Customer Reviews

Magellan RoadMate 1470 4.7-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(76)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

I've been a Magellan user for several years - have owned four of their GPS systems, and always appreciate how they have improved their products. This unit is my 5th, and replaces a Magellan 4040. After using it for a while I've confident in saying this is the best one yet!

The most visible change is the actual size of the unit. The screen size has been increased, but the unit is thinner and lighter. Very sleek appearance, and the screen is a real joy -- sharp, clear graphics even in the sun, and bigger on-screen buttons for easy use. The mounting system has also been streamlined, and looks and works well. It mounts very easily on a NavMat holder (basically a bean-bag system that I got on Amazon. I'm a huge Navmat fan - makes it a snap to hide the GPS with narry a trace. Best accessory by far for any GPS).

The power connector was not well thought out, however. You have to connect it to the GPS unit AFTER you mount it in the holder. They should have moved the connector it a wee bit to the side to avoid that.

The only button is a slide-type power button on the top. Boot-up time is OK -- not speedy, but not a huge delay either. It does not have a "sleep" mode, so you have to do a cold boot every time. Not a problem in real world use - by the time you get situated in your car, the unit is ready to go.

Voice is clear and easy to understand. Not as natural sounding as a TomTom, but understandable.

Pretty much any recent GPS unit will get you where you want to go. I've found the routing on the Magellans to be very similar to Garmins - could be because they both use the same mapping set (Navteq). The Magellan shines, however, in features that I find helpful. The direction of the next turn is always visible regardless of how far away the next turn will be. Up until recently, Garmin did not offer this (they do now on some of their units). Sounds like a small issue, but I find it very helpful. The Magellan also allows you to very easily exclude a route (or portion). That's a fairly standard feature nowadays, but Magellan allows you to do it in a snap.

In terms of routing, Magellan offers four options (fastest, shortest, most use of freeways and least use). You can see all four options on the map (as a summary) at the same time so you can pick the best one for your needs. Perfect!!

Love the AAA Guidebook, which is a unique Magellan feature. Lets you get details about restaurants and other points of interest just like the paper version from AAA. I used it a lot in my 4040, especially when traveling out of town.

Other unique Magellan features I appreciate is the "ding dong" sound right before a turn (incredibly accurate!) and the fact that the software reminds you to "stay on the current road" when you encounter major exits. Some find that to be nagging, but it has saved me from inadvertently exiting on more than one occasion.

A new feature for Magellan is the lane guidance. Very nicely done. I've used this feature on Navigon units, and found it rather unhelpful. Magellan's implementation is far more useful, with better, clearer graphics. However, lane guidance is not available for every road.

The software is also nicely done - very logical to use. If you're a past Magellan user you can pick this up and use it in a second. If not, there's a short printed user's guide in the box (plus a CD-ROM with more in-depth info) that gets you up to speed quickly. The box also includes the mount, power connector for the car, and a USB cable. It does not include an AC adapter.

OK, now for the bad news. When it comes to customer service, Magellan has been horrid. We're talking so bad it's almost funny. I'm hoping this situation will change - the company was bought by Mitac late last year, and perhaps this will signal a change for the better in terms of customer support. Lord knows, they couldn't get any worse.

The leader, in my opinion, for customer support is Garmin. They are nice to deal with on the phone, answer emails promptly, and offer regular firmware updates. Whenever I buy a GPS as a gift I always buy Garmin since I don't want to saddle the recipient with the miserable service that Magellan offers. It's a shame, since Magellan offers some real benefits over Garmin, and more value for the money. Tom Tom is also decent when it comes to support, but they use TeleAtlas maps which are less complete than NavTeq (sp?).

Bottom line -- if you're looking for a straightforward GPS at a good price, this should be on your short list. It lacks features such as Bluetooth and an MP3 player, but for me, I want a GPS to offer guidance and not entertainment. This has a very robust feature set, great screen, and well-designed software. It also has traffic capabilities -- did not test that feature out, so I can't comment on it.

The "safe" bet continues to be Garmin. You'll pay a bit more, and get less features, but you can be assured of solid support. Whether Magellan's new owners will put them back on the right track (if you'll excuse the horrid, but unavoidable pun) in terms of customer service is not yet clear. I hope so -- they make a great product!

UPDATE: 5/21/09 There's a firmware update on the Magellan site. No new functionality (in terms of new features) but, according to the release notes it improves overall performance. Easy to install - just follow the included step-by-step instructions. It seems like it makes the unit a bit faster, but that could just be my imagination.

I've used a number of GPS navigators, typically Garmin and TomTom units. I am currently using a Garmin Nuvi 265WT and I generally find Garmin to give me the best set of features and performance for the price, although I've not found their systems to be particularly reliable, my first needed to be sent for repairs twice and the one I am using currently often reboots itself randomly, particularly right when I start it up, and often the sound fades out for no reason. So I'm always on the hunt for something that will work even better. This is my first experience with a Magellan RoadMate model, and I was interested to see how it compared. I've only been using it for a few weeks, so I cannot report on long-term reliability, but will post follow-up comments if I run into any problems in the future.

PLUSES
Beautiful, bright screen. Easily one of the best GPS screens I've seen. Very sharp and bright and still visible even in bright light. Typical reverse screen for nighttime viewing.

Good maps, accurate directions. Haven't run into any problems yet where it took me a goofy route....although I've yet to use a GPS that doesn't do it once in awhile! I also like that you can use a zip code when entering addresses. My Garmin unit makes you enter both the city and state and thus makes setting destinations a bit more tedious than need be.

