Customer Reviews

Magellan RoadMate 700 3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

It was a battle between the Garmin 2610 and the Roadmate 700. My main criteria is ease of use and accuracy. Actually, I bought this unit for my wife who works as a home visiting nurse. She has been relying on Thomas Guide Maps eversince. So, I want a GPS receiver that is very user friendly, that even a grandma can use. I compared the 2 units side by side at Fry's. I researched the whole Cyberspace for the best car navigation system to date, and I found the answer in the Magellan Roadmate 700.

POSITIVE: Wow! The crisp display and big screen was one of the factors that attracted me to the Roadmate. The Garmin LCD has 256 colors while the Raodmate has a TFT with 32,000 color capability. The roads are more easier to look at because of the color rendition. You can even adjust color settings to make it look like the Thomas Guide Maps. We've been using the Roadmate for about 2 weeks now and so far the WAAS is always active. This results in greater accuracy. According to my wife once she is in front of her patients house, the Roadmate acknowledeges that destination has been reached. It also tells whether the house is in the left/right of the street. This proved to be very valuable since she doesn't have to look left and right looking for the house. It recalculates routes very fast in case you miss a turn or exit.
Another thing, don't worry about the flimsy aircon vent mount, just call technical support and they send you a windshield gooseneck mount which is very nice. Now that's what I call customer service! It grips very firmly to the windshield like your rearview mirror. I think it is better than the bean bag dash mount.
The LCD display is very intuitive. It automatically zooms in while your getting near your destination, and it also shifts to 3D when your approaching a turn. When you lose GPS signal while your in a tunnel, the display automaticlly goes to the turn by turn mode so you can still be guided. The touch screen is amazing. Those using the old GPS units with buttons will want this unit.

I also like the route exclusion feature. For example, I always want to avoid the 91 freeeway because of the terrible traffic. You can customize it to always exclude it or you can just touch the 91 route in the turn by turn display and tell it to disregard that freeway, and alas! you are directed to take another route.
The unit also assigns up to 3 users, each user setting is customizable, just like when you log in Windows. Within each user you can save up to 100 addresses. Previous destinations are also saved automatically. This is comparable to the waypoint feature in the Garmin 2610.
The voice guidance is all you need! No need to look at the unit while you are driving. As of this time, we have not been misdirected by the vocal guidance on any route. But I will update my review if we experience such. This equals to SAFETY while driving.
For those worried that having a hard-drive in a portable GPS unit might be bad, the internal harddrive that comes with this unit is similar to the microdrive in compact flash cards. The unit is made for rugged use, unlike the ones on PC's.
Roadmate 500 vs 700? I'd say go for the 700. The fact that you don't have to buy additional CF cards in the future justifies the $200 hundred dollar difference. Not to mention that you still have to pre-authorize CF cards for $50 prior to use, although your first one is free.
Another bonus, the unit can be used for off-road driving! I hav'nt tested it but the Magellan website says it is capable of that. I have to call tech support to confirm.

NEGATIVE: BAD! The one thing that really bothers me is that there is no post-office listings in the POI. How can they forget the USPS locations. I occasionally look for post-offices while I travel. There is a mention here that the documentation is bad. That is quite true. If you are a non-technical type of person, the manual will suffice. For example, I want to know how to update the firmware and maps, there is no mention of that in the docs. Even though the Roadmate 700 comes with an internal hard drive, it still has a compactflash port, there is no mention of that in the manual if it is operable or not. It does not come with a USB cord nor an AC adapter like the Roadmate 500. How come? This is the top of the line unit.
The waypoint feature of the Garmin 2610 is preferred by experienced GPS users over the previous destinations feature of the Magellan.

The price of the Magellan 700 is several hundereds more compared to the Garmin 2610 but I think it's features justify the additional cost. What I have listed here is the positives and negatives based on 2-3 week use of the GPS. Hey! The positives outnumber the negs. I also agree with the other reviewers that this isn't a perfect unit, but to date it's the best you can buy.

