Pros: Multiple destinations, traffic monitoring, text to speech announcement of all streets, not just interstates etc.
Cons: CD manual not printed. Traffic antenna adds clutter but I've hidden it, On/off button clumsy.
The Bottom Line: Recommend- has all the function features -I was looking for. Haven't tested the other nav units, but this unit doesn't have me yearning for more.
hockeydad39's Full Review: Magellan RoadMate 6000T Car GPS Receiver
Having quite of few built-in navigation systems in my other vehicles, I was skeptical of a portable unit for my new car purchased without Navigation.
Although the factory units weren't always perfect, they seemed to provide advanced functionality compared to retail nav units.
The differentiating feature I like most is being able to put multiple destinations into the nav unit and letting it take me point to point versus single entry. It will even calculate the best route to each destination in order. Aka, you can enter a bunch of addresses and it will figure out the order if you'd like. You don't have to enter them sequentially.
Some might say, I only drive from A to B, why to I need stops C, D, E....etc. Well, when we go on a trip, usually for hockey, we usually have a hotel destination and a few rinks to go to for several games. This feature allows me to pre-populate the nav system with every location I'm going to and save as a trip. I can then select the entire trip, or click on individual locations in "the trip" as needed.
Without this functionality, you can do the poor man version by manipulating the "previous destination" capability in most nav units. However, if you've never been to a place or haven't been to a location lately- the trip function is sweet. Plus, the "previous destination" capability in most units store locations sequentially, so your trip might have clutter stops in between (like when you look for a gas station in route). Also, "previous destinations" only store the last few locations. By saving trips, if I go to that location again - I can just look up an old saved trip.
It is this feature that made me hone in on the 6000T. I couldn't find many (if any) other units, besides the 6000T or Magellan line, that provided this capability. For me all the other features, were icing on the cake (touch screen, announcing street names (not just turn right at next road), 6M POI's, Blue-tooth)& Live traffic updates.
Speaking of making a pit stop in route, you can select which icons appear on the nav map you view (gas station, atm, restaurant etc). What is also pretty cool is when you see say the food icon (knife and fork) on your map, you can touch it, and it will tell you details of the restaurant
(name and type of cuisine i think).
This unit also had a live traffic update feature. I thought this was a gimic add-on until I actually used it. Within the first 2 mins of using the navigation for the first time, I had an alert pop up on my NAV screen. Apparently there was an accident just outside my neighborhood. Instead of avoiding the traffic accident, I decided to check it out just to see if my unit was functioning correctly. Sure enough - there was an accident with traffic backed up. I was blown away and now wish my other car with built in navigation had this feature as well.
Once I modernize my PDA (treo 600), I'll likely be enjoying the blue-tooth capability in the unit- unfortunately I do not have this functionality in my other car which has a built in Nav system.
Having sold gadgets directly to consumer electronics giants in the past (Costco, Circuit City etc), I know how important product reviews are to sales and placement into retail locations. For some reason, I could not find very many reviews of this unit (possibly since it is so new) but also because trade mags and web sites have bias towards paid advertisers - so those with the dough get many of the awards etc. Moral of the story- don't believe everything you read - some like 6000T don't get the same limelight.
I literally stumbled across this unit hours before I was going to buy either a tom tom or a Garmin - I can say after using it for a long weekend - I'm not regretting my decision to buy the 6000T. Now if I could only upgrade my built in nav unit in my other car............. Just my two cents.
Free temporary subscription to Magellan's live traffic reports Easily fits into any vehicle without the need for special installation Bluetooth wirele...More at Amazon Marketplace
Magellan RoadMate 6000T Portable Navigator is the first in the series to feature an integrated receiver for live traffic incident reports and Bluetoot...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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