Magellan RoadMate 1700 Review

Every year, top GPS makers like TomTom, Garmin, and Magellan reveal new and exciting products that are designed to make the GPS experience safer, more enjoyable, and more convenient to encourage more people to use these devices while they drive. Lately, new entry-level devices have been introduced and are usually priced under $250. Now newer models surface with slightly higher price tags, but have some tempting features that could make it worth the upgrade. The new Magellan RoadMate 1700 is one of the latest devices unveiled late 2009 and immediately impresses just by its design.

Magellan RoadMate 1700 GPS Navigator

Design

It is the design that separates it from a large number of the modern GPS devices today. With 4 and 5-inch models becoming the mainstream standard, the RoadMate 1700 reaches high for a high-resolution 7-inch touchscreen display. The real benefit is that greater map details can be viewed on the display without touching the zoom functions and the interface becomes a tad easier to navigate.

Interface

Users of the popular Maestro models will easily be familiar with the interface consisting of mainly icons. New users to GPS models can take advantage of the OneTouch favorites menu which serves as a bookmark center for storing favorite areas on the map for easy access whenever a destination needs to be reached from the current location.

Other areas can easily be accessed even without the menu as it still includes the QuickSpell feature which is a favorite among Magellan GPS device loyalists. As a destination is keyed in using the onscreen keyboard, certain keys are highlighted to lead to a correct spelling of a street or point of interest to make finding the right place to go faster. Combined with the SmartCity search, a list of addresses and cities that match the keys will be displayed on a list for quick access. The Auto Night View feature auto-activates when night time strikes to ensure that the interface is visible for easy viewing.

Navigation Features

The Magellan RoadMate 1700 isn't just big on the outside because it houses some powerful navigation features to make car trips easy on the road no matter the location since there are already maps of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico preinstalled with Mexico maps sold as an optional upgrade. There are more than 6 million points of interest scattered across these areas including local restaurants, locations of ATM machines, gas stations, and other worthy landmarks. These points of interests can be found in other competing GPS devices as well, but the RoadMate 1700 adds points of interests to the highway exits as well. Some of the more popular areas have their logos displayed as well. To make better use of the 7-inch display, a bird's eye adds more viewing area in 2-D and 3-D layouts.

When bigger routes need to be planned, there are chances that highway routes and confusing intersections can be part of the travel, but the "Highway lane assist" feature guides drivers to the right direction by highlighting the lane the driver has to be in before a vital turn is made reducing the frustration of missing turns. Through multi-destination routing, the trail is never lost because multiple stops can be set in any desired order so both time and money saving trips can be planned all within the device. Route creation adds another level of flexibility by allowing different routes to be created based on the fastest time to reach the destination, shortest overall distance, or the route that uses the most or least freeways.

When there are unexpected instances such as heavy traffic or accidents take place, the SmartDetour functionality activates responsively by calculating the next best route to reach the destination. The Auto re-route then takes into effect and ensures that a turn will never be missed as it aids the driver in going back on track from the detour. It also features advanced text-to-speech features by having the device speak the street name when a turn is necessary.

Extras

Some of the extras are AAA approved such as the AAA TourBook which gives some places to stay and dine some added flair with ratings and descriptions while the AAA Member Roadside Assistance assists people to approved repair shops or tow truck services.

Bottom Line

The Magellan RoadMate 1700 literally quadruples the resolution of standard GPS devices and doesn't add too many other advanced features to keep the price at $300. It is a great deal for anyone looking for a very readable GPS device.

Actual user review:
• "The Magellan is so much easier to see because of it's much larger size. The menus are simple to navigate (not so many endless optional settings as the TomTom) and it includes the AAA travel guide, which we have used in book form for years. Street names are presented in easy-to-read-at-a-glance fonts, for those of us who actually look at the GPS while driving. The screen is plenty bright enough even in bright sunlight to be easily read, even through dark sunglasses. Not so, the TomTom. Also, I like the auto turn-to-night feature, which changes the screen colors to suit nighttime driving. And did I mention, I love the BIG screen! I plan to buy my wife a portable DVD player for Christmas and the Magellan will accept composite video from the player and give us two screens if we choose (but not while driving).

Here's an important feature: the Magellan comes with a very functional windshield suction cup mount which works like one of those small hobby vises you've seen that uses a lever to really fasten the suction cup to a table top. That's necessary since the GPS is naturally heavier than the smaller units. I'm now satisfied that it will hold the device securely after several trips. " - R.Bellamy (Hawaii,USA)

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