Customer Reviews

Magellan RoadMate 1412 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

Pros:
4.3 screen, slim design, good build quality, nice screen, nice graphics, text-to-speech works well, acquire signal fast, uses Navteq map and routing works the way you would expect if you didn't have a GPS and had to map the route yoursself, no round-around routing, has 4 routing options, fastest, shortest, maximum freeway, minimum freeway, a compass is built-in and shown in the upper left corner, plenty of POIs, 6 million of them, good quality windshield mount

This model locks in signal EXTREMELY FAST and it works indoors too



The first time you use you may notice some screen sluggishness but after that it's very responsive, my take is that it might have to do with some kind of first-time initialization

Cons:
No home AC adapter, only car adapter, windshield mount arm is a little short, a bit heavier than most other GPS but probably due to the case but this should not be viewed as a negative


I picked this up at Costco with a $50 off coupon and at $150 this is one of the few GPS on the market that offer text-to-speech, Navteq map and 6 mil POIs. This model uses the Centrality Atlas III GPS chipset which is considered to be even better than the SIRF III chipset

This is my first GPS. Given the number of options available and brands, I could not decide so I have been shopping for many months. I decided on the Magellan since this is the brand provided by Hertz (neverlost) and I had success with these units in the rentals. What sold me was:

The feature where the unit will complete the spelling for you of objects being searched;

The 4.3" screen;

The huge POI library.

I compared to a Garmin NUVI 260 at Best Buy and it seemed the Garmin spent a lot more time thinking than did the 1412.

The huge POI library was also a plus. I entered many known POI's and the 1412 always displayed them accurately. Finally the 4.3" screen was a seller.

No complaints here and I would recommend it.

I extensively used my companies pricier Garmin a few years ago, then bought this for myself after I changed jobs.

Two features I really miss, and feel they are not exclusive to high end models; the old Garmin said "arriving at destination ON RIGHT" (or left). This one just says "arriving at destination", so I spend more time swiveling my head around looking.

The Garmin also allowed me to program stops along the way during a route execution. The Magellan 1412 will only allow you to divert to "exit points of interests" and only along a freeway. Otherwise, if you're enroute, you have to cancel the route, search for what it is your looking for, then activate that route, then re-start your original route after. Or you can preplan it all -- as if you know ahead of time where you'll be needing to find a coffe shop on an old state road.

The "Exit POI" feature is very nice, however. How many times have you been on a long road trip and flown past an exit you thought was devoid of gas stations or restaurants because there were no signs ahead? This prevents that nicely and lets you see within 15 or so miles what is coming up along a freeway.

The POIs in the database are also pretty good-- lots more categories than I had on the older Garmin.

The battery is puny, and won't hold much of a charge. Keep the power cord close by.

The window mount is excellent -- better than the Garmin I had.

The speaker is small, and a bit hard to hear if you have a noisy car.

This one does say the name of the street-- a minimum standard in all GPS in my opinion.

We first saw this GPS at Costco for $[...]. Then, we saw the Coupon. Even without the coupon it is a heck of a deal. I would go so far as to say it is a steal! We've considered a GPS for our car for some time. We looked at Tom-Tom's, Magellans, Garmins and Navigon. Magellan just came out with a new line of hand helds and they have had a bit of a rocky start. So, we were initially a little leary of this new addition to the Magellan Auto GPS line. But, Costco had them as part of a working display and my wife and I got a chance to try the unit out in demo mode in the store. The unit was quick and flawless.

Though the unit has 6 Million points of interest, not every gas station, store and Resturaunt is in there. We find the problems to be with the establishments that are 10 or more years old. We also found this problem with the other brands as well. We actually liked the Tom Tom better than the garmin as well. Garmin is mighty proud of their units and need to figure out that they need to bring down the price point if they are going to stay competitive. The Navigon and it's 1 million POI's is a little limited based on it's competition. We have a Magellan 210 Explorist that we use for Geocaching, and we love it. So, we were willing to give this unit a try and we love it!

For the money, the Magellan 1412 is the way to go for a complete Navigation unit. We didn't want one to Play MP3's or have blue tooth or do traffic stuff. This unit is perfect for us and we look forward to using it a lot.

