Customer Reviews

Magellan 980654-01 Mapsend Direct Route

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've been using DirectRoute for about 3 weeks with a Magellan SporTrak Pro GPS Unit.

I currently use a map that covers from Sacramento County to San Francisco city to Modesto in my SporTrak. I have not used it outside this area. I generally use it to give me directions from one address to another (i.e. home to out-of-town restaurant to concert hall, etc).

Overall, this product does exactly what it advertises and does a fair job at it. It consistently gets me to my destination with minimal problems. On occasion, it has sent me on routes slower routes with lots of stop signs/lights. Annoying but still correct.

As far as copy protection, I've not had any problems reading the CD in my DVD drive. I've not tried using copies of the CD or moving to a different computer. I use the software on one computer with one GPS unit.

The desktop and GPS software has a number of rough edges that I find irritating, but not enough to diminish the usefulness of this product.

Pros:
* Directions are no worse than online mapping services (MapQuest, Yahoo, etc).
* Point of interest database includes address and phone numbers.
* Uses NavTech maps (nearly every company who makes navigation software buys maps from NavTech).
* Performs calculations fairly quickly (5-10 seconds) for a handheld device.
* Gives you plenty to notice before a turn approaches (once at about 1/8 of a mile, and again at a couple hundred feet).
* Turn reminder turns on backlight automatically (great for night use).
* Decent sized map fits into my SporTrak Pro w/32MB memory.
* Highlights the route you're supposed to take on the GPS map.
* Lets you list turn-by-turn directions in text form instead of map on the handheld.
* Desktop software lets you perform route-calculation (handy if you are at a hotel, etc).
* Allows you to browse maps, street names, and even search for addresses on the handheld device.

Cons:
* Uses NavTech maps. NavTech is the best, but their maps still have a lot of inaccuracies, wrong street names, etc and are always somewhat outdated (but this is a problem with all navigation systems I've used).
* It has difficulty keeping on track in some urban areas and neighborhoods if you don't have a strong GPS signal.
* Turn reminder is *very* annoying. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...
* Can't turn off auto-backlight with turn reminder. (Wastes batteries during the day)
* Changes with my map settings, zoom level, etc whenever I start a new route.
* It stops providing reminders if I manage to go off route (or if it things I went off route).
* I have to manually request a route recalculation whenever this happens. (To reroute, just press GOTO twice).
* Desktop software is quirky and isn't very obvious to use.
* I can't get it to print a map on my printer that highlights the routes or shows points of interest. I found the options to turn that on/off, but it seems to ignore my settings.
* I can only download maps in large square blocks--that means I pick up a lot extra streets and cities that I don't care about.
* When I save an address as a Waypoint, it loses the address and name.
* desktop software refuses to print maps with routes.

I have not had the problems others have noted getting the CD to work on my PC. I do suggest that you take the time to make region maps of the entire US and then save them to your hard drive. From there you can copy these to any other memory storage or hard drive. The software will let you rename your regions as long as you leave .IMG on the end (example Idaho.IMG)

With a 512 SD card I was able to have 8 regions on my Magellan Gold GPS (I can only load one 64 mb region at a time but the Gold GPS will show all 8 regions in the menu).

By saving these regions to my hard drive and using a SD card reader I could drop and drag my regions to the SD card.

In closing I suggest you take some time while your CD is new and
create all the map regions you will ever need and save them to your hard drive (and make a backup).

These maps are an amazing upgrade over the old MapSend maps. You get the accuracy of NavTech maps (the same kind used by websites like mapquest and yahoo maps), along with turn-by-turn directions, a mileage countdown to each turn, and you can even set the unit to beep when you get close to a turn. Besides conventional directions, there are some extra features, like the ability to get a list of the ten closest Indian restaurants by bearing and range. You can also list other types of restaurants, as well as gas stations, hotels, parks, train stations, airports, bus stations, hospitals, marinas, museums, vineyards, amusement parks, auto mechanics, community centers, schools, banks, golf courses, and more.

