Review on Enhanced Magellan RoadMate 3000T Portable GPS Navigator with 3.5-Inch Display by Josh Allred

See the update at the bottom of this post. I bought this unit, a Magellan RoadMate 3050T which is a 3000T but with a traffic information receiver. For what I paid for this device and its features I think it's a very good deal. The suction cup mount on the windshield works well, but I wish it was a little stiffer. The GPS can bounce up and down a bit on bumpy roads. When I installed the device and wanted to turn it on for the first time, I thought I had a butt. You need to hold the power button for up to 15 seconds the first time around 3 seconds after the first time for it to work. I think Magellan should claim this right on the protective plastic sheet that is on the front of the device. That would have saved me some anxiety at the start. Once I got it working, it aimed at the satellites very quickly. In the mount on the windshield, the GPS maintains an excellent signal. In fact, much better than my Garmin Maps 76S. Even in heavy cloud and tree canopy conditions, I have full signal bars in the top right corner of the display. Speaking of the display, this device is very bright, even in bright sunlight. In fact, at night when the brightness is turned all the way down, it's a bit brighter than I'd like. The display uses many symbols. I had to open the manual to understand what some of these mean. I'm a fan of knowing which direction I'm traveling in. I wanted to get a Garmin Streetpilot C550. I changed my mind after realizing that Garmin doesn't show the normal compass direction on the main map display. The Magellan 3000T constantly displays a heading in the lower left corner when in Map mode. It uses N, NE, E, SE, SW, W, and NW headers. A lady with a very good voice gives spoken instructions. It is very clear and the volume is also very good. There is no "Text-to-Speech" in this device. Having used the Magellan 3000T, however, I don't mind at all that the street name is not displayed. It tells you when a turn is coming and which direction to turn, and it shows you the street name on the display. The instructions are clear and easy to understand, leaving no doubt as to what you need to do. Maps by Navteq. I think Navteq is the best of all. The update rate of this device is very good. The display updates quickly and I never felt it lag. The route calculator doesn't lose any time either. Calculating most routes takes less than 5 seconds. With the help of TrafficKit, this GPS navigator will help you avoid most of the traffic problems like traffic jams, accidents, construction sites and other reasons. It seems to be working pretty well in the Detroit area. That didn't work on the trip north either. I believe this is more of a service provider issue than a GPS issue. I'm sure it will improve over time. A detour I took saved us over an hour in stop and go traffic and only added a few miles to the distance. It costs about $60 for one year of service. I don't like how TrafficKit connects to GPS. Cables end up everywhere and the antenna for the receiver is long. Seems like they could come up with a better design. I ended up leaving the antenna on the dashboard. It just looks dirty. The software that comes with the device seems a bit lame to me. There really isn't much you can do with that. I wanted to be able to download the on-board computer to my laptop. I haven't found a way to do this. I'll call tech support to see if I'm missing something. I haven't tried the MP3 player or the picture functions, because I don't actually need any pictures on the device. I will try mp3 in the near future. For me this device is a keeper. Pros: Easy to see, easy to use after learning the system, nice voice commands, easy to remove and install in the holder, your choice of the Touchscreen or the navigation keys. Cons: confusing power on on first use, faulty connection to traffic receiver, I had to update the firmware to update it, it fixes previous version freezes that were reported in some cases. from previous reviews. (Update is ok) Update from 12/20/06. Previous cons and pro addition: MP3 player cannot be used at the same time as navigation. The POI database is not correct for South Florida. The items in the database are not located where the GPS indicates them in Florida. POI is very good for Michigan. Overall I still like this device and find it to be as good or better than other brands in the same price range on the market.