Magellan RoadMate 1700 7-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
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Perfect for SUVs, trucks and RVs, the Magellan RoadMate 1700 boasts a generous, ultra-thin 7-inch touch screen ideal for large vehicles and easy viewing on the road. Premium features include: OneTouch favorites menu, AAA TourBook and Member Roadside Assistance, QuickSpell with SmartCity search, highway exit POI, spoken street name guidance, plus so many more!
A powerful navigation experience.
With a bright, WVGA 7-inch screen and the features you need, the Magellan RoadMate 1700 device delivers the powerful navigation experience that lets you travel with confidence in any size vehicle.
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Exclusive OneTouch Favorites Menu |
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Exclusive AAA TourBook Guide |
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7-inch Touch Screen |
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Highway Lane Assist |
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6 Million Points of Interest (POI) |
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Highway Exit POI Search |
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QuickSpell with SmartCity Search |
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Multi-destination Routing |
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Spoken Street Name Guidance |
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NAVTEQ Maps |
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What’s in the Box
Magellan RoadMate 1700 GPS receiver, windshield mount, adhesive disc for dash mounting, vehicle power adapter, protective pouch, USB cable, user handbook.
Features
- Ultra-slim 7-inch color touchscreen is perfect for large vehicles and easy viewing on the road
- Includes maps of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico with 6 million points of interest
- Features multi-destination routing, highway lane assist, spoken street names, AAA TourBook, and more
- Search for gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more near upcoming highway exits–QuickSpell with SmartCity search makes destination entry easy
- One-year limited warranty
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 8 x 4 x 1 inches
- Weight: 1 pounds
Do not try for Back-up camera screen.
I made a choice after my several days research on GPS. However,
1. Size
I have a 4-door sedan. This product is too big for sedan’s windshield or dashboard.
2. Battery usage without power
Less than 30 minutes. Even though you have a power, sometimes screen is dimming. I don’t know the reason.
3. Video input for Backup camera screen
Although this has a video input, do not try this product for Backup camera screen. Professional installers in “Safe&Sound” and “BestBuy” store installer tried to install this with several kinds of back-up cameras as per the instruction of Magellan customer service. Do not waste your time for this.
Except the above, I did not find critical problems.
Absolutely, I returned this. Be careful of restocking fee for electronic devices.
Good News and Bad News …
This is our first GPS; we have previously always used maps and “dead reckoning” to navigate (I’ve managed without GPS for over 50 years …). We got the 1700 in anticipation of a long trip to new places. We bought it late Nov. 2009, tested it on some short trips and found it much better to use than seeing what some friends dealt with using a smaller competitive brand. So far, so good. Then, TWO DAYS AFTER WE LEFT on a five-week trip, the display ceased to function properly. Specifically, the display blacked out whenever it was plugged in but was “normal” when on battery power. We immediately contacted tech who told us to load the latest software version (had to wait for the motel that night to do so). That didn’t help. Finally, after two sessions over two days of an hour each, tech said to return it for repair. Big help that would be! We’re on the road, no way to retrieve the repaired unit.
We needed it so elected to limp through the trip using it only at critical points. Considering the already well documented short battery life (15 min max on ours) and the length of time to recharge (1.5 to 2 hrs), its usefulness on our trip was thus reduced to getting through critical areas (like Austin, Texas etc.). On two occasions, it had not charged sufficiently and died at critical points so we missed route signs and ended up going out of our way (one 50-mile triangle, one 20-mile triangle).
When we returned from our trip, Magellan tech agreed to replace the unit (which has not yet arrived). We shall see how the replacement works.
Yes, it has a great display (when it works …) and the menus seem to be friendly (in light of that we haven’t used any other GPS for comparison). As for the mount, it … ’nuff said. I modified it then screwed it to the front of the instrument panel above the radio at a position where it neither blocks the view nor any instrument controls (Dodge Caravan). I can say it would too large to fit well into our Fiero.
If the replacement works, then we will be pleased with this GPS and it will rate four stars. If the replacement conks out too, that would be a big bummer and the current three stars will become one.
