Magellan RoadMate 3000T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)See update at end of this posting.

I purchased this unit, the Magellan RoadMate 3050T, which is the 3000T, but with the receiver for Traffic-enabled info. For what I paid for this unit and the features it has, I believe it to be a very good deal.

The windshield suction cup mount works ok, but I wish it was a little stiffer. On bumpy roads the GPS can bounce up and down a little. With the unit mounted, the first time I tried to power it up I thought I got a bum unit. You have to hold the power on button for up to 15 seconds the first time, about 3 seconds after the first to have it spring to life. I think Magellan should state this right on the plastic protection sheet they have on the face of the unit. It would have saved me some startup anxiety.

Once I got it working it zeroed in on the satellites very quickly. In the windshield mount, the gps maintains an excellent signal. In fact, much better then my Garmin Maps 76S. Even with heavy over cast and in tree cover I have full signal bars on the upper right of the display.

Speaking display, this unit is very bright, even in full sun. In fact, at night, with the brightness turned all the way down, it is a little brighter then I really like.

The display makes use of a lot of icons. I had to breakout the manual to figure what some of them meant.

I am a stickler for wanting to know what direction I'm traveling. I planned to purchase the Garmin Streetpilot C550. I changed my mind after finding the Garmin does not display the normal compass heading on the main map display. The Magellan 3000T displays the heading full time in the map mode in the lower left corner. It uses the N, NE, E, SE, SW, W, NW headings.

A very good sounding lady gives voice directions. It is very clear, and volume level is also very good. This unit does not have the "text to speech". However, after using the Magellan 3000T, I really don't care that it doesn't speak the road name. What it will do is tell you when a turn is coming up and which direction you will need to turn and on the display it gives you the name of the street. The directions are clear and understandable leaving no doubt what you need to do. The maps are from Navteq. I feel Navteq is the best out there.

Update speed of this unit is very good. The display refreshes quickly and I never feel it is lagging behind. The route calculator waste no time as well. Most route calculations take less then 5 seconds to complete.

With the TrafficKit, this gps can find you a way around most traffic flow issues like slowdowns, accidents, construction, and other reasons. Around the metro Detroit area it seems to work pretty well. However, on a trip up north, it didn't work as well. I believe this to be more of an issue with the service provider then a problem with the gps. I'm sure with time this will improve. One detour it took me on saved us over an hour in stop and go traffic with just a few miles added to the distance. For one year of service it cost about $60. I don't like how the TrafficKit attaches to the gps. The cables end up going all over the place and the antenna for the receiver is long. Seems they could have come up with a better design. I ended up leave the antenna lying on the dash. It just looks messy.

The software that comes with the unit seems a little lame to me. You really can't do much with it. I wanted to be able to download the trip computer to my laptop. I have not found a way to do this. I'll be calling tech support to see if I'm missing something.

I have not tried the mp3 player or picture functions as I really don't care to have pictures on the unit. I'll try the mp3 in the near future.

For me, this unit is a keeper.

Pros: Easy to see, easy to use once I learned the system, pleasant command voice, easy to remove and install into its mount,you have a choice of using the touch screen or navigation buttons.

Cons: Power-on confusing the first time I used it, trafic receiver attachment messy, I had to upgrade the firmware to bring it up to date, it corrects early version lockups reported in some of the early reviews.(no big deal to update)

Update as of 12-20-06

Cons and Pro addition to date:Can't use the MP3 player at the same time as navigating. POI database is wrong for southern Florida areas.Items in the database not where the gps shows they are in the state of Florida. POI very good for Michigan.All in all I still like this unit and find it as good or better then other brands in the same price range on the market.

