NaviGadget

navigon 2200T

Sep 6, 2008 gps navigation, navigon Leave a comment

NAVIGON is proving to be one of the fastest growing suppliers of gps navigation products around the world. They provide Real Time Traffic Updates for life; standard on a wide range of its new products. We had already mentioned the Navigon 2200 and 2210 but not the Navigon 2200T which was announced a couple of days ago. Navigon 2200T GPS navigator is new version of Navigon 2200 series and it looks like this will be the version to be available in the States.

It has a 3.5 inch touch screen and offers free real-time traffic updates for the life of the product. NAVIGON’s real-time traffic updates product software makes route calculation fast and entering a destination easy, requiring fewer clicks than any other GPS product to enter a destination. Navigon 2200T comes preloaded with Navteq maps of the lower 48 states. The device provides 3D renderings of highway interchanges and it should be available for $229.

NAVIGON 2200T features include:

• Reality View Pro
• Lane Assistant Pross
• Fast Destination Entry
• Advanced Text-to-speech
• Direct Help
• High Performance
• Instant Fix GPS
• Ultra-thin and portable
• Multidestination trip planning
• DirectHelp for locating the nearest roadside assistance and other emergency services

Magellan RoadMate 2200T 13 page review

Dec 20, 2006 gps navigation, magellan, reviews Leave a comment

Continuing our coverage on the new Magellan RoadMate series, today we have a 13 page review of the RoadMate 2200T, which sells for $400 on Amazon. If you are considering to buy the 2200T for yourself go ahead and read the whole 13 page review, but if you are getting as a gift we’ll just give you the summary within a few bullet points:

Pros

• Updated NAVTEQ maps
• SiRF GPS receiver
• Good routing engine
• Flexible routing options
• Route Exclusion feature allows you to exclude certain roads or highways
• Well designed map screen
• Exit POI feature allows you to view POIs at upcoming highway exits
• Locate feature useful for telling emergency services where you are
• Multi-destination routing capable (via the Trip Planner)
• Ability to search for an address by zip code

Cons:

• Dimmer screen than some other units
• Slight vibration in the mount while driving
• Cannot route to longitude/latitude coordinates (Magellan plans to sell an outdoor/geocaching kit that will make this possible)
• No ability to optimize a multi-destination route
• Unit sometimes feel a bit sluggish
• Photos in the manual show different (older) mounting hardware than the mount that ships with the unit
• Manual is inaccurate or missing information in several places. For example, the manual calls My POIs “Custom POIs”, and makes no mention of the “Premium POI” button at all. There’s also no mention of integrated traffic data anywhere in the manual
• Cannot play music while navigating, making the music player fairly useless
• You have to exit the navigation application altogether to adjust the volume (although you can mute the volume directly from the map screen)
• Text-to-speech not as good as some other GPS units, including Garmin and TomTom
• Reduced POI database (1.5 million vs. 6+ million on some other units)

via

Magellan announces RoadMate 2250T for the European market

Nov 15, 2006 gps navigation, magellan Leave a comment

Magellan just announced the release of its new 2200 series for the European market. Magellan prepared the 2200T which we already knew about but also introduced a new version called the 2250T which will include the maps of all of Europe whereas the 2200T will only include selected regions and will be available in France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark as soon as December 1st of this year, and the rest of the continent in early 2007.

Both devices, which Magellan claims they’re the “world’s first rugged, IPX-4-waterproof car navigation systems” can be upgraded to provide off-road navigation and real-time traffic capabilities. Both measure 12.5 x 8.5 x 2.6 centimeters with an integrated battery and antenna, and are equipped with voice and visual turn-by-turn guidance with a 3.5 inch color touch-screen display for easy viewing of the 3-D birds-eye map screen.

Magellan 2200T will cost less than €300 ($385) and 2250T will set you back €350 ($450) at most.

Magellan RoadMate 2000 review

Nov 2, 2006 gps navigation, magellan, reviews Leave a comment

We have a review of the cheapest Magellan from the 2000 series. The Magellan RoadMate 2000 which only costs $400. The reviewers gave the RoadMate 2000 a total of 3 circles out of 5 which corresponds to a “good”. However it looks like the most bad points came from the unfriendliness of the menus which you can get used to after a few tries.

