Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 27
 I will never recommand this to any one. April 29, 2006
BK (NY, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I purchased this one last week and I am sending it back today. The unit is great and features are reasonable for price. Major issue is with MAPS. They are worng and they don't have many cities listed. I live in Long Island, NY and i couldn't get to many places here.
I called customer support and got them on line with in 3 min ( not bad at all ) and the person who is on the phone was very nice and polite. He has verified and confirmed the locations where I wanted to go are not available in MAPS supplied with unit. As per him this doesn't have updates MAPS and they may not be available for next 3-4 months.
I learned that every model GPS don't have same maps. More expensive models has slightly better maps.
 So far so good August 14, 2005
witerussian
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Read the reviews, here, which tended to be good and the opinions on Eopinions which tended to be bad. So far I have no complaints. Was able to load the software, create and download maps without trouble. I gave the unit a present location and it locked onto satellites in minutes. Loaded work and home addresses and took it for a test spin, performed, excellent. Screen and voice is crystal clear. Needs to have volume and screen brightness controls on the box itself instead of menu options is the only shortcomings I've run across.
 Everything work for me October 26, 2005
S. Collins (Lewisburg, PA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I guess some of the other raters have received some bad units, but all I can say is that mine works like a champ. Mine acquired a satellite in less than 5 minutes the first time and it has pick up a satellite every other time before I get out of the garage. I have had no problems using the software. One suggestion to all, do not format the memory. The base maps, voice prompts and the unit authorization files will be deleted and you will have to go through customer service to get it fixed. This is the best GPS unit I ever had.
A good Navigation system for beginners November 13, 2005
Prashant Pujari (Kearney, Nebraska)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Road-mate 300 is definitely a GPS marvel as it boasts of accuracy of about 3 meters. If your city is building roads very often, make sure to purchase a recent one that has an updated map. But if you are not worried about few changes here and there and are looking at a bigger picture, this is the one for you. This unit works great if you mount it on your windshield and is very user friendly, easy to learn and has multiple useful functions that you can potentially do while keeping you attention on the road. Has a good voice navigation system. I would like to really see this unit having a larger memory and faster satellite catch after start, but dont let this disappoint you. because this is great system to have if you really love exploring places and care about coming back home without getting lost or if you want to wander care free, leaving it to your road mate to bring you home back safe.
Remanufactured but worth it January 6, 2006
L. Gomez (San Jose, CA USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought a remanufactured RoadMate 300 and I'm very happy with it considering the price. I bought it in November 2005 and it came loaded with the latest firmware as of that time (v1.81). It also comes with NAVTEQ maps dated 2004. I won't go into all of the features since you can read about them on Magellan's website but I will tell you what I like and don't like about it.
Likes:
* Bright screen. This thing is very readable even in bright sunlight. I drive a 2002 Honda Accord EX and I mount it towards the bottom of the windshield, underneath the rearview mirror. There are also several options for color schemes so you can pick whichever gives you the best contrast. I use the "Paper Map" color scheme.
* Decent time for satellite acquisition. I've never had it go for more than 2 minutes when looking for a satellite upon startup (it's usually around 30 seconds). Be sure to follow the manual and set your initial location through the diagnostics screen. This will help the GPS lock faster or else it will spend 10-15 minutes figuring out where it is.
* 2D map is very readable and not too confusing. You can hit the +/- button to zoom in and out to your liking. Your path on the map is highlighted so it's easy to see where you are and where you're going.
* This is a nice feature -- when the GPS loses satellite reception, it defaults to the Maneuver List screen, which are the step by step instructions on how to get to where you're going, similar to Yahoo! or Google maps directions.
Dislikes:
* The windshield mount is not that stable. The suction cup is very strong so there's no danger of the mount falling off (make sure you have a clean windshield and it's not greasy -- use the enclosed alcohol wipe if necessary). However, your RM300 will shake quite a bit on bumpy roads.
* There's no volume knob for the voice prompts. You have to go through a lot of menu screens to change the volume so it's dangerous trying to change it while driving. If you go somewhere where there's a lot of turns and stuff, all of the prompting and bells can drive you nuts.
* The internal memory is small. I live in California and I travel to the east coast quite often. The unit has 128 MB of internal storage but about 40 MB is taken up by the base maps and software, leaving only 80 MB of free space. This is enough to load California and parts of Nevada. I bought a 1GB Corsair 133x SD card and this allows me to load a significant chunk of both the east and west coast states.
* There's no internal battery. When you switch off your car, the unit will turn off. It relies on cigarette lighter power.
* The buttons feel really spongy. There is a round, 8-way switch in the middle of the control panel on the right-hand side but you can't get a sense as to where you're actually pressing it since it's so spongy. However, I rarely use any of the buttons except for View, Enter, and Cancel so I can live with the crappy switch.
* The routing algorithms take you on strange routes sometimes. It especially hates recommending U-turns it seems... I have a few destinations where a U-turn at the intersection will take you there but instead it routes me around the block to avoid the U-turn. Also, sometimes it will also tell me to get off a freeway, go through some city streets, and then get back on the freeway again.
* I found it strange and annoying that the POI (Points Of Interest) database doesn't contain movie theaters.
* Sometimes there is a difference between the name of the city on the NAVTEQ map and mailing address for a location. For example, there was a funeral home I had to go to whose mailing address has the city as Sacramento. Typing in the address into the unit gave me a "Not Found" message. I asked around and someone told me to try typing in "Citrus Heights", which is a town in Sacramento, and this worked. I wish the unit would present me a list of possible locations especially since I had no clue that a place called Citrus Heights actually exists.
While there seem to be more Dislikes than Likes, this is still a good unit. I have never gotten lost because of it, even though it may sometimes take you through weird routes. There are some annoyances but they're not deal breakers. The unit is very simple to use and understand while driving and since it has no hard drive, there are no moving parts that can cause reliability issues later on. I originally wanted a GPS with a hard drive so I wouldn't have to keep loading maps but then I did a reality check and realized that 1) those suckers are expensive and 2) I rarely drive outside of California. Besides, all of the places that I do want to drive in outside of California already fit in a 1GB card with room to spare... You can also go to Magellan's website and download the instruction manual before you buy it so you can get an idea as to what it's like to operate one. Anyways, at less than $400 this is a great deal.
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