Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This device works great. It is a fantastic bargain. It picks up satellites quickly even indoors. The voice system which tells you in advance to expect a turn, what street to turn on, and then signals exactly when to make the turn, is incredible.
The menu system is fairly easy to learn and use. And it has numerous built in shortcuts like remembering previous addresses, and cities, and streets, and figuring out and listing possible street names once you type a few letters. The touch screen is easy to use (once you learn a few tricks, listed below). If you go off course it quickly calculates a new route for you.
Some caveats:
1) Don't expect to be able to read or make changes while this is installed in your car. It would be too distracting to look at while driving, or try to enter information while driving, so its better to just listen for instructions rather than try to follow the visual map.
2) Google the Magellan page to print out a users manual, and read it before you try to use this unit.
3) You have to get used to the instructions. The voice in the machine, tells you you are approaching a turn. That does NOT mean turn at the next intersection. It means be prepared to turn so you can turn when the GPS sounds a tone indicating you have arrived at the intersection to turn at. Unless you realize this you will make a lot of premature turns.
Also it sometimes tells you to continue in _x miles. For example "continue on US101 in .5 miles." Since you are already on US 101 you may wonder why it says that. What you will discover is that in .5 miles the road divides or there is a major exit that you do NOT take. That's why it says continue. The message continue alters you that --even though there is no turn off for you to take --you need to be alert to NOT accidentally take the wrong branch.
4) The touch screen is very sensative to exactly where you touch. For example, if you are on the map page, and want to go to the menu screen you must touch exactly on the highlighed part with the words "menu". If you tough the screen a little bit too high or too the left, you will simply adust the map and get another map screen and wonder why the GPS doesn't seem to work. There is no problem when you touch the exact right areas, but you do have to be exact. With a little practice at home you can learn to use the touch screen without a problem. If you do make a mistake its easy to correct once you realize that the problem is the need to touch the screen in the exact right place.
5) If you hit too many keys too rapidly its possible to freeze the unit.
This is not easy to do, but I did this once when I put it into sleep mode from which I couldn't get it to awake. This is like your computer locking up. Fortunately the solution is simple: Just move the reset button back to off and then back to on-- and your unit will unfreeze and you can turn it on and use it. Your stored data won't be lost. The unit froze only once, but it was good to know the problem could be fixed simply.
6) The unit has feature for photos and music which I haven't used and probably will never use.
Non of the above caveats are problems. Just hints to make it easier to use.
I have had no problems with the unit, which I bought refurbished from Amazon including a $20 rebate which I sent away for but have not yet received.
My one experience with custommer service at Magallen was good. I got someone from India, who helped mu understand what the real serial number was for the rebate form. The number on the back was hard to read,and appeared different from the serial number on the box (I couldn't tell whether one of the numerals was a 5 or 6-- It turned out one was a 5 and one was a six, but I got thru right away and the person at the customer service desk was very patient and totally helpful.
This unit is frequently compared to the TomTom one, which sells refurbished for about the same price.
This unit in contrast to the TomTom one GPS, tells when you are about to turn what street to turn on--which is important for the obvious reason, that you can look for the name of the street on the street sign in advance and to confirm it is where you need to turn, instead of just depending on a tone. For this reason alone, I'd choose this over the TomTom one.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Magellan Roadmate 2200T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)
This is a refurbished GPS. Refurbished generally means that the unit has been returned to the manufacturer, who brings the navigator back to like new conditions. Some GPS may contain cosmetic blemishes.
If you don't own a car with its own navigation system, and you're tired of looking up destinations on the internet and printing the results--or even worse, stopping to ask for directions--the Magellan 2200T make be just what you're looking for. Its sturdy and easily portable design, simple operation, and multi-function capability make it a great choice for any journey.
Design The Magellan 2200T is compact and solid, making it easy to bring along wherever you go, as well as providing a sense of confidence that it can survive the bumps of bruises that come with the mobile lifestyle. It measures just 3.7 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches (W x H x D) and weighs 7.8 ounces, making it only a little chunkier than your average PDA or Smartphone. The first thing you'll notice on its exterior is almost complete lack of buttons. This is because all interaction with the 2200T happens between the touchscreen and your finger. In the interest of simplicity, there is not even a stylus that can fall to the floor and roll under your the seat of your car. The only button you'll find on the device is the recessed rubber power button on the top right.
All other connections are protected by rubber covers that can be peeled away for access. Below the power button you'll find ports for USB, headphones, and the external power supply. On the left is an SD/MMC card slot, a reset button, and a handy hold button that puts the device in a temporary power-saving mode.
Setup and Interface Setup is as easy as turning the device on, since it comes loaded with maps of the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, and is ready to go right out of the box. We found interacting with the touchscreen to be intuitive and reliable. With this device, there's really no need for a stylus or navigation buttons, which simplifies things on the road. The screen itself is sharp and clear with its 320 x 240 pixel resolution display and support for 64,000 colors. The 2200T comes with a dash or windshield mount, a wall charger, a USB cable, a CD with software for photos and music. Unfortunately, a vehicle charger is not included, however.
The 2200T not only provides audible commands for turns, but is able to indicate street names using a text-to-voice system Magellan calls "SayWhere." We found this to be a very useful feature, especially when attempting to navigate in an unfamiliar city, although some of the street names were difficult to understand, particularly those derived from Spanish.
Navigation The main purpose of any car GPS device is to take you reliably from point A to B. Here the 2200T performs nicely indeed, providing several options for finding your destination. To get going you can select either a street address, a specific point of interest, a destination from the address book, or an intersection (if you're not sure of the exact address). To speed up text entry, the unit employs a QuickSpell feature that displays only the letters that spell an item in its database. This greatly reduces the letters from which you have to choose to tell it where you want to go.
Once it knows where you are headed, the device offers you the choice of shortest time, shortest distance, most use of freeways, or least use of freeways. You'll also find a trip planner that lets you layout and save multiple destinations.
Other Goodies Like a number of other similar devices, the Magellan 2200T also houses an MP3 player and a very nice photo/slide viewer. It's a breeze to drop music files or photos into the folders already located on the included SD card. We found the music player intuitive, with no serious learning curve. You can't listen to tunes and navigate at the same time, however.
The device is also ideal for sharing snapshots of summer vacation with grandma once you make it over the river and through the woods. Colors are crisp and bright, and displaying your photos is idiot-proof for anyone who has ever used a computer or digital camera.
The 2200T is a rugged and functional GPS navigator that is easy to use and reliable. If basic navigation is what you are looking for, and you can do without the bells and whistles of Bluetooth connections and real-time traffic information (although Magellan states that real-time traffic information can be added to the 2200T as an accessory), this could be just the ticket.
Pros
Rugged device with multiple functions and options
Easy to use
Reliable map included on SD card
Includes MP3 Player and Photo Viewer
Cons
Can't listen to MP3 player and navigate at the same time
No bells and whistles
What's in the Box Magellan RoadMate 2200T, windshield mount, DC power adapter, USB data cable, quick reference guide, reference manual on CD-ROM, car holder, and adhesive dashboard disk.
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