Magellan RoadMate 1700 7-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

5 comments

1. 

   Cat on December 2, 2009 at 9:48 pm

   On the pro side large well lit screen that can be seen even in bright sun light, even very bright when set on the lowest setting on night screen, auto or manual settings. The lane assist feature works well. The unit acquires satellites very quickly even at first start up, 20 seconds. At posted speeds the voice feature will notify of the next turn in time but the display lags. Watching the display alone and you will be 100 feet past you turn! The 1700 is very chatty and I find myself telling it to “shut up you moron”. I’ve used it now for more than 5000 miles and once the unit has decided on it’s initial routing it doesn’t like to change it’s mind, sometimes trying to send you thru endless u-turns till it gets it’s way, even though it’s very clear that the route you are on from experience is clearly the most direct, also insisting to take you sometimes 200 mile out of your way!!! I’ve used many gps units and thought the tomtom was dumb but it beats this. By far the best gps still is the iway 500c (no longer made by Lowrance). If you want a gps that is on the same level as the 1700 I recommend getting a shoe box take a blue marker and make a dot in the upper left hand corner, then take a red marker make a dot in the lower right corner, now draw a line to both dots. Now it’s a heads up competition!!!! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND AVOID THIS ONE

2. 

   the mad one on December 3, 2009 at 12:36 am

   good size screen, easy to see, did at one time want me to make a right turn when the street was straight ahead.

3. 

   William E. Luckey on December 3, 2009 at 2:39 am

   My wife bought me a Magellan Roadmate for my birthday a few years back.Ihave used it all the time. I saw a Garmin nuvi and thought I would try it because of some of the features. It alway had me in location off the road or in a field. I then tried a Tom Tom with the same results. Since I had already gave my older Roadmate to my son-in-law, I needed a new one. When I found the Roadmate 1700 I figured this would work great in my pickup truck and my motorhome and to my satisfaction it has. Wonderful product.

4. 

   The Great Buzzwami on December 3, 2009 at 4:17 am

   This is my 5th GPS (4 Magellan’s and one Garmin, plus the ones in rentals and built-into cars) and I have to say they’ve gotten close to perfect for what it is. I was going to give up on Magellan after my last long term one (Maestro 4040). I just bought a Magellan RoadMate 1475T and found it an improvement over the 4040 but it took forever to start-up and get a signal; plus a number of idiotic things they’ve done to make the displays harder to navigate and the fact the traffic feature never told me about a slowdown until I was in it.

   I saw the 1700 and thought I’d take a chance because I’ve always wanted a bigger screen to show surrounding streets. I am so glad I sent the 1475T back, this unit is a huge improvement over the 1475T! The screen is fantastic and supports swipe movements over the map so you can look around, then return to where you actually are, or are going.

   I didn’t know about the AV video input when I bought it, but what a bonus! I just plug in my 3.5mm AV cable (I got it at the Apple Store) and the display switches to video (the aspect ratio is stretched, but what-the-heck). It’s going to be great to use on long trips. I would have bought it for this feature alone.

   It doesn’t have Bluetooth (I could never get Magellan Bluetooth to work properly with my iPhones, Magellan seems to be Windows centric) or any other GPS add-ons that never seemed to work properly. I don’t know if the 1475T or the 1700 came first, but the 1700 has a lot of the ‘good’ features that older Magellan’s had, ones that seem to be back-step improvements on the 1475T. The spoken voice on the 1700 is the good old one and the 1475T had a distorted hard to understand voice that I assume is new. The 1700 has the old, easier to use, screens and the 1475T has additional options like the “Local Info” icon that leads to more confusing options that don’t really tell you anything. Also the “Save” on the present location didn’t work on the 1475T, but it works great on the 1700. It’s a feature I use all the time, if you’re someplace you want to quickly remember, just hit a couple of buttons and it’s saved and named.