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Product Description:
It's time to really get in the driver's seat with a new generation of vehicle navigation devices from Magellan. With a large, 3.5-inch color touch screen and buttons for one-touch access to key features, the Magellan RoadMate 3000T is intelligently designed to make GPS navigation easier than ever.
Enter an address and get turn-by-turn voice guidance, while the built-in dynamic map shows your location, destination and route in traditional or "birds-eye" 3D for a clear view of your surroundings. Touch an on-screen icon for information about nearby services and get routed there instantly. Magellan's SmartDetour technology routes you around stopped freeway traffic. And because the 3000T is traffic-ready, you can simply add the Magellan TrafficKit to get live traffic incident reports. Plus, the unit features a built-in music player, photo viewer and rechargeable battery so you can take your entertainment on the road.
Design
The 3000T features a sleek and compact design for optimum portability. A large touch screen and buttons offer access to key features and the universal configuration gives easier access to buttons whether you're right or left handed. The unit tracks up to 12 GPS satellites simultaneously and uses the high performance SiRF Star III solution for optimal signal acquisition. It's also WAAS enabled, further enhancing positioning accuracy.
Lightweight and completely portable, the 3000T is easily transferred from one vehicle to another, so you can take it with you wherever you go. The built-in rechargeable battery lets you continue routing or listen to music or view pictures when unplugged, and its compact size and light weight enable you to easily take it with you on business trips or vacations. Vehicle installation couldn't be easier; choose from a selection of mounting accessories, plug in the power cord, and you are ready to turn it on and go
When you're traveling at night you'll appreciate that the displayed map background color switches to night view at sundown, and back to day view in the morning. Another function, SmartVolume, automatically increases the unit's volume at speeds over 45 MPH so voice and audio prompts are always at the right level for maximum clarity.
Navigation
Easy-to-use guidance screens Navigation with the 3000T starts with the unit's super bright, high-resolution display screen with bold and easy-to read icons and text. Your route is clearly highlighted, and you can zoom in or out on a detailed map. Touch the 3D map icon anytime to switch between a three-dimensional representation that gives a bird's-eye view of the road ahead and the more traditional 2D map view. Plus, you can select from nine different color combinations to personalize your view.
The Maneuver List gives you a detailed list of streets and turns; touch a street on the list to exclude it from your route and instantly calculate a new route. Meanwhile, the TrueView 3D function offers a detailed, enlarged view of the road layout for upcoming turns and information about intersection maneuvers. Dynamic turn-by-turn voice guidance tells you when to make the next turn, while an automatic map zooms in to show your highlighted turn and switches to TrueView 3D so you can confirm the direction at a glance.
Route optimization is a breeze with the 3000T. Let the unit guide you on an optimized trip with several destinations. First, use the Trip Planner to enter addresses or select points of interest (POI). You choose the order or let Route Optimization feature calculate the quickest route between each point from your present location. Add and subtract destinations as you go, and save your Trip to repeat the same route again.
When traffic slows or stops on the freeway, SmartDetour will automatically calculate a detour and ask you if you'd like to route around the congestion. You can turn the feature on and off, or personalize the settings for the maximum distance you'd like to detour. You may also choose to detour anytime by touching the enter button while you are in an active route, even on city streets to route around road work, closed roads, flooded streets or stopped traffic. Whenever you decide to take a detour or go off course, your Magellan RoadMate automatically calculates a new route as you drive.
Add the Magellan TrafficKit to receive live traffic incident reports that appear on the dynamic touch screen map. Touch an onscreen icon to view detailed information about the incident. You can also automatically reroute around accidents, slow-downs, road work, severe weather conditions and more. The TrafficKit service will be available in the Summer of 2006 and it will require a subscription.
And last but not least, a touch of a button shows the information about your present location so you can easily direct emergency services and roadside assistance to you. Or, save this location to your address book to easily route back to it later.
Maps and POIs
Built-in, detailed maps of the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Canada enable you to travel the country with no need to download new data. A single seamless database built in to the hard drive contains all major city streets as well as federal, state, and county roads and highways. Detailed maps of 27 European countries are also pre-loaded and can be unlocked for a fee.
An easy-to-use database of over six million POIs includes addresses and even phone numbers, in most cases, for businesses, services, parks, lakes, airports and more. It's simple to find the nearest restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and more, wherever you travel. A simple touch-screen menu makes it easy to choose a location by category or sub-category. So if you want to find the nearest Chinese restaurant, just touch the screen. You can also store up to 200 personal or business destinations. QuickSpell intelligently sorts, searches, and checks spelling for rapid address entry with minimal keystrokes, accelerating your data entry by matching letters to the available destinations.
Entertainment
The 3000T make sit easy to take the fun with you wherever you go. Magellan RoadMate Manager Tools software enables you to easily transfer your MP3 and WMA files from your computer to a memory card (SD or MMC) that can be inserted into your Magellan RoadMate 3000T for hours of music entertainment. You can also transfer your favorite photos from your PC onto memory card using the Magellan RoadMate Tools application and view them on the full-color display.

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