair. I'm hold again now as I write this. Bottom line is that I've owned this unit for nearly two months and have gotten maybe 8 hours of use out it. Save your money. Buy another brand. Or just get a map.
For $249 that's what i paid and it's cheaper now, you do not get Water Resistant. I am able to now use it on my motorcycle. You get 4gb?, unheard of for $249.99, Turns to Night Contrast automatically? Wow! clear Loud Voice, Wow! and Touch Screen and Sunlight Viewable, AWESOME!
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.
I was very pleased with the purchase and prompt delivery of my new GPS. It was a pleasant experience. Delivery was prompt.
Quit crying about the fact that the little lady's voice tells you to turn but doesn't, by voice, tell you the street's name. The name of the street to turn on, is clearly seen on the bottom of the screen (and it warns you with a big arrow which way your going to turn) and the street your presently are on, it is clearly seen on the top of the screen.
Listen to this story; I was visiting my folks down in San Diego this last week end. In the evening and in the dark I had an emergency eye problem, and had to go to the Kaiser Hospital E.R.
My daughter put in the address. It immediately directed us there and found the hospital quickly at night, and there was the big EMERGENCY ENTER HERE RED SIGN. Thank God for this little GPS machine. Then after the E.R. visit (STILL AT NIGHT), it took us to our Hotel that we, on our own, did not know how to get there. We had to trust the Megellan Roadmaster 2000, and we are so glad we did. What a life saver.
Then the next day after leaving the Hotel, it got us to the doctor's office for the follow up on my eye problem. I love it when it says, You have arrived". My wife and daughter had to depend on the GPS, they could not depend on me I was incapacitated, that night, and it saved us yelling and screaming trying to look at a regular paper map at night in the car.
Go out and buy one now you may need it this evening. Do it now!!!!
Purchased item for trip from San Francisco to Reno and surrounding areas.
For $250 it's one of the best buys around and paid for itself on this trip. There were times when I didn't think directions were the best way when looking at the map, but if you have no clue how to get there, this is one of the cheapest and best ways to do it.
The Magellan Roadmate 2000 is a great value for the price. It is packed with features, easy to use and ready to go out of the box. The only feature that I wish could be included is being able to select a destination using Longitude and Latitide coordinates. Many gas stations, truck stops, campgrounds, etc. are listing their coordinates as locations.
I love my Magellan RoadMate 2000. It is certainly worth the nominal cost to have the assurance of finding my way through unfamiliar areas of the city. I like the fact that it is easy to use and is small so that I can carry it in my purse.
I bought this unit for my wife and we received it this week. It works great. When I registered the unit on line I found that Magellan's website showed there were software updates for this unit (Roadmate 2000). I downloaded the update and after some difficulty I was able to perform the upgrade. I then found that the voice prompts no longer worked. I logged back onto their webpage and found that the firmware upgrade had been removed due to a technical issue they are working on to correct. I verified all of my settings and finally called Magellan support. The support group was hard to understand (they are located in India) and were unable to help me. I asked if this was a problem related to the upgrade since the voice prompts worked fine before the upgrade and they would not say. They asked that I upgrade the unit again (although the screen showing the firmware and OS versions showed the new version numbers) but by this time I was low on battery charge and could not perform the upgrade. This unit did not ship with an A/C adapter. I asked if there was a way to backout the upgrade and he (Tom) informed me there was not. I asked the tech again if this was a known issue and what other issues I might experience with this "upgrade" and after some time on hold he once again was evasive and would not answer my questions. I asked for a supervisor and after some more time on hold he told me one would call me back within 24 - 48 hours. I was not happy with this and said that was unacceptable to which he put me on hold some more after I told him I thought 1 to 2 hours is more along my expectations. He came back and said a supervisor would call me back in an hour. It is well over an hour and no call so far. I tried their Corp office and was routed by an ARU back to India. I called their Corp office again and after attempting the dial by name directory got to a receptionist named Marti who would not connect me to management. She said she would send me to Quality Assurance and they could escalate to management if necessary. I spent about 15 minutes on hold and was finally disconnected. I love the Magellan GPS units and I have three (Blazer 12, Explorist 210 and the Roadmate 2000) and each time I have had to call tech support I am very disappointed. I have to say I will not recommend their products to anyone else since I am really getting the impression they are disconnected with their client base and provide at least some answers.
