Customer Reviews
How well does the Mag. 1200 work when traveling through other states? 
2008-04-13
I currently have the Mag 700. I take it with me when I fly to other states. My problem is that I'm not familiar with the streets in these other states. So when (not if, but when!) the 700 glitches out, I'm completely lost. And forget calling tech serv. The line goes directly to India...
Is there anyone out there who flys to other states and takes their gps for use in their rental cars? I've been considering the Mag. roadmate 1200 and a Garmin model. Can you recommend a Mag. model or other brand that's more dependable? I live in Calif. and don't have a problem using the Mag. here. I think it's a matter of my being more confident about finding my way if the gps glitches out when I'm close to my home base. Whereas, when I travel, I don't know anyone to call or where I'm going!! Any recommendations from fellow travelers would be appreciated.
Poor alternative to Garmen 
2008-04-11
I have an ancient Garmen GPS but maps can't be upgraded so I purchased the Roadmate 1200 when it was on sale. It pales in comparison to the Garmen. The Roadmate is too heavy to stick to the window with the provided suction device. When typing in cities, etc., it is very slow in coming up with options compared to the Garmen. There are far more menus to get through to add favorite destinations and to get to a saved address. It gives an error message when "exiting points of interest". I've gone back to my Garmen and I put up with the lack of accuracy with newer housing developments.
finally Magellan accepts ZIP code entery 
2008-03-23
powerful basic GPS. I use it every day. no need to think much in a budget plan to buy it. It has every thing except saying the name of the street, but not a big deal. what I like the best in this GPS that it accepts ZIP codes enteries instead of keying in cities like P H I L A D E L P H I A then you discover that there are alot of philadelphias in the US!!! but with this one just key in 19104.
Totally satisfied - its a safety device -works very well. 2008-02-16
I got my Roadmate 1200 a few months ago after reading the reviews on Amazon. I have had no problems with it-- it re-routes fast enough to get me where ever I am heading and I can store many addresses in its address book. And it is highly affordable at this price and should be kept in the car just in case you are lost on a snowy night in a new city and do not like the look of things outside . Totally satisfied with it.
The user interface is easy to understand, simple to use, and for me, the manual is totally unnecessary. 
2007-12-26
I am a first time GPS owner and before purchasing, I did a lot of research. My conclusion was that no one inexpensive GPS navigation unit pleases everyone. While we all want everything, we just don't get it all in the low priced GPS units. I looked at viaMichelin, Magellan, Navigon, TomTom One, OmniTech (Staples house brand) and Mio.
Two days before Christmas, with a sale flyer in one hand and a 20% discount coupon in the other, I purchased the Magellan Roadmate 1200. No it does not have text-to-speech (won't say the street names), has only a modest 1.3 million Points of Interest list, and has a well known bug that won't allow you to select exit POIs, but I do like this unit. Like it a lot.
I have only used it for local navigation so far and it has been spot on. The voice is clear and accurate with turn by turn information. And upon reaching your destination, it tells you whether it is on the left or right. Very helpful when you are trying to read a house number in the dark. The points of interest, while not entirely up to the minute, seem to be very useful. The maps are bright, clear, and easily understandable. The name of the street on which you are currently located is listed at the top of the screen and the street name of your next turn is at the bottom of the screen. The split view showing the upcoming turn info on the left and your regular route information on the right is great.
Upon opening the alien-designed plastic packaging (you know the kind you use a pocket knife to cut open and you're just glad you didn't hurt yourself in the process), I was surprised to find that the Magellan 1200 was charged and ready to go. Not knowing what to expect inside my house, I was amazed that it picked up 10 satellites within a few seconds.
The user interface is easy to understand, simple to use, and for me, the manual is totally unnecessary. I did look in the CD-based manual for one thing though. I wanted to know if you could charge the internal battery with a USB connection to your PC. The manual did not address that question, the quick start papers that come with it said you could only charge it with the car charger, but in reality, it charges just fine with a PC USB connection.
In conclusion, I can't say it is better than the others, but do know I like its easy to use interface, pleasant voice, and accurate directions. It won't play music, won't create a slideshow of photos, won't do a million other things. But it will help you get to where you want to go!
Short review: buy a TomTom instead 2008-07-13
The title of this review says it all, but I'll expand on this a bit for the specific details of my usage experiences.
Before I ever used a GPS navigator, I was a thorough user of printed road maps and Google Maps to the point where I thought I'd never need a GPS unit. I got a taste of the ease of GPS when I borrowed a friends TomTom. He loaned me one of the first TomTom units that was on the market, and I was amazed with the user friendliness of the user interface and how well the GPS unit routed me to my destination. TomTom seems to have thoroughly mapped the roads all across the USA to the point where the TomTom appeared to know the traffic density of even local roads. This allowed for fast navigating that always took the trunk routes across town that all the locals know about.
