Magellan RoadMate 1475T 4.7-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic Receiver This instant

Fantastic product! I am glad that I bought this unit as an upgrade from my Magellan Maestro 4250. I bought my Magellan RoadMate 1475T after reading reviews on Amazon.com for this product and was relieved to find it more reliable and improved in almost every way from my Magellan Maestro 4250. In a side-by-side comparison of the two (both with current Firmware and maps) on a two hour trip from Virginia through Washington, DC into Maryland, I found:

- The 1475T gave none of the occasionally incorrect turn recommendations that I have experienced with my 4250. At one point in my trip, the units gave conflicting recommendations at the same time (one said "turn left" and the other said "turn right"), I went with the 1475T and it was the correct course of action.

- The 1475T displays information in a more useful way from the 4250. There is less clutter and the map is displayed in a larger size on a similar sized screen. I found myself looking more and more at the 1475T (rather than the 4250) as the trip progressed.

- The 1475T provides an option to avoid toll roads where the 4250 has always seemed to favor them.

- Turn direction and other information spoken by the 1475T is given at more appropriate times than the 4250. The turn "ding" of the 4250 always seems to ring out at the last possible second causing me to miss turns in the past if not careful. The RoadMate gives a slightly earlier warning in this regard, but not too early.

- The 1475T did fewer course recalculations along the way.

- The 1475T was a great value at less than half the price I paid for my 4250 two years ago.

- The Traffic Link feature is a plus.

RoadMate 1475T negatives:

- The unit did not come with a case or AC charger adapter. You will need to fully charge the battery before upgrading to the latest Firmware version. I used my Maestro 4250 AC adapter and it worked just fine with the RoadMate 1475T. I ordered a leather case from Amazon.com and see excellent deals on adapters on Amazon as well.

- The female voice spoken by the RoadMate 1475T is slightly more mechanical and less natural sounding than the Magellan Maestro 4250, confirming other reviews on this webpage.

Before my purchase, I did in-store comparisons of the 1475T to Garmin and TomTom GPS units costing more. I found the 1475T screen navigation more intuitive and user friendly. Garmin units require street numbers when entering an address, while Magellan give a range to chose from. If you need to go to a location without a street address (National Park, military base with building numbers not street numbers), the Garmin will let you down -- a deal-breaker as far as I am concerned. Additionally, I found the map display of the Magellan more attractive and appealing than either Garmin or TomTom.
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