To be fair Tom (tech support) did say the updated firmware will be out within a weeks time. However, until then I have a nice map on a video device with no audible prompts whatsoever. If my wife was not already used to the unit I would pay 100 bucks more and get something by another manufacturer.
In summary be careful with firmware upgrades and don't expect good customer service if you need Magellan's help.
purchased this GPS and had to return it just one week later because it would freeze up and would also just start to reset itself over and over.
received a new one and a just over a month later after doing the magellan update for this system i lost all audio functions. called customer support (which is a joke in itself) and was told that my issue was being sent up to another tier af service and i would receive a call within an hour. no call and it is now going on 7 hours....something tells me i wont be geting a call back.
plan on calling corporate to complain becasue i do not want this unit and would not recommend it to anyone.
In my search for my own GPS unit to keep in my car, I was debating between Magellan and Garmin, and ended up going with Megellan simply because it was in-stock at the time.
So far, I'm happy with it. I have used the Magellan 700 series GPS in the past (my husband owns that one) and so I'm more familiar with how this one works because it's very similar to that one...and in some ways easier. No longer to I have to look at the menu buttons on the side and try to figure out which one to press. This unit has the menu on the screen and just about all of the same options of the 700 series. The only differences I've seen so far have been it doesn't speak the street names (which is fine because I disabled that function whenver I used my husband's GPS) and it doesn't allow settings for more than one user, again fine since for the most part it's just me using this one.
Overall I'm happy with all of the features of this unit and even happier with the cost, at about 1/4th of what we paid for the 700 series unit just two years ago.
Convenience and nice functionality as with most touch-screen GPS devices - you know what standard GPS's are supposed to do so my review won't cover that stuff. The RoadMate 2000 does all the standard stuff as well as the rest. I love(d) mine, BUT...
WARNING: Although the unit as a whole is physically pretty tough (I had dropped it on asphalt twice from waist-height and it kept working perfectly) the touch-screen is VERY delicate. One relatively light bump directly on the touch-screen was all it took to completely destroy the unit. One little crack in the LCD layer renders this unit 100% unusable. The bump that killed mine was NOT from a sharp object. In fact it was from my knuckle - fairly light incidental contact that ended my automated navigation journey instantly.
Occassional operating system hang/freeze notwithstanding (most reviews for this product mention this shortcoming - the reset switch always does a good job though), I was always pleased with the RoadMate's functionality and ease of use. I'm replacing my broken 2000 with a "ruggedized" Magellan CrossoverGPS - same chasis/profile as the RoadMate 2000 but with traffic-jam-reroute, off-road tracking, topographical maps/functionalities, 8-hour battery and couple other extras - well worth the additional $160.
All in all, for the money, the Magellan RoadMate 2000 is hard to beat! Get one if you're on a constrained budget, but be careful with it!
I just bought the RoadMate 2000 and its a great GPS system most of the times.
What bothers me is sometimes it will not tell you to turn on a street even though its been outlined by the program . The same street exists in the system but it doesn't come up on the directions and if you only pay attention to the audio you will miss the route. I have looked up to see if they have an upgrade for the program but untill this date they haven't come out with one that is very necessary. Everything else is great on this one. I use it every day to deliver Papa Johns Pizza and it helps me get there quicker.
We use the Magellan to help our service techs find houses in New orleans.
Since so many street signs are still gone, the magellen 2000 is great.
Just got the unit installed last night. Didn't have to read the users manual, yet, but was really disappointed in the window mount. It doesn't have a good way if position it if you have a long dashboard, so it's a good ways away from you to control. It needs a better window mount.
I liked the directions given by the VZ Navigator better somewhat, but they can still lag a bit in crucial times (like the turn you JUST missed) and recalculation of the route (thus paying a connect charge again.) However, it wasn't bad for the price.
So, all in all, it's not bad for under $300. Just need to get something like a telescoping window mount from Panavise so i can reach it.
