Magellan RoadMate 1420

Magellan is one of the major contenders in the battle for the best affordable car GPS device. It is a company that is used to these waters but competitors are still pushing forward in making their devices not only more affordable but more functional and accurate. Magellan responded last 2009 with the Magellan RoadMate 1420 and it continues sell well because of all the familiar core features found in most Magellan models. The RoadMate 1420 hopes to be enough for the average consumer that has never used a GPS device before.

Magellan RoadMate 1420 GPS Navigator

Design

For a basic device, the Magellan RoadMate 1420 is surprisingly thin and the screen is the large 4.3-inch touchscreen is suitable for drivers that mount their GPS device. This also means that it can sport the same interface that the higher-end 4.3-inch models use.

User Interface

Magellan continues to use their user interface that many consumers love because it simply works and it provides the most frequently used options within reach. One advantage for getting a cheaper car GPS device is the much simpler interface due to the lack of features. Less icons and menu items means easier navigation for new GPS device users. Some users may even feel at home with the interface without peeking at the manual.

The exclusive OneTouch Favorites Menu is one of the most important parts of the interface and is not found in the older Magellan devices. It makes navigation so much simpler by presenting 10 icons on a page that lead to user customizable destinations. Some icons pointing to common places are already added by default such as Home, ATM Bank, and Gas. Users can move on to the next page to see more bookmarked POIs. As the name indicates, the favorites menu is brought up by a single touch for easy access.

A much older feature known as QuickSpell is still present in the RoadMate 1420. It opens up an on-screen keyboard whenever there is a need to key in a destination. But unlike other onscreen keyboards found in other portable devices, QuickSpell highlights the possible letters to push in order to complete a known destination. This allows quicker inputs and the autocomplete feature that shows a list of possible matches pairs nicely with it. The interface also has a night view that activates automatically by dimming the roads and blackening the screen.

Actual user review:
• "This is the second Magellan RoadMate 1420 4.3 in GPS Navigator I have purchased, my wife and I both have one. The 1420 GPS is very light and only 1/2 inch thick. It has an easy to use and read touch screen. I bought a bean bag mount and can easily remove from car to prevent theft." - L.Sauer Jr(PA,USA); Amazon Verified Purchase

Navigation Features

The OneTouch Favorites Menu aids greatly to the navigational experience but if the point of interest is not in the menu, users can still quickly navigate to the desired point by using the 2D map view. Switching to the 3D map view is ideal for knowing when to turn and checking your surroundings without losing a sense of direction. The easiest place to navigate to is the "Home" where it takes a single touch from the favorites menu to calculate the route going to the set "Home" destination from any location.

Magellan does not hold back when it comes to their database as it contains over 6 million points of interests. That is roughly the same as other Magellan 2009 and the interface even manages to categorize them with categories such as Restaurants and Coffee and they each have their own clear icons. It even comes with a built-in interface that allows users to search highway exists for nearby gas stations, hotels, restaurants, and other significant areas. These points are scattered across the preloaded maps of the United States including Hawaii and Puerto Pico. The AAA TourBook guide nicely describes and rates certain places to stay and dine which is nice for travelers.

The main features clearly show that the RoadMate 1420 is good for city driving or simple traveling that need to quickly go to a destination. However, the RoadMate 1420 manages to be useful for making lengthy trips as well thanks to the multi-destination routing feature which allows multiple stops to be added. These stops can be rearranged at any time so the device can calculate the best possible route. During the trip, the spoken street name guidance feature kicks in which serves as the GPS device's text-to-speech feature. Drivers can pay full attention to the road as the audio cues can guide them without missing a turn.

The Magellan RoadMate 1420 may not feature any huge bells and whistles but it certainly does not lack any critical features that can leave average users at a disadvantage. The Magellan RoadMate offers a full circle of features for under $150 while making a small sacrifice to the device's accuracy.

Product Features

• GPS navigator with 4.3-inch touchscreen, OneTouch favorites, AAA TourBook and member Roadside Assistance, and more
• Pre-loaded maps of contiguous U.S., Hawaii & Puerto Rico with six million searchable Points of Interest
• OneTouch favorites menu affords instant access to your personalized bookmarks of favorite places
• Built-in AAA TourBook provides ratings and descriptions on AAA approved places to stay, play, dine, and save
• Spoken street name guidance lets you keep your eyes on the road; multi-desitnation routing with route optimization

More user reviews:

• "This was our first GPS purchase in 10 years and we knew they had come a long way but this little unit is terrific. It's easy to use with well organized menus, making selecting your destination a breeze. It selects (so far! ) logical routing. The display is easy to read - though, as with all such displays, the combination of bright light and sunglasses makes it tougher. The night display is perfect without being distractingly bright. The size is perfect. Small enough to be easily carried yet large enough to be easily read, and it weights next to nothing. The lever style suction cup window mount would hold 20x the weight of this unit and yet is fast and easy to remove. A vast improvement over the kind that holds our Escort right next to it. It also has a notch to provide strain relief for the power cable. A nice touch." - Ken (USA)

• "Reasonable price for a Magellan product. I have 2 other Magellan GPS units for Geocaching and find that this unit is similar in the navigation. I have a few chances to use it since I purchased the item and have been successful in finding the location every time. I am sure that a few improvements were made in the next generation GPS for cars by Magellan. I find that the navigation through the buttons to be easy and would recommend this product to everyone. I received free shipping on the item and it arrived before the due date." - Ed (USA)

Average User Rating :

List Price : $149.99

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