I've only been using my RoadMate 700 for a short time and my experiences echo most of the other reviews here.

Update January 22, 2004: It's been almost a full month with the Roadmate 700. My thoughts now? How did I ever live without this? I've used this extensively to travel all through CT and into NH and MA. I love that I can be in a completely remote location and this device gets me home. Ever single time. I also have searched several times for things like gas stations and restaurants - and it is simply amazing. I like this better today than I did when I bought it. And I'm someone who gets tired of their electronic gadgets quickly.

Update: August 14, 2005 - I go everywhere with this device. I could not live without it. If it broke I'd purchase another on the same day - it's that important in my daily travels. I've never gotten lost with this. I tried the Hertz system while in Florida and it is similar with a smaller screen and fewer functions.

I found it to be very easy to operate. You truly can take it out of the box, plug it in, and within a couple of minutes be navigating to any address using the maps that are all stored within the 10 GB hard drive.

When starting up I find that it has a lag of 3 to 5 minutes where it has to acquire the satellite signal. This may account for some of the reports online of units being broken or not navigating properly. Once the signal has been acquired I had no difficulty with it knowing where I was. (Update 12/24/03: My unit developed a startup/fix time of around 15 minutes so I replaced it with a new unit that did not exhibit this problem. Normal startup/fix time appears to be a couple minutes unless you've moved significantly from where you shut down the device).

The 3-D navigation is nice -- though not all that I had hoped. When travelling 3D pops up a handly graphical overview of where you need to turn next. I think it is displayed a bit early though. I was navigating today and it showed me the turn in 3D about 5 streets ahead of where I needed to be turning. I'll have to see if it is my user error somehow but it seems it would be much more useful if the 3D popped up while you were in the turn rather than several streets back.

I looked at the Garmin 2610 in comparison to this unit. I also considered the RoadMate 500. The Garmin screen seemed smaller and a little harder to operate. The RoadMate 500 is the same unit at this -- without the internal 10 GB hard disk that stores all the maps.

Unfortunately the 700 doesn't ship with an AC power adapter or USB connector (which the 500 does).

The mount that comes with the RoadMate is a plastic coated metal piece that you are supposed to use to attach the heavy unit to your vents. I lucked out and was able to stick it into my dash molding on my 2002 Ford Explorer and it fits tight and is in a good position (use a flat edge screwdriver to slightly and gently pry the molding above the radio out a little and slide the bracket in there). If you call tech support they'll send a free windshield mount to replace the vent mount.

Overall I'm happy with the accuracy and especially the ease of use of this unit. It seems that Magellan has bent over backwards to make this an uncomplicated unit for people who want to plug in and navigate without worrying about loading maps or other technical details. UPDATE 3-29-05: I use this every day and love it. Cannot imagine living without the mapping capabilities. Strongly recommended for anyone who drives alot.

Be advised that a software update (version 5) is due out at the end of December 2005 or in January 2006 (according to Magellan customer service). I was told that the software will convert the 700 essentially to a 760, but you will have to pay for the update even if you recently purchased the 700 unit. They could not tell me how much the update would cost.

