( 29 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 11 2009
Now Magellan has replaced the 2008 1400 model with a newer one. The newer one is not called the 1400 and is a 2009 model. I paid $75 and got it factory refurbished. New was $150. works great. You can research online what it can do. I will only go over the negatives which are the most import thing to cover after you research the positives for any device. 1. Lets say you know a road is under construction and should be avoided. You can exclude any road or highway exit from the list of turns and exits once it creates that list for your trip. Just click on the lower left corner to pull up the list. Then click on the turn just below the one you want to exclude and not click on the actual turn. Not a very intuitive design here. The problem is that half the time it does a poor job rerouting around the excluded road, freeway, or freeway exit. 2. Second negative is that it has short battery life (3 hours according to manual) and does not come with a recharger for outside the car. Nothing to worry about if its plugged into the car of course. I got the battery logo up to 80 percent while not plugged in and with in 20 minutes of usage it was back down to 10 percent life when it was not plugged in. Basically you have to have it plugged in at all times to work. 3. Third negative is that it can't go on pedestrian mode so its bad for walking tours of cities your visiting. 4. Fourth negative is that it can't display traffic info. If your stuck in traffic and it sees your not moving it will ask to reroute you if you want for the traffic but it doesn't know if the reroute will get away from traffic. Or you can manually invoke a detour with a choice of miles for the detour. When I chose a 5 mile detour option it picked a path that would have wasted an extra 45 minutes. You can pick from a 3 to 12 mile range for a detour when you touch the detour button. I recommend just going with 3. One other flaw is that if you miss the next turn on a detour route it sets the route back to the original one so now you have to go back into the menu to select detour option. Sometimes when you select detour option it wants a uturn, when you don't make the u turn it resets the course back to the original one and so once again you have to go back to the detour screen. Decent but only if you can make the u turn or next turn so it wont reset back to the original course. For what you do get for $75 it is outstanding and I plan to keep it for awhile. Best device for under $100. I would not buy this for more than 100. other ones for less than 100 are not as good. From what I have read on Garmins that can take in traffic info for free there are still some bugs to be worked out (like false alerts or no alerts when there is traffic) so it is not worth the high price tag as of now. I think later when some of the bugs are worked out and prices go even more down I will upgrade to a garmin unless Magellan has something better at same cost.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 12 2009
I cannot find anything bad to say about this Magellan GPS Navigator. I was able to use it right out of the box! It's electronic voice is natural and loud enough to hear even with the windows open and the radio playing. The 1400 is also very accurate. I was amazed that the unit was able to find an unmarked dirt road that was not even listed on a paper topo map. The automatic night time view mode is outstanding. I don't like the real bright light in my eyes at night while driving and so having the ability of keeping it mounted on the dashboard was a real plus. There are so many nice features with this unit. I was also able to easily get map updates from the Megelan site. I love this GPS so much that I have recommended it to my friends and family.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 9 2009
This is a great GPS for the price. What I like the most about Magellan as compared to Garmin and Tom Tom is the ease of use and intuitiveness. Before with a Garmin I had, I saw confusing maps on the screen with highlighted arrows that were supposed to "show me the way", all of this at the moment I came to the intersection or roundabout - obviously I panicked and always made the wrong turns. It happened all the time. With Magellan this never happens because I get a side map showing me what's coming ahead of time - I know what to expect when the time comes. Also no more calculating turns based on "0.4 miles" or such, with Magellan I get the Bell. The bell tells you that is time for action so if you miss a speech you still have time to react. The unit simply put has all the basics clear, works well and does the job without any bells & whistles (bluetooth, MP3, etc - who needs all that crap anyways). Multi-point routing and POIs are also great add ons.
