Magellan Roadmate 2000 GPS - gets me where I need to go!

I moved to New Jersey about 3 years ago and have slowly but surely been figuring out how to get places. When I first moved here I asked for a GPS but they were very expensive (over $700 or so at the time). Since the prices came down over the past few years I was finally able to get one, and received the Magellan Roadmate 2000 GPS for as a holiday gift from my in-laws. The unit retails for around $350 or so, it was at Costco for less than that which is where they purchased it from.

My husband set up my Magellan Roadmate 2000 GPS in my car for me. Because its illegal to have anything attached to your windshield in NJ he mounted it on the dashboard using the mounting disc they provide. What I noticed off the bat about this unit is that its not big, yet its got a big screen. In other words, its mostly screen - which is nice. It measures in at 4.28" wide and 3.15" tall with a 3.5 inch screen (measured diagonally), and only just over inch in thickness. It comes with a 12V car charger/adaptor which goes into your cigarette lighter socket. Or you can use the unit for up to 3 hrs before recharging it or plugging it back in.

Using the Magellan Roadmate 2000 GPS is a matter of turning it on/off via the button on the top right side and then navigating through touch-screen menus. When you turn it on it has 2 screens worth of icons including things like MAP, Street Address, POI (point of interest), HOME, Address Book, Intersection on the first screen [Main menu]. And, on the second screen - Trip Computer, Trip Planner, Region, Options and System Settings. The sensitivity on the touch screen sometimes could be a bit better as I find myself having to press the icons more than once in some cases.

I figured out how to put in a street address and start using the GPS pretty much on my own and so what that means is that non-techie users of this should also have a fairly simple time of it. If you select a street address it gives you options if you want to search by city or zip. If I pick city and then begin to enter in a city name once I enter a few letters it will give me a pop up and allow me to narrow it down. Likewise, when entering in a street address when you enter the street name its programmed so that the interface only allows you to enter in letters that would spell out a valid street name. In other words it won't let you enter XYZ together unless there is a street that has includes "XYZ".

Once your destination address is in place it will give you the option of choosing from Shortest Time, Shortest Distance, Least Use of Freeways, or Most Use of Freeways. Pick your poison and then it calculates your route. Route calculation is very quick on the Roadmate 2000, its the data entry part which I find to be the most time consuming getting the address into the system (if I know the address). Its great to be able to just press the "Home" icon on the menu and have it route me to my home address (again after I choose if I want the shortest distance, time, or most or least freeways).

When I'm driving my Magellan Roadmate 2000 GPS calls out (in a female voice) the directions to me. My kids get a big kick out the system and mimic it - my six year old is now anticipating it telling me "SLIGHT RIGHT", "KEEP TO THE LEFT" and my two year old is now calling out "LEFT TURD HERE". Yes, she is saying TURD instead of TURN. We need to work a little bit on articulation, or perhaps Ms. Maggie Magellan Navigator does too (she sounds fine to me).In addition to calling out the directions (turn right, etc) and displaying them on the map the system also gives a reinforcing 'chime' sound when its time to turn at each step of the way. At first the chime used to make me nearly jump out of my seat but now its just 2nd nature to me as it goes off.

In addition to the system talking and chiming at me - most importantly is all the visual info that Magellan has packed into this small unit. When I'm on route to a destination there will be a blue bar across the top of the screen which displays the name of the street for whatever the next step is. If I tap in this area, then it will display a "Locate" screen with information about my current location. If I need or want to zoom in or out on the map then I can tap on the plus and minus on the top left/right of the display. If I tap on the green box (that shows N,S,E,W) in the bottom left part of the screen then it shows me the next turn/step OR the current heading. Next to this I can find the distance (mines set in miles) I need to travel until the next "step". Next to this it shows me the total distance that I need to travel to get my destination. There's a bar above this bottom row that shows the name of the road that I'm currently traveling on.

Confused yet? Its really not as crazy as it seems, really. They've just packed lots of info onto a small unit. Plus, in addition to all of this there's a way to mute/unmute the system as well as a visible display of satelite signal strength. The system also automatically detects to go in DAY or NIGHT mode when displaying the colors for optimal viewing, very cool. Of course, a few things I notice right off the bat different from my husband's GPS (a Garmin) is that his unit displays the approximate arrival time, and also displays the speed at which you are traveling. My Magellan unit doesn't display either of these things, and I think they would be nice to know - though not absolute must haves.

Point of Interest on the Magellan Roadmate 2000 really could/should be improved or updated. Though the system boasts having 1 million (or more) POIs, that's really not a lot if you think about the fact that its got the entire US in it. To give you an example, if I am searching for McDonalds in close proximity it will give me several but not the closest one to where I live. Its pretty good for showing where gas stations or banks/ATMs are which is useful. My advice with the POIs in the Roadmate is that they are a nice extra but not something to absolutely rely on. Unfortunately there's no way to update the POIs or get updated maps for this system. It comes with a USB cable and suggests that this is for firmware updates but when you go to the Magellan site it indicates not available. WAAH!

So, while I'm whining about the POIs I have 2 other very minor "nits" about this GPS. 1) I have noticed that it gets tripped up with the New Jersey jughandle turns (nothing like going right to go left!), but I guess that is to be expected. And 2) an area where I sometimes also struggle is with it is say if I'm in a large parking lot and enter in an address (or press HOME) it says 'continue to route' across the bottom and I have no idea what route I'm supposed to take. Usually I drive around for a minute and then I'll see an arrow or the path highlighted and figure it out but this just seems like something that could be made a little more dummy proof.

Minor nits aside, this is a great little system. Its easy to use and it gets me from Point A to Point B and places in between. I love how quickly the roadmate recalculates routes on the fly. Should I mess up (it happens) and miss a turn or exit it quickly tells me another way to go (or to make a safe U-turn when possible).

Most of all - the music to my ears..

Hearing it tell me "You have arrived!"


www.magellangps.com