Customer Reviews

Magellan RoadMate 2200T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The 2200T just came out this fall (2006), so many of the online review summaries have not adequately compared it to the competition. The most direct competition comes from the Tom Tom One (same price range), although many may be considering paying more money for the Garmin Nuvi 360 as well.

I took a look at the Nuvi 360 in the store, and it was quite flimsy feeling compared to the 2200T. The Nuvi felt a bit cheap compared to the very solid feel of the 2200T. Considering the Nuvi's significantly higher price and large overlap of key features, I didn't consider the Nuvi further. Your mileage may vary, but the Nuvi seemed like a poor value.

The Tom Tom One has gotten a lot of praise, and I'm sure it's a good product, but most of the online reviews were written before the 2200T was widely available. The reasons that I chose the 2200T over the Tom Tom are:

1. Spoken street names. Often called "text to speech," the 2200T actually says the street names when giving directions ("Turn Left on Main Street") so you can keep your eyes on the road (and look for the street sign). The Tom Tom just says "Turn Left" and you either have to trust that it means the next possible left turn, or you have to take your eyes off of the road to find the street name on the the screen. And on the Tom Tom website it doesn't appear that the name of the street that you should turn onto is always displayed on that map.

2. Display information. The 2200T always displays above the map the name of the street you are on AND below the map the name of the street you will turn on next. You can always find that information quickly. The Tom Tom only displays below the map the name of the street that you are currently on: there is no fixed display of the street (or exit) coming up (a big oversight in my view). You have to wait until you get close to it to see it on the map itself. This can be a problem if you need to get into an exit lane or turning lane well before the turn--the Tom Tom will not give you adequate information to do that.

3. Display information (part II). The 2200T shows a detailed view of the intersection at the upcoming turn as you approach it: this clearly diagrams any tricky traffic flow that you may have to navigate, and it can appear on half the screen while the standard map remains on the other half. In a sense, the 2200T walks you through the turn, which can be extremely useful when street layouts and traffic flow are complex and unfamiliar (exactly why you buy these things in the first place). The Tom Tom only has the standard map view, so it doesn't provide the extra detail that the 2200T does (it's not even a view that you can manually call up).

4. Interface design. The 2200T has a very easy to understand design. Many extra bits of information are accessible by pressing different buttons on the map screen. Press the readout of distance to the next turn, for example, and it repeats the last verbal instruction. Or press the symbol for the next turn in the bottom left, and it shows a whole list of the turns for the route. The Tom Tom also has a friendly interface, but the online reviews that I saw didn't credit the 2200T with also being good.

5. Expandable. The 2200T can be expanded to include off-road topographic maps (when Magellan introduces these in the next couple of months). The Tom Tom only has maps for roads, and Tom Tom has no expansion plan to include topo maps.

6. Backup and restore without a PC. The 2200T will backup (and restore) all of your stored data (addresses, additional points of interest) to an SD memory card. No connection to a computer required. The Tom Tom needs you to have a computer with their software installed in order to backup and restore.

7. Import Points of Interest (POI) from all standard formats. The PC (Windows only) software for the 2200T reads all of the standard file formats (including XML) for Points of Interest. So if you want to pull a dataset off of the internet (for example, if you are into geocaching), the 2200T software can show them on the map. The Tom Tom does also have the ability to add data points, but it's unclear from their literature whether all of the standard formats are supported.

8. Battery life. The 2200T has an eight-hour battery life, so you can really use it all day outside of the car (if you're walking around an unfamiliar city, for example, or if you get the upcoming topographic map upgrade for off-road use while hiking or fishing). The Tom Tom One has only a two-hour nominal battery life, and the manufacturer's estimates are usually optimistic. It's a pity since the Tom Tom One is also highly portable and would otherwise be useful when not in the car. (N.B. The 2200T only ships with a car charger. If you want to use it outside of your car when you first open the box, you need to charge it up for two hours. You may want to get an AC charger in this case (unless you plan to be driving for a couple of hours after you get it). AC chargers are available from Magellan and various after-market suppliers on the internet.)

By comparison, the Tom Tom has few advantages. It does provide Macintosh software as well as Windows, but the Magellan 2200T is self-contained. The PC software is not required to operate and backup the device, so the advantage here is slight.