We found that the unit was very quick to re-route us when we missed a turn. The Text to speech pronounciation is very good. The unit comes with a built in battery so you can do routing in the comfort of your Home or RV and then move it to the dash and 'Away you go'. The unit changes to a black screen automatically, when it gets dark out to make it more comfortable for night driving. We find the user interface to be very intuitive. We would highly recommend this unit to anyone considering a GPS for the vehicle.

Happy camping. - Eric -

I used to have Magellan Roadmate 800 and a few weeks ago I purchased Magellan Roadmate 1412 then I found a coupon for Navigon 2100 max. And here is the comparison chart; some of the entires are my personal opinions and might not reflect everyone's opinion... here it is:

M08- Magellan Roadmate 800
M14- Magellan Roadmate 1412
N21- Navigon 2100 max

Device specific features
M08- Heavy; can play mp3s; can store JPGs
M14- Slim and light
N21- Slim and light (not as light as Mag 1412 tho)

User Friendliness
M08- Yes
M14- Yes
N21- Not as good as Magellan - buttons can be too close to each other depeding on the menu and the screen

Volume
M08- Can set up the volume manually with a control on the edge of the device; Volume increases at certain speed
M14- Can set up the volume through the touch screen; Has only 5 settings; Volume doesn't increase over certain speed which can be hard to hear
N21- Could not find the volume settings; Volume setting for over a speed can be set (No increase / Low increase / High Increase); Voice can be staticy

Text-to-speech
M08- No
M14- Funny pronounciations on certain words; "in" sounds like "an" ... "Turn Left in 2 miles" sounds like "Turn Left then 2 miles" - "Freeway entrance" sounds like "Freeway an trans"
N21- Pronounciation is more accurate then Magellan 1412

Live Traffic
M08- No
M14- No
N21- Yes - Might have to be purchased seperately; reroutes based on the traffic

Zagat - Restaurant Ratings
M08- No
M14- No
N21- Yes - Might have to be purchased seperately

POI
M08- ~1 million POIs
M14- ~6 million POIs with wide range of categories
N21- ~1 million POIs with limited range categories; shows actual brand logo on the map

Lane Assistance
M08- No
M14- No
N21- Yes

Mount
M08- Easy to mount
M14- Easy to mount
N21- Hard to mount, hard to take it off

Password protection
M08- Yes
M14- No
N21- Yes

Compass
M08- Yes
M14- Yes
N21- Not by default, has to be modifed in settings

Recalculation
M08- Screen goes blue with a progress bar until the calculation is over
M14- Immediately
N21- Immediately

Vehicle Type
M08- Car only
M14- Car only
N21- Car / Bicycle / Pedestrian

Arrival Time
M08- Display approximate number of minutes the route will take
M14- Displays the arrival time
N21- Displays the arrival time and the minutes it takes to the destination

Distance left
M08- Shows the miles left until the next move; Shows the miles left until the destination
M14- Shows the miles left until the next move
N21- Shows the miles left until the next move; Shows the miles left until the destination

Turn by turn view
M08- Yes
M14- Yes
N21- Yes

Better for
M08- Within the city travel
M14- Within the city travel with better POI options
N21- Long distance travel with live traffic and lane assistance

Sluggy
M08- Smooth menu items, sluggy map over time
M14- Not sluggy
N21- Sluggy menu items, smooth map

Route options
M08- Fastest Route; Shortest Route; Most use of Freeway; Less use of Freeway
M14- Fastest Route; Shortest Route; Most use of Freeway; Less use of Freeway
N21- Fastest route; Optimum route; Shortest route; Scenic route

Tollway option
M08- Can not avoid
M14- Can avoid
N21- Can avoid or forbid

Allowing U-Turn (or not)
M08- Not modifiable (Allows)
M14- Not modifiable (Allows)
N21- Can allow or forbid U-Turns

I've be a user of GPS units for many years. The positive reviews offered here seem to be complete and accurate; the few negative reviews don't take into consideration the cost of this unit, so I will just touch on several points to help round out the overview of this product. FOR THE MONEY, this product is fantastic; I think the best on the market. Very bright display, very simple, very accurate. The text to voice on this unit is one of the clearest and most pleasantly synthesized provider of information that I've run into. Heck, I think you could turn this unit upside down on the seat next to you and reach your destination without effort.

