Garmin GPS Receiver

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

I’ve had an older GPS for some time now that I haven’t replaced because I could not find something that was enough of an improvement to justify replacing my older Garmin unit.

Finally I have discovered such a device.

This is an excellent step forward for a portable GPS. It acquires satellites quickly and is extremely quick to recalculate routes. I never thought I would need the wide-screen version, but now that I’ve used it, I am quite pleased with the additional view that it offers. Plus the maps are quite current for my area right out of the box. E.g. a gas station that just opened 2 months ago was on the POI for this device.

The screen is large and very clear. You have a large variety of customization options as well; from navigation and map settings/preferences, various auto-settings, and what actually appears on-screen to routing preferences and even keyboard layout.

The speech on this unit is quite clear and easy to understand at low or high volume. Unlike other GPS devices, this does not loose clarity when the volume is increased and I can clearly understand directions without the need to worry about my stereo volume.

Advance warnings of upcoming turns are well placed and as mentioned previously, recalculations are very quick. I missed directions and intentionally turned the opposite direction on the way home tonight and recalculations typically took place before I made it through the intersection.

Overall I’m very please with this upgrade and it was delivered next-day without issue. Packaging is solid and well designed as well.

If I had to rate anything below the five-star mark… it would be the touch-screen sensitivity.

The coming from touch-screen mobile phones and laptops, this screen could be a bit more sensitive. However, when comparing to previous GPS devices, it is NOT lacking. Perhaps my perception has just changed due the other devices. It could also be the initial placement in the vehicle. I’ll work with this some more and update after a real road trip.

If you are looking at the map update for life option on this unit, please be sure to read the details of that offer in the bullet point in Amazon’s listing or at Magellan’s site, so that you know the terms of that agreement. Amazon did a good job of including relevant information in the second bullet point of their listing as well as providing Magellan’s URL.

Overall though, this is not enough to drop this item from a 5-star rating. They did a great job on this GPS and you should have no concerns about the quality, ease of use, accuracy or speed with this model.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

The whole point of the Magellan 3030LM is idiot-proof simplicity. You take it out of its attractive box (which is very nice and makes a great gift presentation), turn it on and wait a few moments. In a matter of seconds, the device knows where you are. All that remains is to choose a few personal preferences (audio volume, brightness, etc.) and you are ready for anxiety free road trips. Of course, you are going to have to enter a destination in order to watch the 3030 do its thing. The input protocol is simplicity itself. Answer a few obvious questions via the touch screen and that’s it. The touch screen itself is flawless in its “fingernail tip” entry. This is a true pressure sensitive screen. You have to actually tap the screen for data entry. It is quick and accurate. Another great feature of this Magellan is its system speed. There is no “progress bar” needed. All directions take place seamlessly and without delay. If you miss your turn, this Magellan is right on it. Gone is the annoying “calculating route” dialog. It’s really that easy. So, here you have the ideal “my first GPS”. For owners of previous Magellan units, the interface will be a nicely polished old friend. If you are coming from earlier models or other brands, you may well be amazed at how well this little gem works.The price is right and the performance is excellent. The nice lady voice is clear and even comforting. Any down side? That depends on you. If you are looking for all the bells and whistles, the 3030LM may seem a little too simple. Gone are all the useless features like audio output, vehicle speed indicator ( you have a nice big speedometer for that) and so on. It has everything you need and a little more. The screen itself is lovely, with resolution to spare. The audio is clear and (if you like) loud enough to be annoying. The virtual controls are nicely thought out and visually appealing. In short, the visual interface looks like a modern computer operating system. Speaking of operating systems, this little GPS is not compatible with Macintosh. All this means is that you’ll have to find a PC in order to update the maps. The year of manufacture is late 2010, so my guess is that you’ll have to wait a nice long time before map updating in necessary. The customer service is fast and pleasant, as it the online registration process.

The bottom line- If you’re looking for a nifty electronic toy to tinker with, the 3030 will bore you in minutes. On the other hand, if you want to open the box, plug it it and get on with the day, you won’t be disappointed. Even the oldest, most ornery driver will find this a welcome addition to auto travel. There is even a one-touch emergency button that summons police, ambulance etc in case of accident. Have I left anything out? Nothing that you really need to know. Happy motoring!

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

Other than the software bug I found (I believe it is software and not hardware), I am happy with the unit’s feature and performance.

