just wondering if anyone could share a comparison between the features of oem navi and that of the Magellan RoadMate 700 portable unit. going price with added freebies is a few dollars over $1k.

i've read up on the Magellan unit and it has some impressive features, like ability for user to choose type of route (shortest, no freeway, etc), "TrueView" 3D graphics, auto contrast adjusting with light levels, and user can even select road to "avoid" if driver encouters road work and will automatically adjust route accordingly.

please do not include info about the non-gps voice commands available with the oem navi unit.

thanks.

 

I have a Garmin Street Pilot III that I purchased in June of 2003 before I decided to buy the TL. It is not the Magellan, but I think they would be comparable.

My TL OEM GPS wins hands down in almost every category without even considering the voice. Inputs are so much faster with an intuitive touch screen keyboard rather than a single key that you only can select up or down. Much faster responses to screen updates and route changes. The screen is about 4 times as large.

I would never recommend an aftermarket GPS, unless you traveled a lot and needed to take the GPS from car to car. It works great when I fly somewhere and then rent a car.