This unit is so new that all of the newest maps come loaded into it. I live in a fast growing Phoenix Metro area where highways are always coming on line and everything is here. I must have been one of the earliest purchasers of this product because there was only one review at the time. I waited until now to fully use and review. Multiple destinations, a great address book setup, simple to change things on the fly, I must recommend this product.

There may be slightly better products with more features for more money, but if you want a real performer that is heads and heals above other units at this price point, you can't go wrong here.

Up date: 7/5/08

Ok ... after further review. I've used this thing a lot for work. I still stand by the above info but must add this slightly negative finding. It seem the exact location that you route to is often off a bit. The unit might say "you have arrived," when in fact you are a few addresses past or before your expected address. It might say "destination on the right," when in fact, it is on the left. Once the unit was as much as a mile incorrect with its final finding. I would pull a star if I could. The unit is still a good buy and I have found all destinations I've ask directions to. I will check the Web and see if an update exists.

This is my first GPS., although I have used them in rental cars, so not a novice. I am an educated consumer and checked out them all prior to purchasing, Garmin, Tom Tom, Mio etc etc. But reviews and features kept bringing me back to this baby. First off the satellite signal is at four bars all the time, no messing about with additional antenna's. Due to this on switching the unit on, within 15 seconds or so, it's locked on and ready to go. I found it easy to enter my home address and it got me to me destination easily. Her voice is a little scratchy, due to the small speaker. But still audible over my XM with no problems. Some reviewers have mentioned if you miss your turn it keeps saying 'do a U Turn', I deliberately missed a turn several times and each time it actually instantly recomputed my location and took me forward without having to make any U Turns...so maybe I have a different software version ? One reviewer also mentioned that the maps have not been updated since 2006, this has to be incorrect as I navigated around a roundabout in my town which has only been there for 11 months, prior to that it was dirt-track !! Plus this is a brand new unit which has only been out a few months.
One thing I hate is the packaging, having to fight my way thru plastic, which is now in pieces, good job I don't want to return it ! My other moan is the instruction manual is on a disc, so you have to print it out.
They suggest the quick start guide is sufficient for you to carry in the car. I disagree, you really need the full manual to use this wonderful little unit to it's full capacity.
All in all, it get's 5 stars from me and for the money, this little beauty is a winner all the way !!

I'm a courier and have used garmins nuvi 360 , 680, and 750 . I have also used magellan's 3140, and magellan's roadmate 1412. I drive about 200 miles per day and do about 30 stops and this is what I have learned.

the best thing to do , is to decide what features and price will fit your needs best before you buy.

for me , as a courier , the roadmate works great as I can take full advantage of the route optimizer and road exclusion feature.

also, for the price !! roadmate is a steal ! it has nice 4.3 in screen , snappy interface, great gps receiver , routes on par with the garmin if you don't go over 300 miles . ( after 300 mls its a total crapshoot ) plus its got current maps as of 3rd Q 2007 ! ( they are also navtek ! considered best maps of united states )

I have run garmin nuvi 360 and 1412 next to each other for a whole day to help me decide which 1 to keep. ( dont need 2 )

first I gotta say the garmin 360 is a better gps in almost every way. Better map display ( by far ) better routes over 300 miles , faster interface, longer batter life, better customer service , cheap map updates that come out every year ( map updates are like for magellan ) great poi loader software that makes adding red light cameras a snap . ( still haven't figured out how to add poi's for roadmate )

the only drawbacks for garmin is the up front cost . And on garmin there is now way to exclude a street from a route , or due multiple stops . 1412 has both these features and also has a bigger brighter screen.

So if you want a gps that has alot of bang for the buck , roadmate 1412 is probably your best bet.

If you want a great gps and don't mind paying a little more , the garmin is clearly better quality !

