Magellan - RoadMate 2230T-LM 4.3" GPS with Lifetime Map Updates - Black

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• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  OK @ good sale price, if expectations not too high

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  Summary: The Magellan RoadMate 2230T-LM is a decent GPS, especially for the price I paid, but more critical users might want to consider the downsides, and check out other brands/models before making a decision. I've never owned a GPS until I bought the 2230T-LM in April, though I have researched them quite a bit. I've also used my mom's TomTom VIA 1535. I'm good with directions, have always had lots of paper maps, and use Google Maps regularly, so I didn't NEED a GPS for the car. But with the prices coming down, I decided to look into buying one. Positives about the Magellan RoadMate 2230T-LM: - I got it on sale for $74.65 + tax, and I've seen it as low as $69.99, which is pretty inexpensive for a GPS. - This GPS is small, and flat on the back and front -- it doesn't have mounting moldings protruding as part of the plastic case, like the TomToms and Garmin that I've seen. Couple that with its 4.3" screen size and you can fit the 2230T-LM in your pocket for use when walking or riding a bike. You can select pedestrian mode for shorter trips, and I tried it one night on a short walk and it seemed to work pretty well. The map isn't as detailed as some tourist maps of a downtown, for instance, or a national park, but if you're walking or biking you can use it to find direction and help point you back to your starting location, if you marked it first. You'll be running it off the internal battery when you are walking or biking with it, and the specs say that battery life is two hours. - The free traffic does what I wanted. You can get traffic if you are in a market that has RDS traffic data provided by a local radio station (in Wisconsin, for example, that is Madison, Milwaukee, and the outskirts of Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago that spill over into the state). You must have the cord that leads to the cigarette lighter plugged into the GPS to receive the traffic info., but you don't need to have the other end plugged into the car lighter to get traffic. As long as the cord was plugged in to the GPS, the GPS picked up traffic running off battery while I was in my house by the window, which is nice for checking traffic conditions before you decide to venture out. You can see a list of the traffic incidents or click on a map to see them as either yellow or red (depending on severity). In Madison, my unit even showed incidents on the map as far away as Milwaukee, Chicago and Indianapolis, when I zoomed out, though it doesn't list these in the text listing. - You can find points of interest (POIs) and even program one-touch (actually 2 or 3-touch) buttons for, say, a certain brand hotel or coffee shop. This is nice if you are travelling and someone wants to stop for Starbucks or Panera Bread, for example. - The AAA TourBook gives you reviews of certain restaurants, hotels and other points of interest, which is nice when you are travelling. - The layout and buttons are easy to get used to, at least they were for me. - The built-in map covers Canada, the lower 48 U.S. states, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. - You can get free map updates from Magellan (up to four per year) to cover new roads, etc. Negatives: - I've tested this GPS on trips I normally take, so I know the quickest routes. Sometimes the GPS wants to take me a way that would likely add on minutes due to stoplights, etc. But it's not a huge deal for me, and even people sometimes argue about which would be the quickest route to get somewhere. I think it would generally be fine if I was in an unfamiliar area. Not taking the absolutely best, quickest route is still better than me driving around on my own and missing an exit or having to stop numerous times to check the map and figure out if I've missed a street, using paper maps. And if you don't agree with what the GPS is telling you, you can take your own route -- the GPS will usually quickly recalculate and often then shows the route you had planned on taking. - I've encountered a couple of occasions where a business or street was missing or changed from what the GPS showed, but this was helped when I did the map update by plugging the GPS into my computer and registering the GPS. There are so many changes happening all the time around the country, so I don't expect the GPS to be 100% up-to-date and accurate and never make a mistake. You can always help out by submitting corrections to Magellan via their Web site. - My biggest complaint is that the unit sometimes freezes momentarily when you are trying to type in information. For example, on the screen to enter your destination, my unit will sometimes freeze after I press the first letter. If I keep pressing letters, nothing happens, then all of a sudden multiple letters show up and I might have entered the same letter two or three times thinking I didn't press solidly enough. It's OK if you're patient, and it doesn't always happen. But I think it would be a problem if you were in a hurry or using it for multiple destinations, such as a cab driver or delivery person. Conclusion: All in all, I like having this GPS, especially for the traffic updates, free map updates, the low cost, and the ability to preview routes from my living room, check points of interest and read reviews using the AAA TourBook. There might be other GPS models that are quicker to respond or take better routes more often, but I guess you'd have to use all of them to know which is best. I will say that since I've used both the TomTom VIA 1535 and the Magellan 2230T-LM, there are positives to both and negatives to both. My mom is happy with hers and I am happy with mine.

  Posted 11 years ago by WebguyandDad

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Great GPS for this price

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  The positives: Easy to use interface. Features are great. Even has Indian restaurants in the POI list, which is a great plus for me. Free lifetime map updates and traffic updates included. Speed warning indicators, visual and voice. The negatives: Does not list quite a few restaurants, shopes etc. that are closer. The mount is tight..and I mean really tight. Have to pull with both hands to take the GPS off the mount. Slow response time.

  Posted 12 years ago by VKrish

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Live Traffic Updates are a life saver!!

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  Overall, I like this GPS. It has live traffic and red light camera notifications. The GPS literally says, "Red Light Camera Ahead" and it also tells you when there is traffic on your route. It does a really good job of redirecting you to a less congested area. I was going from Philly to NYC and it knocked 30 mins off my travel time by take me around the turnpike traffic. I had to buy a dashboard mount because it wouldn't stick to my dash or window. Also, the battery life is really short. I have to keep it plug in to the cigarette lighter the whole trip. Also, you get free maps and updates for the lifetime of the product so you no longer have to worry about paying to upgrade maps. I caught this GPS on sale so I'm happy with my purchase.

  Posted 12 years ago by TrenieceWheeler