RM 300 Either Works Great or Not At All
Written: Apr 26 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great to have along and very accurate. Big help to my travelling wife.
Cons: Sometimes won't power up, takes too long to acquire location, offline interface is limited.
The Bottom Line: GPS is wonderful technology when it works. But the RM300 has too many hardware and programming issues for the price.
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| amastron1's Full Review: Magellan RoadMate 300 Car GPS Receiver |
We bought the RM 300 because my wife travels frequently but can't read maps, and wouldn't know east from west if she were staring into a sunset.
On the positive side, when the RM is working, it is a wonderful thing to have. She has found it to be accurate and extremely helpful. In fact, she has come to not only rely on it, but depend on it. The $600 or so we spent on it has been repaid in saved time and frustration.
The trouble with technology is that just when you come to depend on it, it fails. We had problems getting the unit to power up and stay on when it was new two years ago. Magellan tech support was courteous and helpful. They sent us a new power cord which seemed to fix the power problem. Until this morning that is, when it wouldn't power up, causing my wife to call me from Toledo in a hysterical panic, already late for a meeting with no idea how to get there. I had to find her location on my Delorme Street Atlas software and guide her to her business meeting over the phone.
I suspect the power cord, WHICH IS TOO SHORT AND COILED MUCH TOO TIGHTLY, has finally strained the power input jack to the point of failure. In some vehicles the power outlet is mounted low, and the cord literally won't reach the Roadmate mounted on the windshield without putting so much tension in the cord that it sometimes pulls the mount off the windshield.
We have found it difficult to program an address that has a route number instead of a street name, like 501 State Route 53 North. You can spend 1/2 hour trying different variations of SR 53, State Rte 53, St Route 53 N, St Rt 53 North, N State Rte 53, etc, etc and never get it right. A big help here would be an easy way to simply find and mark your destination on a map, like you would with laptop mapping software. Try finding an address on Lake Shore Blvd vs. Lakeshore Drive. You'd better have the street name EXACTLY right, or you won't find it, or it will be in the wrong city.
You would think that a GPS unit's mission in life is to quickly figure out WHERE YOU ARE. If you use the RM in one city, then fly to another, then even if you take the time to initialize your location the RM can take many minutes to lock in.
The stubby little antenna that came with the unit got lost soon after we bought the unit. As I recall, a replacement antenna was $25 or $30. We opted to buy an externally mounted antenna unit instead. Even with the external antenna, the RM takes too long to lock in.
The offline programming software is severely limited. It is not possible to interrogate the Roadmate to see how much memory is available, or what maps are already loaded. This is like not being allowed to look in your cupboards until after you bring home a truckload of groceries. The only way to clear a map out of the Roadmate is to intentionally attempt to download a new map that is too large; you will then be prompted to delete some existing maps.
Programming the RM offline should be more intuitive. There is no limit to the number of maps, but each map is limited to 3 regions per map, all within the limit of 80 MB. Why so complicated? Offline programming should allow you to interrogate the Roadmate, then delete or overwrite maps at will. The programming software does not let you see what regions are in each map. And how are supposed to remember the names of the maps you have already downloaded if you can't interrogate the unit when you are online with it? I find it easier to delete existing maps and start over each time.
One final complaint: The touch screen does not always respond correctly. You will hear a click when you touch the screen, but then nothing happens. Sometimes you have to highlight a function, then hit the Enter key instead. The scroll bar on the right side of the screen is hard to work because the screen is recessed too deeply.
Overall, if you can keep the unit powered up, (why do you have to press the power button two or three times to turn it on?) it is very accurate and fun to use.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
amastron1
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Reviews written: 1
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