Garmin vs Magellan
Having owned the Garmin 780 for three years, I decided to update. I looked through all the reviews on every GPS available. Sorting through all the pluses, minuses, rants, raves, and stories, since I loved my Garmin, I opted for the Garmin 765t. The rants proved correct. In NYC, this thing bypassed the “traffic” through the Holland Tunnel and into Chinatown. If you have ever been to NYC, this must be the route from Hades as I was trying to get to the east end of Long Island. The trip got no better as it re-booted and miss-directed me through an estimated 3 extra hours of traffic re-direction. On the way back, crossing the George Washington Bridge, it rebooted as I emerged to find a complicated mess of interstate spaghetti. The 765t finally got back on line and told me to keep left onto I 87….87 goes to the right. I kept to the left and ended up looking at a map and turning around…AGAIN. The unit was sent back when I returned home. Still being loyal to Garmin, a month later I bought the more expensive and hopefully better 1490t. Wrong again. A trip to Philadelphia was rather uneventful until the traffic got a bit more intense near the city. Just when I needed this thing the most, just as the maze of interstate ramps, bridges, and route changes mixed with late traffic, airport maniacal narcissists, and frenzied sports fanatics, it froze up! Yep, froze up solid. If you have ever relied upon a loved one to keep you afloat while you attempt to conquer your fear of deep water only to realize that that love one is gone, you have a sense on my situation.
So, off to the local Best Buy to purchase a Magellan. I bought the 1700. Although routing me though Harrisburg instead of around the interstate system, the trip home was rather uneventful. I will return the unit to Best Buy, it was 100 dollars more than at Amazon, it is difficult to change home and favorite addresses and it is totally inept at starting the route out; IE. when I program the desired route, it takes a few driven feet of actual road to begin to respond. IT doesn’t recognize anything off the route. Sit in a gas station an it doesn’t respond until you are back on the road. Now this may sound like a mere inconvenience, it is major when it doesn’t know which direct to start out, neither do I, and Murphy’s Law prevails, I pick the wrong direction at which time the little arrow either just sits there as befuddled as I am, or it spins in rotational deliriums trying to figure out what just happened.
So, the reviews: I still love Garmin’s attempts at realistic and smooth rendering. They have done much to improve the overall look and functionality, BUT, they have tried to load Windows 7 in a 486 computer, tried to put a 400 pound man into a buggy, tried to roast a side of beef with a match. The software from Garmin is great, but until they upgrade the hardware, it just wont work. The Magellan is proof of the above theory. They have archaic software which doesn’t overpower the hardware. The screen view is choppy and primitive. The lane assist works great. The large screen is good (I Velcro it to the lower dash area under the radio and although it doesn’t fit there as well as the 5 inch Garmin, it works ok). Both have great features, the voices are great, but the Garmin is like a Ferrari that runs out of gas before you can get to a gas station. And although the Magellan isnt a 1960’s Bug, it is a 2010 Volkswagen….it tries, but just isnt that Ferrari.
For me, I am going to survive with my old Garmin until they figure out they have to have hardware powerful enough to stuff the software into without bursting at the seams. For you, try a lesser model of either, but in any event, have an Atlas with you and have a good sense of where you are headed, how to get there, and don’t rely on one tool to get the job done.
FAST START-UP BUT NOT ALWAYS CORRECT…
MAGELLAN ROADMATE1700 IS A GOOD PRODUCT IN GENERAL BUT SOMETIMES RE-ROUTING IS NOT ALWAYS CORRECT. SHORTEST DISTANCE OPTION FOR TRIP TAKES YOU VIA DEAD ENDS. BUT IT’S NAVTEQ SOFTWARE PROBLEM AND NOT GPS’S… THE SCREEN IS FANTASTIC, IT’S FAST AND OVERALL IT IS A GOOD UNIT… I GAVE 4 STARS AND NOT 5 BECAUSE OF NAVTEQ SOFTWARE. WOULD BE NICE IF MAGELLAN WILL USE NAVIGON SOFTWARE. THEN I WOULD GIVE NOT 5 STARS BUT 500…
Looks Good Sounds Sick
I have had this GPS for about 1 month. It works great once you figure how to navigate through the menu. It gets me where I am trying to go with little difficulty. There seems to be a U-Turn issue. The automated voice directs you to make a u-turn when the maped out directions clearly do not indicate the u-turn. This seems to happen more at the begining of a trip rather than during the trip. Most of the time I am only several 100 feet from my start point and I know that the u-turn is not required. This can be confusing. The large size is great, I have owned about 1/2 dozen prior to this 2 that were factory dash units. This is by far the cloest to a factory unit that I have used. The other issue that I have is the sound of the automated voice when it says the street names. The voice seems to change from the voice giving you instructions to someone with a bad cold for the street names, this makes it difficult to make out exactly what the street names are. This is a minor problem but I think that the manufacture should work on fixing this. Over all I think that this is a great unit. A bit high priced but if you keep you eyes open you can get a great deal. I would recommend this to anyone who need a GPS and would like to be able to see the map without squinting.