When I purchased the Magellan, I somewhat expected the same experience as with a TomTom - maybe just in a slightly different "flavor" as the user interface would not be the same. I was in for a rude surprise with the RoadMate 1200. This GPS does not ever seem to give a quick, direct, or useful route to any destinations in my local city. When I choose the fastest route option, this GPS directs me down streets that I know to not be the fastest route - it essentially ignores several main thoroughfares in the city at the preference of trying to get me to use side streets which I know to have a bunch of stop signs that will slow you down. When I choose the shortest route option, this GPS directs me down clogged or slow side streets all for the benefit of saving maybe 100 feet off my total distance to my destination. I guess this technically is the shortest route, but I'd still like to see a little flexibility for this unit to avoid side trips that save such a short distance.
Another beef I have with the unit is the length of time that the GPS takes to recalculate a route if you miss a turn. It seems there is a signifigant time lag before the unit detects that you have strayed from the appointed route. When the GPS unit begins to recalculate the route, the navigation screen freezes for several seconds until the new route is done. This has the side effect of meaning that there might be a new route that I can take by making the next right or left turn after missing the first turn, but by the time the route is recalculated I have then missed the next turn. If I am driving down streets with short blocks, the GPS unit does this recalculate-then-miss-a-turn stuff over and over again until I physically stop the car to see what the unit will direct next.
After all this complaining, I'll hit on some good points. The unit is a good purchase price, so budget buyers will get a GPS that does give you directions that eventually get you to your destination. The screen is bright, sharp, and responds quickly to touches (unless the unit is in the middle of calculating something). The GPS reception is strong, and with WAAS reception it is always accurate to about 3 or 4 meters.
In the end, all I can give this unit is a 1 star rating. It does get you to your destination, but never with a good route that takes traffic density or road capacity into account. The TomTom that I have used is far better in operation than this unit, so I'd recommend that any potential purchasers pay the extra $25 or $50 to get the entry level TomTom GPS unit.
HOT GARBAGE 2008-06-19
This device is so much of a hassle that I actually leave it in my car overnight with the hopes that somebody will steal it so I have a reason to replace it with a tom tom or garmen unit.
I am not a beta tester. If you believe what other reviewers say, this was rushed for black Friday, but people, I purchased this in May 2008. I guess its worth it to this company that continues to offer a sub $150 unit on the market not caring that they lost a customer for life.
I have the same problems other reviewers have with the unit locking up, demanding me to insert the sd card when its in the slot, giving roundabout false directions with the 'shortest route' option. And whats up with that exit POI error?
Maybe if they ever have a firmware update it may be worth the money I wasted but me, I'm sticking to my paper maps just to be on the safe side.
had it since February, broken again! 2008-05-29
I've had my Magellan Roadmate 1200 since February. It worked great at first and we had bought it as a 2nd navigation system for our two car/truck move from Florida to Indiana. Two days before the move the system gets stuck in an endless back and forth between two screens (settings), but will not let me access the actual navigation. After a long time on hold with tech support we send it in and end up using radios for our move in April.
About 2 weeks after mailing it to Texas we received a new system (at least we believe it was new due to the screen protector on the device, there was NO letter or explanation or ANYTHING with the package, just a GPS)....
Now, another 2 weeks later, it will not turn on. We were using it (with the car charger plugged in), made a stop and turned it off. When we returned to the car and tried to use it again it would not work and hasn't since, despite several tries to charge it at home, pressing the reset button etc. So it will be another call to tech support, this time not so pleasant.
I highly recommend to get a TomTom, which we have had for over a year and never had a problem with (we only went for the Magellan due to price)!
Magellan all it promises 2008-05-22
MAGELLAN RoadMate 1200 3.5-Inch Auto Navigation
I bought this a few weeks ago and am very pleased with it. Easy to operate, reliable, useful for anyone planning a trip.
Coming from a Garmin POV 2008-04-15
I've had the StreetPilot i2 for 2 years now and when I saw the Magellan Roadmate 1200 on sale, the price was so good I could not pass it up.
The Magellan Roadmate 1200 was a big jump up from the Garmin StreetPilot i2. The Magellan had a full 3.5" color touch screen where the Garmin had only a 1.7 black and white non-touch screen with a scroll button.
The Magellan is very thin and sleek. The screen is very nice as well. The menus are very well laid out. And the address input works great. It asks you for either a zip code, nearby or city. This is nicer than Garmin, which wasn't fun on the i2's selector wheel. You had to scroll through the list with the selector wheel and spell it out. My wife hated it.
But, there were several things about the Magellan that I didn't like:
1. Battery life - I hate using power adapters in cars. I hate the sight of hanging wires. My old Gamin could use AA batteries. I had a charger and always keep a set of batteries ready to go. The Magellan has a very weak internal battery that only gives you two hours at best. On a set of AA batteries I could power my Gamin for a week.
2. Navigation prompts - Yuck. This was the death knell. I could not stand the turn prompts. On the Garmin, the unit would announce an oncoming turn just like the Magellan. Problem is, when you got to your turn, the Magellan sounds a tone prompt, "ding!". With the Garmin, the ladies voice announces, "turn right", which just seems more natural. Not a huge deal for some, but for me it was, as I don't like to watch the screen and count heavily on voice prompts.
Other than those two things, which were huge for me, it's a decent unit.
