Customer Reviews
Very Solid 
2008-07-08
I actually have two of these, one for me, and one for a guy who works for me.
I read over some of the negative reviews, most of them are referring to defective units. One was from someone who was trying to enter in an address that didn't exist.
I use this unit for my company that provides mobile services. We have entered in and navigated to probably 1000 addresses using this unit. Working correctly (which it always has for me), it picks up signal within 30-60 seconds after being turned on, battery lasts for a while, and it recalculates fairly quickly, maybe around 5-10 seconds. My favorite feature is that you can enter addresses starting with the Zip code instead of the City which was not the case with my Garmin Steetpilot 340.
This is a very inexpensive unit, if I were to buy another inexpensive unit, I would go with this one because I know that it works solid and have used it extensively to know that there are no major defects in its operation or design and will work dependably in any situation that I require from it.
Nice unit with very obsolete maps and poor customer support 
2008-06-14
This is not a bad performing unit and it would be a good unit except for one fact. It ships with (mediocre at best) maps dated August 2006 and Magellan wants you to pay $80 plus shipping for an update. If you buy the refurb and then the update disk you are at the price of a new Garmin Nuvi 350 which will have a one year warranty (instead of absurd 90 day as with the Magellan refurb - evryone else's refurbs come with same as new warranties, by the way) and it will come with current maps plus the Nuvi is a simply superior unit. (Consumer Reports Best Buy.)
Do not buy this unit unless you simply MUST have obsolete maps, poor customer support (no excuse for not including a map update) and a very short warranty.
Offering this unit with the ancient maps and no free map update is an intellegence test that Magellan is running on their customers. (My excuse, I simply did not know that they had the no-free-updates policy. Their competitors do provide free updates and I thought Magellan would follow the pattern.) I strongly urge that you think long and hard before rewarding them for their very anti-consumer maps policy. (Garmin and TomTom both give free update down-loads with the purchase of their units, new or refurb. No reason for Magellan not to do the same other than simple greed.)
This is the last time I will ever even consider a Magellan product. I urge you to not make the mistake I did in buying a Magellan product. You can do far better for the same money.
Great Unit 
2008-02-08
Great unit, but it does not come with the crossover upgrade. It has to be purchased, seperatly. Unit works well and text to speech sounds good. Has a great battery life. Suction cup mount works well.
Expensive Paperweight 
2008-01-18
I'd have to say the biggest problem with this unit is how restrictive it is in entering an address. In neither the map function nor the address book can you enter one in directly but have to search for it starting with either a zip code or city and then slowly work your way through the screens till you've found the entire address. If it thinks your address is actually in a different city or the street name is different then you can't enter it.
I had a business address that was #1036 on a street located in Bridgeton - according to their own company letterhead. I started with the zip code which produced 8 city results - Bridgeton and 7 surrounding towns. How does that happen? Doesn't the U.S. Post Office give each city their own zip code?
I pick Bridgeton then have to type in the street name. It then comes up with the number range to type in and it only allowed #1-1001!
After messing with it I discovered it was showing the street name as having #1-1001 but that same street also has a route # designated to it that I happened to know and when I tried that it showed the #'s available as 1-1100.
If I hadn't been local, knowing that streets route number, and went by the businesses own letterhead I never would have found it. Actually discovered all this the day after I gave up on the unit and just winged it.
A GPS unit is supposed to save time and this one does nothing more than take up more of it. What an expensive mistake I made.
Also complained to the company that it tells me to take a longer route in one direction and the shorter route back and they advised this will be addressed in the many updates they expect to put through since it was such a new item. This was a month after I bought it 5 months ago and not one update has come out.
Yes it has the nice features everyone else mentions(that POI editor wants lattitude and longitude, can't put in an address - gave up on it)but if you can't put address's in it what good are all those features? Don't waste your money or your time with this unit.
Magellan Customer Service abysmal 2007-12-13
I purchased this unit, and it worked well for 2 weeks. Then, problems required the unit to be sent back for repairs.
Since then I have been on calls with Magellan's Chennai (India) repair call center five (!) times, and after 6 weeks I still have no unit, nor is the repair center able to tell me when to expect it back. Another call today revealed their entire computer system being down, and no status information being available until the "system is back up - but we don't know when".
If you even *think* that you might need customer support, do not buy Magellan.
Great 2007-10-23
Get the first full-featured, pocket-sized, expandable vehicle navigationsystem! Simple touch-screen menus make it easy to select virtually any destination and get turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance. Pre-loaded with detailed maps of the 50 United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Waterproof to IPX-4, so there's no need to worry about coffee spills, rain, humidity or it getting wet. Avoid traffic with SmartDetour or upgrade your device to provide real-time incident reports. Turn your vehicle navigation system in to a Crossover GPS with the Magellan RoadMate 2200T upgrade enabling you to add detailed topographic maps for navigating your outdoor adventures. The sleek, rugged design with integrated rechargeable battery and built-in antenna enables you take it wherever you go. Advanced features include; SmartDetour to automatically re-route around sudden slow freeway traffic, multi-destination routing, 1.5 million pre-programmed points of interest and SayWhere text-to-speech that tells you the street name of your next turn.
