Magellan RoadMate 1440 Review

The Magellan RoadMate 1440 is a great alternative to those that do not want the Maestro series' extra features. People that are often on the road should be safe with the Magellan RoadMate and that gave rise to newer models building on the features of the 1400 and fixing a few issues that others had in the past.

Magellan RoadMate 1440

Magellan Maestro 1440 GPS Navigator

Design

The design of the RoadMate 1440 shares a strikingly similar design with its old cousin the RoadMate 1400. Those that have never seen a RoadMate 1400 will be impressed with its ultra-thin design and impressive 4.3-inch wide color touch screen that should be easy enough to view while holding or while driving.

Interface

The interface of the RoadMate 1440 complements very well with the design and adds nifty interface features including the OneTouch favorites menu giving you quick access to any bookmarks that you have made on the map so you can fire up the routes to your favorites places easily or search anywhere you wish to travel.

Actual user review:
• "I am very happy with the Magellan RoadMate 1440, it's just such a good GPS Navigator with all the bells and whistles! The 1440 is very accurate at saving you time during trips, you can set it up to give you the fastest route or the shortest distance to your destination, which in many cases, is not the same route. The highway lane assist is one of those features that you might not think you need until you start dealing with lower end GPS units that don't offer such features. Take it from a guy who used to own a tomtom One 3rd edition! This feature helps you make sure that you are choosing the correct lane to exit during a freeway interchange. You'll be glad you have this feature, trust me! Just in case you were wondering, this unit is also compatible with the "Magellan Traffic Link" (sold separately) which gives you FREE real time traffic alerts in exchange for small banner ads such as "AM/PM too much good stuff!" displayed on the top of your screen. a small price to pay for such a great service!" - G.Perez (CA,USA)

Navigation

On the navigation side, there are also plenty of worthy extras to make your navigation more convenient. Those that haven’t tried any of the RoadMate series will easily be impressed on how simple it is to plan routes. Route planning options include the best route based on the shortest distance, fastest time, and amount of freeways demanded. When a longer trip is required, you can customize your trip with multiple stops and rearrange them in any order you like. The trip can be further optimized by the RoadMate in such a way that you save the most time and money.

Trip planning is easy too if you make full use of the QuickSpell feature that allows you to enter a partial set of letters that make up the street name and the QuickSpell will highlight any letters to type to filter your search. You can also plan routes by simply touching any destination on the map.

If points of interests are one of the dealbreakers, the Magellan RoadMate 1440 provides you with over a million POIs located in preloaded maps of the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico areas. You can even purchase a Mexico map if you wish to travel there. Some of the more enhanced features allow POIs that are near highway exits to be specially searched for better trip planning and branded icon representations of known POIs for easier visibility. The Text-to-Speech feature keeps you focused on the road by letting it speak out the names of streets.

Extra Features

If you buy a traffic link accessory, you can get live traffic updates for unexpected situations. The AAA TourBook is also included highlighting a list of AAA approved restaurants, hotels, and other worthy locations that can save you money and give you the best service possible. If your vehicle needs emergency repairs, you can also take advantage of the tool-free AA Member Roadside Assistance service complete with a self-locator so you can tell the repair shop or tow truck service where you are.

The RoadMate 1440 is comfortably priced at around $200 making it a far better deal than many of the other devices out on the market. It has a nice set of features that should help any driver get around.

More user reviews:
• "This product from Magellan is the best GPS unit that I have ever had. I used Garmin and Tomtom and also other produts with Magellan. This one is great. Clear, accurate, to the point fast and programmable. It is far more advanced in its touch face, destinations, PO interests, and the AAA recommedation is a plus. The only shortcoming on this unit is that it does not have a battery meter to show the battery strength. But overall once you own this unit, you will not look for any other unit. I am saying this as an experienced GPSer." - Ignotus (Illinois,USA)

• "This is a great piece of equipment. The CPU on this G.P.S. is very fast. Route calculation is fast and accurate. If you live in New Jersey and travel on the Parkway/Turnpike/Route 80, Lane Guidance works perfectly. I drive 700-800 miles a week an and this is a must have. I did not want a unit with Bluetooth or FM Transmitter which is missing from this unit, and maybe that's the reason it works so well. The 3D map is amazing unlike the Roadmate 1412. The map in night mode is also a great improvement over the Roadmate 1412 and not too bright. I have owned a garmin 660 and a magellan roadmate 1412(horrible G.P.S. unit) and I have to congratulate Magellan on this one. I would recommend this unit to anyone who is in the market for a great Navigation unit at a reasonable price." - R.Fileus (USA)

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