Magellan RoadMate 1210 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was provided an evaluation unit of the Magellen Roadmate 1210 Portable GPS Navigator. This is not my first experience with a portable GPS unit, I have been using a TomTom One for a couple of years.
Upon opening the box, you will find the GPS (pre-loaded with maps of the United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico), vehicle power adapter, windshield mount, adhesive mount for your dashboard, and a small instruction booklet. It comes charged, so that you can immediately begin using it. Once you have entered your home address, you are basically ready to go. I don't think that you can get a simpler setup.
This is a fairly thin unit and the screen, at 3.5", should be good enough for a lot of people. The windshield mount is excellent; once attached to the windshield, it is impossible to move the mount. And the GPS remains in place, benefiting from a very good attachment to the mount, yet the unit can be adjusted quickly and easily. You will not need to worry about the GPS moving during normal driving, either from the mount or the attachment. Entering destinations is very fast. As you begin to type a city, the Magellen begins to guess your destination. You do not have to change states, like on other units. If you want to go to, say, "Dearborn, Michigan," start by typing "dearb" it will fill out the rest, showing you "Dearborn, MI." It tries to auto complete the street, as well. Another feature of this unit is that as you type a destination, it removes letters from the keyboard, which makes entering the remaining data easy. It is also a little unnerving as it auto completes the names (as in, "how does it do that?"). For the mounts and the software alone, this is an extremely good unit. The default maps are much more up-to-date than I expected. Recent road additions (within the last year or so) in my area are reflected in this unit.
It is not without its issues, however. If you want to take advantage of map upgrades, or to add new maps and Points of Interest (POI), you will have to purchase a special USB cable ($15 list). If you want to get live traffic, that is also an additional cost for the vehicle adapter ($80 list). However, you do receive traffic updates for "life." While traveling, you will notice that the map "jumps." It may be to poor signal strength or a peculiarity in the software, but if you are really watching the travel indicator, you will see that it leaps ahead at times. Also, I noticed that street names pop in and out of the map as I was driving. The keyboard drives me crazy. I looked through all of the settings and could not discover how to change it from "ABCDEF" to "QWERTY." For a person that lives on a computer, it is very frustrating to have to type on an unfamiliar keyboard. Not having a way to change it to the way I want to type makes entering destinations "challenging." Finally, this unit takes a while to boot up. I think that it takes somewhere between 30-40 seconds to start up. And once it does boot up, you will want to wait for it to find a signal. Many is the time where I entered my destination, started on the trip, and waited for the GPS to get a signal and catch up to me.
For the price point, this is a very good portable GPS. Just be prepared to purchase additional cables to get the full features of this unit.

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The Magellan RoadMate 1210 device boasts the acclaimed OneTouch menu, a 3.5-inch color touch screen, and a pocket-size design. Preloaded maps and points of interest for the contiguous 48 United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico make the RoadMate 1210 ideal for around town and vacations. Easy-to-use features give you confidence on the road and deliver a rewarding navigation experience. Turn it on and go!

The Magellan RoadMate 1210 includes many premier features, starting with Magellan's exclusive OneTouch favorites menu, QuickSpell with SmartCity search, and highway exit point of interest (POI) search, to name a few. Magellan's attention to detail delivers a superior user experience.
Intuitive and robust navigation The RoadMate 1210 lets you bookmark your favorite destinations and searches with the OneTouch favorites menu so you can access them anywhere you travel. With a single touch, find your favorite cafe or restaurant when you're traveling within any city.
QuickSpell with Smart City search help you quickly enter addresses and narrow your address and city searches, making destination entry easy.
Multi-destination routing with route optimization lets you plan your trip with multiple stops in the order you want or optimize a trip for the most efficient route, helping you save time and money.
Ready to roll You're ready to travel with preloaded maps and points of interest for the United States and Puerto Rico that make the Magellan RoadMate 1210 ideal for both business trips and vacations.
With millions of points of interest at your command you can easily locate gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, coffee shops, and much more.
When you're traveling down the Interstate and need to find gas, food, or lodging in a hurry, touch the highway exit POI icon to see which upcoming highway exits have the services you need.
Do you often find yourself tied up in traffic? The RoadMate 1210 is Traffic Link compatible, offering live onscreen traffic-incident reports. (The Traffic Link accessory is sold separately).
Turn it on and go! The Magellan RoadMate 1210 is loaded with premier features you'll need to get you where you want to go.