Eversince I used the Hertz "Never lost" navigation system in a rental car, I have been wanting to own one but at that time it wasn't available in the market . I remember, with a GPS, how easy it was for me to reach my destinations in Houston metropolitan area. An area I had never been to before. First I thought to use HP Jornada 720 for navigation but lack of compatibility was the issue. Also I didn't want too many wires around the dashboard in my car.So I dropped the idea of using a handheld pc as a gps. I started doing some research and found out that there are two GPS (Garmin Streetpilot 2610 and Magellan Roadmate 700) that dont need an installation, rather could be used with cigarette lighter. Both are portable and could be moved from one vehicle to the other. I liked the idea but could not decide which one suits my needs better. Luckily we are living in an age of information, so I was able to read a lot about these items on the internet. Garmin being couple of hundred dollars cheaper and also BestBuy had one on the display where I could actually see, touch and feel it. Unfortunately, Roadmate was not on the display like BestBuy had Garmin. Anyhow I read several reviews and could make a comparison. I am sharing my views here so that reader could get some feedback. Magellan Roadmate 700 is WAAS enabled while Garmin SP2610 is not. WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) is more accurate to locate your position. Magellan RoadMate 700 has built in 10 GB hard drive . Maps of both USA and Canada are already loaded on the unit so you dont have to load them or worry about buying expensive flash cards. Roadmate 700 has little larger screen than the Garmin and that makes a difference and resolution is also good. Roadmate 700 is easier to operate than Garmin sp 2610.Voice prompts on Roadmate are very clear and pleasant. Roadmate 700 also shows a 3D heavy arrow before the turn which is good. These are the positives in the favor of Roadmate. Lets talk about some negatives. Roadmate does not have a good mounting design. Car vents are used to mount your unit. What if you have heat on . I think that wouldn't be good idea for your unit . It may also come apart and fall on the floor. Another negative about RoadMate 700 is that it does not come with AC adapter or USB cable. Also the price is higher than Garmin SP2610. Taking into consideration the pros and cons I picked the Magellan Roadmate 700. Yesterday I picked a unit at BestBuy with a 4 year warranty (US$39.99). It took me few minutes to set it up and turn it on. I was in Manhattan NYC. I drove back to New Jersey and it performed very well. I made a wrong turn and RM700 recalculated the route right away and put me back on the track. What a relief. Let me mention here about Roadmate 500 that does not come with a built in Hard drive. With RM 500, you have to buy additional memory cards. You will be required to get it activated from the company for additional cost. You will have to download the maps of distant areas you plan to drive to.That is the reason I did not buy RM 500. I am pleased to have Magellan Roadmate 700. I will keep you posted with additional findings in future. Drive safely. Peace and Love.

Let me share with you my experiences with the Magellan 700.

I have used the Magellan 700 to get from point A to point B. When it works (actually powers on), it will do the job. However, so will just about every other NAV unit on the market.

The problem is, when your unit fails (and ours did three times withing the first year), you will deal with the worst customer service on the planet!

Our unit broke within 30 days of purchase. The unit's power would simply shut off while driving down the road (and right when you need it the most!). Sometimes, the unit would not even power up from the start. It also would search for the satellite and often lose our location. We tried changing car power adapters, etc. but no go. Fortunately, the first time this happened, we were still within 30 days of purchase, so Amazon was nice enough to send us a replacement unit. However, when the unit would not power on for the second and third time (a few months later), we had to send it back to Magellan.

When you call Magellan, you speak with a customer service rep in India! Every sigle phone number that you dial is routed to India! Unfortunately, they have no clue how to help you. To send your unit back for repair, you need to wait for an email with shipping instructions. The problem is, that never comes! In my case, I called them 7 times over the course of 10 days trying to get my shipping instructions and RMA. I begged them for an address and RMA number via phone so I could send it back (and I offered to pay for the shipping), but they will not give it to me. Each time I called, I was told that I would receive the email within 24 hrs.....but nothing ever shows up. I even gave them alternative emails to send to...but nothing.

Amazingly, you cannot even speak to a supervisor to resolve your problems or anyone in the US for that matter. You are simply stuck in an endless loop!

As I sit here today, I am holding my broken Magellan.....waiting for an email that probably will never come. My warrantee is quickly running out and I am blindly finding my way around town.

Please....I beg you to consider a Garmin or a different brand NAV....don't buy anything from Magellan!!! When this thing works, it's fine. But if it breaks (and it likely will), then good luck getting it fixed!

You have been warned!!

