Gaari Means Car. Car Reviews & Car News

I was pleased with this Magellan Roadmate 1400. I had no experiance with

any type of GPS before I bought this one. It was very easy to figure out

and it works like a charm. I would recommend thid product for anyone.
Rating: 5 / 5

This GPS is great on a budget. Does what I need it to do. Simple to operate.
Rating: 5 / 5

I bought my most recent 1400 from Amazon for good reason – I love Amazon. But sometimes vendors unknowingly give bad products even to Amazon…mine is being returned. This is my fourth 1400 – the other three were from another online vendor. I did not acquire 4 of these gadgets within an eight month time period because I loved them. Here is the story – Let’s call it Hope Springs Eternal – Or How I Married My High School Sweetheart Anyway.

The first two 1400s (counting the one my then – fiance bought) came from an online discount computer store. My now husband was enchanted by features and the then-very low price of eighty-nine dollars for a “reconditioned” model. I wanted to get the same one so we could learn and troubleshoot at the same time, and not have to “switch gears” in thinking when using the other’s GPS.

Both of those reconditioned units died an undignified death. Mine stopped communicating with satellites within four months – returned it for another reconditioned one – it was sick too. No more reconditioned anythings for me.

His lasted longer but fritzed out too. I don’t know what happened – I just knew this rocket scientist who understands computers precisely, writes eloquently, can handle my witch mother with grace and patience, LIKES creating beautiful solutions to old X-box overheating problems then executing the plans w/ precision…then plays w/ CAD CAM for ‘fun’ started making terse statements about how his 1400 was “over. Dead.”

You are thinking..”yep – got what you asked for – reconditioned bird cr*p…” Maybe so.

Which brings us to my honeymoon over Christmas when we two eloped and got married in Williansburg Virginia.

In all our secret wedding preparations we scoured Amazon for its usual wonderful deals and innovative pricing, etc – and VOILA! There were NEW 1400s for not very much more money! NEW!!!!!

Ok – another groom gift for a major man ….buy GPS system for honeymoon. OK. No prob.

I really should let him tell his side of the story. He will tell you that I beat on the screen (no – I did not. I poked at it repeatedly and shrieked at it and exclaimed to my new husband “LOOK. It’s telling me I am NOT where I

AM.” “LOOK AT THIS THING. It’s telling me to go the route a cockroach would go.” no I did not say that last one. I said my driving route unaided in any way back to the hotel was the route a cockroach would take…around behind strip shopping centers and back by the dumpsters behind big box stores in the dark every time. See why I need a reliable GPS I can trust?

Warning: this is not a review for technocrats. Should have said that earlier.

The new 1400 misread where we were often – and we were in Williamsburg VA – tourist town with class, well-known, not the mountains of Pakistan with or without caves. The new 1400 would take us far out of the way to familiar destinations within the city limits. The new 1400 would change its mind (to me) and have us double back without warning (we got tired of competing with the lady’s voice giving the turn by turn directions) it would change its green path to red and emit mysterious blue fog. No on that last part. Yes on the other.

I found my own operator error perhaps was that I got where I could not anticipate/ distinguish the upcoming turn with what the 1400′s screen was showing. I overshot a number of turns because it seemed to show them to me too late or something. I do not need to say here how smart I am or what i do for a living or how much money I manage or what my negotiating skills are – do I ? oh c’mon….

By the end of the honeymoon – which was glorious, by the way – I was Over the 1400. Yes, Yes, I know – the descriptions read wonderfully – and all those features – well, let’s just say that the instructions do NOT tell you all the listed features that Magellan gave Amazon to post, and Magellan (for those of you who appreciate a good, simple, clear, written instruction booklet) is not yet investing in really good technical writers.

I told my wonderful new husband I was returning it. He…he really likes it, and it all but sits up and begs when he uses it. Or it seemed that way. But I did most of the driving on our honeymoon because he thinks my driving is hot. which it is. I should ditch my career and elbow whatshername out of NASCAR and get goin’ on putting some fire back into racin’….

I give this 1400 an F. I’ll ask my husband to write a review so he can tell you I look like Megan Fox but without all the plastic surgery? He does enjoy my many skills and is beyond happy he has me off the market. He has a friend who gets shrill on his Facebook profile with “tmi! tmi!” (too much information) Guess she’d be pecking that out in a hurry about now.

I think I’m done w/ all GPS systems overall until they get “smarter” – at the end of our trip – which included a terrific visit to Montpelier, home of James Madison – I was using a paper map and ignoring the 1400 like a p*ssed off sixth grade girl with her feelings hurt. I’d had it when “fastest route” was painstaking slow turns around hairpin turns in some railroad yard impoverished low-income level housing area with signs saying “state road maintenance ends here” and yes…we were going 20-25 mph….

What happened to that couple who got stranded in snow w/ their infant over Christmas because they relied on their GPS system…and how quickly the various GPS companies started churning out defensive “tips” and disclaiming representations and peppering the press with statements about “always carry a printed map” and “use common sense” (how insulting to two busy, educated parents investing in GPS technology as advertised and represented as “freedom from squinting at maps in the dark”…and that baby of theirs w/out formula for so very long…I dunno….are we going to look back at GPS systems as idiocy in a box ten years from now?

have fun – you might like the 1400 or have that magic touch just like the Magellan quality control folks who always get their selected test models in the plant to work marvelously -otherwise of course the 1400 would not be in the marketplace.

Rating: 3 / 5