Magellan RoadMate 300 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

I bought this unit in Sept. 05 and used it extensively till 2 days ago May 7, 07. WHY??? The stupid thing DIED. No power either from the cigarette lighter or AC outlet. I bought this when it first came out at $400 and it died 6 months after the warranty ran out. WHAT???Usage wise, it is relatively easy to use only after a month of playing around. Not recommended for impatience people. It loses signal often and requires tremendous amount of time to get reconnected automatically. Recalculating rate is also slow. If the unit is turned off and moved about 1 mile away, it will not reconnect automatically. It does have a function to set the GPS position manually after searching though 5-6 menus and entering the exact address of the current location. If you're lost then how are you suppose to know the address of where you are???As you can tell, I'm a little disappointed. The routing function does not allow routing with the shortest distance. It gives you 4 options for routing: "shortest time", "avoid toll roads", "least use of Freeways" and "most use of freeways". The "shortest time" option will lead you around and about through freeways and surface streets and off of direct path just to get to the location a few minutes earlier and 5-6 miles more. Go figure??The maps. This unit does NOT come with a preloaded map. It comes with a CD that you have to upload the map into the unit. If that's not annoying enough, the internal memory is so small that you can only load 2 or 3 counties and not even the entire state let alone the nation. Magellan did offer a free SD map card, again, only of a particular region of the US (west, central, east) BLAHH.THE GOOD: only when it works.Directions are accurate to about 30 feet. Good Volume and voice directions. Points of Interests are easy to locate. It has an address book function to save previous addresses and favorite locations which is very useful. With the address book function, it also provides a list of your previous addresses/destinations which I found again very useful. The unit has another function to locate your position at anytime even at 80 MPH on the freeway. It provides a compass and can tell you your current speed.All in all, this it not worth the money to buy.

Product is new, though it is an old system. I bought to help me navigate to various places in Southern California. I have not been able to get maps to work. Maybe system is too old and needs new maps. I have not called manufacturer, yet.

Although we have used this GPS frequently, you can't delete any of the prior locations that you visit. It doesn't have really user friendly options, bigger and better GPS's have come out and we now own a Tom Tom.

This thing really work just great to me. Have some second thought when I read some review, but when I get and try, it's awesome specially when driving at night. No need to look for street name as you'll be 100% guided. NOt as powerful as the 700 model that have its huge capacity, this model 300 is so easy to costumize that any body could do it to initialize any area as they prefered, or expand it when you need it through secure digital memory. Greatly recommended for all novice on this area.

Its not the newest GPS out there...doesn't have all the bells and whistles but if you're looking for a GPS and don't want to spend a lot of money this "older" model is very good. I use it just about everyday

The mapping software does "not recognize" and is "unable to detect any Magellan Roadmate" when I try to download maps to Unit. The mapping software states" No memory card detected" when I try to download maps to the memory card.Waste of money.

will not pull up some local addresses also cant delete old addresses battery is either not chargable or has no battery i believe amazon should offer me a full credit on this item or a working replacement!

Bought this several years ago when GPS sets were relatively new and quite expensive. This one worked well and I was happy with it.