Recently I bought a Magellan Roadmate 700. To test it, I took a road trip with my family from San Diego to Canada and back. Having never been on such a long road trip, I wanted to see how it performed in places we've never been before and had no idea how to get around. The goal was to never have to pull out a paper map to find our way.


The MR700 came with the latest version of the software as of this writing, version 4.3.2. The MR700 has a built-in hard drive that contains detailed maps of the United States and major portions of Canada. I bought the MR700 a week in advance so I could test it locally around town to get the hang of its quirks.

There are three aspects to the MR700 I will discuss below: Its physical design, mapping ability, and points of interest. Then I will present some ideas on how Magellan can make the product even better.

Physical Design
The MR700 is just a bit bigger than a thick paperback. It's light and when removed from its base, fits into a large purse , backpack or coat pocket. You wouldn't leave a $1000 bill in the glove box would you? Its best to wrap it in a towel or foam or the box it came in to keep the screen from getting scratched (or worse, cracked). Using the windshield mount is easy and if you brace the MR700 against the dashboard, you don't get a lot of jiggle while the vehicle is in motion. Despite some rough roads, the windshield mount never came loose.

The MR700 generates a lot of heat, but this did not appear to impact its performance. It does not generate any appreciable noise that you will hear over the sound of your vehicle. The device is also resistant to hard shutdowns (often caused when you start the vehicle with the MR700 running). It rebooted flawlessly every time.

Mapping Ability
To determine where you are, the MR700 uses the publicly available Global Positioning System (GPS). Before you first turn it on, Magellan warns you it may take several minutes to locate the GPS satellites. The only time we ever had a problem locating satellites was underground (duh!) and when we first turned the device on in a city with many large skyscrapers and other buildings. If we went into a large city with the device already on, the MR700 retained a good memory of the satellite positions and we never lost our place.

The device's ability to track your position to a map is very good to an accuracy of about 150 feet. So if you miss an off ramp on the freeway, you sometimes have to travel a ways before the MR700 realizes you're off course. Once it does, it quickly reroutes you with directions to get back on track.

The software does an excellent job of map position placement, except in places of recent construction. A freeway by my house finished major changes last year. The MR700 got very confused in that spot. On older roads the MR700 was spot on both in the U.S. and Canada.

When we first crossed the border in Canada we were getting some confusing readings from the MR700. It wasn't warning us properly about upcoming turns. The problem seemed to clear up after I switched the map mode from miles to kilometers (Canada uses the metric system), but this may have been a coincidence.

Points of Interest
Magellan says they include millions of points of interest, including restaurants, hotels, museums, tourist attractions and many others. I believe them! However, take those entries with a grain of salt. For example, the MR700 indicates two restaurants within walking distance to my house. Neither one exists. It also points to several restaurants in my neighborhood that went out of business over a year ago. It seemed to have a good handle on most fast food places, hotels, Starbucks and even some unexpected places like bed & breakfasts and small attractions like some lavender farms in Washington. We used it to find Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada (what a beautiful place). When we got hungry afterwards we used it to find the nearest Taco Time fast food chain since we'd never been (Taco Bell's better). We even used it to find some great out-of-the-way places to eat we would never have found on my own during the trip: If you ever find yourself in Redding, CA, try Country Waffles. They make the best berry & whipped cream waffle I've ever had.

The MR700 has a great feature to find the nearest point of interest but be careful: it could be in front of you or behind you. No one wants to go back the way they came on a trip.

Let's Make It Better
The MR700 was reliable and accurate for our travel needs. Never once did we have to pull out a paper map to find our way. Kudos to Magellan. Here's a list of features that would make Magellan the defacto standard for auto navigation. I'm not saying they are easy to implement, but you have to have vision.

1. TOUR GUIDE. Imagine driving down a long stretch of boring highway when suddenly, your MR700 chimes, "On the left is the Smith Hotel. An alcoholic, Mr. Smith murdered his wife in 1892. Now her ghost is said to wander the halls of this converted mansion. Do you want to know more?" You bet I do! I want the option to hear the whole story and to route to the location. Because this feature would get annoying in large cities with many attractions, I should have the ability to sort by category which topics the MR700 will report on, or even turn it off all together.

2. HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. As I described above, in Redding, CA is a little restaurant called Country Waffle. There were no road signs to point the way to this little gem of a breakfast place and it's too far off the freeway for any but the most adventurous of travelers to find. But doesn't Country Waffle sound better than the McDonalds drive-through again? Magellan has a customer base that by its nature is always on the road. Our collective knowledge about destinations we have visited is sure to be better than any one, two or three travel guides. The MR700 needs a feature to allow this customer base to braindump this knowledge into a database. The MR700 needs access to this collective knowledge so when you're looking for breakfast in Redding, you'll see my review and know where to go. Someone could have warned us how far from the action the Best Western, Vancouver was. We had to find a new hotel! Data input would be handling by a rating and review system similar to Netflix. Customers would rate points of interest from an Internet-enabled web browser. The MR700 would download these updates from Magellan (perhaps wirelessly? See Wireless Internet access below). Bad reviews, say from travelers trying to protect their "secret" fishing hole, would sink to the bottom of the review list (becoming virtually unread) as good reviews rose to the top.

3. IMPROVED SEARCH. The MR700 has a great capability to find all restaurants or other points of interest, based on how close they are. The problem is that the nearest place may be behind you. We want to go forward, not backward! Also, the nearest place may be 15 miles off the freeway when what you're really looking for is a place 20 miles up but only 2 miles off the freeway. We want to go forward, not sideways! Finally, the MR700 always lists places alphabetically. If you're in a new city, how will you know the name of some restaurant? Anyway, I don't care what the name is when I'm hungry, all I know is I want Chinese food. I need the ability to refine searches like this: All Chinese restaurants, ahead only, no more than one mile from the freeway.

4. WIRELESS INTERNET. The holy grail of navigation. Download new maps in near real-time. The device can check the Internet for which freeways are congested or where bad weather is brewing and ask if you want to reroute around or warn you if you should get snow chains. With an Internet connection, the possibilities are endless.

I hope you found this review helpful. if you ever have any questions, drop me a line: bluezoo7 @ hotmail.com.

I am on my fourth Megellan RoadMate 700. The first three all malfunctioned after a few months of daily use. I treat my electronics well, and the climate in San Diego is about as benign as it comes, so I honestly don't know why they are so prone to failure. Thank goodness I bought it at Best Buy and got the extended warranty for $50. Each of the replacements has been free, except it is necessary to re-purchase a new warranty for $50. The bottom line, I love GPS for street navigating, but an extended warranty for the Magellan Roadmate 700 is a must.

I bought mine at Harmony Computers for $1050 in January 2004, but they don't sell it that cheap anymore. I find this thing indespensible. I work in the film business at different locations all over Los Angeles, and we usually get directions to the location, but never back, and sometimes their directions are terrible. I can relax on the way to work knowing I won't get lost, and I just punch up my home address when I 'm ready to go home, and I easily find my way home. It's saves huge amounts of time and aggravation for me.

I called customer service and got the gooseneck windshield mount, and it functions OK, but I found a much burlier alternative suction cup mount at www.autonav2000.com that they make for the Magellan. I also purchased the external antenna, just so that I know I'm getting the best possible reception, and I almost always have the blue WAAS indicator on, even in downtown Los Angeles amongst the tall buildings.