I hope the results of my research are useful. Both the Tom Tom One and the Magellan 2200T are very good, but I think the 2200T offers more value. I also notice that several folks have posted comments about inaccurate maps and software problems with the Tom Tom (which uses the Tele Atlas map database). I expect Tom Tom will sort out those problems, but the 2200T uses NAVTEQ maps, which are the best available for consumer GPS, so accuracy should be very good out of the box.

I bought this item from Amazon and definitely found it worth recommending to others who might be interested in an not-too-pricey or not-to-cheap GPS receiver. I have used it for about 3 weeks now to navigate my way in NJ/NY/DE/MD/DC

Form Factor - Small / Lightweight / Portable / Very nicey sealed to be splash resistant. The antenna is built into the unit, not a pop up type so no fear of breaking anything. I expect the unit to be very durable because of this.

Battery Life - Specs say around 8 hours, but I have been able to get at least 5 hours or so without recharging the unit, one problem though was that the power level is not visible at all times on the main screen and the unit just shut down at low power without any advance warning. No wall charger supplied and thats a bummer for a unit that costs close to $450.

Navigation - Very clear and accurate directions. Ultra fast rerouting (less than 6 seconds) if you were to miss a turn. Anything faster will be counter productive. The interface is very basic compared to others, but I chose the unit for its simplicity. The built in antenna was able to lock on to at least 11 out of 12 satellites at 90% of the time. Worked nicely in Washington, DC hovewer in New York this unit was useless with tall buildings it could not even get a bearing on its current position.
The maps were accurate most of the time however not perfectly upto date. One good feature is that this unit is upgradeable compared to the Roadmate 2000, hovewer cost to upgrade is unknown at this time.

Text to speech feature - This unit actually spells out street names "Turn right on Main Street in 0.2 miles" instead of just "Turn right in 0.2 miles". On occasion I have even tried to navigate without looking at the screen just listening to its voice prompts in the background and the unit did a good job at pointing me in the right direction. I personally found this feature to be very useful and definitely worth the extra premium in price. One drawback the unit could not not spell numbers it says "exit one-zero" instead of "exit ten", interestingly for interstate highways it said the opposite "I twenty five" instead of "I two five"

I am still testing the unit and will continue to add to this review

I purchased a Magellan 2200T two weeks ago. Overall, I am happy with this GPS unit and I think it provides good value for the relatively low cost (compared to other units in its class).

The reason I purchased this unit (instead of the Tom Tom One and some of the Garmin units) is that it DOES include features that I valued like:

- Text to speech, the unit says the name of the street / road you need to take
- SIRF III chipset (faster satellite lock)
- Extended battery life (don't need to be constantly charging the unit)

This unit also excludes some "features" that others charge for that I don't feel add value to a GPS unit in this price range, specifically Bluetooth capabilities. I own a BT phone and headset, and can't imagine why I'd want to drag a GPS unit into the mix.

The NAVTEQ maps are as accurate as any GPS unit, and the POI set is adequate (I think it may contain slightly fewer points of interest vs. other units).

Again, overall I'm happy with the features, quality, and functionality. My only "wishes" are for a more robust POI database and a better online documentation from Magellan.

I got a 2200T after doing a fair amount of research. All things considered, it does offer a good value, expecially compared to the more expensive Nuvi and Garmin units.

I agree with many of the reviewer's comments on shortcomings vis a vis POI database size and the clunkiness of some of the touch screen operations. It's really annoying to need to enter a street name before the street number, but I guess it's necessary for the database to function most efficiently. I haven't found a way to program routes directly on my PC and upload them to the gps. Also, it would be great to be able to save a previously traveled route and associate it with an address book entry, so you could use that routing automatically in the future.

My unit suffered from the random reboot problems mentioned by other owners. along with a host of other (what I thought were bugs) operating problems. After MUCH time spent with tech support, I thought I had finally diagnosed the problem. I have an EZ-PASS installed on my windshield, and it can interfere with the 2200T. The degree of interference will depend upon on the distance between the EZ-PASS tag your GPS. I'm now told that the problem also exists with some Satellite Radio receivers as well.

I repositioned the suction mount 3" to the left, and the unit appeared to function fine, until it died again !.