Saves me a lot of time when I would have gone the wrong direction without it. I like the way it recalculates the path when I choose to deviate from it's instructions. It tells me when I am approaching a critical intersection or when a future change of street is going to be required. Neat piece of equipment.
The product worked fine, then it would freeze or sometimes it would go into endless recalculation of the route. I called cust service 4 times in 2 days. I was put on hold an average of 10 minutes. Every time I called they asked me the same info (most annoying: 'when did you purchased it?')and gave the same solution. I demanded that they send a replacement; that was over 2 weeks ago.!!
When I bought this for my husband for Christmas, I didn't know what to expect. But when we first tried it on our first car trip, it was amazing that it "holds your hand" through the entire trip. And if if you make a wrong turn, no problem, it will reconfigure the route for you and put you back on track, without you having to do anything. It also knows exactly where YOU are and you can see upcoming bends in the roads and upcoming exits on highways.
The only thing I found odd was just for laughs I put in my work address, which is only 10 minutes away from my house and even as I was pulling up to the door, it was telling me to make a U-Turn when possible. Besides from that, I still love it because I can find my way now around different cities VERY easily!! Buy this if you take a lot of road trip or when visiting people where you've never been. Magellan will take you to their front door and actually announce when you've arrived. It talks to you.
This product is great. It is easy to use and very helpful. Purchased it for my wife and she loves it.
Good overall, but it needs to have the more current street info. Roads built 3 years ago don't show up. Occationally makes you drive in a longer route when picking the shortest time route. Also, Points of interest needs to be better refined, if you choose POI info around exit it can give info 70 miles away (not too helpful). However, I have learned to rely on it. It always seems to get you at your desired destination.
First off, We have a GPS that is built in to an Infinity I35 that if very good. The Roadmate 2000 is nowhere near it. The screen is too small to and does not give clear directions when there are a mass of roads in the small screen. Some suggested exits are not clear on the screen and could cause you to get in an accident trying to figure out where it's telling you to get off. It tells you to exit at ridiculous places when it is no where near where you are trying to go or the exit you really should get off on. It will in fact eventually get you there, and that is at the fastest route setting. I will say it is fantastically quick about re- routing you when you miss a turn, I am talking, almost immediately. It took me through eight turns in Mississippi to get somewhere when all I had to do was go one block straight ahead and turn left once to get there. It did this several times using fastest, mostly interstate, and two other settings. I tested this on locations where I knew the fastest and easiest route to a location. I would definitely NOT buy this unit.
The Magellan RoadMate 2000 is a great car navigation GPS device. Feature-packed and more affordable than many, this portable GPS allows you to easily move it from one vehicle to another so there's never a reason to not be able to find your way to your destination. The screen has a variety of views and the voice prompts make it easy to navigate when you're driving and can't stop to look at the screen. It isn't perfect. No GPS is. Occasionally it tells you to make a turn or go in a direction that's just plain wrong, but it doesn't happen very often. It's pretty user-friendly even for someone who has never used a GPS device before, so you won't feel like you need a college degree in astro-physics. I bought this as a Christmas present for my wife who has a hard time finding her way to places unless she's been there several times before, and she just love it.
I've had this for about 3 months and it's gotten me to places I never knew existed. I lasts a while without a charge and the menu is easy to learn and now that there is a manual that you can download it does make it easier to setup trips, etc. Some of the problems I've run into are: 1. The map is a little out of date (I'm guessing 2-5 years)and some of the points of interest take me to places that no longer exist. 2. I have to reset the device when I plug in the power cord because it stops routing. The nice thing is that it usually resumes right where it left off. 3. In one instance it had me driving the opposite direction for about a mile before it rerouted and asked me to "make a legal u-turn". None of these problems would prevent me from purchasing this device again although I might consider getting the next model up as it already has the added features including maps that this model doesn't have. To add maps to this device costs $150 each which I consider to be extreme.
