Magellan RoadMate 2036 GPS

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Have any Creekers used one of these? Were you satisfied? Would you buy another? Any info appreciated.

[Neal Clayton]

i haven't used that particular one but i will give one recommendation on aftermarket GPS systems, go to the store and play with all of them first.

some have very good/intuitive UIs, some have terrible UIs. and when you're sitting on the side of the road waiting to get smashed by a wavering semi trailer while you type in an address, that makes a difference ;).

i bet the person who wound up with the tomtom stolen out of my truck is still trying to get to monroe st. cause i never found the street and also never figured out how to cancel the route.

[Rick Davidson]

I have a high end Garmin and I love it except I have to pay to update the maps. So if I was to buy another I would get one that allows you to do this for free.

[Rick Potter]

I don't know the model, but I have a fairly low end Magellan, and it has worked just fine. It is about 4 years old now, came from Costco, and we just spent $50 to update it.

We call it 'wrong way Wilma', because it is fun to try to outwit it, which we can sometimes do, usually when streets have been converted to one way recently. There are also a couple freeway transitions it can't seem to get straight.

It is much easier to program than a couple built ins I have seen, and overall we like it a lot. One of the best uses is when we fly somewhere and rent a car. I cannot imagine paying $1800 for a built in on a new car, when these are so affordable.

Rick Potter

[Bill Cunningham]

If anyone here uses a hand held Lowrance, I found a undocumented feature.. Hit the exit button quickly three times, and you get a large full screen analog speedometer. The + and - keys will increase/decrease the range.. If your using it to check your speed, it's a lot easier to see than the little GS window.. At least for these old eyes

[Joe Pelonio]

I don't know the model, but I have a fairly low end Magellan, and it has worked just fine. It is about 4 years old now, came from Costco, and we just spent $50 to update it.

We call it 'wrong way Wilma', because it is fun to try to outwit it, which we can sometimes do, usually when streets have been converted to one way recently. There are also a couple freeway transitions it can't seem to get straight.

It is much easier to program than a couple built ins I have seen, and overall we like it a lot. One of the best uses is when we fly somewhere and rent a car. I cannot imagine paying $1800 for a built in on a new car, when these are so affordable.

Rick Potter
We have our Garmin set to the British accent voice, and call it Hyacinth after the woman in the Britcom "Keeping Up appearances."

She's tried to get us to go the wrong way on o-way streets several times, but she always gets confused in downtown Seattle. Doesn't know if we're on the freeway above or surface streets below.

[Curt Harms]

I have a discontinued Pioneer AVIC 500BT. It has a relatively huge screen and the handsfree phone feature works pretty well. I see traffic regulations forbidding hand-held cell phone use in vehicles especially here in the nannystate prone northeastern US so that was important to me. I find bigger screens are better and I find the handsfree feature worthwhile. This is the only one I've used so can't comment on others.

[Dan Duperron]

I've used several Magellan models A LOT in Hertz rental cars over the last decade. Possibly it's just familiarity, but I really like their interface. I find it very easy to use.

Like all GPSs in cities with stacked roads or other oddities you will always have to be cautious. My employer recently switched us to Avis - who uses another brand (Garmin, I think) that I don't like at all.

Earlier this week I purchased a unit for personal use and bought a TomTom. Within what I wanted to spend, with the features I wanted it came down to Magellan or TomTom. What tipped it for me was that Magellan supports ONLY North America and Mexico. They simply don't have any road navigation maps for sale at any price for the rest of the world. TomTom has extensive international coverage.

I travel internationally several times per year so this is important to me. It may not be important for you.

Good luck, the choice of systems is pretty overwhelming. I agree if you can get your hands on the model you are looking at (or at least a similar one from the same maker) that's the best way to see if you like the UI.