Portable Navigation Systems

Portable Navigation With Real-Time Traffic InfoNavigation is an indispensable part of the electronics a driver should have in the car, be it in-dash or portable. An integrated system offers obvious benefits, but a portable nav unit, such as the various models we've been evaluating the last couple of years, is becoming a more and more attractive option. If you don't have navigation, possibly now the problem isn't that you don't see it as an essential product, but rather that there are too many choices in the fast-flooding market. Seemingly every electronics manufacturer has an offering; and some have added it to their product lines simply because navigation is projected to be the fastest growing category in the industry.

Magellan Roadmate 800Perfect Portablity: Navigation, Music And PhotosWith the high price of fuel these days and, in general, the need for conservation of the world's oil supply, you have to wonder just how much gas we would save if every single person had navigation in the car. Drivers would rarely get lost and thus spend less at the pump. Magellan's RoadMate 800 will do you one better than just keeping you from losing your way. In addition to nav guidance, you can use the 800 for storing and listening to your music files as well as storing and viewing your images.

Magellan is one of the bigger names in portable navigation and deservedly so. They make great product. Aside from a couple of minor reservations, we'd have to say the 800 is a slam dunk for consumers in the market for an "all-in-one" device such as this.

FeaturesThe RoadMate 800 is compact, not that much bigger than a PSP; it's just a little bulkier. And it's fairly lightweight (it's 10.8 oz). In its small frame it still manages to squeeze in a bright and colorful 3.5-inch touchscreen. After using the Nav One 4500, the screen size seemed small by contrast, but in a fairly short time you get accustomed to it and we didn't find it a problem. Neither was the functionality of the unit. The buttons to the right of the screen are labeled. The "+" and "-" buttons are for zooming in and out on the map. While it's convenient to be able to use a touchscreen, it's always better having real buttons for navigating any menu as an option. The volume control is a toggle switch located at the top of the 800. We turned it all the way up for voice guidance and found it quite sufficient; but the little speaker is far from ideal for music playback. More on that feature below. As with Cobra's 4500, the 800 has 2-D and 3-D views. In addition, you can get a turn-by-turn list of directions.

Like all of the Magellan products we've used, this was terrific in terms of nav performance. We used it side by side with a factory nav system and it provided earlier alerts for upcoming turns and rerouted just as quickly when we got lost. Not bad for a little portable. For such a small device it packs a lot of information. It comes preloaded with maps of the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 27 European countries. We wanted to take it to Europe to test how long it would take to acquire a satellite signal in, say, Switzerland-but maybe next time

The mounting device will be familiar to people who've used Magellan products. The long adjustable arm makes it easy to position the 800 appropriately, but it's also susceptible to shaking, leading to some unpleasant movement of the unit during driving over uneven roads. It's perhaps worth noting but not a major drawback.

All-in-OneThe best part about the RoadMate 800 is that it is very versatile. With an integrated battery you can charge it for use in the car (for instance, if you have to use your 12V in the car to charge your mobile phone), then take it with you (it comes with a soft case) and use it as a music player. But if you want to play music through the speaker, be prepared for sound quality reminiscent of an old transistor radio. Use the supplied earphones instead. The drawback to that, however, is that the 800 doesn't offer up much power, so if there's a lot of noise around, it might be difficult to really hear the music. Still, we found enough occasions to derive benefit from it.

Transferring music to the unit is truly simple. Load the software provided and simply click over your files into the 800. Even using USB 1.1 (it can transfer at 2.0) we were able to load over 20 songs in WMA format in minutes. Of the 20 gigs in the hard drive you have about 4.5 available for music and photos. There's also an SD slot next to the volume control on the top of the unit for access to your memory cards. Put a phone on this thing and it would easily garner an Innovation Award at next year's CES. But the 800 is pretty cool as-is. While it wouldn't replace our music player, it's certainly a great convenience having a nav unit that can do other things. MSRP is $1,099.99, but you should be able to find it for significantly less.

Key FeaturesPreloaded maps of U.SCanada and EuropePower through 12V connection or integrated batteryStore and play music files (earphones supplied)Store and view photo files