Magellan RoadMate 1210 Features
OneTouch favorites menu affords instant access to your personalized bookmarks of favorite places and searches anywhere you travel. With a single touch, find your favorite cafe or restaurant when you're traveling within any city.
3.5-inch color touch screen provides powerful navigation that's easy to view and use.
QuickSpell with SmartCity search narrows your address and city searches, making destination entry easy.
Multi-destination routing with route optimization lets you plan your trip with multiple stops in the order you want or optimize a trip for the most efficient route, saving you time and money.
Preloaded maps give you information and directions as you travel the United States and Puerto Rico.
Millions of points of interest (POIs) help you easily find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, coffee shops, and much more.
Highway exit POIs search shows you gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more near upcoming highway exits.
Branded POIs display your favorite coffee shops, restaurants, and more by their respective logos.
Traffic Link provides live, onscreen traffic notification updates. (This accessory is sold separately).
Customizable route method lets you select the shortest distance, fastest time, most use of freeways, or least use of freeways to customize your route.
Address book enables you to create and store contact information.
Auto night view adjusts your screen's color and contrast for easy night viewing.
Automatic re-route lets you quickly get back on track in case you missed a turn.
Plan route on map by simply touching a destination on the map screen and then directly routing to it.
Rechargeable battery gives you the freedom to drive wireless or plan your trip when your vehicle's engine is turned off.

What's in the Box RoadMate 1210 GPS receiver, Pre-loaded maps of the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, Windshield mount, Adhesive disc for dash mounting, Vehicle power adapter, User handbook

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Magellan RoadMate 1200 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

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(More customer reviews)Don't get me wrong I know this is a very feature limited unit and I am one of those people who can find their way around just about anywhere without a paper map. I have a built in compass and can get the feel and layout of a metro area in less than a day, so I was pretty skeptical about the utility of these devices. boy was I wrong. Without a doubt its pretty useless, for instance, on I-95 going from New York to Miami - its pretty hard to get lost on one thousand miles of straightaway, but the great thing about this is when you have to go off path. Everyone would prefer to skip the roadside gas stations and pull off into Florence a couple miles to find gas at local retail as opposed to full pit-stop price, or how about a better meal than McDonald's, maybe your wife would prefer to stay at a seaside hotel in Savannah instead of the Motel-6 along the interchange? You don't have to worry about getting lost or detoured by unfamiliar terrain anymore. No more missed turns, looping round-abouts, one way dead ends. Sure, you still have to use your common sense with the gadget, but the only time I missed my destination was when I failed to make the turn it recommended because it didn't look right. This small, low feature unit is all you need - and by the way - the screen has tremendous zoom in - out ability. If you have a trip coming up BUY ONE TODAY!

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Designed for simple, efficient, and reliable vehicle navigation, the affordable Magellan RoadMate 1200 3.5-inch portable GPS navigator offers full navigation function and an amazingly easy and uncluttered interface. Unlike other navigation devices with complicated lists that require scrolling through menus, you can find virtually anywhere in seconds without reading the instructions.

