Roadmate 1440

[r***@cylo.gov]

Are all the Magellan devices as useless as my 1440?
I try to tell it I want to go to X. Okay, it takes me to X in a route
that I don't want to take - generally because it is way out of the way
(no matter what type of roads I tell it to use). So I want to tell it
a different route.

I try to tell it to go through New Lexington, Ohio so I figure I'll
tell it to go to an intersection in that town. I try to tell it SR13
and 93. I have no way to input those roads. It has no idea that
three state routes run through it; they are not in the list if you
tell it to show all the roads in the town.

Does anyone else have this problem? I've asked support on the web
site but I don't think they have a clue as to how to operate one
either...

I've had the unit for almost a year and haven't been able to input my
destination into it more than a couple times.

[Charlie]

Post by r***@cylo.gov
Are all the Magellan devices as useless as my 1440?
I try to tell it I want to go to X. Okay, it takes me to X in a route
that I don't want to take - generally because it is way out of the way
(no matter what type of roads I tell it to use). So I want to tell it
a different route.
I try to tell it to go through New Lexington, Ohio so I figure I'll
tell it to go to an intersection in that town. I try to tell it SR13
and 93. I have no way to input those roads. It has no idea that
three state routes run through it; they are not in the list if you
tell it to show all the roads in the town.
Does anyone else have this problem? I've asked support on the web
site but I don't think they have a clue as to how to operate one
either...
I've had the unit for almost a year and haven't been able to input my
destination into it more than a couple times.

I don't know that particular model. On mine I can designate an intersection.
Be sure you have correctly identified the city where that intersection is.

If you know the address of where you want to go and you know the way to that
intersection you listed just start out in the direction that YOU prefer and
the GPS will keep recalculating the route.

I have slightly different problem. My GPS wants to send me the shortest
way. It does not recognize that the route it picked is heavily traveled and
has lots of traffic lights. I start out taking a longer but faster way.
Eventually it figures how to get me to where I am going from where I
actually am.
I usually mute it until I actually want to follow the directions that it
provides.
Charlie

[Dan Wenz]

Post by Charlie

Post by r***@cylo.gov
Are all the Magellan devices as useless as my 1440?
I try to tell it I want to go to X. Okay, it takes me to X in a route
that I don't want to take - generally because it is way out of the way
(no matter what type of roads I tell it to use). So I want to tell it
a different route.
I try to tell it to go through New Lexington, Ohio so I figure I'll
tell it to go to an intersection in that town. I try to tell it SR13
and 93. I have no way to input those roads. It has no idea that
three state routes run through it; they are not in the list if you
tell it to show all the roads in the town.
Does anyone else have this problem? I've asked support on the web
site but I don't think they have a clue as to how to operate one
either...
I've had the unit for almost a year and haven't been able to input my
destination into it more than a couple times.

I don't know that particular model. On mine I can designate an intersection.
Be sure you have correctly identified the city where that intersection is.
If you know the address of where you want to go and you know the way to that
intersection you listed just start out in the direction that YOU prefer and
the GPS will keep recalculating the route.
I have slightly different problem. My GPS wants to send me the shortest
way. It does not recognize that the route it picked is heavily traveled and
has lots of traffic lights. I start out taking a longer but faster way.
Eventually it figures how to get me to where I am going from where I
actually am.
I usually mute it until I actually want to follow the directions that it
provides.
Charlie

In my case, the 1440, recently updated to the latest map software,
screwed up 3 times in a trip from New York back to my home in Maryland.
At one point, in a straight run south on US route 95, in central New
Jersey, it (tried) to have me leave 95, for some unknown reason, on a
route off of 95 (I have no traffic-type software capability), which I
ignored, fortunately.

On the same trip to a store whose location I had input, it had some
problem with the exact location, in New Jersey again, and had me going
in circles (making u-turns around the approximate location), until I
turned it off and just went to the location visually. At the store
location, I inputted the site as an "exact location" rather than a
street number. Then I traveled to another store 2 miles away, and, out
of curiosity, told the Magellan to go back to the first store - now it
was 6 miles away instead of the original 2 miles!

Today, I used it to travel to a store around 14 miles away here in
Maryland, no problem, then had it take me back home. I know the areas,
so was just "playing" with the unit. It took me back home with a
completely different route - not a long distance away from the original,
but strange behavior just the same - the first trip was off major roads,
the return on US 95 for a short distance - go figure! I generally tell
the unit to travel the quickest time, but, as noted above, it's traffic
unaware, so users beware.

To make a long story just a bit longer, I never go on a long trip
without maps and a MapQuest printout, just in case. Most of the time the
1440 does OK, just want to be safe even so.

[r***@cylo.gov]

I had purchased a TomTom before the Magellan - it would let you input
your route in any number of ways, including Lon/Lat numbers and had
all sorts of cool bells and whistles. The only thing it would not do
was to get you to your destination. We tried it out locally before
hitting the road on vacation. Of the 5 destinations we tried, on
three of them it didn't even get us within three miles.

For the money I've soaked into these things, I would have been very
happy to have purchased one of these new small notebook computers and
run Microsoft Streets and Trips on it. Streets and Trips is just so
far superior to these little hand held devices - well, compared to
TomTom and Magellan, anyway. I haven't tried a Garmin, yet.

