Magellan RoadMate 1200 Car GPS Receiver

Right off the bat, I'll be honest, I didn't really intend to buy this. For some time now I've been wanting a GPS, but I didn't have the money for it and I didn't want to buy a new car. But I am a technology junkie, so it was intriguing.

We were in Circuit City getting a car stereo for my son and on the endcap was this little GPS unit for less than I expected. Now I'll give you a little background, we ended up at Circuit City on accident...because we got lost finding our original destination. Sooo, now you know why I bought this unit!

As I said, I've never owned one of these. I do have a Garmin, but it is for geocaching and not for driving, so this is a whole different experience.

It comes in one of those darned plastic packaging that is impossible to get into without the use of a handy pocketknife. It is packaged well, with the tools I needed to get across Terre Haute to my destination.

Cut it out of the package, plug it in the cigarette lighter and turn it on. That is all of the prep I did, and I was really impressed. It took a second to ask me my time, but it then located 12 satellites and told me where I was.

While I was in line waiting on the stereo in the store I got the phonebook from a saleswoman and memorized the address where we needed to be. I typed the address in and hit the 'Route' button. No kidding, I knew where to go in literally 15 seconds.

Off we went, faithfully following this little lady in a box. She told us left, straight for x.x miles and then when we got close the unit "dinged" for us to turn in to our destination. Honestly, how much easier can it get??
She even told us it was on our right...and yep, we were looking on the left hand side of the road!

This unit does have quite a few little things that I like and maybe a couple I'm thinking I'd like to have added on. I suppose a higher-end one would have the added features, but I digress.

I love the size...3.5" is just big enough that it is easily visible but doesn't distract me or give me carsickness. The volume is plenty loud for me, especially since I turn off music when I am driving while stressed out :)

The night feature is a perk I really appreciated when I was in Champaign and I didn't know where I was. The screen goes to black with white roads and is not distracting whatsoever. It dims a bit at night so it isn't glaringly bright in my eyes. In fact I decided rather than to take my usual route back I'd just trust the unit...and it did me right.

I do not know about updating the maps in it. I did register at the Magellan site and they say when new ones come up they will email me... I don't know when that will happen.

I like the touch screen for inputting the data for addresses and POI's. It lets me type in the city and usually will take most of it and then give me the options of what city and state. The taps don't need to be hard but I recommend holding it in your lap and not trying to tap much when it is on your windshield or while driving!

The battery life seems pretty good, though I've only had it for about 2 weeks. It charges on a car charger, but when I tried to find a charger online everyone seemed to bring up a charger for my sons Razr phone. Needless to say I did try it and it works fine. I don't guarantee it will work on anyone elses' but it charges mine on the home charger without a problem and it was something we already had.

Points of Interest (POI) are good, though I've not used them a lot since I usually already know where I am or what I'm looking for. It offers gas stations, museums, city buildings, restaurants, ATM's, rest areas, auto garages, coffee shops, malls, airports, gambling casinos, schools, golf courses, hospitals, hotels...you get the point. One of the food places it listed closed down about a year ago, so there are some updates that it missed, but it was a small diner and not a chain type joint that would be likely to be there.

The little icon for a tow truck is great. If you have a flat and you really have no clue how to explain where you are it will give you your current location, latitude and longitude and the time and date. So, if you go on some crazy quarter-flipping roadtrip and blow a tire, you can tell someone where the heck you are!

The map has a zoom feature on it so you can set it to show you how far ahead you want to look. If you want to just know about the roads in the next block or if you are on the highway and need to know about the next 2 miles. I like this as it gives me an idea of what to expect.

Speaking of which, on the way home from the store when I first made my purchase we played a little game. I'd tell the kids what road we were crossing and they'd tell me if she was right or not. It was surprising how many ponds, lakes, roads and restaurants were near us that we didn't know about.

The map colors are clear and appropriate. Various shades of green identify the city and country farmland and the blue is for lakes, ponds and streams. The colors for the roadways is also good. Green roads are what we should be on, any red or orange ones are ones we should NOT be on.

Sometimes though I do have to argue with her. She has a tendency to try to send me down a little one block street that is a one way. I don't know if she knows her one ways for all roads, but this is the only one I've caught her on. She tends to tell me to "find a safe place and make a legal U-turn".

There are different options to get where you want to go. Least use of freeways, Most use of freeways, Shortest time and Shortest distance. They, for the most part make sense and are practical. When you use the routing feature it has at the bottom of the screen the estimated time of arrival and the distance to the next turn. I admit, it becomes a game to see if I can beat the first time she gives me.

The unit itself seems very sturdy. I always worry about any type of LCD touchscreen, so I still have the plastic static protector on it. The mounting bracket really works on my window and it is adjustable enough that I don't have this in my way when I am looking out the window.

One thing I do wish it would do is let me drive a route and then save it to memory. I always go the same way to work and she doesn't seem to remember it and tries to convince me to go another route. I'd like to save routes so my kids can use it as a guide to other places I frequent when they borrow the car. It may have that option...but I have not found it yet.

It has the option of letting me save my Home address. So no matter where I am, I can always hit the Home button and ask it to route me home. This feature is one I am glad to have, sometimes I don't pay attention to how we get places, but I always want to know how to get back home.

One little tidbit, it has a compass feature on it. It will tell you what direction you are driving in the upper left corner. It is one of those things that isn't really important until you need it.

I do not understand what the button for Exit Points of Interest really is for. When I push it, it lets me know I need to insert a SD Card with map. So, it may be something for an upgrade I don't have.

The unit does let me enter addresses and then save them. So I can easily hit how to get to my sisters' home without having to re-enter the address each time. I tend to think when I go to the airport it will be especially useful to me, and also to my kids if they drive my car to pick me up and don't know how to get there.

Really, this unit is easy to use and for the bottom-line entry price I am fully impressed. The store I bought it from only offers a 14 day money back policy, so please use caution when buying or testing one out. Other than that drawback which has nothing directly to do with the unit, I think it is wonderful.

It is simple, easy, intuitive and even a beginner can understand what it is doing. I think I played with it for less than a minute and "got it". I am sure there are a ton more things that this will do, but for a beginner I don't know that I could really ask for more.

Oh, after I read one of the other reviews on here (epinions.com) we named her Maggie too!