Magellan RoadMate 760 Portable GPS Navigator

Other products by Magellan

Product Details

Product Manual [4.18mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009MFQ12
• Item model number: 760 North America
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (204 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,470 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 3, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Amazon.com Review Magellan had a hit with the RoadMate 700, and with good reason: finally, thanks to the 700's big internal hard drive, travelers could simply turn on their vehicle GPS unit and go, without the hassle of loading base-maps. Plus, the 700 offered great features like turn-by-turn guidance with voice prompts and 3D rendering of upcoming turns. Plus, the unit had intuitive controls that offered fast rerouting when you missed a turn or decided to take a detour.

With the successor model, the RoadMate 760, Magellan has kept everything the same, while adding a few features that make this model a compelling upgrade or a great first-time unit for folks who are just joining the vehicle GPS craze.

Enter the destination address, select route method and the RoadMate 760 will calculate the best route for you.

Design
The overall design of the 760 differs very little from the 700, and that's a good thing. The 2.25-by-3.0-inch screen is exceptionally bright and crisp, and it's even got a brain. A small light sensor on the front of the unit allows the 760 to automatically adjust brightness and contrast depending on ambient light levels. It's a nice touch that helps you keep your eyes on the road instead of focused on fiddling with screen settings during your journey.

Click to learn more about the RoadMate 760's layout.

The unit's controls are logically laid out, except, perhaps, for the volume and repeat controls. The volume dial is an awkward little thing that is placed inconveniently on top of the unit. Fortunately, this is mostly rectified by the 760's automatic volume system, which turns up the sound when your vehicle cruises above 45 mph. Meanwhile, the repeat button, which resides next to the volume dial and repeats the last voice command when pressed, is quite small and easy to miss, especially when you're driving. It would be nice if such an important control were more prominent.

A slot on the side of the 760 is provided for a memory card; Magellan says future expansion cards will be made available. A flip-up antenna is located on the back of the unit, but if you want maximum reception in all conditions, or if your windshield has a thermal coating, you'll want to spring for a wired external antenna.

Software
Simplicity is the name of the game with the 760, and in keeping with that, the unit's integration with a PC is minimal. The 760 does ship with a reasonably easy-to-use points of interest manager PC application. The software lets you add POI's to the unit's existing database and then upload them to the 760 via USB. With the 760, though, the days of planning routes on your computer and then uploading the necessary maps to your GPS's paltry memory are gone. We think this is a good thing, but we do wish the 760 shipped with an application that allowed users to upload contacts from their Outlook or PC-based address book to the unit's address book. Granted, the 760 does have an IR port for beaming contacts from a PDA or Smart Phone, but further integration with a PC in this one area would be nice.

Installation
Magellan bills the 760 as a complete solution right out of the box, and this couldn't be more true. The main unit easily attaches to an included cradle that doubles as a mounting plate for the vehicle suction cup mount and an input for power and USB connectivity. The suction cup mount is simple to install, and within minutes, we had the unit powered up and ready to go.

Performance
Out on the road, the 760 performed flawlessly. After entering a home address and quickly acquiring a satellite lock on our position, we zoomed in on the neighborhood and tapped a few points of interest on the touch-screen, including a restaurant, an ATM, and a gas station. A friendly voice guided the way, announcing upcoming turns and even pronouncing street names. Meanwhile, a 3D representation of upcoming turns made it clear what maneuvers were next. We especially liked the split-screen view, which offers a traditional map view plus the 3D display. Keep in mind, though, that the points of interest database preloaded on the 760 does not contain everything--we found that it offered just a smattering of all the restaurants and businesses in our area.

Entering physical addresses on the 760 was a snap, thanks to the unit's QuickSpell technology, which anticipates the words you are trying to enter with surprising accuracy. Another great touch is the 760's ability to adapt to changes in your plans. Rerouting is as simple as hitting a few buttons on the touch-screen. The unit will also detect low speeds on the freeway and attempt to plot a detour around traffic. Very cool.

Although the 760's touch-screen interface is a little rough around the edges, overall, we found it straightforward and simple. Our only notable gripe was that it was impossible to edit an address once it was entered. Instead, the entire entry had to be deleted first.

Final Thoughts
While the RoadMate 760 is expensive, it packs a lot of utility and power into a single device. The integrated hard drive, coupled with stunningly intelligent and adaptable routing functionality, make this a must-have for those who need the very best in vehicle navigation.

Pros

• Excellent turn-by-turn navigation and rerouting capabilities
• Just turn it on and go. All the maps and points of interest are preloaded
• Solid and fast satellite reception

Cons

• Minor user interface and controls problems
• No integration with a PC address book

What's in the Box
RoadMate 760, cradle, cigarette lighter adapter, AC adapter, suction-cup mounting arm, software CDs, documentation.

