Magellan RoadMate 800 Portable GPS Navigator

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lane Assistance
M08- No
M14- No
N21- Yes

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

Password protection
M08- Yes
M14- No
N21- Yes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

User Review: - Magellan Roadmate 800
Maps were not perfect. I needed European maps and was appaled at the price tag of dowload. It would be cheaper to buy a new device with European maps than downloading them. Works well mostly but can freeze if you press a few commands in a row. Good screen and battery life. I never used the storage capacity for pictures or music.

---

User Review: - Worst GPS I ever bought
I bought this GPS Magellan Roadmate 800 in June 2006 for $600 and in next 6 months the battery stopped working and unit is only works if my car is running and I am able to charge the battery, but it don't operate the unit.I called magellan ant they told me that it will cost me $130 to fix this, so I decided not to send it to them.Now when I turn it on in my car, it takes around 45 minutes for this unit to find the GPS location and by the time you already reach some where and lost, I take mapquest directions along with this. I will never but any Magellan GPS in future.

---

User Review: - Bad Manufacturing Quality
I bought this for 599.00 and it works fine but manufacturing quality is really bad. Insertion pin for AC/DC adapter completely fell apart into pieces. This happened after a month of usage. It can not be even fixed.

---

User Review: - An adequate GPS for about 12-15 months
The good: This GPS will get you where you're going (eventually); an extensive points of interest database; maps of north america preloaded.

The bad: Directions take you throught slow center of towns rather than finding bypasses, etc.; battery doesn't stay charged for more than about a half hour; pre-loaded maps of Europe cost over $250 to unlock; maps and points of interest are well out of date.

The ugly: After slightly more than a year of use my system frequently freezes and now will not keep a charge; even when plugged in the system flashes low battery and shuts itself off (even though the battery light indicates "green" for full charge); NO MAP UPDATES - the website occasionally talked about releasing them (for a price) but to my knowledge never has; poor customer service for the price.

Conclusion: It was handy and better than nothing while it worked, but save your money and buy something from a company that's more reliable and will let you update your investment for free.

  Next page of reviews >