Magellan RoadMate 1700 GPS
I use a GPS at least two or three times a week since I drive all over the southeastern states. The Magellan RoadMate 1700 have proven to be one of the most reliable navigation system I’ve owned. It is accurate and the feature I like most is that I can just put it on the front seat and would not loose signal like others. Other customers complain about the mount, but I have’nt, and I drive a different car or SUV every day. I love this GPS and recomend it for all the good features that it has to offer.
1700 roadmate
I send it back after 27 day. not for truck. it shake to much.it send me the side road, next to the main road. would not read the interstate in NC ,
Large screen, ease of use, AV display! all helps.
Well, this is the 2nd GPS I bought. Since I am against any GPS for many years, the natural response for any such kind is suspicion. The reasons are simple, GPS tend to indicate “wrong” roads, not the one I used to drive. After my first Garmin, I had to admit that some routes based on speed are indeed faster than the usual paths. But, the 4.3″ screen is too small to operate, the MP3 and bluetooth are not useful and it appears too expensive afterward.
Upon returning it, the Magellan 1700 caught my eyes: 7″ LCD, that is large. It surely has some features that the same price Garmin doesn’t have. The most useful part is its junction profile and turn indication, which tells me much more than Garmin does. Another good feature is its One Touch function.
The down side of he Magellan is target input. It has so many options: cross road, Zip, city centre, but just lack the “point and go” function, or at least I can’t find how. Another issue is the lacking of soft turn off key! Moving the hard switch may not be good in long term.
The video input function, which many complained here, works perfectly for me, but with some trick. It turns out the 4 pole cable is the key: the front conduct ring must be left sound, 2nd ring must be right sound, third ring must be ground and the 4th ring must be the video. My Canon cable has 2nd and 4th swapped, buy my Motorola cable works just fine. As long as you know it, the AV input works fine. You need to turn on GPS and then plug in AV cable. See following picture.
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Overall, I need a large screen and basic GPS function, and the 1700 is good for me.
The Magellan Roadmate 1700 doesn’t know that Richmond Virginia exists.
Being interested in buying a Magellan Roadmate 1700, I tried several in different stores, Costco, Best Buy, and 6th Ave Electronics. I am in NY and I my kid lives in Richmond Virginia. and I attempted to enter that address using the ‘goto’. The GPS first asks for the name of the destination city. I entered “Richmond” and it came up with a list of cities named Richmond and Richmond-like cities, such as “Richmond Hill”. There were perhaps a dozen of them. None were in Virginia. If you put in a Richmond zip-code it will make some remark about Richmond, Virginia, but that’s as far as it goes. If you want to tell the GPS you want an address in Richmond Virginia, it will not let you past the city name question. I tried this on three separate units in three separate stores. I tried it on one of the 1700’s smaller-screened siblings with the same electronics. None of them knew there was a Richmond in Virginia.
Emails to Magellan resulted in a list of canned questions such as When did you buy it? Have you updated the software?, even though I clearly said that I operated store units and did not own one. Would they expect me to go ahead and buy one if it apparently didn’t work? I would guess that what I wrote was simply not read. I know, I know, what else should I expect from whoever Magellan is THIS week?
Battery Life
I purchase the Magellan 1700 about one month ago. I bought this model because I felt that the 7″ screen would be a asset. I don’t know if this is common to all GPS systems but I am extremly dissatisfied with the battery function. It takes about 3 hours to fully charge the battery. It will operate for only about 20 minutes on a fully charged battery. If the unit is stored with a fully charge battery in the off position it will be completely discharged at the end of 3 days. I contacted Magellan to see if this performance was normal. I received only vague and inconclusive answers. After a third exchange of emails I was advised that the unit was probably defective and I would receive instructions on how to return it for repairs or replacement. That was over one week ago and to date no instructions have been provided. I feel that the Magellan staff that I made contact with were not knowledgeable about the basic battery function of this product and failed in their follow-up promise to provide information on returning the unit for repairs.
