Great, inexpensive and a little odd...
I purchased the 1212 from a huge box store lately and so far I like it. It is very easy to use and the interface (Windows CE Core 5.0) is easy to use and the voice direction is clear and easy to understand. There are a few quirks though....
1. Sometimes the system lags when you press a button and you have to press it again or wait.
2. If you enter into a submenu from the map or route screen it is difficult to get back to the primary map menu. Though the scheme seems to still keep you on track and let you know with regards to turns etc...
3. The included software link and software on the installation package are not very useful. You get a frequent PDF version of the user manual which holds a good amount of info on the operation of the product and was useful. The software POI (Points of Interest) editor allows you to enter further and added points of interest and upload them to the GPS. Only one problem with this software. Unless you recognise the longitude and latitude coordinates of the place you want to add you won't be capable to and the software is very basic in that you may only enter known info and there is no way to look it up or select it. Other software Vantage Point and Mapsend and mapsend manager are not for this unit and accordingly do not work.
4. This may not be a problem with the routing algorithms of the software but it insist that I take a turn into a oneway street to get to my house which is not possible. On the upside is that if you turn around and go another direction the unit speedily calculates a new route for you. Same thing it does if you miss a turn. As a side note: the maps for this unit according to the magellan internet site are from 2007 and the website lists the unit as a new product and there are no updates for it. I have not contacted magellan asking them with regards to an update but the other merchandise seem to have one so at long last we'll see one for this one.
In the box:
The unit comes with a suction cup windshield attachment kit and a power cord to plug into your car lighter. If you want to connect it to your PC you will have to buy a discerned usb to usb mini cable.
Some other neat features it has..
Good GPS - Compared to a Magellan 4250
I have three GPS's - A Tom Tom one, a Magellan 4250 and the Magellan 1212. The 4250 is altered with the latest firmware (4.6). The 1212 I guess is a new model with much better hardware than the former generation.
Much to my surprise - the routing logic on the 1212 is the best of the lot. For example, both Tom Tom One and the 4250, give me highly suboptimal routing when I ask it to take me to the nearest Wal Mart in Mountain View from Sunnyvale without taking the freeway. I've given then identical starting co-ordinates. Only the 1212 gave me directions that were optimal (taking central expressway closely all the way) - and matched the directions from google maps. The 4250 had me take "El Camino Real" rather which would have been "Really Slow"..The Tom Tom one had me take Central expressway half way and then took me to Wal Mart using a mysterious detour.
The 4250 had rev 29 maps while 1212 had rev 33 maps. I think it is improbable that the map revisions would be a element in the routing logic, since these area's haven't seen new road construction in decades.
Another area where the 1212 excelled was in reception sensitivity. While the 1212 found 8 satellites (marked in green) inside my house, the 4250 kept next to it - found 3, but both were marked in orange and not green (un-usable data) (see posted photo).
I found the littler screen of the 1212 to be a bonus. It occupies less windscreen area - and consequently does not hinder your view as much. It is also lighter and posing no difficulty to carry around.
The firstborn 1212 I had purchased - I returned since I was unable to charge up the battery and thought it was defective. The same thing happened to the second one. After attempting all the USB based chargers at home (I have 4 - 5 of them), I determined that only one of the USB chargers will activate charging on the 1212. All of them will power the 1212 with no issues - just not charge it. Strange behavior. (UPDATE - The charging conduct is in all likelihood affiliated to the fact that this device requires more sophisticated chargers with device communicating capabilites. Most USB wal-wart chargers on the market supply +5V with no device communication. If you get the right charger this is not a problem. Some cell phone usb chargers and the magellan charger undertake device communicating and work fine. The magellan car adapter that came with the unit likewise works fine. Magellan will have to have explained this in their manual)
All the chargers will charge the Tom Tom with no problem - or any other device (such as MP3 players).
The interface, maps, visuals and choices on the 1212 could be better (Tom Tom is better in this respect). I take away half a star from my rating for these factors.
