Magellan Roadmate 2200T GPS System Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Let's start: I have had the Magellan 700 for about 2 years, so I'am very familiar with GPS units and it's quirks. Have taken the 700 on many trips including Hawaii, California, Wisconsin, Las Vegas Nevada, Indiana, IL. The heavy gadget worked awesome for those 2 years and still does. It gave us the freedom to drive in any city, ANYWHERE, with the uptmost confidence. So when these smaller units went down in price I figure why not. I purchased both at the same time, and tested each in the car together, as well as, separately. I figured I had ample time to return one or the other.
The Break Down Pros and Cons of each:
Garmin NUVI 350
PROS
1) Small, light weight, thin. Can fit into wife's tinest purse or suit jacket. Smaller than a pack of cigarettes. Good for night out... don't want to leave in car when you valet.
2) Graphics are much nicer and more detailed. 3D view is very clear.
3) POI listing is very comprehensive.
4) Interface is simple, easy input.
5) Windsheild bracket is small also.
6) Says street names and directions in complete sentences. Ex. turn left on north clark ave. NOT "turn left in 1 mile - North Clark ave"
7) Very fast signal pick up, EVEN indoors. Under 1 min out of the box.
8) Re-route is fast if you miss a street.
Cons:
1) Too small for elderly people to manipulate easily (my parents are 70 years old)
2) No initial routing choices - it defaults to shortest time which may take you on highways. My wife hates driving on highways if possible. Excluding highways/tollways or other roadway types is a separate menu as a preference. Can not exclude specific streets from route. If it can I couldn't figure it out.
3) Requires a more tech saavy person to take advantage of it's "extra" features.
4) Routing queues are quick and does NOT give you ample time to turn sometimes, esp. if you have to lane change in faster traffic. The Nuvi will say your next manuver but if you look at the screen there is no indication which way unless it's close enough to show on the map. EX: If you had to turn right in 5 miles, it tells you this, BUT it might not show that on the screen yet until you get close enough (about 1 mile away). This is not a problem, but it does make you check the screen often if you didn't pay attention to the vocal instruction. I could probably get used to this, BUT imagine my wife or 70 year old parents on the highway trying to lane change to the left or right. You have to keep listening to the vocal queues, I don't want to do this because driving is more visual activity than anything else and I don't want to stop talking to my passengers when critical directions are being said. This IS my BIGGEST GRIPE. If you don't understand what I mean just take a look at the screen shot of each on Amazon. Are you looking at them? Ok...
The Nuvi white arrow will not show until youre close... it says 200m, but if you were 3 miles away it won't show that arrow. If you missed what it said because your baby was crying in the back YOU will have no idea if your next move will be right,left or straight until your closer, sometimes too close..forcing you to cut over faster than you want to or miss the turn all together. It also only says the the directions twice before the manuver. Once when your close, then once when you turn.
The Magellan 2200T has that yellow arrow on the green background in the bottom left hand corner, that is there no matter if your 10 miles or 0.1 miles away. If you missed the vocal instruction, you look at the screen once and you will know you need to turn right or left or straight or whatever in x amount of miles. And it will continously remind you, and it will ding. Plenty of times it reminds you at to 'turn left in 2 miles, turn left in 1 mile and then it will say "approaching left turn in 0.2 miles" and then you know it's time to turn.
5) The voice is more on the digitized-robot like side than human.
6) Tends to be more geared to a more tech saavy generation x'er than my parents.
7) the 2D view is not as good as the 3d view.
The Magellan 2200T - The unit I eventually kept.
Pros:
1) Simple to use, almost made for total non-tech users.
2) Routing is simple, easy to understand with ample visual queues and vocal queues with a two toned dings. The voice is more life-like than Garmin. You can mute this unit if you had to and still tell all you need to know from the screen in plenty of time to make your move. Also it's eay to tell what street your ON and what street youre going to.
3) Initial 4 routing choices: Shortest time, Shortest distance, most use of freeways and LEAST use of freeways.
4) When slowed down in traffic on a highway

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