2200t 2007-10-18
I've had this product 3 months. It would be a good product to get you from an airport to most addresses. I bought it for local use and found that about a third of the time it did not have the roads I was looking for. One time it sent me in the opposite direction I needed to go! There web sight had no updates even though this model had been out for well over a year.
Customer service is a joke. 
2007-09-27
The Roadmate 2200t, which I purchased with the Magellan Traffic Kit in late July is my first venture into the world of GPS navigation. My only previous experience with GPS navigation was when I had rented Hertz cars with their "Never-Lost" system which is manufactured by Magellan. I have had problems with my unit ever since I purchased it, mostly involving the thus far useless Traffic Service. To make a long story short, Customer Service at Magellan has been outsourced to India and is quite frankly virtually useless. I have come to the conclusion that they are paid by the telephone call taken, and thus it is in their interest to not resolve an issue but rather to drag it out by requiring additional call-backs. Their standard line is that their computers/software/systems are currently being upgraded and they are unable to do what-ever it is that you want/need them to do. I have heard that line on so many phone calls that I have actually began to laugh out loud when I'm told that.
Regarding the 2200T, and ignoring the traffic kit, which has tried to send me on a major interstate highway (I-376) that was completely shut-down for repairs, and down I-95 from the Capital Beltway into a 35 mile long bumper-to-bumper traffic jam, all the while telling me there were no incidents on the route, I have found I can almost always do better than the 2200T when I am familiar with the local roads. Maybe that is to be expected, but last Sunday it sent me on a 75 mile drive (1:45) to a POI that I drove back from, choosing my own routes, in just over 63 miles and a few minutes less. So while I am at this point completely under whelmed by their Traffic Service (I'm awaiting delivery of a replacement that I called about around Labor Day, but -- their software is being upgraded and they don't know when....), and not too impressed with the capabilities of the GPS itself, the Tech and Customer Support are the low-lights for Magellan. My assessment of the 2200T is - "If you haven't a clue in the world on how to get somewhere, it will get you there - eventually."
Easy to use, accurate directions. 2007-09-17
Roadmate pretty accurate for POIs in my area. Ease of use is very good.
Basic Solid Unit 2007-09-15
Overview
The Magellan 2200 T is a compact model in the Roadmate series. If you are familiar with other Roadmate models you will instantly be at home with the primary color theme with boxy icons of the GUI. Although very similar in look, the 2200 has many subtle GUI changes from earlier models (like the 300 series) that enhance performance. It features a 3.5 inch touch screen that controls most functions. Like other Roadmates, the screen is very bright giving it an advantage over other brands in bright sunlight. Other unique properties include the fact that it is weather resistant and has an exceptionally long battery life (8 hour is listed on the box). These later facts could make it practical to use out of the car.
Routing
The reason that anyone buys a GPS unit is routing. You put in an address and the unit guides you there. Magellan's big break into the US market was by putting "Never Lost" systems into Hertz rentals, so it had to develop a system that could be used by someone without reading a 100 page manual. These characteristics have carried through to their consumer products.
Imputing an address is very simple and improved from the earlier 300 series. With the older series (which I have) I often felt that adding an address was like playing Sudoku. Which combination of letters would give me the address that I knew was inside the unit? The 2200T has some simple changes (like asking for a city first) that has made this process much easier and more efficient. For instance, I no longer have to dig through a dozen "River Roads" to find the right one. In conclusion: entering addresses is a snap!
Magellans always ask your route preference (shortest time, most use of expressways, least use of expressways, etc.) every time you ask it to plot a route. I never realize what a huge advantage this was until I used units from other brands which typically require you to change routing methods by digging around in menus. For instance, if you are traveling through a big city during rush hour you may want to avoid an expressway (which is routed when you pick "shortest time").
Roadmates are very good at giving your multiple, clear, auditory and visual indicators of your next maneuver. I have used other units (the Mio brand) where I couldn't even figure out what the maneuver icon was telling me (it looked like a letter from the Klingon alphabet). This has never happened using Magellan units (and I have used them for years). Roadmates will also tell you what side of the street your address is on, surprisingly, this is not a universal practice among all brands.
The 2200T has "text-to-speech" or TTS. This means that the unit will say something like: "Turn right in 500 feet, Washington Street" instead of "Turn right in 500 feet." Professional reviewers think TTS is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Personally, I think that it is nice, but the old audio cues worked fine too. Anyway, the 2200 has this feature.