The sound and text-to-speech on this I found very good. I often have volume problems with my Garmin (sometimes it just seems to completely fade out), no problems at all with this. I didn't even need to turn it up all the way to hear it easily. The voice I found pleasant enough and not too computer-generated sounding. It also has nice tones for signaling the turns (which you could select from) and the timing for these was spot-on.

Quick launch screen which allows you to set a bunch of favorite locations, or even better, favorite searches. So if you typically are looking for the local coffee shop when you travel, rather than going through the screens to set up the search each time you can save it as a favorite. Very useful and has a number of these already set up for you like closest gas station.

The number of POIs was quite impressive, I found a lot more local stores in my area than with the Garmin. Still not everything though....my church was one that was not included, even though its one of the largest in my town.

Included AAA information. Very cool search for local events, attractions, etc. with detailed information. Not sure how much I'd use this (typically I'd research such information before leaving!) but it was a nice touch.

Multi-destination routing. Allows you to set up a complete trip with several stops. This was very easy to use, to reorder your stops, etc.

Includes maps for Canada. Not all GPS units in this price range include Canada. Not that I travel there, but nice to know I have the maps if I do!

It's also nice that it uses a standard UBS cable. This seems to becoming more standard with GPS units and makes life much easier than having a proprietary cable. I'm careful to label it however, just so I don't accidentally mix it up with all my other similar cables.

MINUSES
Slow startup! I've really gotten spoiled by my Garmin Nuvi that started up in seconds and was ready to navigate just as quickly. This thing takes considerably longer to start, leaving me waiting for it before I can set my destination and drive off.

Also, the location of the plug for the USB/power cord is just dumb! It completely blocks the mount, so that you cannot have the unit plugged in until you slide it on. This also means you then can't see where you are plugging it in, versus being able to just hold the unit, stick in the plug, and then mount it. I could deal with this if there seemed to be some reason for doing it....but simply moving the plug from the left side to the right side of the mount would have completely solved this problem. It just seems like it was put in the one spot that would annoy people!

No bluetooth or voice command, no music or audiobook support. Basically very barebones on extras. This was a big step down from the Garmin Nuvi which cost almost the same, with just a slightly smaller screen. At the very least, I really would have liked to have seen BT at this price point. The touch screen also doesn't always respond and needs a second or even third tap sometimes. This seemed particularly prevalent on the Back button. Also, why do they not include a quick jump back to the main menu or map? My Garmin has this issue as well, and it's really annoying when you are searching for something that you can't just "cancel" and go back to the main screen, but have to keep backing page by page to return. Garmin also now has all kind of features you can customize that really add to the value of their devices. I love the ability to find an address on Google Maps and send it to the GPS over USB. You can download a custom car which is a cute touch (okay, so I no longer own a big SUV, but at least I can see myself drive one virtually!) There are all kinds of custom routes you can download, if you are the type that likes to play around with your gadgets. The Magellan doesn't appear that have support for any of this kind of additional stuff, and is definitely falling behind Garmin and TomTom in this area.

Some things are not very intuitive and the manual is very bare bones, so not much help. For instance, there was an option in the settings for the display, but on changing it, I found that I was stuck with just 2D display options. It took me awhile to figure out how to get it back to 3D (clicking on the main map screen). Not including the 3D setting in the same place is quite confusing.

One thing that really bugged me was that it wouldn't save a location based on solely the GPS location. I've never had a GPS unit that wouldn't do this....you just save the location and rename it to something meaningful. On the Magellan though, while it would let me "save" I still had to actually enter an address! Seems kind of silly to require this when you are using a GPS which should be able to just save the location automatically, address or no. If there *is* a way to do this, it certainly isn't very obvious! I also found it needed to really get right to the location that you were navigating to in order to consider the trip completed. Very frequently when I turn it on it wants to resume the same trip, even though that's where I am! It should be less picky about this.

The headsup display was not one of my favorites. With the Garmin, I was able to see my upcoming turn, estimated arrival time, current speed, and even would display the local speed limit (when available). The Magellan was much more bare bones. I could get the next turn, and the time of arrival, but it uses the same space to show my current MPH so I have to toggle back and forth (while driving) if I want to see this. I really like using my GPS as a digital speedometer so this was a big negative for me. This is definitely personal preference though. Some people may prefer the more minimal information on this screen and more surrounding map visibility.

I also didn't care for how it displays the phone number separately from the address when viewing POIs. I'm not sure why you wouldn't display the phone number on the same screen as the address, this just seems unnecessarily complicated to have them in different places. I really like the Garmin info display which includes everything on one page, and also includes call buttons (since that device supports bluetooth phone calling).

I did not receive the TrafficLink with this unit, so am not able to review how well that works. If you are not able to find a deal on this that includes the TrafficLink for free, that really does hurt the value a bit. My Garmin unit included free traffic on the device (albeit with some ads) so if I lived in an area where I wanted the traffic support, that extra $80 cost would definitely play a part in my decision as to what device to go with (comparisons of how good each traffic service are notwithstanding).

Overall, you'll want to evaluate it against other devices at the same price. If you can find a good deal on it, it might be worth considering for the excellent display and strong database of POIs. But for me, it's just not in the best-of-class category.

My previous experience with GSP navigators has been in rental cars when traveling many years ago. I've forgotten who made the units, but I thought they were more trouble than they were worth, trying to figure out how to use them and then dealing with all their weird little quirks.. I remember one time up in the Seattle area being on the freeway when the device told me to get off at an exit that was about 20 feet away with 3 lanes of traffic between me and the exit - no warning prior to that. Then it kept repeating over and over again that I had missed the exit. I was ready to pour my Starbucks coffee over the thing and I never wanted a GPS device after that.