There are a few drawbacks. I find the user interface a bit inconvenient (on my Sportrak Pro, getting a list of the ten closest Indian restaurants requires 41 keystrokes). I haven't figured out how to get turn-by-turn street directions that avoid highways, but that might be possible. The software automatically turns on the screen light right before each turn, even during the daytime, which runs down the battery much faster than necessary. You also need to have the mapping CD in your CD-drive in order to load more maps, but I don't think that's a big deal; I loaded the maps for San Diego to Santa Barbara on my GPS unit before a trip to LA, and I usually have the entire state of Massachusetts in my unit's memory.

This program is not worth dealing with the insane copy protection bugs that come with it. Apparently the people at Thales are SO worried about some kid somewhere making an illegal copy of the software that they heaped tons of copy protection restrictions in it. These restrictions and buggy archival prevention code severely restricts your freedom to use the software and makes it sometimes dangerous to run it on your computer. You are only allowed to use the software on ONE gps unit. So, if you happen to have more than one, or plan to purchase a new gps unit, they have code within the software that prevents this legitimate use. You are also only allowed to use the software on one computer. So, if you plan on using it in two locations (like on your home and office computers), you can also strike this legitimate and common use of your software off your list. This particular restriction is particularly troublesome as it prevents you from having it installed on your desktop, where you are likely to print maps from, if you even want to use it on your laptop for use in your vehicle. So, you can also strike this legitimate and common use of this software off your list. And heaven help you if your computer crashes. You can forget about being able to ever use the software again as they preclude you from making an archive copy of your CD and the program will only run on that particular computer. Also, heaven help you if you scratch or damage your CD as again, you are precluded from having a backup copy. Also, heaven help you if you ever plan on buying a new computer. I tried to uninstall the CD to move it to my new computer and all the insane layers of copy-protection software encoded in the program crashed my old computer, crashed my new computer, and left me with no ability to use the software. It is clear that someone at Thales made it a corporate goal to prevent any illegal copies of the software, but their programmers got so carried away that they preclude you from many common legitimate uses of your software. You feel like you don't actually own it. So, terrific software, but clearly not worth the hassles associated with the copy protection and many restrictions UNLESS you: 1) don't want to use it on your desktop and laptop, 2) don't want to use it in two locations, 3) don't want to use it for two gps units, 4) don't plan on replacing your gps unit, 5) don't plan on replacing your computer, 6) don't anticipate ever having a computer crash, 7) don't anticipate ever scratching your CD and 8) don't mind having major hassles with crashed computers if you try to uninstall it. My congratulations to Thales on preventing any remote chance of someone illegitimately using the software. Too bad it comes at the cost of users being to fully utilize the software as they likely planned.

The review from cellulose9 has the details you need to know, so read that review first. Then, add this, which I want to emphasize.

This is not a mature program. The copy protection is absolutely terrible. Many maps are inaccurate. I wrote them asking about this and they told me they would not update it until one year has passed. For such an expensive program, this is unacceptable. They should have a web site where you can download updates as they occur.

Hooking up the GPS directly to the computer is painfully slow. The best way to do the maps is to buy a card programmer for the Secure Digital card. I bought one for $10 which has worked fine. You are then limited to one 64mb map at a time. If you have a 256mb SD card, you can load 4 x 64mb maps, or some other combination adding up to no more than 256mb total and no more than 64mb in any one map. The maps must be rectangular. If you desire a diagonal area, you are out of luck, you have to make it rectangular on north-south and east-west lines.

So, you can work around the limitations, but it brings us back to the first point ... this is not a mature program at all. Color me disappointed. I have a Magellan Meridian Color, and once you learn how to overcome the Directroute shortcomings, you can get it to work OK, but you should not have to jump through all these hoops just to get such expensive software to work.

It remains to be seen whether they will offer the upgrade to their crappy program and inaccurate maps for some reasonable fee. My guess is that they will rip off the customer by making them buy an entire new package. I hope I'm wrong.

