The Magellan Roadmate 1212 GPS was the first GPS Unit I ever owned. My wife and I went to Best Buy to pick it up, they had it on sale for $149.99 CAD. The goal with this first time car GPS unit purchase was to start with a basic one without all the bells and whistles.
I’ve rented a Tom Tom GPS before while on business trip with the rental car, and was familiar with how car GPS units work. However, at time of purchase they didn’t have any Tom Tom’s on sale in the price range I was looking at.
The three major car GPS brands were Tom Tom, Magellan and Garmin. Some of my friends and co-workers swears by Tom Tom, some of them like Garmin more, and some use Magellan. To me as long as the GPS unit tells me where to turn , get off the highway and gets me to my destination…I am happy.
Below are some of the Pros and Cons for the Magellan Roadmate 1212, which I used extensively for 2 weeks during my California vacation.
Pros of Magellan Roadmate 1212:
- Good battery life
- Quick destination address entry
- High contrast readable screen/display
- Good clear voice
- Good directions for the most part.
- More Points of Interest (POI) pre-programmed in than the previous Magellan models.
Best Improvement for Magellan Roadmate 1212:
- Finds GPS sattelite signal fairly quickly
- Fills in the destination address as you type
Cons for Magellan Roadmate 1212:
- Power button on top right, when picking up unit with hands can easily turn GPS unit off by accident.
- If you miss your turn, when it tells you too, the re-calculating of the route is a little slow or maybe that is just my impatience.
All in all, I would say the Magellan Roadmate 1212 does what a GPS Unit is expected to do. It got my wife and I to all our various destinations in California successfully. For money it is a great value.
More technical details below:
Magellan RoadMate 1212 – GPS receiver
Manufacturer: Magellan Corp.
Part Number: 980-0178-001
General
- Width 3.6 in
- Depth 0.7 in
- Height 3.3 in
- Weight 4.9 oz
GPS System
- Recommended Use Automotive
- SBAS WAAS , EGNOS
- Accuracy Position – 3 – 5 m ( With WAAS )
- Voice Navigation instructions , Street name announcement
- Antenna Built-in
- Features Preinstalled POIs , Text-to-Speech (TTS) , 2D / 3D map perspective
- Supported Memory Cards SD Memory Card
- Maps Included USA , Canada , Puerto Rico
- Software Included NAVTEQ ON BOARD
Navigation
- Trip computer
- Avoid freeways
- Avoid toll roads
- Fast/short route
- Maximize freeways
Built-in Display
- Type LCD
- Resolution 320 x 240
- Diagonal Size 3.5 in
- Color Support Color
- Features Touch screen
Battery
- Battery Enclosure Type Internal
- Battery technology Lithium ion
- Mfr estimated battery life 2 hour(s)
Miscellaneous
- Body material Plastic
- Included GPS accessories SD Card , Car power adapter , Automotive windshield mount
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