Magellan RoadMate 1470

We all know that technology is on the roll and it helps us in numerous ways. Yes, some Stone Age guys may say that technology leads to disaster. But, does that mean that we need to avoid it and call it as one of the most bizarre alien concepts? Not really! When it can do good, use it to make the good, better! This thought really pulled me out of the nut shell to look into the box of Magellan Roadmate.

The general feel of the Magellan Roadmate 1470:

The first thing that captured my curious eyes was the piano-black casing made of plastic. The BIG 4.7 inch screen was a sheer pleasure to look at as the buttons on the screen looked big and the text was easier to read! Phew… At last! The possibility of malfunctioning external buttons is discarded. The unit did not keep any external button except for the power switch (placed on the top of the unit). All operations are to be done by the touch screen. Coming to back panel, did an outstanding job to impart a crisp look by using a silver plastic of matt-color!

Speaker and dimensions of Magellan Roadmate 1470:

When it comes to navigate through the roads, voice navigation is the most convenient form. I guess that everyone will agree to the fact. Looking at the screen and then concentrating back on the road can be a problem for some people. I am newbie and due to this it is at least difficult for me. Magellan Roadmate 1470 was probably designed to meet the requirements of people like me! This GPS navigation unit has an in-built speaker placed at the rear left hand corner of the unit. It is bigger than other GPS navigation units available in the market. Ah! What I like most is the crisp and clear sound. It never gets distorted even at high volumes. Now, if you want your eyes to do a lot of exercise and switch randomly between the screen and the road, the big screen accommodated in the 5.2 x 0.7 x 3.3 inches unit will surely solve your purpose.

The technical aspects:

This was kind of a surprise for me. The unit has a mounted Micro SD card slot but the card is not necessary to use the navigation unit itself! The only reason to use the slot is for backing up and restoring data. Also there is a USB connector, which is used to power up the unit either from the power adapter cable of the vehicle or you can also use the AC power adapter, which is optional.

The Mount:

The Magellan Roadmate 1470 comes with two types of mount. One can be used to mount the unit on the windshield and the other one (adhesive mount) can be used to mount the unit on the dashboard. The windshield mount has a lever at the base. I was really impressed with the design and the elegance. The lever ensures that the suction cup is secured to the windshield and mount has a cradle that is used to keep the GPS unit in place. The cradle has a tab and when I lowered the unit, the slot on back of the unit was aligned with the tab and finally rested on the foot of the cradle.

Design Flaw:

One thing I really found annoying is that the GPS unit needs to be connected to the USB power cable so as to make it work. The port where the power cable is to be plugged in is at the bottom of the unit. Once the unit is mounted on the cradle, the port goes out of sight and it can be difficult to plug the cable. I tried plugging the cable first and then mounting the device. I was awarded with frustration as that was not possible. I hope that Magellan will fix this.

Using the device:

When I powered the device by sliding the power button, it took 34 second to start and then prompted to select the language, time zone and measurement unit and then renders it as ‘ready to use’.

Functionality of Magellan Roadmate 1470:

Navigating with the GPS device was sheer pleasure for me. The quick spell function of the device allowed to find the city I was looking for from a list of cities and then entering the street address was another fun stuff. The quick spell function allowed only entering a valid street name by fading the keys of the onscreen keyboard, which would lead to an invalid entry. The next thing that I had to do was to enter the street and the building number and tap the ‘GO’ button. It was easy and it allowed me to search for POIs (points of interests). The added advantage is that the device allows you to find alternate route when you want to avoid a particular road. This feature is not present in every GPS navigation system.

Conclusion:

I will say that the price tag for this masterpiece is quite reasonable and justified at $249.99. The comfort and the ease of use ensure that the journey is comfortable and easy. I guess that everyone will like to pay for this!