Long story short... I RMA'ed FOUR of these units to Magellan until I received one that actually worked.

Since then, I've upgraded the firmware at least once, and the unit continues to work fairly well, even with my EZ Pass tag installed alongside. I guess Magellan had some initial manufacturing problems with this unit. Keep that in mind if you're buying one from "shelf stock".

I have used this GPS (Roadmate 2200T)for about 4 weeks, it has done everything that Magellan said it would do. The voice is clear and loud. The only thing that I would like the GPS to have is a recall button, sometimes when my wife and are talking, I would miss the first part of the announcement. I guess It really isn't that bad, all you have to do is look at the screen to see your location-The really nice thing about this GPS is that you don't have to look at the screen,(unless you miss the announcement) the announcement has good enough instructions to keep you going in the right direction.

After waiting a rather long time, we decided to finally buy a hand-held GPS navigation unit. What better time than to buy it just before our Labor Day weekend vacation?

After comparing products by Tom-Tom, Garmin and Magellan, I decided to buy the 2200T. I weighed Tom-Tom One and the Magellan 3100 Maestro and for kicks, the Mio C220. Both the Tom-Tom and the Mio products didn't my ONE essential feature you should look for - text-to-voice. This feature alone is a time and stress saver if you are driving alone and say you see three streets ahead and the unit says 'turn right 200 yards'. When you are new to Manhattan and you need to make turns fairly quickly with all the bumper-kissing traffic behind and incredibly over the speed limit, you do not want the unit to not say the street name. I say the one feature, because I was looking at a unit costing less than $200 and at
this range you will have some basic plus features built-in such as portability, voice directions, pre-loaded maps, easy-to-use interface, maybe the sirfstar III chip, etc. The 2200T I ended up buying was a refurbished unit and with speed shipping cost me slightly over 190.

I can state all the features of the unit which would be mere repetition. So, I will stick to what struck me most.

After it arrived, the unit wouldn't power on. After some frustration, my wife realized that it was because the battery wasn't charged. So plug in the unit with the supplied power adapter. Look for the adapter being part of the package, some units only have the car adapter.

First off, the unit (Lynn as I called her or sometime M.J. both together rhyming with Magellan!) gives easy options to override a route. This is handy if you know which route to take best at the start of your journey, like from home to the nearest entry to the freeway. Whenever, you don't follow the displayed route, M.J. re-routed fairly quickly, almost within 3 seconds, due to the advanced Sirfstar III chipset.

The unit reminded us about 2 miles and again in 1/2 mile in advance of a turn, which is nice, especially in unfamiliar territory. Over the 800 miles we drove, it missed this only once, but it wasn't a big deal as the road (I-95) veered off the right after splitting into another route, something I didn't miss due to the clear markings. Along with the warning, it tells what the next turn would be preparing you in advance. For e.g., 'Exit number 123 in 0.4 miles followed by a slight left turn'. At exactly (almost) the point where you turn or veer-off, the unit emits a ding-ding sound that assures you are on the right track (or just missed the turn, for e.g.).

As I was driving, I almost never looked into the unit as my wife or my son were keeping track more than I was. But the voice was pretty clear to follow, if I were to use it on my own. The voice lacks intonations and the words can sound funny sometimes and not clearly comprehensible, but seeing the road signs ahead I could make out what was meant. The unit is pretty light weight and though a bit more than desirably-slim, can fit into a pocket or a purse. But the coolness factor was not my priority.

There were times when the road name wasn't recognized correctly. It kept repeating 295 for 395 around Washington D.C and similarly in another area in Maryland. But, don't expect this or any GPS unit to be perfect. You can't forget to look out a bit for yourself, lest you want to enslave yourself to the unit, however enticing!

The best part was, and the whole price I paid was worth it, when we were entering the Harbor tunnel in Portsmouth and there was over 3 miles of back-up. The yellow flashing image on the left side of the unit, when pressed, showed us an alternate route. Not wanting to wait over 30 minutes, we decided to act as directed. And, lo-and-behold, in an area we have never been in, it guided us through to the other side over a close-by bridge. This feature (alternate route), comes on when it senses the speed of the vehicle to have slowed down considerable (like 10mph) due to traffic, for example. Time and stress saver, right here! It saved us more when we were again stuck in traffic at 9 PM and guided us through back-street Norfolk to our hotel.