As the entry-level product in Magellan’s GPS line, the RoadMate 2000 offers a lot of features at an attractive price. But competing products such as the iWay 250C and the Delphi Nav200 are entering the market at $349, and they offer extras such as MP3 players, picture viewers, and sometimes even maps of Canada. A better value in the Magellan product line is the recently announced $499 RoadMate 2200T, which is upgradable to support live traffic updates and an outdoor mode (with the purchase of topographic maps). The 2200T should also have an 8-hour battery life and text-to-speech capabilities.

The review does not talk much about the hardware itself, but mostly the software. Maybe its because there’s really nothing wrong with the device and it just … works.

In addition to testing on my standard routes, I also used the RoadMate 2000 on a 660-mile road trip. It accurately calculated routes with and without toll roads.

full review

Magellan RoadMate 2000 is cheap

Sep 14, 2006 gps navigation, magellan 2 Comments

The new RoadMate 2000 is the cheapest and simplest of the three new models Magellan announced this week. Unlike 2500T and 2200T it does not come ‘traffic’ ready so don’t expect any live traffic updates while using this. However RoadMate 2000 will only cost $400, $150 cheaper than 2500T and $100 cheaper than 2200T.

Just like the others RoadMate 2000 also uses the highly accurate SiRF Star III GPS receiver chipset and also features the SmartDetour function. With this navigation system you only get the 48 contiguous states and a searchable database of 1.3 million points of interest pre-installed on the memory. Thats 700,000 POI’s less than 2500T! We’ll let you decide if the extra several hundred thousand ATM locations and maps of Puerto Rico and Hawaii are worth the extra $150 :)

Before we forget there’s no MP3 player or photo viewer on this basic 2000 model also. On the bright side RoadMate is lighther than its more expensive brothers at only 7.9 ounces and probably just a hair smaller in size.

Magellan RoadMate 2000 will be availabe as early as this month in the US at a corporate electronics store near you.

Magellan RoadMate 2200T for $500

Sep 13, 2006 gps navigation, magellan Leave a comment

Continuing our coverage on Magellan’s 2000 series, today we present the Magellan RoadMate 2200T. It has the exact same form factor as the RoadMate 2500T we talked about yesterday, but minus the green plastic covering the device. 2200T has an 8 hour battery life and is spill/spray proof just like the 2500T. The device is also outdoor and traffic upgradeable meaning you can purchase an upgrade that enables you to add detailed topographic maps for navigating outdoors and supports TMC to get detailed real time traffic information.

Magellan 2200T measures 3.4 x 4.3 x 1.1 with an integrated battery and antenna, and can provide voice and visual turn-by-turn guidance with a 3.5 inch color touch-screen display for easy viewing of the 3-D birds-eye map screen. It comes with maps of the 50 US states, Canada, Puerto Rico, a 2 million entry POI database and can probably fit in your pocket if you don’t mind a bit of sagging (weighs 8.5 ounces)

Some other features:

• Smart Detour
• SayWhere™ text-to-speech
• MP3 player
• Photo viewer

Magellan RoadMate 2200T will be available in North America this October for $499 at RadioShack and other retail outlets. Europeans will have to wait until December to get their hands on one.

Magellan RoadMate 2500T Traveler

Sep 12, 2006 gps navigation, magellan 7 Comments

Magellan just introduced three new navigation systems into the 2000 series today not wanting to be left out of the pocket size personal navigation market. Out of the three different models 2500T is the top of the line product, which has a camouflage green color and is IPX-4 waterproof (It will continue to function when subjected to water spray at any angle). The RoadMate 2500T is what they call a CrossOver GPS, which is meant to navigate you both in your car or when you are wondering outdoors.

RoatMate 2500T comes with the Magellan TrafficKit receiver that can process real-time traffic information and displays icons on the screen to show traffic jams and conditions. Drivers can choose to see all or specific types of incidents, and can learn details about each by touching the associated icon on the screen. Drivers can also choose to automatically be rerouted around traffic or to receive traffic alerts for information only.

Magellan RoadMate 2500T comes pre-loaded with street-level maps for the entire United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, plus pre-loaded topographic contour maps for off-road and outdoor activities so users can create and go to waypoints, plan routes, backtrack, which makes it different than the new 2200T. Also, users can add other compatible outdoor maps via optional SD memory cards. Included the system is an MP3 player and photo viewer.

Magellan 2500T weighs only 8.5 ounces and comes with a lanyard hook and ships with a Sports Guard™ sleeve for easy gripping and protection on a muddy trail or a drizzly ride in an open vehicle

2500T is expected to be shipped during holiday season in North America so you can include it in your wishlist. It will cost them $549.