Product Description

All the features of the popular Roadmate 700 plus 1) Smart Detour, Automatically prompts your customer to route around stopped freeway traffic based on their defined setting. 2) Route optimization Let's your customer set up a multi-destination trip and automatically guide them on teh quickest route 3) Enhanced Magellan Directory Now almost 7 million points of interest. 4) Show destination on map, Now users can view the destination on the the map prior to routing to it

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

428 of 436 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars love / hate relationship with my Roadmate, August 8, 2005

By	Kai Dozier "ceistar" (Charlottesville, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had a Roadmate 700 for 18 months, and it became an indispensible tool for my vehicle - especially when traveling to multiple locations I've never been to in a new city. On the downside, after 11 months I started getting automatic messages that my software was out of date - but Magellan hadn't released the new software. Four months later when they did, they failed to notify me even though I had registered for it.

Now I have the Roadmate 760, and the unit is even better. The flash card for saving addresses (use it, you'll be glad you did), the automatic re-routing for when you're stuck in traffic, and the automatic backlight adjustment are all handy. But after only two weeks, the new unit started freezing on startup. At three weeks it got worse, and I sent it back to Magellan - and learn they need "10 to 12 business days in-house" to fix it, plus shipping time. No apology, no offer to loan me another unit, no way to speed it up. My confidence in the company and the unit has dropped precipitously, and they seem not to care that they are converting a customer evangelist into a very unhappy user.

UPDATE on the above, 3 months later:
My love/hate relationship is deeper than before. I recently was stuck in traffic on I-95 when terrorist threats shut down all tunnels around Baltimore. I checked the gps for nearest exit, worked my way to it, then re-programmed the unit for "least use of freeways". It then guided me through areas of Baltimore that by-passed all tunnels, and I made a critical meeting in Delaware on time. My wife also uses it, and she clearly is more comfortable knowing she will not get lost. This is worth a lot to both of us.

On the other hand, the unit is freezing for the second time, and is now on its way back for repairs again. This means another two weeks of waiting for a 4 month old unit to be repaired a second time.

ARRGGHHH!

220 of 227 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best all around portable nav, July 8, 2005

By	Heightsgtltd (new york, NY) - See all my reviews

I did a ton of research and I am really happy with this device. It is a step up from the 700, and the features such as audible street names really make it a viable substitute to the factory installed units.

It uses NAVTEQ mapping like most major car companies. TomTom uses Teleatlas, which many have found to be less accurate.

The 760 has performed flawlessly, and I highly recommend it!

Some small gripes:

I live in NYC, and the only problem is that the signal can get lost for a little bit around large buildings downtown. This is true of all systems. Even if this happens, the 760 gives you the directions to follow until the signal picks up again. This might be solved by picking up the external antenna, but I haven't done that yet.

Since there is no internal battery, if you turn off the car at a a gas station, the 760 powers off. It saves the route and where you are, but still takes a minute to find satellites again.

Other than these issues, it is a champ.

97 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tips for Faster Satellite Acquisition, October 23, 2005

By	M. Terretta (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Many here noted problems acquiring satellite signals. There are several things you can do to help fix this, with a Magellan RoadMate or any other portable GPS:

1. Make sure your car's windshield does not have a special layer that blocks GPS signals. Many European cars have an "athermic heat shield" that cuts the signal getting through, as do some American or Japanese cars. If your car has window treatments, tinting, or shielding that decreases the signal, you can get either a reradiating antenna to boost the signal or an external antenna to bypass the problem entirely.

2. Think about how to help your GPS receiver "see" more of the sky. The further away from the front of the windshield you mount it, the less sky the built-in antenna can see from its viewpoint. While cramming the GPS all the way forward at the bottom center of the windshield may put it inconveniently far in some vehicles, that's where it has the most complete view of the sky. If you're thinking of mounting it on a cupholder or below the dash, first put your head there and look to see if you can see at least 1/2 the sky. If not, use a roof mount external antenna that can see the whole sky no matter where you mount the GPS.

3. Also remember that in the USA or Europe, more GPS satellites are to the south than to the north. Sometimes simply pointing your car south will significantly improve the satellite acquisition time.

Several here commented about the length of acquisition time being a problem even when you haven't left the device off for days or weeks. If satellites are where the device expects them to be, the acquisition time is fast. If too many days have passed, or if the unit is turned off in one location and on in another, then it needs to go through a longer satellite location and synchronization routine to have best accuracy. So,

4. Even if you're not using it to find a route, keeping the GPS on when you move your car (so the GPS knows where it is when switched off) will help it figure out where it is much faster on next startup.

I own both Garmin and Magellan products, and have used virtually every other system--both factory and aftermarket--available. Garmin works better on foot or a bicycle, but in my vehicles, I use both the Magellan RoadMate models daily. I find Magellan built well on its long experience and extensive user feedback from the Hertz "Neverlost" system to make the Magellan touch screen system by far the easiest to use for drivers.

If you don't have one, a Magellan is to driving what Tivo is to TV. If you do own one, then remembering that the GPS works by "line of sight" instead of like a radio can go a long way towards making it easier to use.