Now for another great feature - We were easily able to find an Indian restaurant in the vicinity and arrived there without any problem at all. Without the unit, we wouldn't even have ventured to drive 7-8 miles after dark! This gave us so much confidence that we tracked down another restaurant to our liking the next day.

We couldn't find a Wal-Mart close by when we wanted to, but we found an outlet mall easily. Again 2 million points of interest (POI) is a lot but not enough to cover every conceivable store/doctor you would like to find in a vacation place.

As I write this review, we all feel that M.J. or Lynn (still being debated) is already part of the family and we are eager to explore more with it. Did I say that the display was clear and that Consumer's Reports rated the 2200T as a best buy? If you are on the line with the 2200T, I am confident you will love it as we do.

[...]

Overview
The Magellan 2200 T is a compact model in the Roadmate series. If you are familiar with other Roadmate models you will instantly be at home with the primary color theme with boxy icons of the GUI. Although very similar in look, the 2200 has many subtle GUI changes from earlier models (like the 300 series) that enhance performance. It features a 3.5 inch touch screen that controls most functions. Like other Roadmates, the screen is very bright giving it an advantage over other brands in bright sunlight. Other unique properties include the fact that it is weather resistant and has an exceptionally long battery life (8 hour is listed on the box). These later facts could make it practical to use out of the car.

Routing
The reason that anyone buys a GPS unit is routing. You put in an address and the unit guides you there. Magellan's big break into the US market was by putting "Never Lost" systems into Hertz rentals, so it had to develop a system that could be used by someone without reading a 100 page manual. These characteristics have carried through to their consumer products.

Imputing an address is very simple and improved from the earlier 300 series. With the older series (which I have) I often felt that adding an address was like playing Sudoku. Which combination of letters would give me the address that I knew was inside the unit? The 2200T has some simple changes (like asking for a city first) that has made this process much easier and more efficient. For instance, I no longer have to dig through a dozen "River Roads" to find the right one. In conclusion: entering addresses is a snap!

Magellans always ask your route preference (shortest time, most use of expressways, least use of expressways, etc.) every time you ask it to plot a route. I never realize what a huge advantage this was until I used units from other brands which typically require you to change routing methods by digging around in menus. For instance, if you are traveling through a big city during rush hour you may want to avoid an expressway (which is routed when you pick "shortest time").

Roadmates are very good at giving your multiple, clear, auditory and visual indicators of your next maneuver. I have used other units (the Mio brand) where I couldn't even figure out what the maneuver icon was telling me (it looked like a letter from the Klingon alphabet). This has never happened using Magellan units (and I have used them for years). Roadmates will also tell you what side of the street your address is on, surprisingly, this is not a universal practice among all brands.

The 2200T has "text-to-speech" or TTS. This means that the unit will say something like: "Turn right in 500 feet, Washington Street" instead of "Turn right in 500 feet." Professional reviewers think TTS is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Personally, I think that it is nice, but the old audio cues worked fine too. Anyway, the 2200 has this feature.

In addition you get a number of routing enhancements in the 2200T. It is easy to exclude a part of a calculated route (perhaps you know the road is under construction). The 2200T will also sense and then signal you when you are traveling too slowly on an expressway. By pressing a button or two the unit will "detour" you off that expressway for the number of miles you prefer. The unit will also allow you to plan a trip that has up to 20 different destinations and it will then route you between those destinations. This feature could be useful for a delivery driver who needs to drop off at multiple sites.

Magellan units have a little function called "locate." By pressing a button the unit gives you your location, simple, but really useful. On an expressway it will tell you the next exit. On a rural road it lets you know what town (township) you are in. It will also approximate an actual address. Great if you need roadside assistance!

I thought that all of the Roadmates used the same routing engine but the 2200T seems calculate things a bit differently. When choosing "least use of highways" other units tend to go for the major streets where the 2200T will sometimes pick smaller (but perfectly acceptable) streets. This is more to my preference. The 2200T will get you where you want to go.

Points of Interest (POIs)
Routing is the most important function of a GPS unit, but POIs are important too. Combining the POI database with GPS capabilities can tell you (for instance) where the closest gas station is.