I bought this unit when Amazon had it on sale as a Gold Box deal to replace my crippled Navigon 2100 (no audio 99% of the time). I received the unit last night and used it this morning to get to work. I took roads which is different than what the GPS recomend to get around the usual traffic congestions. Within 5-15 minutes after I started my trip, I noticed that I was no longer getting any audio. The rest of the GPS function was still working fine. About 10 minutes later, after I was able to stop (waiting at a train crossing), I power cycle the unit. When the unit came back on, it started playing back all the instructions that I missed when the audio was not working (it played for about 2-3 minutes). After that, for about 2 minutes, it made mistakes on the street names (I was on a local road which the GPS correctly shows on the display, but the audio said I287). After that, the unit function correctly the rest of the way. My guess is that the thread/task for the audio playback died, but the data for it to playback was queued up until the thread got restarted after the power cycle, then it started playing back all the queued data.

I called Megellan tech support, and they confirmed that my unit has the latest firmware (this is a new model for them). So currently there is no software update to fix this problem until their software engineers can fix the problem with a new release. I will probably try it out for a few more trips and if the same problem occurs, I will return it.

Update: The problem happened again so I am returning the unit.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

I received a Garmin for Christmas a few years ago, and I badly needed to upgrade to something new. Although my old GPS got the job done, it didn’t say street names, it was really bulky, and you had to pay to update maps.

I got this as an Amazon Gold Box deal, and I am very pleased with my purchase. The design is sleek and so much less bulky than my old Garmin. It has so many neat features to it as well. With the Garmin, it was difficult to re-route for detours; with this one, you can choose specific parts of the route that you want to change. You can choose to have it figure out your drive for the shortest distance or the shortest time. It speaks the street names in advance and gives you a warning chime just before you need to make your turn.

Something really neat about this GPS is that it is partnered with AAA. I have AAA car insurance and can type in my member number. It’ll help me find AAA-approved car repair shops and places that I can use my AAA card at to get a discount. You don’t even need to be a member to access this information. You can also use the AAA information to search for tourist spots and attractions among a ton of other things.

I really am happy with this purchase. The GPS is a very nice unit, and the lifetime maps is an additional bonus- no more worries about things like my silly Garmin going out of date and not being able to find newer locations (happened several times!). I would highly recommend this product- it’s a very nice unit that has a lot of neat additions but isn’t too overly fancy.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

Tired of Pop Up Advertisements due to Lifetime Traffic Alerts?
Declared A No Phone Zone while driving your car?
Want a Lifetime Map Updates?
Then this GPS is FOR YOU!
I was really afraid that I won’t be able to find a replacement for my old Magellan.
All the fancy GPS out there have all these Free lifetime traffic alerts.
Why Free? Because pop up ads pay a lot of money to these GPS manufacturers to include them in their new models. I test drove a new Garmin 1490LMT and believe me the pop ups annoyed the heck out me. I don’t like them when I’m browsing the internet much less when I’m driving.

It’s good to know too that Magellan kept their “chime” feature. When you’re suppose to make your turn, you can set your Magellan to chime or bell to make sure you don’t miss your turn. I didn’t know how useful that is until I test drove the Garmin. Within 30 minutes of my drive to a new location, I missed my turn using the Garmin.
I use my GPS to guide me and I know I’ve found the right one if I don’t even have to look at my screen while driving.

This model is new and has the Tele Atlas Map software. So far, I didn’t see any difference between the Navteq Garmin routing to this Magellan Model 3030. I researched the web and most have agreed that since Tele Atlas have dramatically improved their mapping software they are now toe to toe with Navteq.

The lifetime map updates is a bonus. It’s hard to find one that only offers lifetime map updates without all the fancy features.

If you’re like me, BEST, SIMPLE AND RELIABLE is all you need from a GPS, then this is for you.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

It has much better POI compared to TomTOm or Garmin. The best route is not always the best compared to TomTom’s IQ routing. Rerouting is excellent and fast. Power up is very fast. Satellite reception is very good and fast even during bad weather.

Information displays on screen is OK compared to TomTom or Garmin. You need to tap the right bottom to get EPA, Speed limit, Speed etc… POI’s display on screen such as gas station, restaurants, etc… are very good. 3D features graphic are not as good as TomTom or Garmin.

Overall is is a excellent if going for POI. A decent GPS for routing.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

I’ve had an older GPS for some time now that I haven’t replaced because I could not find something that was enough of an improvement to justify replacing my older Garmin unit.

Finally I have discovered such a device.

This is an excellent step forward for a portable GPS. It acquires satellites quickly and is extremely quick to recalculate routes. I never thought I would need the wide-screen version, but now that I’ve used it, I am quite pleased with the additional view that it offers. Plus the maps are quite current for my area right out of the box. E.g. a gas station that just opened 2 months ago was on the POI for this device.

The screen is large and very clear. You have a large variety of customization options as well; from navigation and map settings/preferences, various auto-settings, and what actually appears on-screen to routing preferences and even keyboard layout.

The speech on this unit is quite clear and easy to understand at low or high volume. Unlike other GPS devices, this does not loose clarity when the volume is increased and I can clearly understand directions without the need to worry about my stereo volume.

