Showing posts with label defective. Show all posts
Showing posts with label defective. Show all posts

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Magellan RoadMate 6000T 980874-01 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review

Magellan RoadMate 6000T 980874-01 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I have had the Magellan 6000T now for 2 months and I can't imagine traveling without it. I have traveled for 19 years and made more U-turns than I can shake a stick at.
This system has it all... Blue tooth, spoken street names, easy to navigate touch screen, extremely bright screen (automatically darkens at dusk).
This system gives you more heads up about upcoming turns than any other system on the market. For instance, it will let you of a turn two miles ahead, then one mile, then 0.5 mile. Then it has a 0.2 mile yellow bar graph that shrinks as you come to your turn.
I am very glad I got this system with the spoken street names. It gives you that much more information while you are in unfamiliar territory. The street name voice is a different voice from the turn by turn voice. The street name voice has more of an edge which helps you listen easier to the street name.
It has locked up about 4 times (what high tech electronic gadget never locks up) but it was easy to reboot the system.
One of the best features is the traffic alert. I was in Charlotte, NC which I was unfamiliar with driving during rush hour to the other side of town for a meeting. After I left the hotel, it was directing me turn by turn to the Interstate. While sitting at a red light, I happened to notice it flash "I-85 accident" and then it recalculated the route. I couldn't believe it when I got to the interstate, it had brought me to the entrance ramp just ahead of where all three lanes were blocked because of the wreck!!!!! I was very impressed!
It also gives you four options for choosing your route which is twice as many as any other system.
I did a lot of research looking at the Garmin systems and Tom Tom. I printed out at least half a ream of paper of specifications and customer comments. The more I looked at Magellan, the more I realized it was the best value. I'm sure Garmins are good and they will work, but the Magellan 6000T matched their highest priced Nuvi systems feature for feature and was significantly cheaper.
It is easily portable and easily attaches and detaches to the mount. In the rental cars, I can easily mount it on the windshield. I have never had a problem with the suction mount.
On my Chrysler 300 company car, I use the flat disk and mount the system on the dashboard with no problems.
I do not regret my purchase at all.
If you travel, you need to seriously look at getting a portable GPS system. I would strongly recommend the Magellan 6000T.
It will be analogous to life before and after a microwave.

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The Magellan RoadMate 6000T for North America is a remarkably versatile GPS navigation system. Equipped with viewing and entertainment options, cell phone connectivity, and of course navigational coverage for the United States, including Puerto Rico, and Canada, the 6000T meets most of your mobile needs. Loaded with a wide variety of options to help you plan daily commutes, vacation trips, and errands, the 6000T packs advanced technology in an easy-to-use unit to make your driving experience the best it can be.
Made to be user-friendly, the Magellan 6000T has a 3.5-inch touch sensitive screen that displays vibrant colors and sharp images. Simple menus and smart keys provide quick access to the 6000T's features, which include preloaded detailed maps, bird's eye 3D viewing to give you a clear sense of your surroundings, and over six million points of interest such as gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, airports, parks, historic sites, museums, and much more.
The 6000T lets you select up to 20 destinations and optimize the most direct route between them, as well as store your favorite locations for the trips you take frequently. You can also customize mapping selection with the 6000T, which lets you select routes based on driving time, distance, and traffic congestion, or exclude routes you prefer to avoid, such as toll roads. And with the Auto Re-route feature to guide you, the 6000T adjusts your course if you take a detour, so you be able to get back on track easily even if you miss a turn.
And because the 6000T is equipped with Bluetooth and a microphone, you'll be able to use it for hands-free calling with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. You can talk safely while you drive, as you keep up-to-date with what's going on at the office, catch up with friends and family, or give out arrival updates.
The 6000T fits easily into any vehicle without the need for special installation and works for you at any hour of the day. The auto night view feature adjusts brightness and contrast for easy viewing at night, and the voice guidance option provides friendly turn-by-turn instructions to get you to your destination. With SmartVolume adjusting the sound level of your system when you speed up or slow down, the 6000T makes sure that the directions you get are clear and easy to understand. And for the first three months after your purchase of the RoadMate 6000T, you'll have a free subscription to Magellan's LIVE traffic reports. With detailed, up-to-date traffic incident reports at your fingertips, you'll be able to find alternate routes and avoid traffic congestion created by accidents, road construction, special events, and more.
In addition to having the features that make it a first-class navigation system, the 6000T is also a music player and a picture viewer. Through the integrated speaker, the 6000T plays MP3 and WMA music files for your entertainment. And if you're outside your vehicle, you can also plug in a set of earphones to listen. (For safety reasons, please remember never to use earphones while driving.) The picture viewer is ideal for road trips with friends or family as well as for gatherings such as parties and picnics. Upload the pictures you've taken with your digital camera and you'll be able to share a slideshow with everyone right away.
Housed in a high-impact plastic case and able to operate in a temperature range of 14 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 to 60 degrees Celsius), the 6000T is versatile and durable enough to go wherever you want to go. At 8.64 ounces and measuring 4.8 x 3.8 x 1.4 inches, the navigation system is extremely portable. The update rate of once per second means the 6000T gives you the latest information, and the powerful 1350 mA rechargeable lithium ion battery provides up to four hours of continuous use. Multilingual options make the 6000T perfect for speakers of English, French, and Spanish.

