Table of Contents

1. A Brief History of Magellan
2. Technical Specs
3. Features
4. Unboxing
5. Mounting the Magellan RoadMate 3000T in the Car
6. Powering on the RoadMate 3000T the First Time
7. A Word About Sleep Mode
8. Navigating with the Magellan RoadMate 3000T
9. Setting System Options
10. Installing the Magellan RoadMate Tools PC Application Software
11. The Good
12. The Bad
13. Conclusion

1. A Brief History of Magellan

Magellan is the consumer brand of Thales Navigation. I admit it -- I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Magellan. My very first in-car GPS was a Magellan 750NAV back in '99, and oh boy did I love it! Before we dive into the RoadMate 3000T review, it's worth a quick trip down memory lane:

Figure 1: The Magellan 750NAV Plus, circa 2000

When Magellan first introduced the 750NAV line of in-car GPS navigation devices, it cost almost $3,000 and you had to get it professionally installed. It came with an 8-channel gps receiver, an internal hard drive, and you had to pay to unlock your geographic region (the United States and Canada were divided into 7 regions). The unit had to be professionally installed (adding more cost to the overall price of the unit), the antenna had to be externally mounted, and the display unit was either permanently installed on a flex arm or hung from your air conditioner vent. The 750NAV used NAVTEQ maps (as Magellan still does today), had a great, simple interface, and revolutionized automotive GPS navigation. If you've ever rented a Hertz car with NeverLost in it, then you've used a Magellan 750NAV -- they're the same system. The system had its limitations -- gps reception was spotty, and you would lose signal behind buildings or trees. But it was still the best available in-car gps at the time.

Figure 2: The Magellan 750m, circa 2001

A few years after the release of the Magellan 750NAV came the 750M -- Magellan's first attempt at a mobile GPS unit that could easily be moved between cars. Unlike the 750NAV, the 750M didn't require professional installation, which was great -- although the 750M cost $2,999 which was not so great.

Figure 3: The Magellan RoadMate 700, circa 2002

In 2002 Magellan launched its first truly portable device, the RoadMate 700. Building on the success of the 750NAV product line, the RoadMate 700 was extremely portable, fast, had a 12-channel parallel gps receiver, had a touch screen color display, NAVTEQ mapping data, fantastically simple user interface, and was generally the reigning king of GPS navigation devices. Back then it was amazing to see a self-contained portable device. The RoadMate 700 still had the same performance issues that the 750NAV series had, but it was the still GPS you wanted, and was at the cutting edge of GPS innovation.

But that was 4 years ago, and Magellan has slipped from the market leader to straggler, playing catch-up to competitors like Garmin and TomTom. Magellan subsequently released the RoadMate 760, 800, and 800T, all sharing basically the same form factor and technology as the RoadMate 700.

The release of SiRF's Star III chipset has been a watershed event for GPS navigation. This high-performance 20-channel GPS receiver is allowing GPS manufacturers to improve performance and lower cost. SiRF's StarIII can get a good gps signal even indoors, or when line-of-site is not available. The RoadMate 3000T is Magellan's first unit to utilize the new chipset. Here, we put the 3000T through the usual rigorous testing process and see how it stacks up against the competition.

2. Technical Specs

Price: $599 ($350 street price as of 1/19/2007)
Dimensions: 3.8" x 4.8" x 1.4" ( 9.6cm x 12.2cm x 3.5cm)
Weight: 8.64 oz. (245 g)
Display: 3.5” color touch screen display, 2.11” x 2.81” (53.64mm x 71.52mm)
CPU: Intel XScale Processor
Screen Resolution: 320 x 240 QVGA; 64,000 colors
Storage: 4 GB for maps and custom points of interest, Secure Digital (SD) or Multimedia Card (MMC) for expandability
Audio: Integrated Speaker (mono) with integrated stereo headphone jack
GPS Receiver: 20 channels, SiRF Star III
Acquisition Time: Hot: 1 second, Cold: 40 seconds, Initial: 5 minutes
Accuracy: 3 to 5 meters (10 - 16 feet) - WAAS/EGNOS, < 7 meters (15 feet) - GPS only
Battery: 2100mA LI-ION (Up to 6 hours continuous use)
Mapping Data: Pre-loaded - 50 United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, US Virgin Islands
Language: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian

Figure 4: The Physical Layout of the Magellan RoadMate 3000T (front)

1. Mute Speaker
2. Zoom Out
3. Power Button
4. Zoom In
5. Charging Indicator
6. Locate Button
7. Destination Menu/View
8. Main Menu
9. Enter
10. Navigation Key
11. Escape

Figure 5: The Physical Layout of the Magellan RoadMate 3000T (rear)

1. Speaker
2. External Antenna Connector

3. Features

• Traffic-ready (Requires addition of Magellan TrafficKit to receive LIVE traffic incident reports) - reports on accidents, road work and more. Incidents appear on screen with detailed information
• Turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance
• Built-in maps - 50 United States, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada.
• Digital Music Player - Play music through the integrated speaker or headphones (not included)
• Photo Viewer - View your pictures
• Rechargeable battery - Navigate, listen to music, and view pictures away from your vehicle
• Multi-destination Route Optimization - Select up to 20 destinations and optimize the most direct route between them
• SmartDetour - Customize the settings to automatically route you around slow freeway traffic
• SmartVolume™ - Turns up the speaker at 45 MPH
• Auto night view - Adjusts color and contrast for night viewing
• QuickSpell™ - Enter addresses with auto-complete text feature
• Interactive POI icons - Touch an onscreen icon for a nearby destination; see phone number and get an instant route
• Customizable route method - Shortest time, shortest distance, least use or most use of freeways, avoid toll roads
• Route exclusion - Select street or freeways to avoid
• 4 easy views - Map View, Bird's eye 3D map, TrueView™ split screen, Maneuver List
• Instant locate - One touch shows your location; quickly advise roadside assistance or emergency services