New Magellan Roadmate 1700

[gresults]

Got the new Magellan Roadmate 1700, RoadMate Series

Actually having to figure out where to mount it, Figured the 7" Screen would be great but other than that so far gave it a test run in the car really easy to use, has AV in and memory slot.

Will post some pictures when I figure out where I'm going to mount, the problem is the mont was made for the windshield and puts it way up in the air, so going to make a custom mount to put it flush with the dash near the drive.

Hope to give it a road trip...Saturday

[gresults]

Got some pictures of the install finally...

[kjburns]

I just picked up the same GPS, but haven't had a chance to install or try it yet. I'll probably put it in tomorrow.

[relgel]

Kyburns- now that you have had the 1700 for a while, can you comment on its navigation logic? I just bought and returned a Garmin 855 as I had it on a three week trip in southern Oregon/ Northern CA and i had to double check almost all of the routes with a map as they were VERY poorly planned.
Jim aka Relgel

[kjburns]

Actually, I've only used it for one trip. It was a trip we take often and I prefer a different route. Other than that "disagreement" we got along fine. One thing that was nice was that it didn't nag. It seemed to be quicker to accept the alternate routing than the Garmin I've used, so there were fewer messages telling me to make a U turn.

Legibility is definitely a plus, compared to the 4.3" Garmin. One thing I found annoying was the 1700 zooming in at turns, but not zooming back out, meaning you have to do it manually.

I haven't messed with the mystery USB connection so I don't know if there are any hidden capabilities there. I also haven't tried doing multiple waypoints.

We bought a lot and have left the RV there the last couple of months. That's why I don't have more experience with the 1700.

[relgel]

Kyburn- was the route you preferred a more logical way to go? That is my knock on the Garmin...it proposed doing some really dumb routes that had to be manually "fooled" to get around.
Thanks for your response,
Jim

[kjburns]

The route I take is more logical in that it takes you away from traffic. It's also slightly shorter than the route the 1700 wanted. My previous Garmin would try to route me through some nearby mountains (Hwy 89A through Jerome, AZ if you care to look it up) regardless of the settings I used. Now 89A would be a hoot on a motorcycle or a sports car, but it's not my cup of tea for a 40' motorhome towing a Jeep.

The route for this trip was Prescott, AZ to Show Low, AZ. I live near Hwy 89, so it's an easy shot north to Ash Fork. Then I take I-40 over to Holbrook and go south to Show Low. The 1700 wanted a route through Prescott to AZ-169, then I-17 north to I-40. The distance for my route and the 1700 route are roughly the same. The route I take has less elevation change. The 1700 route drops down from 5000' to 3500', then up to 7000'. I still have to go over 7000' but without dropping down into the Verde Valley area.

[Gotta_P]

We have the 1700 also and have used it on several trips. We had purchased the Co-Pilot Program also (it's on a micro SD Card that loads at start-up). It's supposed to be for big rigs and RVs and has the capability of inputting your rigs dimensions so it can safely route you away from low over-passes and other big rig unfriendly routes. I found it annoying and useless! Unlike the Navtec program that comes on the 1700, Co-Pilot will nag the crap out of you if your don't use it's recommended route, which was often through small country towns as opposed to using by-passes and marked truck routes! It's also very out of date compared to the software pre-loaded on the 1700, which recognizes our three year old address where the Co-Pilot software does not! I pulled it from our 1700 and have been much happier. So, for anyone contemplating the Co-Pilot software for their Magellan 1700, save your money!

As to the performance of the 1700 running the software that came with it, I am very pleased. You do have the option of selecting the route by shortest, least highway, most highways, and fastest, will often times get you on your preferred route depending upon what you select. But, I have also found it much more adaptive than the C0-Pilot program in that it will adapt to your preferred route much more quickly and not nag you to turn at every available off-ramp and side street attempting to force you onto the route it wants to take, something C0-Pilot is really bad at doing.

As for the mount, I use one of the beanbag type dash mounts. It stays on place really well (even with as big as the 1700 is) and allows me to easily move it from the RV to the Toad, or stow it out of sight when camping or stored.