Magellan Roadmate 1430 Review and Giveaway

I get lost. Plain and simple. Sure, I know my way around the neighborhood, to the store, bank, schools, etc., but if I have to go anywhere new, I panic. I’m proud to say I no longer am afraid of new places – I am using the Magellan RoadMate 1430, and it is amazing.

I was so excited when I received this, but feared that it would take a long time to set up. It didn’t! I plugged it into my car and the screen popped right up. It figured out my location right away. Very, very cool! I immediately started checking out the features and I had quite a bit of fun. It gives you turn by turn instructions, a voice that tells you where to go (you can also mute this if you don’t want this), a large screen, and so much more. I was able to put in my “home” information in the “home” icon…which allows me to find my home where ever I am (definitely a good thing for me!). I also really like the QuickSpell feature – it allows you to start typing something, a street name for example, and it will show you options to finish for you.

My family and I went to some friend’s house out of town yesterday for a BBQ, and I was driving. My husband had more fun fiddling around with this. He was watching my speed, and commenting on how accurate the Magellan was. He was pretty excited at how fast it tracks everything else too.

Here are some more wonderful features of the Magellan Roadmate 1430 from the website:

4.3″ WQVGA color touch screen: The large wide-format color touch screen shows your position on the map, route, destination, ETA, surrounding Points of Interest, signal strength, next maneuver, street names and more at a glance.

6 million Points of Interest: Easily find what you need. Gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs and hundreds of other businesses and services are intuitively categorized and searchable from the built-in POI database. Most include the phone number.

SayWhere™ text-to-speech: Hear street names with every voice direction and have a clear understanding of when to make the next turn while you keep your eyes on the road.

Intuitive User Interface: Bold, intuitive menu options make it easy to pick destinations and choose how you navigate, without even reading the instructions.

Ultra-thin design: Uniquely stylish and compact, it’s easy to transfer your Magellan GPS between vehicles or toss it in a suitcase to take anywhere.

Interactive POI icons: Select the types of services and amenities you’d like to see and interactive icons appear on the map. Touch an icon for a nearby service to see address, phone number (when available) and get an instant route.

Tow truck icon: The convenient “tow-truck icon” shows detailed information about your current location with a single touch so you can provide clear direction to roadside assistance.

Home icon: Program any location into the “Home” button and find your way back from wherever you are.

QuickSpell™: Enter destinations with a few keystrokes. QuickSpell searches locations and checks spelling to provide you with a simple list of available destinations.

SmartDetour™: SmartDetour prompt you to route around suddenly slow or stopped freeway traffic and automatically calculates the quickest detour. No fee or subscription is required!

Birds eye 3D view: Clearly see your surroundings in 2D or 3D.

Auto re-route: Never miss a turn and quickly get back on track whenever you take a detour.

Auto NightView™: Color and contrast adjusts automatically for easy viewing at night.

Customizable route methods: Choose the way you want to navigate to use the most freeways, least freeways, fastest time, shortest distance and avoid toll roads. Exclude specific streets or freeways after a route is calculated to get there the way you want.

Multi-destination routing: Select up to 20 destinations and choose the order to plan a trip in advance and repeat the same trip again. Easily reorganize, add or remove destinations.

Address Book: Create and save personal Points of Interest for easy reoccurring trips.

Rechargeable battery: Navigate up to 3 hours when power is unavailable.

Centrality Atlas™ III: The Centrality Atlas III processor with integrated GPS receiver provides superior GPS performance for accurate and reliable positioning and navigation within three meters.

I am not often this impressed with an electronic product – usually due to the technical aspects of it (and my lack of skills in that department), but I absolutely love my Magellan and now I wonder how on earth did I live without it? I am the Eighty MPH Mom…I don’t like anything to slow me down! Now I can go anywhere, find my way, and feel safe and secure. The Magellan RoadMate 1430 gets a HUGE thumbs up from me, and I highly recommend it. I will be purchasing one for my 19 year old son, who, bless his heart, gets his poor sense of direction from his mom.

UPDATE 4-17-09: My daughter and I went on a mini vacation a couple of days ago and of course took our Magellan with us. It was so incredibly helpful, as we were in a place with lots of one way streets, and confusing roads. We lovingly named the GPS lady who talks to us “Doris”. We actually found a quicker way home, and we were so happy. Thanks Magellan and “Doris”!

The Magellan RoadMate 1430 can be purchased on the Magellan.com website. If you are a AAA Member and order from Magellan.com, you can save 15% at retail stores, online.