Magellan Roadmate 500....this Sucks! Buyer Beware

[Alphawolf]

O.K...So this unit comes with 128 MB card, and Magellan will let me "authorize" one more card for uploading maps to. But, if I want to "pre-load" another card with maps after that one, Magellan will charge me $50 to "authorize" the additional card! So, you can't just "use" any amount of cards without paying for the "right" to use the additional cards! And, look at the price of "pre-authorized" cards from Magellan!! Holy cow! They want $200 for a 256 MB card that you can buy for $50 anywhere else! So, bottom line is...The Magellan RoadMate is going back to the store to be swapped for the Garmin SteetPilot (for the same price) and then, I can use any amount of memory I feel the need to use. Besides that, The Magellan software that comes with the unit has only one third of the points of interest that the Garmin software has. Now granted, most of those POI's on Garmin's software are stuff we are not interested in (like "betty's craft store) but, there has to also be some of the usable stuff on Garmin's that is not on Magellan's. Edited December 10, 2003 by Alphawolf

[Alphawolf]

Oh...And by the way...the 128 MB card that comes with it will only let you install 100 MB worth of maps! The rest is tied up with program files!

[+RockyRiver]

It seems they have become as greedy as Garmin when it comes to adding

detail mapping to their GPS's

Edited December 10, 2003 by RockyRiver

[+Marky]

O.K...So this unit comes with 128 MB card, and Magellan will let me "authorize" one more card for uploading maps to. But, if I want to "pre-load" another card with maps after that one, Magellan will charge my $50 to "authorize" the additional card!

Lame and annoying. I don't see what the point of this is. I was even eyeing these, but now I think I'll pass.

 

Now granted, most of those POI's on Garmin's software are stuff we are not interested in (like "betty's craft store) but, there has to also be some of the usable stuff on Garmin's that is not on Magellan's.

 

Is there a Betty's Craft Store near San Jose? Inquiring minds want to know...

 

--Marky

[+Marky]

It seems they have become as greedy as Garmin when it comes to adding

detail mapping to their GPS's

I'm guessing that this whole "authorize" thing must have to do with the Hertz NeverLost® system licensing, what ever that is.

 

--Marky

[Alphawolf]

Another thing about the Roadmate...The onscreen map scrolling is painfully slow...It is "jerky", moving one little section at a time, not a smooth panning action we have come to expect. At really wide map scales, it takes forever to "pan" to a new area!

[Alphawolf]

No onboard database either! When you move to an unmapped area, the mapping stops...Totally! If you don't have enough memory to map everything you need then you get nothing at all, as opposed to Garmin's database maps that at least gives you freeways and major secondaries in the unmapped areas. For your reference, with the 128 MB card installed, I couldn't even load enough map areas to the "authorized" 100 MB of memory to get a trip mapped from Utah into Southern California! I could get Nevada and Southern CA, but I had to leave out Utah totally. I also had one episode of a "system crash" where the unit shut itself down and restarted all by itself. Not good if you are in the middle of rush hour traffic in a strange city, looking for your next exit!

Edited December 10, 2003 by Alphawolf

[Alphawolf]

The mounting system that it comes with leaves a bit to be desired...It is a bendable, metal "clip" that wedges into and supposedly "hangs on" to your air conditioner dash vent. This worries me about cracking an expensive vent. Also, you might not, in fact probably won't, get the right "aim" for the screen, to orient it towards the driver. And, what about when the heater is blowing right on it for hours on end in cold climates? Heat is the enemy of electronics, is it not? This will put the unit directly in front of one of the dash vents. More to follow as I discover this thing(but not for long...I am returning it next Tues.)

Edited December 10, 2003 by Alphawolf

[+Sparky-Watts]

The mounting system that it comes with leaves a bit to be desired...It is a bendable, metal "clip" that wedges into and supposedly "hangs on" to your air conditioner dash vent. This worries me about cracking an expensive vent. Also, you might not get the right "aim" for the screen, to orient it to the driver. And, what about when the heater is blowing right on it for hours on end? Heat is the enemy of electronics, is it not? This will be directly in front of one of the dash vents. More to follow as I discover this thing(but not for long...I am returning it next Tues.)

By all means avoid the "air conditioner vent" mounts! And to add a "bendable" metal piece? I can just hear all the vents across the country snapping already! I destroyed the vent in my '99 Camry with a cell phone holder that way. Cost? $250!

[+Marky]

Regarding the "Authorized" memory, it seems like the 700 is a better deal in that it has all the data preloaded in the device, so doesn't need memory cards at all. And it's only a couple hundred more? Geez, one 512meg Authorized card will push the 500 past that in price. How weird.

 

--Marky

[Alphawolf]

Imagine the outrage from the Magellan "suits" if they had to pay $50 to be able to use additional memory cards in their PDA's. Or digital cameras. Or their desktop computers. Or whatever. This, and this alone, is enough to make me never look at another Magellan product. I sell Garmin and Magellan and Brunton and Cobra GPS units. Hundreds of them in a year. All the way from $89.00 Geko's, to these $1000.00 Autorouting units. I look forward to telling each & every customer that asks about the RoadMate just exactly what I think of them! I really am getting tired of this sort of "let's suck them dry" corporate mind set. Eight years ago, I bought my first GPS unit. I decided to start with Garmin. It looks like I will stay with them.