But now I've had the opportunity to try this Magellan RoadMate 1470 and you would have to pry it out of my hot little hands to get it away from me. This thing is so different from the units I've tried in the past. This one is actually fun. First of all, it's super simple to set up. I hate to read manuals (and rarely look at maps until I'm so lost and out of time that I'm forced to do so) and was pleasantly surprised at how simple and intuitive this unit is, even without reading any instructions. I mounted the holder on the dash of my PT Cruiser, which was the perfect spot for it, plugged the USB power cable into the unit and then into my cigarette lighter and it was ready to go. It found my location in just a couple of minutes. Then, I pressed the "Go to" button on the touchsreen, selected "Address" and typed in the city and street that I wanted to find. It has the smart type thing which fills in the word after a few letters or gives you some suggested choices so you don't end up having to type a whole lot. It found my destination right away and I was ready to go.

The screen is nice and bright and you can easily see where you are going. It's zoomed in about a quarter mile, but you can zoom in and out if you want to see the bigger picture. The voice is pleasant and it's loud enough to hear even with the radio on. You can adjust the volume. The thing I like best is the lane assist and the several advance warnings about when you're going to turn and what lane you need to be in. There was plenty of time to be where I needed to be without having to rush across several lanes or elbow out other traffic on the freeway.
I tried several different destinations and it found all of them without a problem. It said the area that I live in wasn't covered, but it turns out that it is. There are all kinds of POI's (points of interest) already loaded in and there's also a AAA tour book feature that will be really helpful when traveling.

I never realized how nice it would be to just get in the car, set the destination, and not have to worry about paying attention and watching for streets when going to a new place. Did you ever try to find a location where you have to make a lot of turns on city streets that have little signs blocked by trees or hidden behind big trucks? You know how it is, trying to pay attention to traffic and slouching along, annoying other motorists, trying to see those little signs? With the Magellen 1470 you won't have to worry about any of that, it tells you when the street is coming up and when to turn. There's even a little "ding ding" when you need to actually turn. It gives you a sense of freedom. I travel a lot for work and this is going to make things so much easier for me! This unit has a good size screen and is slim and light, but still a small enough unit overall that I can put it in my medium sized purse or briefcase when I leave the car. And everything you need is right there in the box: the dash or window mount, cables to connect it to the computer for updates, power cable connectors for the car and even an alcohol swab to clean the dash or window before attaching the mount. (I have this Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case (Black) that I'm stealing from my external hard drive because this Megallan 1470 fits into it nicely. I posted some pictures of it in the case on the first page and also some pics of it mounted on the dash of my PT Cruiser.

The only flaws I can find so far are that sometimes the touch screen doesn't respond right away and you have to press a button more than once. This is usually when I'm rushed and hitting one thing after another very quickly. The other is the USB power cable connector location, which is right next to the little slot where you mount it so that you have to mount the unit prior to plugging in the power cable. The space to plug it in is small so it can be a little difficult. I'm sure there's some hack to make it easier.

All in all, it's a unit that I'd recommend to anyone looking for a GPS device with a sleek design, nice sized touchscreen that's simple to use right out of the box, but still has enough bells and whistles to keep it interesting. Two thumbs up for this unit!

Update 5/13/09 - I've had a chance to use and compare the Garmin nüvi 760 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Automobile Navigator that I bought for my husband a couple of months ago to this Magellen. The screen on the Magellen looks significantly larger even though it's only a fraction of an inch. I like the "ding ding" on the Magellen when I'm at the point where I should turn or enter onto a freeway. I prefer the data entry on the Magellen where it dims out letters that you probably don't need once you start typing. This lessens the chance of hitting the wrong key and makes entering data quicker. The Garmin has bluetooth where this one doesn't, but since I use an earpiece for my phone, that isn't a factor. My PT Cruiser is kind of noisy on the road so the noise cancelling earpiece works better for me anyway. Another thing I prefer about this unit is that it has the little gas icon right on the side of the main map, so if I need to get gas I don't have to go hunting through as many menus.

If I had to choose for myself between the two units I would choose this Magellen.

The NEW Magellan RoadMate 1470 is a feature rich product at an affordable price. I can tell you this unit includes tons of features that are not normally found in the low $200 price range.

My first impression of this unit is without reservations or doubt this unit by far is one of the better GPS unit offered by Magellan. One must ask how Magellan can offer so much at a price that is so reasonable. What RoadMate features has been eliminated for this new Magellan RoadMate 1470?

Answer: Nothing, Magellan gave us everything at a price that is unbelievable!

The NEW Magellan RoadMate 1470 offered at a price of less than $239 and is currently the best value for your dollar. This full feature Portable Navigation Device offers all the features you will need to route from point A to Point B anywhere in North America, Puerto Rico and even Mexico if you select to purchase the optional unlock code for this expandable GPS device. Magellan have introduced the most affordable full feature GPS currently available and I feel they have accomplished this successfully.

The Magellan RoadMate 1470 offers so much more, it is BIGGER, Thinner, Smarter and faster than all the older GPS system offered by Magellan at a competitive price similar to the older RoadMate units. Currently this MRM 1470 is the lowest GPS priced available that offers a large 4.7" display with full features including full map coverage of NA map and expandable to Mexico and future Europe maps loaded in a Micro SD card as an option.

