Magellan RoadMate 1430 Car GPS Receiver Reviews

4.5 of 5 view all 2 reviews

Rating Summary | Everyone recommends (2 out of 2)

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estefanita Newark, CA

“My Magellan RoadMate 1430 is a major stress eliminator”

: love to travel, will pay for quality, budget-conscious traveler, practical, a bargain hunter
Pros: Stress Relief!!!!, large map, many points of interest, word predictive typing, easy to use, great Magellan Help Line
Cons: No ISBN included in Kit, No A/C Adapter included, Traffic Subcription is Sketchy, Inaccurate travel time estimates

Magellan RoadMate 1430 Car GPS Receiver —

I love my Magellan RoadMate 1430! It has an automated female voice that gives me plenty of advance warning about what I need to do to plan my next driving move. "She" has become such a great help that I now call "her" "Maggie."The features I have found most helpful are: the loud and clear voicing; the large, easy to see map; and the ability to search for the closest points of interest to wherever I am (like the nearest gas station or Pete's Coffee). It is super easy to program and get a listing of the actual directions to get to my destination. I also love that the points of interest function has phone numbers, so I can call places like restaurants or movie theaters in advance. While I was driving home on a long road trip, the gas tank was running low. I asked Maggie to find the closest gas station and she found one at the next turn-off that I would have never seen from the freeway. Whew! It was such as relief!I took a trip to Napa Valley, used the points of interest function to find different wineries and NEVER got lost! No wasted time! No stress from being unsure about where I was going. It was fantastic!I am soooo happy to have Maggie for all of the reasons I listed above. But there are a few cautions. First, if you decide to download the trial (and later pay for the subscription for) the optional real time traffic or road hazard indicator, you will need to buy a separate ISBN cord. Also, only a car adapter is included in the kit. So, you will have to buy a regular electrical outlet AC adapter to charge it at home. All of this ran me an additional $70 that was unplanned. I have found that the traffic trial subscription has been somewhat sketchy so far. It doesn't seem to be activated every time I use my GPS. But, it could be that I have not mastered it yet.When I first started using Maggie, I had some trouble getting accurate information and she seemed stuck on one location. So I called the Magellan Help Line (which is excellent, by the way). They informed me that I had to have the Magellan turned on for a few minutes in a location with a clear view of Satellites for it to re-establish its location. There needs to be at least 4 green satellite bars to have an accurate reading. Also, if I have trouble, I need to make sure that I am in the proper system setting (for me, "48 States"). Unfortunately, I had thrown Maggie in my purse and had inadvertently changed the system setting to Canada. Ever since then, I have had zero problems with accuracy or being stuck on one location.Another little neg is that the estimates of the time it takes to reach your destination are usually inaccurate. Don't count on the time being accurate unless you have no traffic, no traffic lights, and no stop signs. So, what I do is just view the time estimate as an indication that the trip will take longer than whatever time it suggests. I highly recommend the Magellan RoadMate 1430. It is so easy to use and has many helpful features. It also totally alleviates stress when driving in unfamiliar areas.