Magellan RoadMate 860T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Magellan RoadMate 860T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

Magellan RoadMate 860T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Feature

• Traffic Accessory included in box (first 15 months free)
• Enhanced cradle with traffic accessory supports an antenna, as well as power and audio out
• Multimedia – Integrated MP3 player and Photo Viewer
• Text-to-speech audibly announces the street name of the next turn
• Automatically increases volume when speed exceeds 45 MPH

While you're navigating your way to your next destination, there's no reason you can't entertain yourself along the way. The Magellan RoadMate 860T Multimedia GPS Travel Companion lets you do exactly that. With a built-in MP3 player and photo viewer, along with Magellan's leading GPS navigation system, there's nothing quite like the RoadMate 860T for your next road trip. This unit retains many of the features of the RoadMate 800, but adds something special, called Magellan TrafficKit. With TrafficKit, you can get live traffic incident reports, which helps you improve your navigation decisions and quickly reroutes you around trouble spots.

Music and Photos On-the-Go
With 10 GB of available internal memory, the RoadMate 860T will make sure you never run out of tunes. The Magellan Music Manager Tools software lets you simply transfer your .MP3 and .WMA files from your computer to the unit, or you have the option of inserting a Secure Digital (SD) or MMC card containing your digital files. Either way, you'll have enough tunes to take you from L.A. to N.Y. and back. The RoadMate 860T lets you easily browse your music, create playlists (for MP3 files only), and adjust the sound to your personal liking with a digital equalizer. The RoadMate 860T's large 3.5-inch color display will also give you the resolution you need to enjoy your favorite digital photos. Simply transfer your files directly into the memory, or plug in your SD or MMC card, and sit back and enjoy.

Magellan Navigation
Of course, the RoadMate 860T's main purpose is to make sure you get to where you need to go. To get started, simply select a destination and your RoadMate 860T GPS navigation system will take it from there. By matching letters to the available destinations, Magellan's QuickSpell address entry feature makes it easy and quick to enter destination addresses. An internal address book also stores up to 200 personal or business destinations for quick reference.

Advanced, state-of-art navigation software automatically calculates the most direct route and recalculates it whenever you take a detour or make additional stops. Routing options enable you to choose the best route for you, whether you want the shortest time or shortest distance, or whether you want to stay on or off the freeway. The RoadMate 860T lets you customize every trip exactly as you want. A unique SmartDetour feature will even automatically route around stopped freeway traffic.

Built-in detailed street maps and over six million pre-loaded points of interest make it easy to find the nearest restaurant, gas station, ATM, airport and more. A simple touch-screen menu lets you easily choose a location by category or sub-category. So if you want to find the nearest Chinese restaurant, or the nearest movie theater for the kids, just touch the screen. It has never been easier or more fun to get around town or take cross-country trips.

With detailed maps of all 50 United States, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Canada, you can travel the continent with no need to download new data. A single seamless database built in to the hard drive contains all major city streets as well as federal, state and county roads and highways. And if traveling abroad is in your plans, this GPS system comes pre-loaded with detailed maps of 27 European countries that can be unlocked for a fee.

When you want a clearer view of your route, simply touch the 3D map icon. This will get both a three-dimensional representation, as well as a bird's-eye view, allowing you to clearly see cross streets and helping you to prepare for upcoming turns. If that's not enough, a turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance feature tells you exactly when to make the next turn, and to confirm the voice instructions, the automatic map zooms in to show your turn and switches to TrueView 3D so that you'll be sure not to miss your turn. These automatic functions make the RoadMate 860T one of the most useful navigation aids you'll ever experience.

Add the Magellan TrafficKit to receive live traffic incident reports that appear on the dynamic touch screen map. Touch an onscreen icon to view detailed information about the incident. You can also automatically reroute around accidents, slow-downs, road work, severe weather conditions and more. The TrafficKit service will be available in the Summer of 2006 and it will require a subscription.

If you've got a trip with multiple destinations lined up, the RoadMate 860T can optimize your travel plans. Use the Trip Planner feature to enter addresses or select points of interest (POI) before leave. You can choose the order of each destination, or you can let the Multi-destination Route Optimization system calculate the quickest route between each point from your present location. The feature also allows you to add and subtract destinations as you go, and you can save your trip to repeat the same route again.

When you're traveling at night, the displayed map on the RoadMate 860T switches to night view at sundown, and back to day view in the morning. This means that you'll always have a clear view of where you're headed. With SmartVolume, the unit's volume automatically increases at speeds over 45 MPH, which means that voice and audio prompts are always at the right level for maximum clarity.

Best of all, the RoadMate 860T is easy to install and is completely portable. You can choose from a selection of mounting accessories, and there's no complicated wiring required. You simply plug in the power cord and you're ready to go. A built-in rechargeable battery lets you take the unit where ever you need to go, and when you want to transfer it to another vehicle, you simply unplug it from one car and plug it into another. It's that simple. At a mere 10.8 ounces in weight and 3.15 x 1.55 x 6.26-inches (W x D x L) in dimension, the RoadMate 860T is meant to be taken wherever your travel plans require. The Magellan RoadMate 860T provides superior guidance. With real-time traffic alerts, avoid delays on the road and get to where you need to go when you need to Be There. The Magellan RoadMate 860T is an enhanced portable GPS and multi-media travel partner. Integrated MP3 Player and Photo viewer adds unique value to this vehicle navigator. The RoadMate 860T includes Magellan’s SayWhere text-to-speech feature that audibly announces the street or highway name of the next maneuver.