Magellan Crossover GPS (Roadmate 2500T)
Magellan Crossover GPS (Roadmate 2500T)
Submitted by Khalid on Sat, 2007/05/26 - 18:38.After trying the Garmin StreetPilot c330 Navigator GPS, I decided to try a unit that was a hybrid between the car directions GPS and the handheld outdoor/trail GPS.
While a car directions GPS gives turn by turn guidance to get you to your destination, a handheld would provide tracking, a compass, waypoints, ...etc.
So, I decided to try the Magellan Crossover Roadmate 2500T GPS, which is the only unit on the market today that has these feature combined.
The cost is $599 retail, or $430 plus shipping on eBay.
Although the unit does most of the features combined, it suffers from some severe flaws.
What is good?
- The unit does outdoor mode, with tracks plotted.
- The unit has a compass, with the sun direction showing super imposed.
- The unit pronounces street name, not just "next right" and "next left". They are sometimes mumbled, but still acceptable.
- It comes with both a car charger and an A/C outlet charger.
- It comes with a manual.
What is bad?
- The user interface is very poorly designed, and hence it is very hard to navigate the options, and get lost in the context.
- There are way too many levels of menus.
- Searching points of interest is hierarchical only, and very hard to do.
- The unit is not smart enough. When I turned it on and asked for the nearest gas station, it was not smart enough to detect that the current coordinates are in Canada, and hence select the nearest one. Instead it told me that the nearest gas station is in Lewiston, NY (some 100 miles away)! I had to go and select Region and say I am in Canada!
- The unit does not have Canadian topographical maps by default. They are downloadable for $50 per region (e.g. Ontario, Western Canada, Eastern Canada, each is a region).
- There are many non obvious features, such as when I needed to use two hands for something, so put the unit between my legs for a few moments, only to discover that it switched to some obscure menu with loads of information on it! I could never go back to that screen again.
So, I returned that unit too. I guess I will have to wait for the perfect hybrid unit or buy two separate ones, one for the trail and one for driving directions.
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Terrible Review
Hello There. Lets get some things straight right now. Your review of this product is not very indepth, and it is totally bias. It seems to me you were dissapointed with some of the features, and decided to give it an overall bad review.
First of all there is no totally smart GPS available on the consumer markt, unless your military. Second, all you did in your review is complain about the menu system, and hidden features, and the fact that it did not come preloaded with maps for Canada. lets look at those.
Any normal consumer who owns a cell phone, should be familiar with menu systems. Afterall, they are all different from product to product. Weather you have a Cellphone, MP3 Player, GPS, or Digital Camera dosen't matter. The fact is that all the menu systems in theses products are all different, and take getting used to. Just because your getting lost, does not mean that it's the products fault. I find that if I learn all I can about a product, It gets easier to use. To judge a product on it's menu system just because you don't like it, does not mean it's a bad product. For example, I just purchased a Cannon S4 Digital Camera. The reviews on the setup and menu systems were very bad, only because the person reviewing the product gave up on it and never gave it a chance. I found the menu system to be very organized and easy to operate, but it took time to learn, as WITH ALL ELECTRONICS. The next person I see give a product a bad review based on its menu system is gonna get stabbed in the eyes!
Now what about those hidden features. Try reading the manual. I have this GPS and the manual mine came with does not leave anything out.
Oh and wah wah wah..Boo Hoo! The gps did not come with maps of Canada and you had to tell it you were in Canada. Well if you would have read the contents of your shipment when you purchased the GPS you would have seen that it came preloaded with street maps of the 50 states only. Canada and Mexico are only covered in the topographical features of the GPS.
Don't give the GPS a bad rating just because you did not pay attention to the specifications of the product. The product is actually very intelligent, which is more than I can say for people who give bad reveiws on great products. Next time keep your closed minded views to yourself, or don't post them.
Grow up ...
This was not a formal feature by feature review. It was relating personal experience with the product, specially after having used the Garmin a few weeks prior.
You said : "Canada and Mexico are only covered in the topographical features of the GPS."
Wrong!
The maps for Canada are included, but NO topographical features. The latter are available for $50 or so for each part of Canada.
The point was not about whether the maps are available or not. The point is that it is not smart enough to switch the map based on the position it gets from the satellite. It is stupid for it to say that the nearest gas station is across the border (and I am about 1.5 hours north of Niagara Falls).
The main problem here is usability, and that it is far less usable than the Garmin which does not even come with a manual! This is a pity, since the Magellan has a lot of features. It is just that the interface stands in the way.
When you say "The next person I see give a product a bad review based on its menu system is gonna get stabbed in the eyes!"
This does not make you look intelligent or funny.
And when you say "The product is actually very intelligent, which is more than I can say for people who give bad reveiws on great products. Next time keep your closed minded views to yourself, or don't post them."
Same for you. Next time you don't like a review, just don't read it, or don't comment on it.
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Khalid Baheyeldin
This was a terrible review,
This was a terrible review, but the criticism should have left out the personal attack. I think anyone reading this review would either dismiss it or look to see if the info about Canadian maps was true, even if all the adverts would already tell me that CA was not going to be there :-)
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