7. Using the RoadMate 2000

Figure 29: The MRM 2000, Powered On

The display on the MRM 2000 is brighter than previous generations of RoadMates, and easy to read even in bright sunlight. Once connected and powered on, the unit defaults to the Map View, shown above. When not routing to a particular destination, the MRM 2000 shows your location on the map. The GPS signal strength indicator is displayed on the top right, zoom in and out buttons are placed on the left and right top of the screen, and your current heading is shown in the bottom left of the screen.

I was very pleased to see that Magellan has included an easy way to mute the volume. Notice the speaker icon located below the plus icon. Tapping the speaker mutes and un-mutes the volume. It's always been one of my complaints that muting the volume required navigating sub-menus, making it impractical while driving, so I was happy to see Magellan offer a simple, quick way to mute/un-mute. This is handy if you're driving and you receive a phone call, or if you're having a conversation with someone else in the car and want to temporarily mute the voice prompts.

Figure 30: Map View, Night Mode

The MRM 2000 can be set to automatically adjust the color scheme when driving at night, as shown above. This is a nice feature that reduces eye strain when driving at night.

Figure 31: Main Menu

Tapping "Menu" on the Map view brings up the Main Menu. Magellan has updated the interface slightly, and the UI is more refined than on the RoadMate 3000 and 6000 series. The icons have been spruced up, and overall the interface is less clunky than previous RoadMates. Page 1 of the main menu has items you will use most frequently: view map, navigate to a street address, navigate to a POI (point of interest, such as a restaurant, hotel, or gas station), go home, navigate to a saved address from the address book, and drive to an intersection.

Figure 32: Main Menu, Page 2

Page 2 of the main menu is home to the trip computer, trip planner, and configuration settings.

8. Navigating with the MRM 2000

Figure 33: Navigating to a Street Address

In all likelihood you will most often use the Street Address option when entering a destination. This is how you will enter an address that's not a saved address or a POI. Tapping "Street Address" from the main menu brings up the screen shown in figure 33. Entering the destination city is the first step, and the Magellan RoadMate gives you a few ways to do it. You can type out the name by tapping on "Search By City"; "Search by ZipCode" allows you to enter a zip code instead of a city name, and Previous City lists cities you have previously driven to.

Figure 34: Spelling The City Name

As you type out the name of a city, the Magellan interface only allows you to input letters that will spell viable city names. This is a nice feature that speeds data entry and reduces misspellings. Also, at any time while tapping out a city name, you can press OK and see a list of all the cities that match the name as you have entered it so far. So, for example, if you were navigating to Armonk, New York, you could tap A-R-M and hit OK and see a list of all cities that begin with the letters ARM.

Unlike previous RoadMates, I found the 2000 speedy and responsive when navigating menus or spelling out names. Magellan has been dogged by slowness in their units for years -- it looks like they FINALLY got it right with the RoadMate 2000.

Figure 35: Choosing the Destination City

Once you have input enough letters of a city's name that the RoadMate 2000 can reduce the list to a reasonable number, the Magellan displays a list of cities that match the name you have entered.

Figure 36: Street Name Selection

Entering the street name functions much the same way the city name input works: as you tap the letters that spell your desired street name, the MRM 2000 narrows the results and displays a list of possible matches.

Figure 37: House Number Selection

Once the city and street names have been entered, a house number is required. A nice feature of the Magellan interface is that the unit displays the viable range of possible house numbers on your desired street. So in the example above (shown in Figure 34), the valid range of house numbers on Main Road is 1 to 1799.

Figure 38: Choosing Your Routing Preferences

The final step is telling the Magellan how it should calculate the route. The unit offers 4 options to choose from:

• Shortest Time
• Shortest Distance
• Least Use of Freeways
• Most Use of Freeways

There's also an option to tell the RoadMate to avoid tolls.

I basically always use "Shortest Time" -- unless I know I'm going to be traveling during rush hour, in which case Least Use of Freeways can make sense in certain circumstances. Although it's nice to have multiple routing preferences, what would really be useful here is to show the drive time associated with each method. For example, if the Magellan would calculate all 4 different routing methods, then show the estimated driving time next to each of the 4 options listed, you could really make an informed choice. What's the difference between "Shortest Time" and "Shortest Distance"? As it is currently implemented, to find out the difference you would have to choose each option and then look at the different routes chosen and total drive time associated with each -- a very manual and time-consuming process.

