Magellan Roadmate 1470 Review: Showcases a Huge 4.7-Inch Screen

Everything about the 3.3x5.2x7.0-inch Magellan RoadMate 1470 proclaims portability, which is of great importance with a GPS. Although the fact that the screen is color is streamline, its 4.7-inch width is unusually wide. The even wider widescreen makes keeping up with directions easier.

The charger and the cradle for the Magellan RoadMate 1470 don't work too well together. You have the charger that connects at a 90-degree angle to the base, but if you put it on then you can't get the GPS slid into the cradle. Thus, you have to put the Magellan RoadMate 1470 into its cradle, then connect the mini USB cable. If you mount it to the window before you try to connect the cord, you'll probably find yourself battling to keep it there because the suction isn't very good. Once you get the hang of it, though, you'll forget the trouble you went, but it's disappointing that Magellan couldn't get these things right when TomTom and Garmin did.

A good touch-screen and QuickSpell system make up for this at least somewhat, helping you navigate the POI and enter info more easily. The alphabetical versus QWERTY layout was kind of annoying, though. A large GO button lets you easily start or compare your route(s) after your destination is chosen.

With text-to-speech, the Magellan RoadMate 1470 gives street names and exits out loud as you travel. Lane guidance will help you be in the right place to make the appropriate moves. The voice can be in French, English and Spanish.

The Magellan RoadMate 1470's maps are for Puerto Rico, Mexico, all fifty states and Mexico. In addition to millions of POI, the Magellan RoadMate 1470 has listings for branch offices, AAA auto repair, POI with AAA member discounts, and TourBook Destinations.

Unique to the Magellan RoadMate 1470 and other RoadMate GPS systems is the OneTouch menu. There you can store your six most frequent destinations, such as restaurants and attractions around your city. Previous Destinations, Home, GPS status, Emergency Services and Local Info are automatically stored on OneTouch.

30 seconds after it started up, the Magellan RoadMate 1470 was showing the home screen. Then, we went to View Map, it took 34 more seconds to identify our position.

TomTom and Garmin GPS units by no means outshine the Magellan RoadMate 1470. They're about equal on loading, positioning and routing, then the 1412 has its big, 4.7-inch screen and the TomToms and Garmins have the option of more easily locating the most fuel-efficient and quickest routes.

The MSRP for the Magellan RoadMate 1470 is $20-$40 less than that for both the Garmin Nuvi 255W and the TomTom XL340S. It has that big screen and works just about as well. The only quirk is getting it mounted and plugged in. If that's forgivable, then definitely go for the Magellan RoadMate 1470.