Roadmates not only give you the distance to a POI but also the direction. It may be easier to go to a grocery store 20 miles ahead than to backtrack 10 miles behind. Surprisingly not all brands of GPS units give you this directional information (they just give distance).

The 2200T has a relatively small POI data base of 1.5 million. This will give you access to core POIs (gas stations, hotels, restaurants, ATMs, car services) and quite a few other categories (grocery stores, shopping malls, police stations, schools and many others). Still, at this small size categories that could be useful to travelers are missing (like campgrounds, pharmacies and cinemas).

All POI data bases (and I have used many) are incomplete and inaccurate. With that said, they are still useful. I tested the 2200T by searching various categories at my home location. Generally I found that it did list most (but not all) gas stations, restaurants and the like. Unfortunately, I found that the data base also had a lot of old data in it. When looking under grocery stores it listed one that had closed 15 years earlier. A major shopping mall had changed its name at least 5 years ago, but it was listed under the old name. I name searched for "Target" and it said that the closes one was in a different state despite the fact that I have two of them less than 10 minutes away from my house.

The 2200T has a category called "Exit POIs" which I have not seen in other brands. This is a very useful and clever feature. When you are traveling on an expressway it will search for core POIs and list them per exit(s). For instance it may say that the next exit is 20 miles ahead and there are gas stations and restaurants close to that exit. Touch the appropriate icon and you will get (for instance) the names of the restaurants.

You can also add custom POIs to the 2200T using an easy to use (and provided) program from Magellan. Using this program not only allows you to make your own POI data bases but to also convert the many that are available on the internet. In this way you can beef up your built-in POIs. There seems to be an endless supply of POI data bases that range from Target store locations to drive-in theater locations. The PC software has several data fields, but only the "name" field shows up on the GPS unit. This is unfortunate as there is space for at least one other data field which could provide additional info like a phone number. A simple firmware update could easily fix this problem. You can also set alarms to custom data bases. For instance, an alarm could sound when you enter a school speed zone.

Fluff and Stuff
GPS units are basically little computers and like any computer they are running an OS under the GPS program. This fact makes it easy (and cheap) to add little "value added" applets that may make a unit seem more desirable.

The 2200T features a basic MP3 player and a photo viewer. Personally, I can't see using my GPS unit to look at photos or listen to MP3s.

The 2200T is also "traffic upgradeable" which is a cool idea "in concept." You can buy a traffic receiver for the 2200T (not cheap) and it will send data to your unit. It will then alert you to bad traffic conditions an help you plan an alternative route around it. It is a great idea that is not quite ready for prime time. Only about 50 major cities have these traffic broadcasts and only on major highways. The function may be great if you do a lot of center city driving but it is certainly not very useful in the suburbs (unless you constantly drive into the center city) or outside these major markets. In addition, you have to pay a yearly subscription fee. At this point in time a good old traffic report on the radio serves much the same purpose and it is FREE.

The 2200T can be upgraded to also be used outside the car (adding topo maps). It then become a multi-purpose unit for both car navigation and outdoor activities like hiking. The problem is, I can't find the "upgrade" software anywhere, including the Magellan web site. If is was reasonably priced the upgrade may be a nice bonus. However, the serious adventurer would probably opt for a dedicated outdoor GPS device which would offer more specific features and a smaller size.

In conclusion: The 2200T is a basic GPS unit with some added features. It (like other Roadmates) does a fantastic job at routing to destinations. It is very easy to use and includes many convenience features not found on some other competitors (always asking for routing choices, telling you what side of the street an address is on, exit POIs, etc). Although still useful, it is a shame that it has a limited and aging POI data base. This is partially remedied by the ability to add custom data bases but again hampered by the inability to view a second data field on the unit (for data like a phone number). Other add-ons, like the traffic receiver, may be desirable to subgroups of users. You can now get the 2200T as a refurb for about $200. At this price point it is a great value and recommended.

Let's start with what it does well: It will reliably direct you to an address, even an obscure one. No problem at all with that function. It was only after purchasing this unit and taking a long drive with it that I began to notice the shortcomings. Here are some of the more significant ones:

1. No city or town names in "map" mode.

I'm not kidding. It will tell you the name of every single park you pass. It will label the lakes and rivers. It will even tell you where the railroad tracks are. But it won't tell you the names of the cities and towns that lie ahead. If you're driving from Alexandria, Virginia to Rockville, Maryland, you might want to know that Washington, D.C. is in between. Magellan doesn't feel that you need that information.

