14 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
A Lost Cause
Date of Review: Apr 17, 2007
The Bottom Line: The Magellan RoadMate 2200T just has too many "glitches" and flaws to make it a reliable navigator.
The Product
The Magellan RoadMate 2200T is a car navigation system that uses GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite navigation signals. Combined with an error-correction signal, it can determine the location of a vehicle to within approximately ten feet.
Basic Features
The Magellan RoadMate 2200T is touch screen operated, and virtually all functions are available through on-screen menus. When navigating to a destination, the 2200T gives verbal directions and sound cues for upcoming turns or route changes. It also features "text-to-voice," which allows it to say the names of streets. Visual instructions can be displayed on a map screen in either 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional formats at various levels of detail, showing street names, routes, "points-of-interest" and upcoming directions.
The 2200T includes detailed road maps for North America, and markers for approximately 1.5-million "points of interest" such as restaurants and gasoline stations. It also has a large address book for storing destinations, and can generate routes to those destinations according to various rules such as "fastest," "shortest," or excluding freeways or certain intersections. Special features include the ability to play back MP3 music files and the ability to display ".jpg" and ".bmp" image files stored on separate "SD" memory cards.
As a technical note, the 2200T is a "WAAS enabled" device, which means that it can utilize a GPS correction signal when available, thus increasing its accuracy.
The Box
The Magellan 2200T comes packaged in a nice box that is easily opened (thank you!); however, it is not in any way "sealed." Included in the box are the GPS unit, a suction-cup equipped armature for mounting the device on a windshield, a car cigarette-lighter plug power adapter, a USB cable, a software CD (which I have never used), and instructions in English and French.
The Goods
The GPS unit is about 3.5 inches high by 4.5 inches wide by 1 inch thick, with a touch screen that measures 3.5 inches diagonally. Located on the left side of the unit under a rubberized cover is slot for an SD card, the unit's "reset" switch, and a "hold" button. On the right side, also under a rubberized cover, is a USB port, a headphone socket, and an external power socket. Above the right side cover is an on/off switch. On the bottom of the unit under another rubberized cover is a socket for attaching an external antenna.
Setup
The 2200T mounts to an armature that may be suctioned to the windshield, or to a stick-on disc. The armature has a limited range of motion that negates mounting from certain locations, such as on the side of the drive shaft hump. Mounted to the windshield, the armature has some vibration, but not enough to make the GPS unreadable. For some reason, the suction cup seems to come loose from my windshield after a period of time, but it will stay attached to the disc. Unfortunately, windshield mounting is the only option in my car that will allow the GPS to receive a satellite signal well enough to be usable at all without the addition of an external antenna.
Before first switching the unit on, it is necessary to use a pen or pencil to slide a small "reset" switch into the active position. The GPS is shipped with the switch in the "off" position in order to prevent the unit's internal batteries from completely discharging. Plugging into the car's cigarette lighter outlet causes the unit to power up automatically whenever the lighter outlet has voltage. The lighter plug fits snugly only into my vehicle's actual cigarette lighter outlet. However, it rattles loose from other auxiliary, lighter-style outlets.
Initial setup involves selecting a language and setting a time zone for operation. After that, all functions are easily accessed from the touch screen menus. Most functions are intuitive, and I found very little need to read the instructions to get anything working. The screen is bright and has enough contrast to be visible in daylight, and is well lit for night use. The touch screen, however, does not always easily or properly accept inputs. Occasionally, a touched button will turn yellow, indicating selection, but nothing will happen. Also, letters being input into the address book are sometimes not announced as they are entered, so one must visually verify input.
In Use
MAPS AND ROUTING:
The 2200T's included road maps appear reasonably accurate; however, they do not always translate properly to route items or to voice directions. For example, US Highway 50 at Lake Tahoe appears accurately on route maps; however, it does not always appear in route lists. So as one approaches a turn onto Highway 50, there is no voice direction or cue for a turn. Furthermore, passing the turn results in an absurd, spontaneous re-routing that would add many miles to a drive as opposed to instructions to make a u-turn as soon as possible. This appears to be a software glitch that may be associated with making left-turns from major highways.
The lack of standard topographic data (available as an upgrade) combined with no ability to input locations by coordinates also renders the stock maps useless for finding trailheads, geocaches, campsites or off-road locations.
VOICE:
The navigation voice is clear and loud, but there are many systematic mispronunciations that make the text-to-voice function frequently incomprehensible. An example is when pronouncing what should be a "soft 'g'," as in "Village." The 2200T pronounces it as "Vil-a-gee" (with a "hard 'g'").
TRACKING:
Despite its supposedly state-of-the-art "SirfstarIII" chipset, lost positions are frequent, especially in mountainous terrain or city areas with taller structures. Operation in such areas and inside a vehicle can severely degrade a GPS satellite signal, but I have observed the Magellan lose its position when my ancient Garmin 12CX hand held had no difficulty operating.
In the mountainous terrain where I live, the 2200T rarely operates for more than a few miles before losing its position while driving. It is more reliable in open terrain, but it will almost always eventually lose its position on long enough drives. In city environments, such as in San Francisco, it is "hit and miss." Taller buildings, hills, bridges (especially lower decks), and of course tunnels all cause trouble, but I have experienced some spontaneous problems even when satellite signals appeared strong.
Unfortunately, the Magellan gives no warning of a lost signal or that it has lost its position. It simply "freezes," and is unable to re-acquire its location without being brought to a stop for a long period of time. Consequently, voice directions may simply cease without warning in the middle of a drive. On longer trips, the 2200T may spend most of its time stuck silently indicating the location where it lost track of its position until it is time to stop for lunch or gasoline. Even then, it may be necessary to "reset" the GPS before it can relocate itself.
MP3 MUSIC:
Admittedly, I didn't buy the Magellan for its music or photo functions, and I have honestly never tried to display a photo. The music function however is only available when the GPS is not in use, making it a rather expensive and bulky dedicated MP3 player. As such, I would not consider this function as a reason for purchase.
Conclusion
I am sorry to say that the Magellan RoadMate 2200T is possibly one of the worst electronic devices that I have ever owned. Non-included navigation software, malfunctions in route-generation, missing voice commands, frequently lost GPS positions, and an inability to re-acquire a position without stopping render the unit, at best, unreliable. Additionally, the auxiliary MP3 player function is not available during navigation, making it a pointless feature. I had hoped that some better software might cure some of the 2200T's problems, but an "upgrade" was removed from Magellan's website after it caused total failures in 2200T's in which it was installed.
After only a few weeks use, my 2200T has been relegated to the status of "glove box curiosity." I would give it away to a friend...but I fear I might never see that person again after he or she attempted to use it.