Figure 39: Calculating Route

Routing (and re-routing) on the MRM 2000 is speedy. In my tests, the unit was able to calculate most routes within a few seconds, and was just as fast as any other GPS.

Figure 40: Map Screen (When Navigating)

Magellan does a great job displaying a lot of useful information in an efficient manner. The screen above shows the map view you see when navigating to an address.

• The blue bar across the top of the screen displays the name of the street for the next maneuver. Tapping this area displays the Locate screen with information about your current location.
• The plus and minus icons on the top left and right are the zoom controls for the map
• Tapping the large green box in the bottom left area toggles between displaying the next maneuver turn and the current heading
• Just to the right of the green box is the distance to next maneuver box. Tapping this area repeats the last verbal instruction
• In the middle of the bottom row (just left of the MENU button) is the time to next maneuver box. Tapping this area switches between the time to next maneuver and the time to destination
• The bar above the bottom row (in the figure above this line says "CT-67, New Milford Rd W") shows the name of the street you are currently on. Tapping this area switches between the current street name and the maneuvering list (a list of all turns you'll need to make during your trip).
• The speaker icon mutes and un-mutes the unit
• Satellite signal strength is indicated in the top right area of the screen

The map view has always been one of Magellan's strong areas. They've been building in-car navigation for a long time, and these years of experience (both with their own consumer products and with their Hertz NeverLost rental systems) shows on this screen.

The only thing I would like to see added here is the arrival time displayed on the screen. Garmin and TomTom units have this, and I find it very useful to see the estimated arrival time instead of having to do the math of adding the remaining drive time to the current time each time you want to know when you'll arrive at your destination.

Figure 41: 3D/TrueView Screen

When approaching a turn, the Magellan will show the split-screen TrueView screen. Magellan has had this interface for a while, and I really like it. You see both a 3D representation of the next maneuver on the left side of the screen, as well as a standard 2D map view on the right. I found the TrueView screen a big help in knowing exactly what the next maneuver was going to be. The one slight annoyance is that the street name frequently gets cut-off on the left side of the screen. I wished the text of the street name would wrap to the next line instead of just getting cut-off.

Figure 42: Maneuver List

At any time you can bring up the maneuvering list by tapping on the area of the map that displays the name of the next street name. Again, Magellan has had this on their in-car devices for a while, and it's one of the strengths of Magellan's interface. It makes it very simple to see what turns you're going to have to make. I wish other GPS manufacturers would take a page from Magellan on this, and include a list of all turns on the route. The Garmin c550, for example, allows you to see your up-coming turns, but you have to scroll through each one individually, making the process tedious. The TomTom GO 910 also allows you to view a maneuvering list, but it's not as nicely implemented as on the Magellan.

Figure 43: Route Exclusion

When looking at the Maneuvering List (shown in Figure 42), if you want to avoid any of the roads the unit has chosen, simply tap on the street you want to avoid and the Magellan will bring up the Route Exclusion menu (shown above in Figure 43). In the example above, if I know that I-84 is very congested around this time of day, I can easily have the unit not use that highway by excluding it from the route.

Again, other units have route exclusion capabilities, but the Magellan has implemented this feature in an easy and intuitive way. Another plus for Magellan.

Figure 44: Navigation Menu

When navigating to a destination, at any time you can tap the Menu button on the Map View and see the above menu. From here you can easily cancel the route, tell the 2000 to detour around a traffic problem, re-calculate the route, and display Exit POI information. Exit POI is a great feature for long trips, as it tells you what POI's are available at each exit you approach on the highway (food, attractions, gas, etc.).

Figure 45: Using the Detour Feature

Should you find yourself stuck on a slow moving street, you can have the MRM 2000 detour you around the problem. Unlike the Route Exclusion feature, Detour will only avoid the street you're currently on for the distance you select. For example, if there's been an accident ahead of you, you can tap Detour, select 3 miles, and the unit will take you off the next exit, take back roads for 3 miles, then put you back on the original road.

Figure 46: Canceling a Route

Canceling a route is easy and straight forward. Simply tap the Menu button, and select Cancel Route. I also like that the Magellan shows you the destination address when canceling a route. on occasion, I've been known to tap on the wrong address in my favorites, so this is a nice easy way to confirm you're headed to the right address.

One annoyance I did notice is that if you cancel a route, the address doesn't show up in the previous addresses list. Only addresses that are successfully routed to show up in that list. However, there are many times when you may want to cancel a route but plan on returning to that same address later, so this would be a handy behavior for Magellan to change, and include cancelled destinations in the previous addresses list.