Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The Magellan RoadMate 1700 7" Screen

I upgraded my GPS on 6-29-12 to a Magellan RoadMate 1700 7" screen. My previous one was the Magellan 1400 4.3" screen. The 1700 is a big improvement. The larger screen I love. No more straining my eyes or getting my glasses out. The week after I bought it the website price jumped up $10. Talk about good timing. As of 7-13-12 the price jumped to $154.38. But still very affordable. On 12-27-13 Amazon had this at $131. There is a newer version available. The 9400-LM. $160.30 on Amazon as of 11-11-15. I believe the Magellan brand is #2 behind top rated Garmin. Yet rated higher than all the other brands. And that's still very good. The CNET review criticizes the screen size as too big for car drivers. Possibly. But easily seeing where you're going is a good for me.

This product is packed with easy-to-use premium features, starting with it's 7-inch wide WVGA color touch screen monitor. This ultra-clear display lets you clearly see where you are on your route with four times the detail found in a standard GPS device. Rounding out the premium features are: Magellan's exclusive OneTouch favorites menu, a high-resolution, QuickSpell with SmartCity search, highway exit point of interest (POI) search, and multi-destination routing with route optimization, just to name a few. Magellan's attention to detail and driver safety delivers a superior user experience.

The Magellan RoadMate 1700 device lets you bookmark your favorite destinations and searches with the OneTouch favorites menu so you can access them anywhere you travel. With a single touch, find your favorite café or restaurant when you're traveling within any city. Also, along the units top edge is the power switch. This slider has settings for on, off, and reset. When the unit powers off, there is a 10-second countdown and the option to return the slider to On or shut down immediately. If no option is chosen, then the shutdown is completed


The extra large high resolution colorful touch screen (and large icons) makes for easy viewing. The main menu includes address, points of interest, previous, address book, intersection, city center. and current location. This is also one of the thinnest PHD's (portable navigation devices) on the market. Width is 7.5". Height is 4.2". Weight is only 10.5ounces.

The Magellan RoadMate 1700 also comes with a soft protective padded case for safe transport. Very thin. 8.25" wide. 5.25" high. While not of the highest quality, it should be accurate for most. I've checked and apparently good aftermarket cases are rare and hard to find for the 7" GPS. And the ones available are very pricey.

The user handbook comes with color illustrations and in three languages. English, spanish, and french. Also the manual can be added to a computer file for free. Just go to retrevo.com, type in the product, and download it. Very fast and easy.

This is the 12 volt vehicle power adapter. The length is 55". More than adequate to reach any mounting location. If lost, this item sets you back around $25. Accessories are a huge portion of profit for any manufacturer of electronics. Keep your hard earned money in your pocket by being extra careful with all your items.

The suction mount is easy to install. First, you will see how the two pieces attach. Unscrew the large tighting nut and push to connect the two pieces together. Tighten the nut and that's it. The swivel works great. Next clean and dry the window mounting area, push the mount gently and firmly against the glass, and pull the lever down. That's it. The hold is very strong. The glass is the only mounting place I'm using. The two slots on the mount is where the GPS unit slides down and attaches. When you hear a click the unit is attached. You are good to go. Also Magellan offers another mount that is heavy duty at a hefty price. Around $50.

Also included is a USB cable for connecting the GPS to a computer for downloading software updates (the connection port is on the bottom of the unit).

Also included is an adhesive disk for car dash mounting. The size is 3.5" x 3.5". While the dash might be a better place for most, I don't like to take chances with the unit falling off. I've had that happen before. So I prefer the window mounting. Just stonger suction. That is a good thing.













It is always smart to register your Magellan product right away after purchase. You can do that online. Create your profile. It's fast and easy. When you do you get:

1- 60 day map upgrade guarantee
2- Special map upgrade promotions
3- 10% discount on first accessory purchase
4- 12 month product warranty
5- Exclusive members only contests and sweepstakes
6- Software updates


My favorite thing about this GPS is how effecient it is in action. If for some reason you get off the planned route, the voice command doesn't get all crazy on you. It simply updates you on the next turn. Visually. This is so nice. No loud obnoxious constant warnings like OnStar that you have left the planned route. So this is an excellent feature. I love it. And a feature this good is worth gold. Thanks for seeing my little blog. Hope it has helped you out with helpful info. Take care.