Deck Your Car Out with a Magellan GPS System
Quite a few of the top GPS device marketers are making efforts to further develop their GPS devices. The manufacturers are adding more up-to-date features to make navigation easier for travelers who use wheels, skis, or any other method of transportation available. Even though these companies are striving hard to make their GPS devices reasonably priced for the normal consumer, the effect of all the technology contained in the device will understandably be rising costs. The best that many companies can do for those of us who can’t afford the new gizmos is to offer absolutely basic editions of the GPS devices that can be affordable for your typical consumer. A nice option is the Magellan Roadmate–70 Portable GPS Navigator.
Magellan GPS devices are rather singular since they have always made their top-selling models to be inexpensive and convenient. The downside of affordability, naturally, is that state-of-the-art technology is almost never available at low prices. Predictably, then, the quality of Magellan’s GPS models has been given mixed reviews. Magellan addressed this shortcoming by producing several high-end products for the more dedicated GPS users.
Magellan Maestro
When you are looking for a reasonably priced navigator for your car, the Magellan Maestro line-up offers quite a few models which are specifically for vehicle navigation. Magellan Maestro models are available in the 3000, 4000, and 5000 range. Each of the 3000 models are remarkably low priced with a few like the Maestro 3100 selling for below $200 which is amazingly cheap for a GPS device which offers 2-D and 3-D display options. Probably their best function is the QuickSpell feature, which allows uncomplicated input for road names.
Every other single aspect, including the performance is mediocre and hanging is all too constant. With the exception of a couple of the 4000 and 5000 models, the Magellan Maestro is really not reliable, but the price remains reasonable.
Magellan Roadmate
As implied by their name, this collection of Magellan GPS devices were made for cars also. However they are different from their Maestro siblings as far as appearance. Roadmates are designed to be more portable, having a smaller profile yet having the same interface. As a result the Roadmates are about as easy to operate and much easier to keep than the Maestros. A great unit is the Magellan Road mate–70 Portable GPS Navigator.
In terms of performance, the Roadmate is a bit improved with several specimens such as the Roadmate 1212 having the Centrality Atlas III Processor. If you are fond of navigating through the menus, you will likely notice a slightly frustrating delay after pushing the buttons. The battery power isn’t that spectacular either; it’s usable for about 3 hours until a recharge is called for.
On a happy note, the Roadmate is considered better than several of the Maestro budget models, offering quite a few more POI’s as compared to the Maestro 3100 and its measly 750,000 points of interest. The Roadmate closes the gap with competing manufacturers by including more than 6 million points of interest. Text-to-speech, which is usually a handy feature, is additionally offered by several of the mid-range models. The price isn’t that steep either, which is notable for a slim device. A good device to look into is the Magellan Roadmate–70 Portable GPS Navigator.
Despite the fact that there are only two collections to select from, they each have at least 10 models within each set all with different prices and functions. The least expensive Magellan devices aren’t recommended for constant users on account of the regular crashes, but the higher quality models are quite satisfactory and will be sufficient for travelers to be pleased with.
Joseph Aaron writes for an online project helping consumers make educated purchase decisions on GPS Navigation Systems. Amongst the highest rated GPS units recommended on his website is the Magellan Roadmate 1470.