I saw all the negative reviews here after I had bought the software, and I am glad I did. Direct Route is a really good mapping program. If you actually take the time to learn how to use the GPS and the software its great. Also if the software doesn't run there is a patch on the Magellan web site, but it worked on my Sony DVDR/CDRW with out it.
I mostly use it for marking places I want to see in places I am not familiar with. Using the Direct Route software I look up then mark places to see with waypoints, and then those are downloaded to the GPS. When I get to where I am going I just have to do GOTOs and it will give me turn by turn directions to all the places I want to go.

Good but not great. Four stars because it really upgrades my Meridian Platinum GPS receiver making it a much more useful standalone product, allowing large maps, and switching between Direct Route, Topo maps, etc. The Direct Route maps are accurate. GPS routing is fast but somewhat clueless (but just the capability is marvelous!). Read Magellan's own FAQ to get an idea of what you're in for: http://www.magellangps.com/en/support/products/mapsenddirectroute.asp

Direct Route will route you through local roads in a neighborhood rather than the main drag a somewhat greater distance away. It treats a road by one name as the same road and doesn't show right-angle turns as "manuevers" as long as the road name remains the same. Same on making a 180 degree turn at a turn around on an interstate access road. Where it fails to recognize such radical changes of directions, you'd have to be periodically looking at the GPS to see your progress on the shaded route because it's not going to beep at you for an unrecognized turn. But accurate maps, direct gps routing, and the promise to update the maps once a year are GREAT as are ability to put larger, multiple maps on SD card! Copy protection is for the birds-I carry the RUN CD in my laptop backpack where it may get crushed. Thanks, Taylor! Also, Magellan should have allowed a waypoint(s) to be interjected on a route to force routing through certain points. Seems Direct Routing is an add-on, rather than a complete re-write of Mapsend product.

I like this product. It works perfectly on my laptop, and the routes generated are reasonable. I am especially happy that the street maps have been updated, all of the streets/highways that seemed to be mis-digited in the old mapsend software in my area seem to now be corrected! I have had no problems with the copy protection noted in other reviews.

This map software is fairly easy to use, and I have found the maps to be accurate so far. My only real complaint is the copy protection scheme that requires the original product data disk to be in the CD-drive in order to start the software. This subjects the disk to a lot of wear and tear with frequent use. No backup is provided nor allowed. If you use an ultraportable laptop with external CD-drive, this is an extra hassle when you try to travel light.

Thales has done a fabulous job of protecting DirectRoute from piracy. Unfortunately, in the process, they have made a product that is so non user friendly it should not be considered seriously for purchase unless you can live with the inconveniences below.

First, you may not be able to load the full version to your hard drive because it is not supported by certain DVD drives. Thales even acknowledges this in the FAQ section of the MagellanGPS site. Of course, the FAQs were not available before I made this purchase.

Second, even if you could load the full version it would be a waste of time since Thales, in its infinite wisdom, decided to require that a valid CD be in the drive before you can even start the application. And if that isn't enough, you can't make copies of the CD so you'd better be real careful with them. Keeping in mind that you have to use the CD every time you want to use the program, how long do you think these CDs will remain undamaged? I'm sure Thales will be pleased to replace them for a nominal fee + outrageous shipping although I have seen no commitment to do this on their web sight. I travel regularly and have dropped the CD drive on my small laptop, so this is REALLY INCONVENIENT. If you don't mind having to plug in your CD everytime you want to use this product, then maybe you should consider it (NOT!).

And then there is the annoying feature of having to manually load map regions on the SD card. Apparently Thales engineers couldn't figure out how to download more than one region from DirectRoute. But, not to worry, you can always copy the files manually once you leave the program. Now isn't that convenient? It gets better...when you try to select a region on the GPS (mine is a Meridian Platinum), don't bother looking under "database" where your regions used to be. The only one you will find there is the one (and only one) that DirectRoute could load to the SD card. No, you have to look under "Card Utilities" and then go to "Change Map". Logical, isn't it? Of course anyone that would design a GPS where you have to remove the batteries to take out the SD card shouldn't be expected to develop software any more complex than a simple binary add.

Can't wait until I get a little more time with this "poubelle" but I didn't want to wait in case anyone was considering doing a little Christmas shopping. My recommendation is avoid this product and avoid Magellan.