I wonder how many of these things are laying along side the roadways -
I know I've been very close to tossing both of mine out the window :-)

Post by Dan Wenz

Post by Charlie

Post by r***@cylo.gov
Are all the Magellan devices as useless as my 1440?
I try to tell it I want to go to X. Okay, it takes me to X in a route
that I don't want to take - generally because it is way out of the way
(no matter what type of roads I tell it to use). So I want to tell it
a different route.
I try to tell it to go through New Lexington, Ohio so I figure I'll
tell it to go to an intersection in that town. I try to tell it SR13
and 93. I have no way to input those roads. It has no idea that
three state routes run through it; they are not in the list if you
tell it to show all the roads in the town.
Does anyone else have this problem? I've asked support on the web
site but I don't think they have a clue as to how to operate one
either...
I've had the unit for almost a year and haven't been able to input my
destination into it more than a couple times.

I don't know that particular model. On mine I can designate an intersection.
Be sure you have correctly identified the city where that intersection is.
If you know the address of where you want to go and you know the way to that
intersection you listed just start out in the direction that YOU prefer and
the GPS will keep recalculating the route.
I have slightly different problem. My GPS wants to send me the shortest
way. It does not recognize that the route it picked is heavily traveled and
has lots of traffic lights. I start out taking a longer but faster way.
Eventually it figures how to get me to where I am going from where I
actually am.
I usually mute it until I actually want to follow the directions that it
provides.
Charlie

In my case, the 1440, recently updated to the latest map software,
screwed up 3 times in a trip from New York back to my home in Maryland.
At one point, in a straight run south on US route 95, in central New
Jersey, it (tried) to have me leave 95, for some unknown reason, on a
route off of 95 (I have no traffic-type software capability), which I
ignored, fortunately.
On the same trip to a store whose location I had input, it had some
problem with the exact location, in New Jersey again, and had me going
in circles (making u-turns around the approximate location), until I
turned it off and just went to the location visually. At the store
location, I inputted the site as an "exact location" rather than a
street number. Then I traveled to another store 2 miles away, and, out
of curiosity, told the Magellan to go back to the first store - now it
was 6 miles away instead of the original 2 miles!
Today, I used it to travel to a store around 14 miles away here in
Maryland, no problem, then had it take me back home. I know the areas,
so was just "playing" with the unit. It took me back home with a
completely different route - not a long distance away from the original,
but strange behavior just the same - the first trip was off major roads,
the return on US 95 for a short distance - go figure! I generally tell
the unit to travel the quickest time, but, as noted above, it's traffic
unaware, so users beware.
To make a long story just a bit longer, I never go on a long trip
without maps and a MapQuest printout, just in case. Most of the time the
1440 does OK, just want to be safe even so.

[Dan Wenz]

Post by Charlie
Charlie

In my case, the 1440,etc.

Sorry, mine is the 1470, I goofed on the model number.

[Charlie]

Post by Charlie

Post by r***@cylo.gov
Are all the Magellan devices as useless as my 1440?
I try to tell it I want to go to X. Okay, it takes me to X in a route
that I don't want to take - generally because it is way out of the way
(no matter what type of roads I tell it to use). So I want to tell it
a different route.
I try to tell it to go through New Lexington, Ohio so I figure I'll
tell it to go to an intersection in that town. I try to tell it SR13
and 93. I have no way to input those roads. It has no idea that
three state routes run through it; they are not in the list if you
tell it to show all the roads in the town.
Does anyone else have this problem? I've asked support on the web
site but I don't think they have a clue as to how to operate one
either...
I've had the unit for almost a year and haven't been able to input my
destination into it more than a couple times.

I don't know that particular model. On mine I can designate an intersection.
Be sure you have correctly identified the city where that intersection is.
If you know the address of where you want to go and you know the way to that
intersection you listed just start out in the direction that YOU prefer and
the GPS will keep recalculating the route.
I have slightly different problem. My GPS wants to send me the shortest
way. It does not recognize that the route it picked is heavily traveled and
has lots of traffic lights. I start out taking a longer but faster way.
Eventually it figures how to get me to where I am going from where I
actually am.
I usually mute it until I actually want to follow the directions that it
provides.
Charlie

In my case, the 1440, recently updated to the latest map software, screwed
up 3 times in a trip from New York back to my home in Maryland. At one
point, in a straight run south on US route 95, in central New Jersey, it
(tried) to have me leave 95, for some unknown reason, on a route off of 95
(I have no traffic-type software capability), which I ignored,
fortunately.
On the same trip to a store whose location I had input, it had some
problem with the exact location, in New Jersey again, and had me going in
circles (making u-turns around the approximate location), until I turned
it off and just went to the location visually. At the store location, I
inputted the site as an "exact location" rather than a street number. Then
I traveled to another store 2 miles away, and, out of curiosity, told the
Magellan to go back to the first store - now it was 6 miles away instead
of the original 2 miles!
Today, I used it to travel to a store around 14 miles away here in
Maryland, no problem, then had it take me back home. I know the areas, so
was just "playing" with the unit. It took me back home with a completely
different route - not a long distance away from the original, but strange
behavior just the same - the first trip was off major roads, the return on
US 95 for a short distance - go figure! I generally tell the unit to
travel the quickest time, but, as noted above, it's traffic unaware, so
users beware.
To make a long story just a bit longer, I never go on a long trip without
maps and a MapQuest printout, just in case. Most of the time the 1440 does
OK, just want to be safe even so.

Last summer on Key West I was trying to get to the Mel Fisher Museum. I
was sent down a road that was posted "no exit" . I figured what the heck,
lets see what happens. In truth there were several exits except they were
locked unless you had a remote or key card. To get out I had to make a
U-turn in a driveway.

On the upside, on that street, we got to see The Little White House, the
winter place used by Harry Truman. All in a day's adventure.

Charlie