Advance warnings of upcoming turns are well placed and as mentioned previously, recalculations are very quick. I missed directions and intentionally turned the opposite direction on the way home tonight and recalculations typically took place before I made it through the intersection.

Overall I’m very please with this upgrade and it was delivered next-day without issue. Packaging is solid and well designed as well.

If I had to rate anything below the five-star mark… it would be the touch-screen sensitivity.

Coming from touch-screen mobile phones and laptops, this screen could be a bit more sensitive. However, when comparing to previous GPS devices, it is NOT lacking. Perhaps my perception has just changed due the other devices. It could also be the initial placement in the vehicle. I’ll work with this some more and update after a real road trip.

If you are looking at the map update for life option on this unit, please be sure to read the details of that offer in the bullet point in Amazon’s listing or at Magellan’s site, so that you know the terms of that agreement. Amazon did a good job of including relevant information in the second bullet point of their listing as well as providing Magellan’s URL.

Overall though, this is not enough to drop this item from a 5-star rating. They did a great job on this GPS and you should have no concerns about the quality, ease of use, accuracy or speed with this model.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

I recently purchased a Magellan 3030-LM from Amazon which, as the model number implies, included Lifetime Map updates. Unfortunately for me, I could not read the “fine print” on the product box, as no where on the Amazon product pages or product description does it say that I must use MS Windows VISTA or Windows 7 based PC to get Lifetime Map updates. So, if you use any flavor of Linux or Mac you are out of luck getting the updates, unless you want to hike to the nearest friend, relative, library, or other place where you can borrow a MS Windows VISTA or Windows 7 computer to do your map updates.

The product as a whole seems to be good. I was impressed with the screen size, the touch screen function and clarity. The unit seems to function well, hard to really say after only 3 hours, but I was dismayed when I began the recommended immediate update only to find that I could not without jumping through hoops.

I contacted Magellan 800# technical support and while they apologized, they were all but helpful. I did get to speak to a manager, who again apologized, but only lead me to believe that Magellan knows this problem exists with non-Windows users, and could only say that she would report my concern.

12/20/2010
Update: I dragged my Magellan 3030-LM to a Windoze based system, was able to log in and found that while I should run updates, no update was available as my GPS already had the most recent version (actually newest available) already installed. Other than the Windoze requirement, the GPS seems to work well.

I only have a couple issues that concern me. The MAP data lists roads that should not be traveled (4th class or lower) and some roads that do not exist or have not existed for years. I live in rural Vermont and we have many 4th class roads, that are accessible maybe during some summer months and then only with a 4WD vehicle. Other roads have been “thrown up” or discontinued. The MAP still shows them, 30 plus years later. No wonder people stop by my house asking how to get to certain roads. They are following their GPS. I specifically tested my unit where I knew it might tell me to go on a non existent road, and sure enough, it did. My warning to you is, if the road looks like it is getting rougher and narrower, turn around NOW!

Another issue with the MAP is there have been road changes here in Vermont, as elsewhere, where the road bed no longer follows the path shown on the MAP. I traveled a road yesterday, that was changed nearly 15 years ago, and the GPS thinks I was off the road somewhere, dancing around looking for a way to return to a normal path, telling me to make a legal U-turn as soon as I could. While I am sure the MAP folks are doing a fine job, there does not seem to be a way to report to them that their MAP has some bugs.

Lastly, there is one irritating issue I have. I do not like the sound on when I am on known roads, and I am just trying to locate an address. I can see well enough so I mute the sound. Well, for some odd reason, while the speaker shows that it is MUTED, every now and then I will get annoying verbal instructions. This also happened yesterday, as I was traveling home. I ended up turning the GPS off.

12/27/2010

Received a MicroSD (SanDisk) 2GB card as a gift. The Magellan Roadmate 3030 seems to know it is there, as each time I turn the GPS on it warns “Supplementary Content Detected – To access content, a restart is required”…but a restart will not cause it to remember that the SD card was added. Also, there does not seem to be a way to access the card once installed…read and re-read downloaded “User Manual” from Magellan and found no useful SD information or instructions.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

Excellent Performance. Price could have been little better but over all can not complain because of the quality of the product and life time updated map at no cost.

This review is from: Magellan RoadMate 3030LM 4.7-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Map Updates Included) (Electronics)

Right out of the box, we liked this unit. That is, until we had to follow it’s directions. The directions were confusing, telling to make more than 1 turn at a time, but the thing that got us was when it directed us to make a sharp left-hand turn off a major interstate, rather than utilize an exit! We were dissappointed & returned this GPS. We bought a newer version (3045LM), only to find it had the same mapping problems. Magellan is a very popular brand…interesting that the maps aren’t as updated as much cheaper brands.