The Positive:
-Easy input of addresses (I do it while driving sometimes. Really naughty, but easy)
-Fast route calculation and recalculation
-It tells you how long till you arrive, so if you're running late, you can give a fairly accurate estimate of arrival by phone.
-Easy to read display. Sometimes, because this is an LCD device, at certain angles, the sun will cause the display to wash out. However, MOST of the time, the sun doesn't affect it at all, and occasionally if the sun is coming from behind, it looks even better than night.
-Pleasant male voice
-TONS of color display options. I use white on black, so it doesn't light up the cockpit at night.
-Easy detachment of device when parking somewhere dodgy
-Easy to find the nearest gas station. DO NOT ENTER A STATION NAME (just press OK), and you will be given the list of all the different gas stations, starting with the closest one. Works with all points of interest.
-You can easily move it from car to car, and impress all of your friends and use it in rental cars all over the US and Canada.
-If you windshield mount it, the stock antenna works just fine.
-Newest software upgrade alphabetizes, does split screen, and all kinds of other cool stuff.

The not so great:
-My cradle wore out about 6 mos. after purchase (I pull the Roadmate off and on the cradle like 2-4x a day). Called customer service and they're shipping me a new one.
-Occasional lock ups and delays in satellite acquisition. The latest firmware supposedly rectifies this, but pulling the power and rebooting usually corrects this too.
-Proper vehicle mounting is going to cost you at least $100. Most of their mounting options for less are junk. I'm going to try the weighted mount because if I drive on a roadtrip the suction cup will wear out.
-No post offices. On a road trip, that's sort of key. But I just ask around where the nearest post office is, and wow, I actually end up TALKING to someone.
-Occasionally, the numerical address is off by 50-150 feet. Not much of a problem, unless you end up getting out in front of a Latino gangster's crack house looking for your white friend. Already happened once...

That all said, I LOVE this device. Everyone I show it to is amazed by its usefullness. With the external antenna, I've always got great reception all over Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Even dirt roads with names are shown. I've saved so much time not trying to write down tedious directions over the phone, and it's nice always knowing what street you're on. You won't regret this device, if you get the external antenna and burly windshield mount. Also, just buy an AC cigarette lighter adaptor to use it in the house and input addresses at home. Do not buy the Magellan Roadmate Case for $45, it's a waste of money and it's stupidly designed, instead get the neoprene slip case, and if you really need protection, get a small Pelican case.

I bought this unit back in December, used it for 2 weeks on trips around L.A. and to other parts of California. During that time, I encountered both of the problems I saw mentioned here (but only after I bought it! Doh!):

1. Difficulty acquiring signal. Not just WAAS, which rarely showed on my unit, but any signal at all. One evening my girlfriend and I drove all the way across LA, waiting 20 min before the unit acquired a signal. Not too useful for urban driving there. Their tech support told me essentially that this was known to be a problem and you needed to get the antenna as close to the windshield as possible. To add insult, their fix was to send me a free antenna that I could attach by removing the onboard one and attaching this cable which then needed to be draped across my dash (their recommendation). For me, the inconvenience of this unit not being in-dash went off the scale when you start talking about draping antennas over your dash!

2. Intermittant power loss. Unfortunately, I suffered this too. I had to unplug the unit from the lighter connect and replug in order to boot on at least one occasion.

Things I liked - the software seemed excellent, the unit design and functionality were excellent, no question in my mind I'd still be using it if not for these problems. Tech support seemed very good to the extent that I was able to get someone on the phone very easily.

Bottom line for me was simple. Inside is a great unit trying to get out, but the sins were so basic that at this price point, I was forced to return it on principle alone. I won't pay this large sum and then spend years making excuses for a unit, even assuming these problems don't get worse over time. I polled the folks on my car forum about the car's stock units, they reported no such problems with their in-car nav systems, and this may be because those units come with roof-embedded antennas.

I didn't bother to exchange because the testimony here combined with what their tech support told me made it clear that it wasn't just one bad unit. And, again, at this price point, I had no desire for repeat return and test games.

Other observations: for the price, you should get several of their alternative mounts included in the box. Not only is it outrageous to make me pay $50 extra just to be able to use my expensive new unit, it's the hassle of trying to find the other mounts since none of the stores I visited seemed to stock them. The vent mount did not work for me. Maybe I just didn't apply it right, but I suspect it is highly dependent on your car's vent design, and it didn't work with either of mine.