I'm keeping the 1412 only because I need the route exclusion , and multi stop routing for my job.

hate to give up the garmin but I just don't need 2 !

ps. I thought the 750 was the worse gps as far as bang for buck ! had same exact routes and maps as the cheaper 360 and 1412 , and 750 doesn's come with cover or home charger or blue tooth ! kinda lame !

also , the highly touted, newly introduced router software on the 750 was effective at ordering up stops , but unfortunately, it was so hard to use it didn't help me on the job.

for example , one lame thing about the optimizer is you have to enter your first and last stop before you can add other stops. Well, common sense tells you your gonna have to know where all you stops are to know which 1 is nearest and which 1 is farthest! DuH !!

they should just give you options like least distance ! or round trip !

that would make a lot more sense .

second problem was after you get too the first stop , it would start routing to the second . the problem was the final addresses were off sometimes and I wasn't actually to my first stop yet . ( very annoying )

final word , cant go wrong with garmin for casual use !

for couriers or truck drivers , magellan is pretty hard to beat !

This is my second GPS, replacing an Omnitech unit that we gave to our daughter. I originally purchased a MIO C320 to replace the Omnitech, but found it extremely confusing to use and lacking in features, such as text to speech and keeping an address book.

First, the Pro's...
This is a GPS unit that does what you want it to do!
It has a wide screen that is uncluttered and easy to follow and provides more than enough information to get you to where you want to go.
The text to speech voice quality is clear and understandable. The volume level is quite good.
Route calculations and recalculations are made in reasonable time and with excellent accuracy.
It doesn't have an MP3 Player
It doesn't have a digital photo viewer.
You can't play Sudoku on it.
You cannot play movies on it.
It is, after all, a GPS unit! Why would I want to pay $100 - $200 more for features I could care less about?

The maps are 3rd quarter 2007. I assume updates are available annually. When I got the unit home, I checked the firmware version and updated the unit to the latest version with no observable problems, and no discernible negative effect on operations.

The unit comes with 6 million POI's and you can add to that. I added a list of Virginia wineries. The address book is easy to use and access and can store 100 places.

Now for the con's...
Some features are a little further down the menu tree than I would like. Getting to the address book, for instance, requires about 4 clicks, so instead of spending 2 seconds getting there, plan on spending 4 seconds! Like anything new, there's a learning curve so you should expect to some time to get familiar with this.

I'm having to struggle here to think of more con's...

There is no AC adapter, but these are the same adapters used for many other electronic devices such as cell phones, PDA's, cameras, etc. There is also no USB cable. Again, these are common accessories that most of us have lying around.

The mapping software that is available for download onto your PC doesn't seem to be very user-friendly. I'm not sure what I would use it for anyway, other than, perhaps, to print out a route. But then, what's the point of having a GPS?

For the price and the features, I really can't complain about this unit. So far, I'm VERY pleased with the purchase and very satisfied. I "almost" bought one of the competing brands for $150 more and, the only thing I would have gotten for the increased cost are "enhancements" that I don't want anyway.

I strongly recommend this unit to anyone interested in a GPS unit who's strength is to get you from point A to point B!

I also highly commend Magellan for concentrating on the core competencies of this GPS unit and for making it available at an affordable price. The "other guys" seem intent on adding extraneous "enhancements" in an effort to justify pushing up the price point.

This is a GOOD, SOLID, GPS for the money and we're extremely satisifed to have it!

This is my 3rd GPS and I believe it's my favorite to date. It does give you the elevation of your location and the way you get to that is to tap on the "tow truck". I like that feature, especially since I live in the mountains. If you need to charge the battery while in your house, you can use the USB cable from your camera (I have a CANON). Once you connect the USB to your computer, hold the on/off button down and turn it off. It will charge the battery even when it's off. I like the way it recalculates my new route quickly. The speech is very clear for street names and turns. I get multiple satellites even in the house in a matter of seconds. My wife is hard of hearing and likes the chimes best of the 3 choices. She also likes the way it fills in while she's typing a street name or a city. Another feature she likes is how she can name a trip and make it a favorite. We couldn't do it with our Honda GPS and that aggravated her to no end. We did order a stylus for her because she has long nails and the stylus works just as well. We purchased a $5 camera bag from Big Lots and it fits the GPS perfectly. We stuck the stylus in the net pocket on the side of the camera bag. Fits fine. Hope this review helps.