There is no QWERTY keyboard on the 1212 (or on the 4250). It baffles me as to why Magellan does not provide a QWERTY keyboard option? Half star taken away for this and the charging behavior.
The TTS performance, map visual, and menu navigation was identical amid the 4250 and 1212.
The speaker volume of the 1212 is a great deal piercing for me - but could have had better fidelity (Tom Tom voice is very crisp).
I have a gps primarily to take me from point A to point B in the most effective manner. The Magellan 1212 does this better than the other 2 GPS's that I own and is the one to get.. I give this product 4 stars.
Side note - Another reviewer stated that the maps on this are from 2007 and that he noted a lag after pressing the buttons. My unit seemed to have the latest map that Magellan offered as of Dec 2008(rev 33) and I noted no lag at all when pressing buttons. I also had no difficultness at all getting back to the map menu from any other screen.
I rate the Magellan 4250 a "Do Not Buy" while the 1212 is a "Great Buy".
Here's a tip - when you travel - charge up and take your GPS with you! A taxi driver may no longer run you around in circles. Again - a littler GPS is requiring little effort to carry.
Entry level, but it works! And look how we may geocache with it.
Costco in Mesa, Arizona had a Black Friday sale for $100 on the Magellan Roadmate 1212 yesterday. My wife and I were out to get it at 9:00 a.m. On the same outing we saw and picked up a refurbished Magellan Roadmate 3100 at Pep Boys for $69. So we tried them both out and came across the refurbished 3100 didn't pronounce the street names (Text-to-Speech), and though it had something like 160 million Points of Interest vs. the 6 million in the 1212, the 1212 had our local Target store, while the 3100 had no Targets within 8 miles. So we returned the 3100 and kept the 1212.
One thing we noticed in testing the 2 appliances was that Text-to-Speech genuinely makes for safer driving and is assuring when you get off course. We turned into a neighborhood and the 1212 got us right back onto course thru a way unknown to us. Hearing it say "Turn left on Capri Street" was very ascertaining to us, and was the resolving element in returning the 3100 in spite of the price difference. (I also knew the 1212 was newer technology).
Lucky us! I learned later that day online that the refurbished units aren't entitled for a one time map update. We would not have been happy clients under that scenario.
So I thought it would be neat to see whether we could do any Geocaching with the Magellan Roadmate 1212, which is a car gps, NOT a trail GPS. Initially I was discouraged. Nowhere in the menus is the least hint of the capacity to enter Lat/Lon destinations. I got online and read the users manual, which cited the capacity to create Points of Interest on my PC and import them with an SD card. That intrigued me because the SD slot had been taped over at the factory. I installed the included CD and sure enough, got a program called Magellan POI File Editor. With it I developed the following:
-File: Geocaches.mgln
-Category: Home Geocaches
-Point of Interest
Then I copied the .mgln file for it from the My Documents folder to the SD card and stuck the card into the RM 1212.
In the RM 1212 I did the following:
-Cancel out of any current route
-Points of Interest
-My POIs
-Change POI File
-Select a POI File
-Pick my file "Geocaches" from SD card
-Choose categories to display (Home Geocaches)
-Go back
-Select category from file (Home Geocaches)
-Pick Nearest
-Select the POI I entered on my PC
-Save
I'm still not sure how I got it to subsist in my address book once I got rid of the SD card. That was weird. But it does.
Sorry I'm not more of an expert. But I'm gorgeous happy that I may geocache reasonably with this entry level Roadmate 1212 from Magellan.
Other stuff:
-Vehicle mount: good
-Car charger: good
-Wall charger: none
-USB cable: none
-Speech volume and quality: good
-Navigation: OK (well, astonishing), but keep in mind we are in Arizona, where that's not much of a challenge. Your mileage in the eastern US may vary.
-Display: bright and clear
-Menus and controls: easy, simple, and optimized
Should I have given this 5 stars?