I've had this unit for a few weeks, and I'm well pleased. In most situations it acquires your present position within a minutes or two and calculates most routes in a few seconds. The user interface is clear and intuitive, and the screen is bright and easy to read with just the right level of detail. The voice directions are loud and clear. It promptly re-routes if you stray off the path. As with most GPS units of this type, it may take you to a more distant entrance to a mall, or take an unusual route when on local streets. However, these were also limitations to my son's much more expensive Garmin unit. The "points of interest" are a bit limited. Also, if you are moving, the present firmware apparently will not let you examine maps of locations other than where you are. Once I encountered the problem mentioned by another reviewer that it spoke nothing but "proceed to route." However, I flipped the reset switch, and everything quickly returned to normal.
I paid 299.99 new at Target about a month ago. I have yet to have any issues. It has never failed me and does everything it need to do. I pick up satellites with no problem here in Denver. Used it yesterday to deliver a chair that someone bought from and wanted me to deliver to them. Put the address and took me right there in a snow storm. Very satisfied for the money, its a definite on my next road trip vacation.
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.
I don't know what pretend people.. this magellan is basic in all sense.. don't have bluetoot, don't have mp3 but if you need something to go from a to b quickly and easy, this is the gps.
Magellan help me navigate every day in california delta, thousand littles routes are memorized in this little gps; this magellan drive from San Francisco all the way to New York, withound any problem at all..
Finally it's inexpensive, simple and functional.. the rest.. well.. the rest can buy an expensive garmin or tomtom... magellan is enough for me..
I bought the Roadmate 2000 and at first it was great. I was able to obtain a satellite fix in about 1 minute out of the box. On my first trip there were no maps, just the street I was on. I tried playing with the zoom and nothing helped. After about 1 hour, the unit spontaneously rebooted itself and asked me if I wanted to continue my route. After that all seemed well and the mapping worked fine. However about once every hour or so the unit would reboot again. I tried calling support but there was a total failure of communication. What they would say made no sense and after 15 minutes of frustration, I hung up and returned the unit.
Amazon replaced the unit, but the new unit would not get a satellite fix at all. Another call to the Magellan support desk was worthless. They kept apologizing and repeating whatever I said (I presume the support person was in India). They suggested that it could take 15 minutes to get a lock every time I started the unit. That is insane. The second unit went back as well.
While the first unit was working it did a great job routing and rerouting as I missed a turn. My only complaint was that if you are "on a route" but not a highway, you have to cancel your route to use the POI locater. In other words, if you are going some place that doesn't take you on a highway and you decide to look for a MCDonalds, you must cancel your current route to navigate to McDonalds instead of just adding it to your itinarary. Bad idea.
Did I say that Magellan customer support is worthless?
Actually this COULD have been a great GPS! And, it has a "really nice" opening for a SD Memory Card. But, I just called Magellan and was told, "Oh, the European Maps won't be made available for this model." That's ridiculous in my opinion----to make a product that won't accept "maps from other countries". I mean, someday, in about 10 years, you MAY want to go to London...or Paris....or Rome...and drive around in a rented car, right? So, then you find out yourself----because Magellan won't tell you up front----you find out yourself, "oh, I have to buy another GPS that will accept European Maps." Phooey! Magellan should have in big letters on the box: "WILL NOT WORK WITH EUROPEAN MAPS". But, it leaves that information up to the customer to seek out. I wouldn't buy this product for that reason alone! If you agree or disagree email: boland7214@aol.
PS: If you want to bring your GPS to Europe, check out Garmin GPS. Also the Garmin C530, for example, has a screen that is easier to read because the information is in BIGGER LETTERS and always on top.
PPS: To be fair, if you are SURE you only want to drive in The USA The 2000 is worth looking into because it worked very well for me around my neighborhood. And, there is another similer model for $100 more (!) that I was told "will have capability to work with European Maps IN THE FUTURE SOMETIME!" That model is the Magellan 2200T.
THis GPS is excellent and this solves the purpose of GPS and navigates excellent. Point of Interest and its menu is excellently designed so that you can see the customize POI like american food, mexican food etc. U can see the POI on the screen itself on direction menu and just touch it and it will show you what kind of POI it is.
I recommend this GPS for all users unless you have big bucks to spend for luxury items.