Magellan RoadMate 3030-LM 4.7" GPS Review

Year after year, GPS units continue to find their way into more and more vehicles. And as with any consumer electronic item, there are plenty of choices to choose from. This is also the case with GPS receivers. It is also no longer good enough just to get us from point A to point B accurately. Us consumers expect more features. Fortunately, the Magellan RoadMate 3030-LM delivers on both fronts.

The Magellan RoadMate 3030-LM is a 4.3" GPS receiver with some great features. They are:
◦Free lifetime map updates for the life of the GPS navigator
◦OneTouch™ favorites menu offers instant access to your personalized bookmarks of favorite places and searches anywhere you travel. With a single touch, find your favorite café or restaurant in any city.
◦Highway Lane Assist shows realistic highway signs to guide you and ensure that you'll choose the correct lane
◦Built-in AAA TourBook® guide provides ratings and descriptions on AAA-approved places to stay, play, dine, and save.
◦Extra-large 4.7" color touch screen is easy to view.
◦Spoken street names and directions so you can hear upcoming turn directions.
◦Highway exit POIs search finds gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more near upcoming highway exits.
◦QuickSpell® narrows your address and city searches, as you type, making destination entry easy.
◦Multi-destination routing lets you plan your trip with multiple stops. Choose the order you want or automatically optimize your route. Saving time and money.
◦AAA Member Roadside Assistance shows the AAA phone number and your exact location on the GPS navigator screen for easy reference.2
◦Preloaded premium maps give you the latest maps and directions as you travel the contiguous United States, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
◦Millions of points of interest (POIs) help you easily find gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, coffee shops, and much more.
◦Route customization lets you choose the shortest distance, fastest time, most use of freeways, or least use of freeways
◦Address book enables you to create and store contact information.
◦Auto night view adjusts your screen's color and contrast for easy night viewing.
◦Automatic re-route lets you quickly get back on track in case you missed a turn.

The Megellan RoadMate 3030-LM was a true pleasure to work with. As great as a lot of features are, it is still a GPS receiver. It's core function is to get us correctly from point A to point B. And if it does not do that job well, the other features are a bit pointless. The Megellan RoadMate 3030-LM performed that part very well! And having that functionality down pat, the other features were also able to perform well.

In addition to getting me to the right place accurately, an additional feature that is a core feature to me is lane guidance. In big cities, there can be a lot of freeways. These are often accompanied with many exits to other freeways. In these circumstances, lane guidance can be crucial. One touch was also a great feature. If there are places you like to go, you can program that address as a one touch location. Now, no matter where you are, home is just one touch away. It's extensive list of millions of Points of Interest also makes it easy to find types of restauraunts such as Italian, or a particular chain such as Taco Bell. It can also help in finding the closest bank, gas station, or hotel. Additional places such as library, and tourist destinations are also there.

Additional functionality of the RoadMate 3030-LM also performed well. The turn by turn voice guidance worked well and was clearly audible. The 4.3" display was crisp, and the zoom in, zoom out, and 3D and 2D modes worked equally well. The touch screen was very accurate and responsive. Going into the settings will also allow you to have your routes determined based on options such as fastest route, or shortest route, for example, as well as including a particular intersection. And if needed, re-routing is also there. Touching the time at the bottom left corner will also pop up a box that displays elevation, speed, direction, distance, and remaining time. And with the lifetime map updates feature of the Magellan RoadMate 3030-LM you know you will always have a well functioning GPS receiver that won't be obsolete in 6 months. And to top it all of, the construction quality was also very good.

I must say that with the Magellan RoadMate 3030-LM I was pleasently unsurprised by it's performance. There are brands that have the reputation that consumers can trust their products to function well. In the world of GPS, Magellan has proven to be one of them. And the RoadMate 3030-LM holds true to that reputation. In fact based on it's features, quality, and performance, the Magellan RoadMate 3030-LM has earned our Highly Recommended Award. Congrats! For more info and complete specs, check out their website at: http://www.magellangps.com/.