Edited December 10, 2003 by Alphawolf

[+Sparky-Watts]

This sounds so much like the problem that I have with Sony electronic equipment. Their systems almost NEVER work with anyone elses, and to get it to work with another piece, they offer an overpriced piece or none at all. Sony and Magellan (and I'm sure many others too numerous to list here) are way too propietary and only after one thing: money. Buy one of their products and they'll come up with 10,000 ways to suck more money out of you.

 

Excuse the rant, please.

 

Edited for spelling.

Edited December 10, 2003 by Sparky-Watts

[+phantom4099]

Magellan too proprietary? What about Garmins use of their own memory cards in most of their units that accept extra memory? Or how they purposely put in too little memory into their other handhelds just so you buy their next one that is still limited (GPS V to the 60). If you’re one of those people that think 56mb is enough ask most Meridian owns what size memory card they would recommend, it’s a pretty good bet it will be above 64mb.

 

And don’t think the POI problem is just a Magellan thing; my City Select version 5.02 is missing almost all the fast food restraints in my towns, and many of the hotels (an interesting note is S&T 2004 has them included, along with mapsend S&D).

 

I am not saying what Magellan is doing with the 500 is correct, but at least you can buy as larger of a card you want for the one free activation (although I would probably be more inclined to purchase the 700 because of this).

 

Wyatt W.

[Alphawolf]

Or how they purposely put in too little memory into their other handhelds just so you buy their next one that is still limited (GPS V to the 60). If you’re one of those people that think 56mb is enough ask most Meridian owns what size memory card they would recommend, it’s a pretty good bet it will be above 64mb.

Well the amount of memory is only part of the equation...It also matters how that memory is utilized. Like I posted above, I couldn't map a trip from Salt Lake City to San Diego on the alloted 100 MB that Magellan gave me with the RoadMate. However, using Garmin's City Select V.5, I was able to fully map the same route, from SLC to San Diego, then all the way back up to Malibu CA on only 51.6 MB! So, it doesn't really matter how much memory you have avilable if it is not utilized well, as in the Magellan's case. And, there are no current Garmin models that use proprietary memory, and the ones using flash memory let you use all you want, need or can afford! As for POI database there is no question they are all lacking, but there is also no question that Garmin's is way, way more complete (by a factor of 300%) than magellan's. As far as I am concerned now, after using both units, there is no comparison between the Magellan RoadMate and the Garmin StreetPilot. The Garmin wins in every sense and at the same price too.

[+Sparky-Watts]

What about Garmins use of their own memory cards in most of their units that accept extra memory? Or how they purposely put in too little memory into their other handhelds just so you buy their next one that is still limited (GPS V to the 60).

I am not aware of ANY Garmin unit that reqires you to buy THEIR memory card. I think thier memory is pretty much limited by what you want to place on the extra cards, which is as much or as little as you prefer.

[+phantom4099]

I am not aware of ANY Garmin unit that reqires you to buy THEIR memory card. I think thier memory is pretty much limited by what you want to place on the extra cards, which is as much or as little as you prefer.

Other than the ique and the 216x series, all other garmin units that accept extra memory used garmins memory cards. Some of these are the Emap (their only handheld to offer memory cards), Street Pilot, Street Pilot III, and the new Garmin 196 (which does street routing). Also most of Garmins current marine products use their memory cards.

 

Wyatt W.

[+apersson850]

To me, it seems that Garmin has now understood that it does not at all boost sales of their navigational units, if people find out that they have to buy overpriced memory cards to use them.

I think they've made their math, and figured out that more sold units, which accepts SD or CF memory cards, gives more revenue than a few additional cards sold to less GPS units.

[Alphawolf]

Emap (their only handheld to offer memory cards), Street Pilot, Street Pilot III

These are discontinued products. And, let's not forget that Garmin was the first to offer expandable memory at all! We thought it was awesome when the e-map, for example could be expanded at all. And that was before anyone had heard of CF or SD cards. The only time they were ever done better was when Magellan introduced the Meridian series with CF cards. However, you'll notice that all the small units that comprise most of Magellan's sales all have fixed memory, just like Garmin units. We sell very few of the Meridian units any more. They are simply too big for the likes of most people. And, like I said before, the fact that you can spend more to get more memory into your unit doesn't outweigh the fact that the memory must be well utilized by the software. What good is the 100MB of available memory on the RoadMate if it doesn't map what I need, and only 52 Mb of memory from a Garmin program will? With the 60 series coming out, with autorouting and the battery life, and color, and enough memory to cover 2 states, Magellan has a tough row to hoe. They better get real inovative, cause these new units are going to totally dominate the handheld market for a while! Edited December 11, 2003 by Alphawolf

[Alphawolf]

Actually, I'm not sure the SP and SPIII are officially discontinued yet, though if Garmin is still shipping them, I doubt they are still manufacturing them. I haven't even come across anyone still selling them around my parts.