Magellan Roadmate 1412

Here's a mini review of the GPS. There are plenty of reviews of the features and functionality all over the Web. I guess my review will be about the things I don't like about it. If I decide there are too many problems, I will take it back and get a different model. I previously had a Garmin (250W, I think) but it took too long to lock onto satellites and map the route. (At this point, I should probably say that the GPS is my wife's, but I use it too.)

I was happy with the features, which are more than the Garmin, such as speaking the road names of the turns.

My first gripe is that it couldn't find the nearest Kinko's. The closest one it showed in a search was 6.5 miles away, but I knew of a closer one, and on the way to where I was going anyway. It was 4.8 miles from where I was when I searched. Even when I was in the parking lot when I got to the Kinko's I wanted to be at, the GPS didn't know about it. The people said they have been there for six years, plenty of time to be in Magellan's (or whoever they use) map database.

A good thing is that it gives plenty of notice of an exit on the highway, e.g. 2 miles out, 1.1 miles, .4 miles and finally at the exit. (I think the chime at the exit is Ok but my wife doesn't like it.)

I don't like that once you arrive at your destination, you have to cancel the existing route before entering a new address. Later today I used it to get home and I noticed that it went back to the main menu; I didn't have to cancel the existing route. Perhaps you need to arrive at the exact location???

In general, it takes too many menu clicks to enter things. (Getting Home takes 4 clicks: Main Menu, Home button, Route, and finally the orange Route button. It should be two at the most!) Another issue is that when changing the volume, you have to click Save to move on. After a few seconds, it should just go back to the previous screen. And maybe I just want to raise the volume temporarily due to road noise. It seems that I will always be changing the volume.

I'm sure I will continue to update this as time goes on....

Edit (10/24/08):
I mapped a route to 118 US-202 in Bernardsville and it brought me to a lake!!! Luckily I knew where I was supposed to be. When I got to the destination, the GPS indicated I was on Morristown Road, which could be the name of the small highway as it goes through town. Many small highways have road names also.

The suction cup/mounting bracket is much better than the Garmin.

Getting Home through my housing development takes a roundabout way which is not the shortest or fastest route. Good thing I know how to get home in my development!