The 3.5-inch color touchscreen provides instant access to navigation features. Exclusive QuickSpell technology searches available destinations and corrects spelling so you can enter addresses and select Points of Interest with just a few touches of the screen.
Take it Anywhere Sleek, thin, rugged and compact, it's easy to take your Magellan RoadMate 1200 with you wherever you travel. The integrated rechargeable battery provides up to 3 hours of navigation when power is unavailable.
Tons of Data Maps of the 48 contiguous United States, Puerto Rico and Hawaii are included on a pre-loaded SD memory card. 1.3 million pre-programmed Points of Interest make it easy to select gas stations, restaurants, ATM's, hotels and more, and get an instant route. Turn-by-turn voice directions and customizable routing methods guide you on the most direct or quickest route to any destination. Choose to travel by Least or Most Freeways, avoid toll roads, or exclude streets from your route. The convenient Tow Truck icon gives you your precise position for easy communication when in need of rescue.
Travel around town or to unfamiliar cities without the need to call for directions and be where you want to be when you want to Be There.
Key Features Include
Ultra-thin and stylish combining style and functionality in a pocket-sized design.
Innovative easy-to-use interface makes it a breeze to find the route to your destination in seconds--without even needing to read the instructions.
3.5-inch QVGA color touchscreen shows your position, POIs, route, ETA and more on the interactive map
Travel the 48 contiguous United States, Puerto Rico and Hawaii with all your maps pre-loaded on the removable SD memory card.
1.3 million Preprogrammed Points of Interest (POIs) make it easy to find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, coffee and more. Search by name or category near your position or near any city.
Touch an onscreen POI icon for a nearby destination to see name, address, phone number (when available), and get an instant route.
Exclusive auto-complete feature makes it easy to enter destinations with just a few touches of the screen and even corrects spelling with QuickSpell.
SmartDetour automatically prompts you to route around sudden slow freeway traffic.
Clearly see your surroundings in 2D or 3D with Bird's-eye 3D view. Choose between Map View, TrueView 3D split screen, and Maneuver List.
Navigate for up to 3 hours when power is unavailable with rechargable batery.
Never miss a turn and quickly get back on track whenever you take a detour with Automatic re-route feature.
Customizable route method helps you select Fastest Time, Shortest Distance, Least or Most Use of Freeways, and Avoid Toll Roads.
Address book lets you create and store personal Points of Interest for easy reoccurring trips.
Auto night view adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing.

What's in the Box Magellan RoadMate 1200 3.5-Inch portable GPS navigator, adhesive disk for dash mounting, basic cradle, vehicle power adapter (12-24 watts), quick reference guide and CD, windshield mount

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Magellan RoadMate 1212 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased the 1212 from a big box store recently and so far I like it. It is very easy to use and the interface (Windows CE Core 5.0) is easy to use and the voice direction is clear and easy to understand. There are a few quirks though....
1. Sometimes the system lags when you press a button and you have to press it again or wait.
2. If you enter into a submenu from the map or route screen it is difficult to get back to the original map menu. Though the system seems to still keep you on track and let you know about turns etc...
3. The included software link and software on the installation package are not very useful. You get a standard PDF version of the user manual which contains a good amount of information on the operation of the product and was useful. The software POI (Points of Interest) editor allows you to enter additional points of interest and upload them to the GPS. Only one problem with this software. Unless you know the longitude and latitude coordinates of the place you want to add you won't be able to and the software is very basic in that you can only enter known information and there is no way to look it up or select it. Other software Vantage Point and Mapsend and mapsend manager are not for this unit and therefore do not work.
4. This may not be a problem with the routing algorithms of the software but it insist that I take a turn into a oneway street to get to my house which is not possible. On the upside is that if you turn around and go another direction the unit quickly calculates a new route for you. Same thing it does if you miss a turn. As a side note: the maps for this unit according to the magellan site are from 2007 and the site lists the unit as a new product and there are no updates for it. I have not contacted magellan asking them about an update but the other products seem to have one so eventually we'll see one for this one.
In the box:
The unit comes with a suction cup windshield attachment kit and a power cord to plug into your car lighter. If you want to connect it to your PC you will have to purchase a separate usb to usb mini cable.
Some other neat features it has..
-You can edit (from the unit) and add your own points of interest.
-The unit contains a SD card that you can backup and restore saved information on.
-the unit can be carried with you around town and so if you are walking it will tell you where you are, direction etc...
- the screen has "+" and "-" buttons to easily adjust the topview detail. again the lag sometimes hits here.
-It is sensitive to where I am moving and even vertical direction when moving around just inside my home office here.
-If you touch and drag your finger on the screen it will move the map accordingly though with a slight lag.
When purchasing this unit I also looked a the comparable Tom Tom 130, I chose this unit because the text talk (where it speaks the street, destination and road names). The tom tom unit had that as an add on for ~$100
All in all for the less than $200 that I paid for this unit I think I got my money's worth and I like the unit so far. Only time will tell if my needs out grow or the maps become dated too quickly.
I you are looking for a unit under $200 and are willing to put up with its little quirks then you will be quite happy using this little gem.
One thing you might consider before purchasing any GPS unit is to figure out where you want to install it. I have not found the perfect position but I am thinking that on the drivers side near the door on the windshield near the dash. So I would have to operate it left handed. But that seems the most out of the way. I also tried installing it way up by the rear view mirror but it seems a little close to my head to read easily. The windshield attachment is fully adjustable and is about 6 inches long fully extended.