The 7″ screen does not provide the advantage that I expected. It is too large to be placed anywhere im the car were it would be functional except on the windshield where I do not want it.
Magellan Roadmate is a Real Road Data Center
I found the Magellan Roadmate 1700 a real road data center. Direction, speed, longitude and latitude, mph, above sea level notation, road turn off signal (with options), multiple stops and much more, are just a few of the components that make this instrument an absolute necessity when traveling by auto. It’s a real joy to use.
GPS
Good buy, performs well, only issue is that it is to heavy to stick to the windshield.
False advertising
We bought this unit because this unit claims that we can play video from “your favorite media player” by using 3.5mm a/v cable. Well, if your favorite media player happen to be an iPhone you are in luck. BUT, if you don’t have an iPhone, you won’t be able to use this feature at all! Magellan informed me that iphone is the ONLY media player that works with this unit. They said the software is in development so that any other media players can be played on 1700 in a future, but they can’t tell you when it will be available.
How can they claim that it will work with any media players when it doesn’t??? The agent said “if you can be patient, it will work.” Well, I’m not that patient, so I’m returning this.
The best investment I’ve ever made
I absolutely love my Magellan RoadMate 1700. I can get lost making a U-turn and this product has saved me many headaches. It has opened a whole new world for me. I’ve always hated getting off the beaten track for fear I’d get lost…no more!
I was concerned that I wouldn’t find a spot for it in my car since the screen is so large. I have a Cadillac and I found a great spot for it next to the glove compartment using the stick on base. The only problem I found is that the base did not hold the Magellan up for too long, the base fell off since it was on a vertical surface but I’ll find a way to stick it back up there if I have to nail it in! I love this thing!!
Not for Mac Owners
Pros
Huge, easy to read display.
Decent price ($179 at Costco after $50 instant MFR rebate).
Easy to operate.
Cons
Doesn’t work with Mac OS.
That big display’s size causes some shuddering, even on relatively smooth roads.
Does not display enough data on the screen; e.g., you have to toggle through time, speed, ETA, etc.
I was really looking forward to using this unit as a replacement for an old Garmin. Overall, it’s probably great for most people, but I like to be able to see my current speed, ETA, and clock all at the same time – toggling through to see each of them is not for me. The new Garmins also show current posted speed limit, which I find useful. If you use a Mac, double check with Magellan to see if they plan on supporting the Mac OS before you buy. I went back to the Garmin brand and bought a nuvi 1490 ($249 after $20 instant MFR rebate at Costco). It’s only a 5″ screen, but that also means it doesn’t wobble around from road vibrations.
Roadmate 1700
Great, my wife enjoys the ease in which to put in the information. One thing is the voice, it is difficult to understand the street name, the voice sounds like she has a nasal problem. It is our first GPS and are very happy with the Roadmate 1700. Just wish the voice was clearer.
good GPS
This is a real good GPS but don’t do a firmware upgrade because you will lose some of your features and Magellan knows it but they can’t help you, But they say they are working on a fix.
I took this one to Naples,Fl From Knoxville,TN and it didn’t miss a beat it did great.
Wonderful GPS
I have owned other Magellan’s and this is by far the best. It fits on the dash and is much easier to read. Highly recommend it!!
TOO BIG
THE SCREEN IS TOO BIG THAT IT IS VERY CLOSE TO THE WIHDSHIELD AND CREATES A GLARE THAT REFLECTS TO THE DRIVER WHILE USING THE UNIT AT NIGHT. ITS A SAFETY ISSUE. THE UNIT WAS USED WITH A MERCEDES E SERIES.
MAC USERS BEWARE!!!
THIS PRODUCT IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MAC OS. Bought this product for 7″ screen. No mention of compatibility In store display. No info. about compatibility in instructions,till you go to web site to connect for registration. It’s hard to believe that an O.S. like MAC would not be supported but it’s true! Can’t say anything about how this unit works because I returned it without turning it on! Way to go Magellan!!! You probably saved me from wasting more time, finding out later that it is JUNK!!!