I bought the Roadmate 700 about 6 weeks back. Seriously thinking of returning it.

Pros:
* This is a very rugged system. It flew off my dashboard many many times and nothing happened to it.

* The whole USA and Canada maps are already pre loaded. There is no hassle of uploading maps and software.

* The routes and positioning is very accurate. It is amazing that the chime goes off exactly before you take the exit. This WAAS enabled version is much better than the earlier versions I used in the Hertz cars.

* The graphical user interface is very good, much superior than the street pilot. You have many more map color options than the 2 available in Streetpilot. The cool blue and pretty backgrounds are much better than what you get in other systems.

* If some BMW/Mercedes dealer tells you that touch screen is not reliable, or not needed, don't listen to them. Touch screen is much better than the knobs available in other systems.

* The speaker is in the unit compared to the street pilot, which is in the charger cable.

* The Power cable connects to the base. So it is easy to remove the GPS unit to take it with you when you are leaving the car locked.

* The ability to change between male and female as well as US and UK accent is good. You have other languages also.

* The ability to avoid certain turns (when you have a traffic jam) is very useful. Also the various options like, most use of highways and least use of highways are helpful, even though you might not use them often.

Cons:

* The windshield mount might work in other parts of the US, but not in the New England weather. When the temperature dips close to 0F, the whole unit falls off the dashboard. If you leave the unit on the windshield at night, you will find it on the floor the next morning. Sometimes it falls off the windshield when you drive. One morning, the suction cup broke away from the rest of the mount. I got a replacement from Sharper image as it was still within 30 days of purchase.

* The optional beanbag mount which you can buy for $50 is not made by Magellan. It is made by a company called RAM and is of very poor quality - look and feel. You don't feel like mounting a $1300 gps on this ceap mount.I promptly returned it the same day.

* There are much fewer way points or points of interest than in the streetpilot. Even though both systems will take you to the final destination if you know what the exact address is, Roadmate is not very good in finding the points of interest like the Garmin Streetpilot. While you are driving, you suddenly want to stop at a rest area or gas station. A lot of restaurants and points of interests are not listed in the roadmate.

* Some addresses are wrong. Once I tried to find the nearest McDonald's restaurant and it took me to a residential area and stopped in front of a house. I am sure, there never was a McDonald's there in that locality.

* The system is always accurate and easy when you are driving in a state like CT. But when you go to a busy complicated place like NJ (near newark airport) where you have lots of choices of turns, you will end up taking the wrong turns again and again. You will never get lost though. The Roadmate will take you to the destination maybe a lot later and after a lot of recalculation of routes.

* The system mostly does not recognize when you are in the HOV lane. Sometimes it makes a mistake too. But all you need to correct it is to press cancel and then route again.

* The touch screen did not work when I switched to English UK male voice.

* You cannot plan a route with multiple stops like the Streetpilot. You have to do each stop one by one.

* If one of the places you go to regularly, like my kids daycare is not in the waypoint directory, you are not able to save the address when you are in front of the place. You need to add this to the address book after finding out what the stret address is.

If you do not need a portable GPS system, the ones available in the Honda and Accura cars are the best. They have 7 million points of interest and you can even choose the restaurants by cuisine. They have Zagat survey details also built in. The voice activated controls do not work all the time. The blue tooth feature and ability to touch an icon and then place a call from the navigation screen is really cool. The screens are also much bigger in the factory installed GPS systems compared to Roadmate or Streetpilot.

This is a good GPS system. I don't like the windshield mount. It does not work for me. IT falls off too often and leaves multiple round marks on the windshield and makes it dirty. Also, I would like to have more points of interest than the 2 million that is provided. After using the GPS for 6 weeks, I realize that this is possibly the most important feature that I need in an Auto GPS system.