How is this entire GPS product possible at the price it is selling for? It offers a much bigger display, 4.7" diagonally and yet the overall physical size is slimmer than a GPS that offers a 4.3" display. It includes smarter features such as OneTouch, quick spell, smart city search, this unit will find street address or POI you are looking for much faster than what is currently available on the GPS market. This unit is Faster and have the ability to search through the entire NA map data base without having to select different map regions such as Canada, Alaska, Mexico to start a route, it covers the entire NA mapping software in one region so one would not have to fumble around switching regions to route to a destination that is not in the lower 48 states. These RoadMate 1470 also calculates a route much faster and offers not one route but 4 different route options. Route options such as Fastest time, Shortest distant, Most use of freeway and Least use of freeway all presented to you on the display map when you select to view the route options. This will not limit the user to only view the route the unit recommends the user to take but at the same time it will display all available routing options. User has the option of selecting different routing method or to view all the available routes on one[ display screen at the same time .

This Magellan RoadMate 1470 is Thinner and a more attractive GPS unit over all. It is almost the thickness of an iPhone yet offers much larger display in almost the same size form factor as the older Magellan Maestro 4250/4350/4370 units.

This new generation of Magellan GPS systems is also Smart enough to not only detour at a specific selected distant such as by 3 miles, 5 miles and 9 miles if one wish to bypass a certain stretch of road or highways that is on the route under detour option, but one can also selectively detour one segment of the route by selecting the street or highway you wish to avoid. This type of flexibility offer the user the ultimate customizable routing option available on some selective higher price GPS products, and this type of features may not be found on some affordable lower end competitive GPS products currently available on the market.

Unlike some similar competitive GPS units that require you to pre-plan a route on a computer and input the routes you wish to take to customize your route. The multiple route destination feature list allows user to plan a trips or destinations one after another in advance, this unit can store multiple routing destination from one destination to the next in advance, and this can aid the driver from having to input each address they wish to go as they reach each destination one at a time. The route optimization feature option offers even more benefit to users, it will optimize your multiple route destinations by distant and time, this feature offers the most efficient way to calculate multiple routes to ALL of your selected destination starting from the nearest address to the furthest without you having to figure it out on a paper map or on a computer. This type of advance multiple destinations routing feature is found mostly on more expensive higher end GPS units.

The OneTouch feature revolutionized the industry by allowing user to quickly find the destination without having to fumble through address book or points of interest category and fields, without having to select cities, streets and numbers, it is truly a OneTouch feature that allows user to quickly and efficiently route to their most visited or desired POI or addresses quickly. This feature is by far one of Magellan best offering to eliminate the need to hunt for certain locations you can simply store most used POI such as the brand of gas station you use like Chevron or Shell, the coffee house by brand such as Starbucks coffee or Peets coffee, banks, ATM, rental car facilities, airports etc. This OneTouch feature enable user to only find the nearest brand of POI you wish to patronize and will not display ALL irrelevant brand of the gas stations or coffee houses near you when you select the OneTouch feature. This option reduces a lot of time for sorting out unwanted contents.

AAA Tourbook option enable user not only to view the many AAA approved Hotels and Restaurants by diamonds rating and where one knows it is safe to patronize, but it allows additional TourBook Destinations such as Attractions, Events such as Art and Wine festivals, and city sponsored events such as Harvest Festival Art and Craft, Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook-off among many other events that is available. This type of benefits was only available to AAA members in the past and now with these new Magellan RoadMate GPS systems, they are including this benefit with all their GPS units. The AAA Category option also offers Approved AAA Auto Repair recommendations as a benefit. AAA hold their approved AAA auto repair facilities to a much higher standard, and they oversee any complaints or dispute issues that may arise from any auto repair facilities that is AAA approved. Should their AAA customers be dissatisfied with their car repair, AAA will interject and help mediate and resolve complaints. AAA may act as a mediator to resolve any differences between an AAA approved repair facility and their customers. Most of the time you will find AAA will side with the consumer and request the repair facility to resolve any disputes or complaints. This benefit is extremely useful considering if you are traveling in unfamiliar locations and your vehicle should happen to need repair, you would wish to participate with an AAA approved auto repair facility.

The Tourbook also offer a guide to Nearest Campgrounds, this is a great points of interest category to include for outdoor type users.

The final offer unfortunately is only for AAA members that carry an AAA membership card. For all AAA members, they offer a member ship discount benefits aka Show Your Card and Save. This benefit allow AAA member to save as little as $1 off to 10-20% off on many services and merchandizes including restaurants, saving from company such as UPS stores savings up to 15% on copies, faxes, mailboxes etc and 5% on shipping or save from truck rentals such as Penske Truck Rental from 10% for local rentals and 12% on one-way rentals. Theme park discounts, hair cut discounts, vision care discounts to discounts to sporting events, the list just keeps going. This type of benefits is very worthwhile if one was to decide to make a road trip or go on a vacation. These benefits are also great from someone that is driving all the time.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with AAA but I have been an AAA member for many years and enjoy the savings they have to offer. Remember to enjoy these show your card and save benefits, one must be an AAA member or be with a friend that is an AAA member.

This new Magellan RoadMate 1470 is bigger, slimmer and it is also smarter. For those of us that have a difficult time spelling out street names and Cities in Hawaii or Puerto Rico, names like Kaneohe or Wahiawa in the State of Hawaii, one may have difficult time guessing how to spell the city name. With the Magellan RoadMate and the smart city search feature, it will display the City name as you type in a few letters on the spell screen, and also will blank out the letters that is not associated with any cities making it easier to find the city of your choice. If you are near the city you are searching for, the name of the city will pop up first which makes it easier for you to find surrounding cities near your location. This Smart City Search is an excellent feature to aid anyone in spelling cities or street names. The Quick Spell street name search functions similarly that it only offers alphabets letters of available street names and will blank out letters that are not associated with any street name in that city. This enable the user to narrow down the search unlike many competitive units that requires the user to type in the full name before it can determine if it is available or not.