2. Very limited information regarding services at exits.

My old handheld Garmin Vista, which was really designed for hiking, would tell me every gas station, restauarant, etc. at every freeway exit. Magellan tries to do this too, but it only covers the next 6-7 exits. What if you want to stop in 20 miles but not in 5 miles?

3. Gaps in "points of interest" information.

Driving down the interstate, I found that it often "missed" gas stations, etc. that it should have known about, like Shell stations that had been at a certain location for a decade.

4. Incorrect "estimated time of arrival" information.

ETAs with the Magellan always assumed travel at around 50 MPH. Don't ask me why. Couldn't it at least assume that if your average rate of speed is 65 MPH (many freeways now have 70 MPH limits) that you're going to get there faster, and recompute?

5. Clumsy "browse map" feature.

When I returned this unit, I still hadn't figured out this feature, since it's not described in the manual. But in "map" mode, you can "tap" the touchscreen then pull the map in a certain direction. Would be a nice feature, IF the cities and towns were labeled. Since they're not, you can't really know much more than that there are roads, railroad tracks, and city parks in a certain area.

6. Useless bells and whistles.

It's supposed to play MP3's and let you look at pictures, but it cannot do so and navigate at the same time. So who cares? My MP3 player can do all those things, and comes in a much more efficient form. I would rather Magellan spare us the bells and whistles and improve functionality.

Just my thoughts. If you're going to use this mostly for keeping you on track when you're driving around towns and cities, this unit will serve you fine. As for me, I'm going back to Garmin.

Update:
I got my replacement yesterday, and it works great. It's much more responsive than my first one. There must have just been something wrong inside of that one. Fortunately, Amazon was really quick about sending my replacement. I don't know how widespread the problem is, but if you buy one and it seems sluggish and starts doing the random reboot thing, you should try to exchange it where you bought it. Magellan tech support is useless.

Original Post:
Anyone else have this problem? The thing starts giving me directions, everything going along fine, and then all of the sudden the whole unit does a power-cycle and resets for no reason. I then have to click through the goofy "legal disclaimer" screen and several menus to get back to my directions- by that point I've probably missed my next turn. It seems to happen about once every 15 minutes. Plus, it happens 100% of the times that I try to use the "smart detour" function. I have it mounted properly, and it even happens even when I'm plugged into the power source. Magellan tech support wasn't of much help, so I've started the process of returning it for an exchange... hopefully I just got a bad apple. If it wasn't for this, I'd probably give the thing 3 or 4 stars. The address entry functions work very well, but there does seem to be a pretty bad delay when you try to do anything in the map screen (you press 'menu', for example, and it takes at least 5 or 6 seconds just to acknowledge your click). I don't know if this is normal, or just another symptom of my apparently defective unit. This is my first GPS, so maybe my expectations are too high, but the interface feels about as responsive as a Commodore 64. I will post an update once I get my replacement.

The good thing about the 2200T is it's text-to-speech feature. I especially like the way it gives advanced notice on the manuever, including the chime that sounds right before the upcoming turn. I also like being able to select the route preference when the destination is selected as opposed to having to select it as a system preference. I also like how the current street is highlighted at the top in addition to the street name for the next turn at the bottom of the screen.

Now for the bad. Magellan has the worst technical support (both from a documentation standpoint as well as at the internet and personnel level). In fact, I would say it is downright incompetent. Also, while the unit fixes a signal fairly quickly most of the time, at other times it could take upward of 10 - 15 minutes before it locks onto a signal. I have also not been impressed with the extent of their pre-loaded POIs. It seems the Garmin units have 3 - 4 times as many POIs. Lastly, I've had numerous instances where the unit would crash or lock up and then either have to be reset manually or reboot itself. This could be a little disturbing if you're driving in an unfamiliar location when this happens.

Overall, I do think the 2200T is a good bargain at the price I paid for it ($399 at Bed Bath & Beyond). However, I would be interested to know if anyone else has had problems with the unit locking up or resetting itself. I would like to know whether this is typical or whether I have a defective unit and should have it replaced.