Magellan RoadMate 1212 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Magellan RoadMate 1212 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator
The Magellan RoadMate 1212 offers budget-conscious consumers basic, fully functional auto navigation at a low price point. Its stylish, pocketsize design includes a new, intuitive user interface that guides drivers to their destination via voice and on-screen prompts. You can easily search for restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, and more. Results include telephone numbers and addresses. An integrated rechargeable battery enables drivers to operate the Magellan RoadMate 1212 for up to three hours while away from their vehicle. Recharge it while driving via the included vehicle power adapter. SmartDetour prompts drivers to route around heavy or stopped freeway traffic Text-to-speech tells drivers the street name of their next turn 3-5 meters GPS Accuracy Up to 3 hours rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Life 64MB Built-in Memory with SD Card and USB 1.0 Slot expansion United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada Map Coverage SayWhere Text-to-Speech Dimensions – Height 3.30 x Width 3.63 x Depth 0.69 (8.40×9.22×1.75cm) Weight – 4.9 ounces (140 grams)
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars awesome
I love my Magellan. it has really helped to get me from A to B. The best part is that it announces street names…..doesn’t just say, ‘TURN HERE IN 50 FEET’. Good product.
5 Stars We love this thing!
Life just got a whole lot easier! I am told this is basic but if you are not an expert on the ways of GPS tools and you want a product that is user friendly and will get you there-this is your product. That being said-it still has many newer functions that many of it’s predecessors do not have. For instance, it will list many of the main streets within a town for you to choose from if you are not familiar with a particular area or are a new comer. Older models would have you insert an exact address each time. Also, although perhaps a funny detail-if you get off track, the female voice reroutes you without getting annoyed and announcing that it is “recalculating”! This model does not get annoyed at you for going off track and she seems to reroute quite a bit faster-but I have to admit I miss the good laugh that it would produce each time-lol! Also missing on some older models was the split screen with both a bird’s eye view as well as a street level view. Helps if you are the type of person who needs to see where you are in relation to a paricular region of the state as opposed to just rudimentary turn by turns.
The only downside is that she will proclaim that you have arrived at a destination a tad bit too early sometimes which is particularly annoying if you visually have no idea what your destination looks like, where your destination is or it is dark outside and you are unable to see house numbers. However, this is a minor problem and did not prevent me from giving this a five star rating.
Highly recommend this product! The price per feature ratio is really high on this little gem.
5 Stars Best driving tool Ever
This is he best ever. Easy to follow directions, ample warning before turns. My only complaint is when going off track by taking an exit on the highway just to get gas, it directs you via local streets to the next exit instead of back to the exit you used previously.
5 Stars Great GPS for the money
I am impressed with this little guy. I ran to our local Costco to take advantage of the sale they had on the Garmin 750 (marked down to $199) which features the 4.3 inch screen. Never having had a GPS before, I convinced myself that I would only be satisfied with the 4.3 vs. a 3.5 inch screen, such as on the 1212. Anyway, to the chase, Costco was out of the Garmins but had the 1212’s marked down to $129. The sale associate assured me if I didn’t like the 1212 I had 90 days to return it so I took a chance and am glad I did. We opened it inthe parking lot and in literally less than 5 minutes we were up and running, with the 1212 attached firmly to the windshield. In fact, it was so easy to install it I was amazed. After a short excursion through the set-up screens, it was running smoothly. Without even looking at the instructions, and only following the menu prompts I was able to start entering addresses. I was impressed with the voice directions, the sound quality, the screen brightness and ease of viewing. I frankly don’t know what a 4.3 inch upgrade would improve upon, except allowing a vertical expansion of image, maybe showing a bit more of the sidestreets, but that is all. Even with my big fingers, the touch entry keyboard was fine.
As for the operation, I was amazed at the real-time constant feedback. I heard some models have a “lag-time” not accurately showing distances or where you are on the road, but this puppy was right on. As I was entering and going through intersections, curves, etc, it was pin point accurate.
I highly recommend this model, and the 3.5 inch screen. It creates minimal interference with my view. I drive a large Ford and popped this right under the rear view mirror, no obstruction.
You get a lot of bang for your buck with the 1212.
4 Stars 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 updated with the latest firmware (4.6). The 1212 I guess is a new model with much better hardware than the previous 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 almost all the way) – and matched the directions from google maps. The 4250 had me take “El Camino Real” instead 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 unlikely that the map revisions would be a factor 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 smaller screen of the 1212 to be a bonus. It occupies less windscreen area – and hence does not hinder your view as much. It is also lighter and easier to carry around.
The first 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 trying 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.
All the chargers will charge the Tom Tom with no problem – or any other device (such as MP3 players).
The interface, maps, visuals and options 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 between the 4250 and 1212.
The speaker volume of the 1212 is plenty loud 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 efficient 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 difficulty 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 can no longer run you around in circles. Again – a smaller GPS is easier to carry.