Audio quality provides louder speaker volume output. One of the biggest complaints as to portable GPS systems are the audio output is never loud enough. This new Magellan RoadMate 1470 outperforms in sound volume than the higher end Magellan Maestro's 4250 and 4350/4370's. So if volume is a concern to you, this would be the unit for you. If you drive a loud/noisy vehicle such as a large SUV, truck or a convertible, you may wish to consider this GPS model.

The Magellan RoadMate 1470 Text size is physically larger making it easier for vision impaired user to see the input keys.

One feature that is very helpful is now the unit will display the ETA on the POI menu when you select a category and POI, this will allow user to understand what the approximate ETA will be to route to the POI user selected.

The Exit POI is a very a nice feature that allows users to know what Gas Stations, Hotels, and Restaurants etc that are available in the up coming exit while routing on freeways and highways.

This unit being offered at less than $239 includes the latest and freshest mapping software version 35 which is Q308 mapping software from NavTeq. The average map update cost these days is $49-$79 and considering all the new features this Magellan RoadMate 1470 unit has to offer, it's a bargain and the intelligent solution to keep your GPS fresh and up to date. Remember when you buy these new model GPS units, also includes the 1 year factory warranty.

Lane Assist feature is new to Magellan on the RoadMate product lines. Again this type of advance features are normally offered in higher end PND products. Lane assist enable user to know well in advance what highway or freeway lane they should be in before the exit. This feature is extremely helpful in cities such as Los Angeles that have multiple freeway interchanges, exits and entrances that could easily confuse any driver, with the lane assist feature, the user will be knowledgeable as to which lane and exit they need to take before it is too late. This by far is one of the more desirable feature much like Text to Speech, it keeps the driver better inform as the routes the GPS is directing the driver to take.

The famous patented Magellan Chime/ Bell just-in-time warning feature offers a warning such as "ding-ding" just before the execution. This warning feature allows the user not only to be sure that they are asked to take the turn or exit at the right time, but that they are taking the correct turn and not the street before or after. Too often on short city streets that a warning such as left turn on 3rd street may not be enough if you are in heavy traffic and focusing on the heavy city traffic on the road, sometimes street signs are not easily found and the bell chime confirms that you should make an immediate turn after the chime offer user another level of confirmation.

By far the Magellan RoadMate 1470 offers the most warning of any GPS units, on a normal freeway exit, it will announce 2 miles before the exit, 1 mile before the exit, .5 miles before the exit, .2 miles before the exit and the warning chime just before the exit. On shorter city streets it may only announce .2 of a mile left turn on 3rd street and the bell chime will sound off just before the necessary turn. And if the warning is not enough, you can always select the repeat audio command feature to hear the distant count down if you are unsure when you are going to make the turn. You may ask yourself how this warning feature is different than most other GPS systems currently available. Most competing GPS products may only announce left turn ahead and you may have 2 streets one after another and will have to confirm by taking your eyes off the road and reconfirm via map screen which is not the safest way to navigate in a busy city. Magellan has the right solution by offer both Text to Speech and bell warning chime Just-In-Time before the turn. This is something that is a feature that is much desired and not found in competing GPS products.

Traffic Information, if you are a heavy commuter and requires as much traffic information as possible, you may consider the Magellan RoadMate 1470 offers free lifetime traffic service with the optional traffic receiver. This is a necessary feature to have if you are spending a lot of time on the freeway or highways.

Overview: Bigger, Thinner, Smarter, and Faster. This Magellan RoadMate 1470 is currently the only FULL feature we can find at less than $239 and we feel for a portable navigation device that includes a large 4.7" display, OneTouch patented feature, Text To Speech, Lane Assist, AAA TourBook, millions of points of interest, 2D-3D views map display with a loud audio output speaker is the only intelligent choice for educated consumer to consider. This is the unit that we recommend for the consumer that is looking for the right product at a great price without sacrificing a lot of the advance features currently available on the market today.

No GPS unit is without its limitations, this unit lacks some of the features such as Voice Recognition, BlueTooth, MP3 player, Picture Viewer, Pedestrian mode, ability to route to Lat/Long coordinates, and the DC power cord mount is not user friendly since it interferences with the windshield mount and there is no real way to remove the unit from the mount using one hand.
There appears to be a slightly longer boot up time than most GPS, approximately 3-40 seconds which feels long when the average units boots up in about 10-15 seconds.
Although there are tons of new POI's, there are some older POIs that are missing for whatever reason I am not sure, but the POI seems to be different not necessary a lot more but just more new categories.

Over all, this unit is highly recommended for the features it has to offer, the sturdy routing and the Magellan legendary ease of use.

James Keh aka GPS4ME/PND4ME also Auto Nav 2000 Plus, Inc / Auto Nav Direct

This is my first GPS, so I'm comparing the unit to my expectations. I like the large screen and it sucessfully navagated me from Washington DC to Atlantic City and back. It picked routes that I would not have choosen and, with one exception, I was satisfied with the routes it picked. This unit does get confused sometimes, saying you need to make a U-turn when you actually have reached you destination. Also, a Giant food store that has been at the location more than 30 years is not in the POI list, while other Giant's are in the list. These issues probably are more a problem with the NAVTEQ database than with Magellan. NAVTEQ supplies its database to other GPS manufacturers, so these problems probably will be found in other units.

I believe that only Magellan has the AAA tour book, and I consider this a plus. Also, even if you have to pay for the 1470 traffic cable, it will be cheaper than the other manufacturer's since they charge an annual fee. The traffic alerts did work on my trip. However, several times it warned of slow traffic ahead, but I never encountered any. Other paid services claim to also provide weather information, and I wish this unit provided it.

