Magellan RoadMate 2200T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Magellan RoadMate 2200T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

Magellan RoadMate 2200T 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Feature

• Vehicle navigation system helps you arrive quickly and conveniently at your destination
• Features simple touch-screen menus that make it easy to select virtually any destination, and turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance
• Pre-loaded with detailed maps of the 50 United States, Canada and Puerto Rico
• Waterproof, durable, and built to last; includes SmartDetour software to help you avoid traffic
• Weighs 3.0 pounds

If you don't own a car with its own navigation system, and you're tired of looking up destinations on the internet and printing the results--or even worse, stopping to ask for directions--the Magellan 2200T make be just what you're looking for. Its sturdy and easily portable design, simple operation, and multi-function capability make it a great choice for any journey.

Small, rugged, and powerful; the Magellan 2200T packs everything you need for navigation, and nothing you don't. View larger.

Select from a huge database of POIs. View larger.

Navigate to a tasty snack in a jiffy. View larger.

Use the address book to store your most important destinations. View larger.

A user-friendly browser lets you search through and display your photos. View larger.

Design
The Magellan 2200T is compact and solid, making it easy to bring along wherever you go, as well as providing a sense of confidence that it can survive the bumps of bruises that come with the mobile lifestyle. It measures just 3.7 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches (W x H x D) and weighs 7.8 ounces, making it only a little chunkier than your average PDA or Smartphone. The first thing you'll notice on its exterior is almost complete lack of buttons. This is because all interaction with the 2200T happens between the touchscreen and your finger. In the interest of simplicity, there is not even a stylus that can fall to the floor and roll under your the seat of your car. The only button you'll find on the device is the recessed rubber power button on the top right.

All other connections are protected by rubber covers that can be peeled away for access. Below the power button you'll find ports for USB, headphones, and the external power supply. On the left is an SD/MMC card slot, a reset button, and a handy hold button that puts the device in a temporary power-saving mode.

Setup and Interface
Setup is as easy as turning the device on, since it comes loaded with maps of the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, and is ready to go right out of the box. We found interacting with the touchscreen to be intuitive and reliable. With this device, there's really no need for a stylus or navigation buttons, which simplifies things on the road. The screen itself is sharp and clear with its 320 x 240 pixel resolution display and support for 64,000 colors. The 2200T comes with a dash or windshield mount, a wall charger, a USB cable, a CD with software for photos and music. Unfortunately, a vehicle charger is not included, however.

The 2200T not only provides audible commands for turns, but is able to indicate street names using a text-to-voice system Magellan calls "SayWhere." We found this to be a very useful feature, especially when attempting to navigate in an unfamiliar city, although some of the street names were difficult to understand, particularly those derived from Spanish.

A handy music player makes enjoying tunes on the go a breeze.

Navigation
The main purpose of any car GPS device is to take you reliably from point A to B. Here the 2200T performs nicely indeed, providing several options for finding your destination. To get going you can select either a street address, a specific point of interest, a destination from the address book, or an intersection (if you're not sure of the exact address). To speed up text entry, the unit employs a QuickSpell feature that displays only the letters that spell an item in its database. This greatly reduces the letters from which you have to choose to tell it where you want to go.

Once it knows where you are headed, the device offers you the choice of shortest time, shortest distance, most use of freeways, or least use of freeways. You'll also find a trip planner that lets you layout and save multiple destinations.

Other Goodies
Like a number of other similar devices, the Magellan 2200T also houses an MP3 player and a very nice photo/slide viewer. It's a breeze to drop music files or photos into the folders already located on the included SD card. We found the music player intuitive, with no serious learning curve. You can't listen to tunes and navigate at the same time, however.

The device is also ideal for sharing snapshots of summer vacation with grandma once you make it over the river and through the woods. Colors are crisp and bright, and displaying your photos is idiot-proof for anyone who has ever used a computer or digital camera.

The 2200T is a rugged and functional GPS navigator that is easy to use and reliable. If basic navigation is what you are looking for, and you can do without the bells and whistles of Bluetooth connections and real-time traffic information (although Magellan states that real-time traffic information can be added to the 2200T as an accessory), this could be just the ticket.

Pros

• Rugged device with multiple functions and options
• Easy to use
• Reliable map included on SD card
• Includes MP3 Player and Photo Viewer

Cons

• Can't listen to MP3 player and navigate at the same time
• No bells and whistles

What's in the Box
Magellan RoadMate 2200T, windshield mount, DC power adapter, USB data cable, quick reference guide, reference manual on CD-ROM, car holder, and adhesive dashboard disk. Magellan RoadMate 2200T Get the first full-featured, pocket-sized, expandable vehicle navigation system! Simple touch-screen menus make it easy to select virtually any destination and get turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance. The Magellan RoadMate 2200T can be upgraded to become a CrossoverGPS™ and work for all of your outdoor adventures. And because its waterproof to IPX-4 theres no need to worry about coffee spills, rain, humidity or it getting wet.

The Magellan RoadMate 2200T offers the best-in-class battery performance for up to 8 hours of continuous use. You can navigate your outdoor adventures and trails, search points of interest, plan trips, listen to music and view pictures even when youre away from your vehicle. It is rugged, waterproof to IPX-4 and fits in your pocket so you can take it with you anywhere. And with the advanced processing chipset, SirfstarIII, receiving a satellite signal is faster and easier with a stronger and wider search range. Quickly acquire a signal when you first turn on your receiver.

Its smart design makes the Magellan RoadMate 2200T easier than ever to use. Simple touch-screen menus and a built-in interactive map of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico makes it easy to select virtually any destination and get turn-by-turn directions as you drive.

Use the touch screen to enter an address or select a point of interest and get an instant route using the shortest time, shortest distance, most freeways or least freeways. 1.5 million pre-programmed points of interest enable you to quickly find gas stations, airports, hotels, restaurants and much more.

Select the points of interest icons that you want to appear on the map. Touch an icon to get detailed information about a destination, including phone number when available. Save your own personal points of interest to the internal Address Book or Favorites List to quickly navigate to frequent destina