Review of Magellan 700

The Magellan 700 certainly exceeded all of my expectations. The interface is very intuitative and user friendly, and I haven't even opened the CD ROM/users guide that came with it.

The first thing I was really impressed by was the detail of the maps. It even displayed the small arterial roads in the 8 building condominium complex I live in. Route calculation took about 10 secs or less and re-calculation after missing a turn is instant and just as fast. Also, as your driving down the road, the restaurant, gas station, etc. icons appear when you are close to one. When you press the icon, it displays the name of the bank, restaurant, etc. Overall, I really like the touch screen interface, and the voice guidance volume is adjustable and loud enough to be heard even with the radio turned up.

The only thing I don't like is that the way it mounts looks too temporary for a ride as nice as the X5. I will be ordering one of the custom vehicle specific mounts soon (thanks for the links mwette and personanongrate) and would like to hide the wiring as well. I'll have some pics when I get it hooked up like I want it.

Originally Posted by crazybmwdriver

The Magellan 700 certainly exceeded all of my expectations. The interface is very intuitative and user friendly, and I haven't even opened the CD ROM/users guide that came with it.

The first thing I was really impressed by was the detail of the maps. It even displayed the small arterial roads in the 8 building condominium complex I live in. Route calculation took about 10 secs or less and re-calculation after missing a turn is instant and just as fast. Also, as your driving down the road, the restaurant, gas station, etc. icons appear when you are close to one. When you press the icon, it displays the name of the bank, restaurant, etc. Overall, I really like the touch screen interface, and the voice guidance volume is adjustable and loud enough to be heard even with the radio turned up.

The only thing I don't like is that the way it mounts looks too temporary for a ride as nice as the X5. I will be ordering one of the custom vehicle specific mounts soon (thanks for the links mwette and personanongrate) and would like to hide the wiring as well. I'll have some pics when I get it hooked up like I want it.

I may get one of these. But mounting it is another question. I love the idea of it's
portablity and cannot see the need to mount it. Plugged in under the glove box
and floating free is the ticket for me. Someone in the backseat can use it also.

Does it have a rechargeable batt so that it can be used without plugging in?

I don't have a Magellan, but I do love my Garmin StreetPilot 2610. For those who want the portability, the bean bag mount that comes included is awesome. I compared both the Garmin and Magellan months ago and the Garmin had more points of interest and the better mount. Everything else was roughly the same, so I went with Garmin.

If anyone has specific questions about, let me know.

Originally Posted by crazybmwdriver

The Magellan 700 certainly exceeded all of my expectations. The interface is very intuitative and user friendly, and I haven't even opened the CD ROM/users guide that came with it.

The first thing I was really impressed by was the detail of the maps. It even displayed the small arterial roads in the 8 building condominium complex I live in. Route calculation took about 10 secs or less and re-calculation after missing a turn is instant and just as fast. Also, as your driving down the road, the restaurant, gas station, etc. icons appear when you are close to one. When you press the icon, it displays the name of the bank, restaurant, etc. Overall, I really like the touch screen interface, and the voice guidance volume is adjustable and loud enough to be heard even with the radio turned up.

The only thing I don't like is that the way it mounts looks too temporary for a ride as nice as the X5. I will be ordering one of the custom vehicle specific mounts soon (thanks for the links mwette and personanongrate) and would like to hide the wiring as well. I'll have some pics when I get it hooked up like I want it.

Cool. This Magellan 700 gets rave reviews everywhere.

An optional battery pack is available.

It does come with an AC adaptor and USB cord so that one can hook it up to a PC to update the address book and download trip logging data.

Is the bean bag mounting kit available for the Magellan? Any suggestions as to a shop that may carry custom mounts in stock in Atlanta?