I experience one spontaneous reboot and sometimes it takes a long time to find the satellites. If you are in an underground parking structure and the unit still can't find the satellites after you are outside, you may have to reboot the unit (I had to do this once).

You cannot remove the unit from its mount without removing the mini USB charger cable first and this can be difficult. The reason is the mini USB cable charger end is L-shaped and overlaps a finger on the mount. It would have been very easy for Magellan to use a straight mini USB plug. Then you could have easily mounted and remove the unit without removing the cable.

There is no way to upload an address book to the unit. I had assumed that the CDROM that ships with the unit would have software. The only thing on the CD is a complete users manual. Note that the printed manual is only an abbreviated one. There are many more features covered in the CD manual.

Now a few tips. If you have a computer, you have a charger for the unit. The USB to mini USB cable that ships with the unit will charge the 1470. You cannot operate the unit while it charges, so just leave it off. You don't have to by a charger. In fact, if you have a digital camera that uses a USB charger, this may work to charge the 1470 too.

If you don't want to mount the unit to the windshield, there are mounts that fit in the car cup holder. I have my 1470 mounted to the top of a plastic jar that fits snuggly in the holder, and the unit works in that location. BRACKETRON makes a cup holder mount available at Amazon.

You can effectively add POIs by adding them to the address book. When the screen comes up for saving, check off the box to add it to the One Touch menu. A button icon will appear on the one touch menu for that POI.

If you take your unit when you leave your car, you can get a jump on the boot time by turning it on as you head back to the car.

Overall, I am please with the 1470. I gave it 4-stars because I like the large screen, its price vs features, and the inclusion of the AAA tour book.

Let me preface this by saying, I have always been seriously directionally challenged. 'Lost' was my natural state of being...so when the first car GPS systems became available, I bought one right away.

I am now on my third, a Garmin Nuvi 760. I was very eager to see this new Magellan 1470 and compare it to the Nuvi. My family laughs at me for calling my GPS 'My car lady' (my brother actually named *his * GPS 'Dorothy', and no I have no idea why. I don't think he knows anyone named Dorothy). For purposes of this review, I will refer to NuviLady and MagellanLady so I can compare/contrast the two.

The Magellan screen, at 4.7 inches, is slightly larger than the Nuvi. The screen is very easy to see and read and the touchscreen buttons are well placed and very responsive. I do like the inclusion of an 'emergency' button, which will, if touched, immediately route to the nearest hospital. It's not something you want to need but if you do need it, it's a good option.

Magellan has produced a fine GPS but if you are looking for additional special features that are on some other units, you will not find them here. There's no Bluetooth/handsfree option, no MP3 or audiobook player, no FM broadcast...note that I am not commenting on whether I think these features are necessary on a GPS, I am just saying they aren't here. There is a hardware option called 'TrafficLink' which will give realtime traffic warnings, but I did not receive this so I could not try it. It does include AAA tourbook information and ratings on points of interest, which is very nifty! You can ask to be taken to the nearest restaurant, gas station, etc. I like that a lot because I just hate being in a strange town and not being able to find Starbuck's.

My first test was to ask MagellanLady to take me to my Mom's house, on the other side of town, about a half hour's drive from my house. Entering Mom's address was simple, and the town and street names prefilled with guesses as I typed in the letters...once the street name was correct, I hit the green checkmark and was on my way. MagellanLady tells you when to turn, and she also says the street name. Her pronunciation is very good, but she was fooled by a few streets in my city with strange pronunciations (Chili Avenue, for example, is pronounced with two long i's, not like the bean dish, and MagellanLady got it wrong...for that matter, so does NuviLady).

MagellanLady led me to the expressway and told me which route to take. At one point, driving thru the city center (though still on the expressway), she got excessively chatty. As I passed each exit, she murmured 'Continue on current route'. This got a little annoying, given that the exits in that area are very close to each other, and I started murmuring back at her 'Right, don't get off here, I GOT IT!!!'. This may have been a 'city' option because once I got out to the burbs, she quieted down again, but I did not see any way to turn it off.

I got to Mom's house without any trouble, and I saved the location as one of my favorites, so I can now get there with a 'one-touch' option. I then turned around and entered my home address, saved that (again a one-touch) and clicked 'take me home'. I wanted to see how the GPS would handle a wrong turn, so I deliberately drove past the expressway entrance she wanted me to take, and drove home via regular roads. NuviLady says 'Off route!' any time I take a wrong turn (she always sounds a little annoyed, too, I just KNOW she's thinking `If you didn't want to take my directions, why did you ask for them in the first place??'). She then reroutes from the current location. MagellanLady kept any angst to herself, and quietly rerouted me. She kept wanting to turn me around and head back to the expressway entrance, but after awhile she stopped asking me to turn and started directing me forward. I expect that at some point it simply became faster to keep going than turn around and head back.

The GPS does remember your current trip route if you turn off the car, so if you stop for lunch it will simply resume the trip when you come back.

All in all, this is a very nice GPS. If you want the extra features I mentioned, keep looking. If, however, you want a GPS without a lot of confusing added options, this one is excellent!

I just received this and have traveled about 1000 miles with it on a road trip. Firstly, the actual maps and navigation prompts have been very good. I also have a Nuvi and although I like my Nuvi, this GPS model does have some advantages. The highway assists are excellent and the audible tone at turns are very good as well. The graphics are very easy on the eyes. The one touch feature is very cool! Basically, a shortcut icon that can potentially save you a lot time if you find yourself typing in the same POI constantly (Starbucks anyone?). Adding routes are easy and a nice feature that my Nuvi does not support. The unit is also very sleek and fairly portable for such a large screen.