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Affordable, thin, and amazingly easy to use, the Magellan RoadMate 1212 enables you to find virtually anywhere in seconds without reading the instructions. The sharp 3.5-inch color touchscreen adds pleasure to driving. See your position on the interactive map, plus distance to the next turn, distance to destination, estimated time of arrival, street names and more, all at a glance. The simple touch-screen menu presents easy options! Voice guidance offers worry-free driving with spoken turn-by-turn directions so you can keep your eyes on the road.




Easily find your way around town with built-in maps of two North American countries and Puerto Rico. 6 million pre-programmed Points of Interest (POI) enable you to search and select nearby services, and recreation and business locations. Find gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs and more. Phone numbers are included (when available) so you can call ahead for information and reservations.

The Centrality Atlas III processor and built-in high-sensitivity antenna provide the fastest position acquisition in the industry for reliable navigation. QuickSpellTM intelligently searches and checks spelling so you can enter your destination with just a few touches of the screen. SmartDetour prompts you to route around sudden slow traffic.

The integrated rechargeable battery provides navigation for up to3 hours when power is unavailable.

Thin, elegant and completely mobile; take your Magellan RoadMate anywhere for easy, accurate navigation.

Key Features Include

SayWhere Text-to-Speech that clearly announces the street name of your next turn.
3.5-inch QVGA color touchscreen that shows your position, points of interest, route, estimated time of arrival and more on the interactive map.
Built-in pre-loaded maps enable you to navigate the Unites States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
6 Pre-programmed million of Points of Interest (POIs) make it easy to find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs and more. Search by name or category near your position or near any city.
Thin and stylish--Combines style and functionality in a pocket-sized design.
Innovative and amazingly easy-to-use, route to your destination in seconds without even needing to read the instructions.
Touch an onscreen interactive POI icon for a nearby destination to see name, address, phone number (when available), and get an instant route.
QuickSpell, predictive spelling, guides in you address entry by eliminating irrelevant characters as you type.
SmartDetour automatically prompts you to route around sudden slow traffic.
Centrality Atlas III Processor provides superior GPS performance and navigation.
Rechargeable battery lets you navigate for up to 3 hours when power is unavailable. Recharges while driving via the included vehicle power adapter.
Automatic re-route never lets you miss a turn and quickly get back on track whenever you take a detour.
Customizable route method help you select Fastest Time, Shortest Distance, Least or Most Use of Motorways, and Avoid Toll Roads.
Create and store personal Points of Interest for easy reoccurring trips.
Auto night view adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing.
SD-card compatibility so you can back up your address book.

What's in the Box Magellan RoadMate 1212 receiver, vehicle power adapter, adhesive disk for dash mounting, windshield mount, basic cradle, preloaded map on SD card, user manual on CD-ROM, quick-start guide, reference manual

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