Sharon

We bought a Magellan RoadMate 1470 for Christmas and right out of the box the system showed the time for our time zone out by about 3 hours. When none of the possible changed on the system seemed to make any difference we went to the web site and were directed to download a firmware update which we did. After completing the update and getting a confirmation on screen of a successful installation we turned the unit off. When we tried to turn it on again all we got was the magellan logo and a spinning circle but the unit wouldn't boot up and it wouldn't shut off. We tried hitting re-set and just got a blank screen. We tried draining the battery and recharging, but nothing worked. After spending all Christmas day on the internet looking for solutions we reported the issue to Magellan and phoned the company. Apparently we weren't the only people to have this problem.

We have never owned a GPS before and had no preference, but the large 4.7 screen was an added plus for me so that I don't have to squint to read tiny print. When we ran into this problem we thought about returning the unit and replacing it with a Garmin, but the support staff at Magellan were very good. They shipped us a new unit with instructions on returning the defective one. The replacement unit arrived yesterday and right out of the box the time on it is correct so we don't need to update the firmware. I do have reservations about updating, but I think we'll actually try the unit out for a while before we attempt another update. The support person suggested that we get them on line to walk us through it the next time we try updating. Actually, the support staff are remarkable. They were helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.

Since we work in computers, writing software, and are conversant with building computers from the motherboard up, it's not like we need hand holding for something this simple. Electronics is hubby's hobby. That, of course, leaves me with certain trepidation about the reliability of the product when someone with the appropriate knowledge has trouble with the unit. I'm hoping that there was a bad batch and that whatever cause the problem it isn't in the new unit.

Canadian Tire has information on how you can upload all of the CTC store locations to yout GPS which will be very handy, if it works, if the system doesn't crash again. There are probably a lot of things that it would be nice to upload, but I keep wondering if doing so is going to crash it again. It's a good thing the tech support is good. I would rather just have a product that worked properly right out of the box, but the next best thing are good support people which it looks like Magellan has.