Now for the cons. I prefer Garmin's approach to charging the unit with the cradle attachment automatically. With this model, you have to MANUALLY plug in the charging cable. Doesn't sound like much but it does make it more difficult attaching and removing the unit from the cradle. Sometimes the unit is inexplicably slow and does not respond to the touch prompts. Not so annoying but it happens occasionally. The sound quality is somewhat "tinny" and not that great but not a deal breaker for the price. Battery life is fairly short at 2-3 hours but most people will have it attached to the charging cable anyway.

Overall, I would recommend this unit wholeheartly if you can deal with the manually attaching the charging cable :(

We purchased the Roadmate 1470 days before our month long roadtrip. Day two into the trip the unit began to fail with a message stating it needed to shut down. This rendered the GPS totally useless for our trip. When I called Magellan from the road they suggested I download a software update which should fix the problem. We did the download and still the unit was not working and the message and automatic shutdown continued. Magellan was obviously aware of the problem as they made mention of it on their website - too bad they couldn't have recalled it before letting people purchase it in good faith as we did. They have asked us to return the unit and presumably they will replace it. Frankly, I'd rather have a refund as we bought it specifically for the trip. I would not recommend Magellan at this time.

I received a new unit directly from the AAA/Magellan website with an old software version on it.
We used it for 1 day and noticed that the sound quality was so poor you could not understand the names of the roads it was telling you to turn onto. So I decided to go to the website to download the latest version 2.05 as per their instructions on the website. All went well until during the install the unit went into the reboot mode and never came back out. I opened a ticket on line with their customer service asking for help but got no response in several days. I then opened a new ticket figuring maybe the first one was lost some how. Still no response. So I then called the help line, got put on hold for 20 minutes before being able to talk to a customer rep. The Representative had no technical knowledge of the product and they were obviously reading from a script in very broken English. All they keep saying is read the help on line and if this does not help call the help line. I told them that is what did and I am currently talking to the help line. This call went no where fast. 2 days after my call I finally got a reply back from my first on line ticket with some instructions on how to fix the unit. I followed the instructions and they did not work, so I kicked the email back to Magellan asking for a Return authorization #. After another 5 days they issued the return authorization number, and requested that I send the unit back to them at my own expense via FEDX, This cost me $10 of my own money to return a defective unit. 10 days later I get back a different refurbished unit that is all scratched up and will not save any addresses. Here I go again with trying to get a working unit from them. They have had my money for over a month and I got to use the GPS for about a day.
I should have bought another brand to start with and saved a bunch of time and money. This is the last Magellan I will ever buy.

I have used TomTom One for several years, but I wanted a larger screen and spoken streets.
I got a Magellin 1470. So, how do they compare one-on-one?

ROUTING/MAP ACCURACY: a tie
Both pick almost identical routes to that of Yahoo Maps. Route timing is almost perfect in each case - when not driving in rush hour. What about rush hour? TomTom does not have traffic, and my 1470 does not either, but lifetime traffic for the 1470 is a $55 option (from Amazon). Some new TomToms have 24/7 IQ Routing which is supposed to correct for differing traffic at different times of the day, but I have not tested this. Maps really don't change much year to year, and I can't fault either unit for map accuracy. The TomTom can down load, for free, map corrections reported by other users. I did not find the TomTom map corrections to be very useful.

TIME TO LOCK GPS SIGNALS: slight edge to TomTom
When turning on either GPS, there is a delay of several minutes to lock on the GPS satellites. Annoyingly, both units then often, but temporarily, lose signal (usually after you have started driving). The TomTom has a slight edge because the screen at least grays out to warn you. One of the other reviewers says that the 1470 does not have a sleep mode. This is incorrect. When you push the top slide power button you put it to sleep. To actually turn it off you must push and hold the same button.

POSITION ACCURACY: a disappointing tie
For both units, your actual position is usually 50-100 or more feet ahead of the indicated position when driving at 45-55 mph. Very annoying (for both units)! Sometimes either GPS might incorrectly indicate you are on a very close parallel road such as a freeway service road, or think that you are still on the freeway when you have actually just gotten off at an exit. ALSO. You should realize that no GPS unit is very good at determining direction when hand held (or in a vehicle). For this reason, some Garmin handheld (but not vehicle GPS) include an electronic compass to correct the GPS. All GPS should include an electronic compass!

CORRECT LANE INDICATOR: this is really useful
My TomTom does not have this feature, but some newer TomToms and Garmins do. The Magellin 1470 has lane indication for most of the freeway exits here in Indianapolis.
NOTE: no GPS actually knows which lane you are in (see position accuracy, above). Instead, the freeway intersection ahead is shown with arrows for the correct lanes. It is your task to get in one of those lanes, but it works well and is very useful. Recommended.

SCREEN READABILITY: Magellin a clear winner
The Magellin's 4.7 inch screen blows away the TomTom's 3.5 screen. Some people seem to complain that Magellin's screen is not bright enough, but I actually have it turned down to 50% brightness. What about the TomTom XLs and Garmins with the 4.3 inch screen? I still find that the maps and street lettering is significantly bigger and easier to read on the 4.7 inch Magellin. It seems a small difference, but it really is much bigger. Magellin still a clear winner!

POCKETABILITY: Magellin wins
The TomTom with the smaller screen has a smaller width and height, but it is much thicker. It really bulges in the front pants pocket. The Magellin is only 0.7 inches thick. This means it easily fits in the front pocket of men's jeans. Other reviewers have complained about the location of the power connector. It is a stupid design, but I don't find it a real issue. If you are removing the unit from the car, you will be detaching both the power cord and the window mount anyway.