In addition you get a number of routing enhancements in the 2200T. It is easy to exclude a part of a calculated route (perhaps you know the road is under construction). The 2200T will also sense and then signal you when you are traveling too slowly on an expressway. By pressing a button or two the unit will "detour" you off that expressway for the number of miles you prefer. The unit will also allow you to plan a trip that has up to 20 different destinations and it will then route you between those destinations. This feature could be useful for a delivery driver who needs to drop off at multiple sites.
Magellan units have a little function called "locate." By pressing a button the unit gives you your location, simple, but really useful. On an expressway it will tell you the next exit. On a rural road it lets you know what town (township) you are in. It will also approximate an actual address. Great if you need roadside assistance!
I thought that all of the Roadmates used the same routing engine but the 2200T seems calculate things a bit differently. When choosing "least use of highways" other units tend to go for the major streets where the 2200T will sometimes pick smaller (but perfectly acceptable) streets. This is more to my preference. The 2200T will get you where you want to go.
Points of Interest (POIs)
Routing is the most important function of a GPS unit, but POIs are important too. Combining the POI database with GPS capabilities can tell you (for instance) where the closest gas station is.
Roadmates not only give you the distance to a POI but also the direction. It may be easier to go to a grocery store 20 miles ahead than to backtrack 10 miles behind. Surprisingly not all brands of GPS units give you this directional information (they just give distance).
The 2200T has a relatively small POI data base of 1.5 million. This will give you access to core POIs (gas stations, hotels, restaurants, ATMs, car services) and quite a few other categories (grocery stores, shopping malls, police stations, schools and many others). Still, at this small size categories that could be useful to travelers are missing (like campgrounds, pharmacies and cinemas).
All POI data bases (and I have used many) are incomplete and inaccurate. With that said, they are still useful. I tested the 2200T by searching various categories at my home location. Generally I found that it did list most (but not all) gas stations, restaurants and the like. Unfortunately, I found that the data base also had a lot of old data in it. When looking under grocery stores it listed one that had closed 15 years earlier. A major shopping mall had changed its name at least 5 years ago, but it was listed under the old name. I name searched for "Target" and it said that the closes one was in a different state despite the fact that I have two of them less than 10 minutes away from my house.
The 2200T has a category called "Exit POIs" which I have not seen in other brands. This is a very useful and clever feature. When you are traveling on an expressway it will search for core POIs and list them per exit(s). For instance it may say that the next exit is 20 miles ahead and there are gas stations and restaurants close to that exit. Touch the appropriate icon and you will get (for instance) the names of the restaurants.
You can also add custom POIs to the 2200T using an easy to use (and provided) program from Magellan. Using this program not only allows you to make your own POI data bases but to also convert the many that are available on the internet. In this way you can beef up your built-in POIs. There seems to be an endless supply of POI data bases that range from Target store locations to drive-in theater locations. The PC software has several data fields, but only the "name" field shows up on the GPS unit. This is unfortunate as there is space for at least one other data field which could provide additional info like a phone number. A simple firmware update could easily fix this problem. You can also set alarms to custom data bases. For instance, an alarm could sound when you enter a school speed zone.
Fluff and Stuff
GPS units are basically little computers and like any computer they are running an OS under the GPS program. This fact makes it easy (and cheap) to add little "value added" applets that may make a unit seem more desirable.
The 2200T features a basic MP3 player and a photo viewer. Personally, I can't see using my GPS unit to look at photos or listen to MP3s.
The 2200T is also "traffic upgradeable" which is a cool idea "in concept." You can buy a traffic receiver for the 2200T (not cheap) and it will send data to your unit. It will then alert you to bad traffic conditions an help you plan an alternative route around it. It is a great idea that is not quite ready for prime time. Only about 50 major cities have these traffic broadcasts and only on major highways. The function may be great if you do a lot of center city driving but it is certainly not very useful in the suburbs (unless you constantly drive into the center city) or outside these major markets. In addition, you have to pay a yearly subscription fee. At this point in time a good old traffic report on the radio serves much the same purpose and it is FREE.
The 2200T can be upgraded to also be used outside the car (adding topo maps). It then become a multi-purpose unit for both car navigation and outdoor activities like hiking. The problem is, I can't find the "upgrade" software anywhere, including the Magellan web site. If is was reasonably priced the upgrade may be a nice bonus. However, the serious adventurer would probably opt for a dedicated outdoor GPS device which would offer more specific features and a smaller size.
In conclusion: The 2200T is a basic GPS unit with some added features. It (like other Roadmates) does a fantastic job at routing to destinations. It is very easy to use and includes many convenience features not found on some other competitors (always asking for routing choices, telling you what side of the street an address is on, exit POIs, etc). Although still useful, it is a shame that it has a limited and aging POI data base. This is partially remedied by the ability to add custom data bases but again hampered by the inability to view a second data field on the unit (for data like a phone number). Other add-ons, like the traffic receiver, may be desirable to subgroups of users. You can now get the 2200T as a refurb for about $200. At this price point it is a great value and recommended.