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

TomTom GO 300 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review

TomTom GO 300 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I had been using an older Garmin GPS in my car for some time. It wasn't a street pilot, it was a Garmin III. I bought the TomTom Go 300 and can't believe how good it is.
The TTG 300 includes everything you need: Detailed maps of the USA on the 1 GB SD card with those maps and additional maps on CDs. It has mounting hardware, power cords, etc. but you probably know all that.
I am impressed with how well it picks up the satellite signals. My Garmin would never pick up a signal inside the house, and it would often not find one on a cloudy day. The TTG works fine in both cases.
The voice is clear and loud (adjustable) and you can have it give you a new instruction at any time. It will navigate to an address, a nearby "point of interest" (bank, airport, park, hotel...). And it will find alternate routes if you hit a roadblock or just don't like the suggested route. You can tell it to build routes that are fastest, shortest, for biking or walking. You can avoid tolls or not. I really like the choices.
I think the screen is easy to see and the screen updates are plenty fast.
So far the map data has been fairly accurate. Around my home town I notice that some roads that are 3 years old are missing, but I would expect that. The TTG will show you on the road even if the map data is a little off. In other words, it will snap your position to the map road even if you drive off it a little. But if you go far enough off a road, it will show you exactly where you are (in the middle of field or whatever).
The menus are very easy to use. Much easier than I expected. You use the touchscreen to pick a city, street, address, and you're off. It does have the 3-D view of the map which is similar to the view out your window, but I still prefer the typical 2-D map view. You can see more streets that way.
The point of interest database has lots of places. I don't know the exact number of categories but I would estimate there are at least 25 categories (banks, airports, rental cars, amusement parks, gas, theaters, courthouses, police, hospitals, doctors, dentists, border crossings, zoos, etc.) And you can create your own categories and add places. I did not find a list of ATM's, however, and this would have been useful.
You can also view the satellite signal strength, battery life, and actual Lat/Long. I wish you could enter a Lat/Long as a destination, but alas, you cannot.
As other people have said, it is very difficult to see in bright sun. At times, I have to reposition it to reduce glare, but this inconvenience would not stop me from buying it again.
I have not used the bluetooth feature and can't really see myself paying for the subscription feature.
Overall, it is a Very Powerful navigator. It comes on when I start the car and goes off when the car stops (because the cigarette lighter goes off). It is very easy to use and very easy to follow. I actually want to take more trips now just to let the TTG figure out the best way to get there. And now my friends all want one. I see Garmin now has a similar model, which I haven't tried. But I would still buy the TTG again if I was shopping for one.
Update 4 months later...
I still like the unit and its functions, but as others have said, the map data and routing is disappointing at times. It always got me where I wanted, but half the time it seemed to take me the longer way. It seems to be reluctant to put me on a freeway for short trips, even when it is faster. And I haven't really compared this to another brand, except for the system in the the Audi A4, which does seem to do a better job: Even knowing what side of the street your destination is on. But that is not an after-market system. So if I was shopping for an after-market system today, I would most likely still buy the Tom Tom for the features, but I would take a close look at the routes is suggests while driving.


Click Here to see more reviews about: TomTom GO 300 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

TomTom’s products use small global positioning system (GPS) receivers to fix a device’s location to within a meter anywhere on earth. This location is then combined with the latest maps and navigation software to help you find your way.Nothing could be easier to use than the TomTom GO. With no installation or set-up required, it gives you clear spoken instructions on where to go, in 17 countries and 32 languages. It has a built-in GPS receiver and shows you the road ahead in clear colorful 3D graphics. The GO has a long-life rechargeable battery that you can charge at home or in the car.The GO is "Plug and GO” and easy to mount so you can transfer it from car to car in seconds.

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