POINTS OF INTEREST: MAGELLIN IS LIGHT YEARS AHEAD!!
TomTom and newer TomToms (and Garmins) have points of interest indicated as icons on the screen. If you touch an icon the name and phone number pops up, but that's it. I have found this so useless that I have turned it off on my TomTom! Magellin can show points of interest the same way, BUT it has a much better system.
Let's say you are looking for a restaurant near you hotel. Tap "Local Options", "Local Info", and "Restaurants". A list of all nearby restaurants pops up with name and phone number. BUT MAGELLIN CAN DO MUCH BETTER! So select the "AAA" tab. Now AAA rated restaurants are shown with the AAA rating, and with the full review from the AAA guidebook, which would normally require AAA membership (if you are a AAA member, you get a 2 year warranty after registration instead of the normal 1 year). Extremely useful feature! MAGELLIN BLOWS AWAY TOMTOM (and Garmin)!!!

SPOKEN STREETS: Magellin OK
My TomTom One does not have this feature so Magellin wins. Magellin has a female computer voice that speaks the streets which is OK, but not great. My TomTom has a very good real human voice that gives directions, but does not speak the street name. Newer TomToms and Garmins can speak the streets, but then they also must use the crummy computer voice. Speaking the street name is an advantage that outweighs the computer voice.

NEXT TURN ARROW: a slight edge to TomTom
TomTom has a very visible turn arrow at the lower left of the screen which counts down the distance to the next turn in yards. This is extremely useful for tricky turns, even though it is not always precisely accurate. Magellin has a turn arrow at the top left, but it is somewhat less visible and only counts down to the turn in 0.1 mile increments. This disadvantage for Magellin is offset by a very visible turn arrow that is placed onto the map intersection (remember the Magellin has a much larger screen and map).
UNFORTUNATELY, so far, Magellin has a software bug that causes the Next Turn Arrow and the Next Turn Street Name to freeze up after about 30 min of driving, and then for the remainder of the trip! This is bad and is still present in Software version 1.10 (the current version). However, the map itself does not freeze, and it does continually and correctly locate the vehicle, as well as any upcoming turns with the arrow on the map as well as the spoken voice, so the device can still be used. The freeze can also be corrected by turning Magellin off and then back on. But Hey, there is no excuse for this! Magellin technical support says they are working on a new software update. Until it is fixed, it is a bad thing.

OVERALL: CLEAR WIN FOR MAGELLIN 1470
Clear win for Magellin 1470 over TomTom One, and I think all other TomToms and Garmins because of (1) the larger screen and (2) AAA Points of interest. I think that it is also thinner than even the thinnest TomToms and Garmins, but not by much. However, if Magellin does not eventually fix the software bug mentioned above, I might come to a different conclusion. I am giving it four stars until this issue is corrected, but then 5 stars.


Update (07/07/09)
1. I really like the large screen on the 1470!

2. More on signal lock problems (mentioned above):
The 1470 and the TomTom sometimes lock on to the satellite signals immediately (within a minute), but other times it (and TomTom) may take as long as 5 minutes (even with a clear view of the sky). This can seem like an eternity! Perhaps it is due to atmospheric conditions? As mentioned above, the 1470 is not good at notifying the user of the problem. Sometimes it will say it is "searching for a signal", but other times it may falsely claim that it has a good signal (the signal meter shows a strong signal). Of course, it does not correctly update your position until it actually has a signal.

3. More info concerning top Turn Arrow Freezing (mentioned above):
So far no software update is available to correct the problem. This does not happen after 30 min of driving as I had thought, but only after a Recalculation. For example, while following 1470's route to a destination, I decide to get lunch and exit the freeway. 1470 immediately realizes I am off course and tells me to make a U-turn. I ignore it and proceed to look for a place to eat, and I may (or may not) actually stop to eat. By this point, 1470 has recalculated a new more efficient route to my destination, and the upper left turn arrow is showing the next turn on this new route. However, instead of following its new route, I decide to merely turn around to get back on the freeway (the original route). The map figures this out and recalculates back to the original route, but the upper turn arrow keeps waiting for that next turn which, of course, never comes. The 1470 must be turned off (actually this puts it into sleep mode) and back on if you wish to reset the upper turn arrow. This problem concerns the "next turn" arrow at the top of the screen, and not the turn arrow shown on the map itself (which is always correct).

Update 9/4/09
1. I recently had it on a 2 major trips and it was great. A few times I was behind traffic that was clearly following standard guide books directions. The 1470 disagreed and after weaving through side streets, I would invariably find myself ahead of the mentioned traffic! The 1470 has a feature that looks for AAA rated restaurants along the current route and then routes you there which works great.

2. More info concerning top Turn Arrow Freezing (mentioned above):
I am becoming convinced that this is an undocumented "feature." It does not happen often enough for me to figure out it's supposed benefit. Maybe it is trying to give me a choice of current route and a detour?

3. As mentioned above, the 1470 can sometimes be very slow at locking onto the satellite signals - taking up to 5 minutes. This is annoying, but I usually just head in the desired general direction and after awhile the 1470 corrects my route.

Update 2/21/10
I installed the Magellan software update ver 2.20.
Pro:
It made signal acquisition MUCH, MUCH faster - now generally with in 60 sec from turning on unit! Very good!! Also, no more turn arrow freezing.
Con:
It bricked my unit! I emailed customer service and they promptly sent me a brand new unit - after I returned my broken unit. I give customer service an A+. It was an older software version, so I crossed my fingers and updated it. This time everything worked.