We went back to Fry’s and returned our first
attempt at buying a car-based GPS: the
Lowrance Automotive (iWAY 500c). Fry’s was very pleasant about
taking the return.
We reviewed the other options at Fry’s and picked out the GPS from
Thales Nagivation (Magellan RoadMate 300).
This cost about $500- ($260 cheaper than the iWAY 500c). There are two higher
end versions of the Magellan but they did not offer anything we really wanted
to pay for. We have been using the Magellan 300 for several days now and are
very pleased with it.
- What Works
- It shows you where you are on a clear, understandable map
- Big choices (like Locate and Option) are side buttons but smaller choices
are on the touch screen - It plugs into the lighter socket – no special wiring required
- Good graphics, good contrast, very visible
- The back is stuck to the windshield with a suction cup – it does not slide around
- Vocal directions are clear and come with enough time to respond
- Maps are current
- Autocomplete of typing works well
- It easily takes the command to record the current location as a bookmark
- If you go a different route than the one recommended (to avoid a traffic
jam, for example), it tries to send you back a few times but then adjusts and
recalculates the new route - Allows you to program a several stop route – for example, starting from
home, dropping off first kid at school, dropping off second kid at a different
school, then driving to work - Magellan’s points of interest list included more places we often go than
did the list on the iWAY 500c. For example, Szechwan Cafe on California in Palo Alto
is in the Magellan list but not in the iWAY list - Allows bookmark lists for more than one driver
- What Doesn’t Work
- The 300 only comes with major roadways pre-installed – it took several hours
to load the small road detail on our part of California into memory. If we
often drove long distances, this would be a bigger disadvantage. - Had to purchase extra memory
- It sometimes sends you on strange routes – we have been fiddling with
the preferences for freeways vs. local roads to adjust this - Typing is slow on the touch screen – but autocomplete helps
- More glare on the Magellan 300 display screen than with the iWAY 500c
- Magellan 300 display screen is smaller than that of the iWAY 500c
- The little picture of the satellite comes on frequently – indicating
that it is looking for an update? – but this does not seem to get in the
way of actual navigation
See
“GPS from Lowrance Automotive (iWAY 500c)” for prior blog entry - The 300 only comes with major roadways pre-installed – it took several hours
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