   I’ve used the 1700 for over a week and it really works well, locks on to the GPS signal faster than any GPS I’ve had, literally within seconds of turning on the unit. With the big screen it’s much faster for me to enter info and navigate. Buttons are HUGE (and pretty)! The sound is great and the 3D maps are better than the 1475T (probably because of the larger screen). You can easily add more destinations for multi-stop trips and sort them. It’s also much easier to add an address than the older Magellan’s and their “Smart Cities” is a much needed improvement that works. The POI’s also appear a lot faster than the the older models and are easier to add to the address book. There are also two pages of favorites buttons that are easy to add and easy to use.

   Overall I love this unit, I’ll probably keep this one for a long time. Before I could hardly wait to upgrade out of frustration.

   The downside: it definitely needs a faster processor. Maybe the large screen takes more of the processor, but there can be a lag when entering using the keyboard touch screen. It doesn’t affect actual navigation, it’s only when using the display to enter things.

   It’s big! I would follow another reviewer’s advice and make a cardboard cutout first and see if you have the space. I just barely do, my window really slopes and it’s a close fit. One of the big deficiencies for me is the window mount. It’s the worst Magellan mount I’ve had. In the past they’ve been really great, the 4040 had a fantastic mount, but the one for the 1700 is really too small, they must and known this in the product trials. Even if you only used it for Motor Homes or Trucks, I don’t see how this mount could move it far enough from the window to get it off of its cradle. It uses a ball joint that can’t be tightened enough to keep it from jiggling. I’m going to have to buy the optional extended mount, but Magellan should have included the same mount they used for the 4040. The mount is the biggest disappointment of this purchase.

   The POI’s are as bad as they always are. Since I’ve never seen any that are good, I think they should give up trying to include them. Only half of my local Post Offices are listed, none of my favorite coffee shops appear (but all the Starbucks are there correctly) and it lists businesses the closed down years ago. If you want POI’s, I think you have to buy a smart phone and look them up when you need them and enter addresses. The gas stations and hotels seems to be accurate and on a trip would be useful until they get outdated as well. Even Google Maps doesn’t have things correct, so I guess it’s not unexpected that a unit that was manufactured months ago isn’t right either.

   Also, all the Magellan’s I’ve had shows you slightly behind where you actually are. Since it’s always been that way, through many models, and they’ve never improved it, I have to assume they do it on purpose. This can be really frustrating when roads are really close to each other and you’re not sure if you’re turning down the right one. If you’re stopped at an intersection, it shows you yards back. I think they should add an option that would move every reading 10 yards forward on the map. However, the turn chime is correct and it’s what I use more than the screen. If it chimes, I know the next turn is it. The close-up feature they’ve added works well, it zooms in on a turn and puts a huge arrow on the map, this helps.

   Overall, this is the best GPS I’ve ever had and would buy it again in a second. It does have room for improvement, but has all the features I really count on without the optional stuff that never seems to work. And the display is FANTASTIC!

   For those that are having problems using the AV input, you have to have the correct cable. Three times Radio Shack tried to sell me the wrong cable, one made for audio. Only the Apple Store had the correct one and knew what I was talking about. Magellan should have one on their accessories online store! You have to plug the cable in after the 1700 is running, if you start the 1700 with the cable attached, it ignores the AV and goes to the GPS. Just plug the AV cable in and the 1700 automatically switches to AV mode. You can access the volume controls by taping on the screen. NONE of this is documented anywhere in the instruction manual or online. It’s a great feature that they seem to be ignoring, maybe it’s liability or something else.

   Please Magellan, use the 1700 as your basis for future models and improve the windshield mount.

5. 

   Jim C. Spencer on December 3, 2009 at 5:38 am

   Just purchased this unit yesterday. I’m a delivery driver and wanted a unit with multiple destination list. This option is buggy. You can not add a third stop from the “Multiple Destination List” screen when using the “+Add” button. You must add the third then use the checkmark button to save it. Then repeat the whole process again starting over from the goto button. I hope they fix this soon.

   The A/V input does not work yet. Waiting for a software update.

   Bottom line, the 7 inch screen is nice to look at but my Garmin seems better for my line of work. The Garmin has a “search all cities” option when you can’t find the right city for an address. I wish Magellan would put this into there units. Also a trip computer screen like Garmin has would be nice too.

   Jim