News and Events

“Little Old Lady Takes the Scenic Route" Marilyn Decatur, GA

Returning from road trips, I was always captivated by the fantasy of just driving past my exit and continuing on and on and on. A few years after retirement, I reflected on that old wanderlust, wanting to be in the car, driving wherever my whim suggested, stopping whenever I wished. I planned an 18 month trip, alone, on the road. I was the quintessential little old lady. How little? Just under 5 feet. How old? I was 64. My friends and family were afraid for me. They gave me advice. Lots of it. One of their concerns was that I would be lost most of the time.

With no sense of direction I had developed considerable skill as a map-reader and I am quite good at left vs. right and up vs. down. But not every road is on the map. And who wants to read a map while driving. A navigation system was a must. The Magellan RoadMate met my needs. It was purchased months before the trip so that I could learn to use it while in home territory. After owning it for just a few weeks, I realized that I would never be without it again. Trip preparation required frequent drives to unfamiliar locations. If I were in a flat city, laid out on a grid, I would have had no problem. But I live in hilly, curvy Atlanta, where streets cross each other more than once and there are over 20 streets called Peachtree. I have lived here for more than thirty years and there is no way to recount the number of times I have been lost, even with good directions. I used my navigator every day, and my blood pressure went down, and down again. What a joy to enter an address into the unit, sit back and let the tiny woman inside the device tell me exactly where and when to turn and, whenever I made an error, it would instantly find my current location and reroute me…in a non hostile manner…again and again if necessary. This was the beginning of my partnership with the navigator, my beloved companion from this time forward. A friend bought one after falling in love with mine. Her navigator is called Mazie Grace. (“I once was lost, but now am found…")

The house was empty and the car was packed. The date was June 1, 2004 and the calendar said I was to get behind the wheel and leave town. After more than a year of preparation, I climbed into the front seat of my van. Ignoring the pull of the comfortable and familiar, I wondered what was in store for me. I was driving off, alone but for the Magellan, into the wild unknown for an 18-month odyssey.

My RoadMate took me all over the back roads of the northern US and Canada, including Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. And, finally, it enabled me to traverse the country, and drive for several months in the Southwest. What a joy to travel with my Magellan. No maps on the car seat. No pulling over to the side of the road in a vain attempt to find my location. I would see a sign saying “scenic route" and impulsively turn on to it… even if it was not on my way to the next destination. When I had had enough, all I had to do was re-enter my original target and I was on my way again. Even in a huge campground, off in some area with no signs, the navigator screen showed my location in relation to the highlighted route. All I had to do was aim the car in the right direction, and I would again be on my way.

Eighteen months, never in familiar territory. At no time was I lost!

"Accident on I-85" Eddie Gardendale, AL

One of the best features is the traffic alert. I was in Charlotte, NC which I was unfamiliar with, driving during rush hour to the other side of town for a meeting. After I left the hotel, it was directing me turn by turn to the Interstate. While sitting at a red light, I happened to notice it flash "I-85 accident" and then it recalculated the route. I couldn't believe it when I got to the Interstate, it had brought me to the entrance ramp just ahead of where all three lanes were blocked because of the wreck!!!!! I was very impressed!

"Making Sense of Katrina Aftermath"

As the owner of a tow company, i thought the benefits of g.p.s. in my truck would be nice, but limited. We saw first hand what an asset this feature can be while picking up cars for insurance companys after hurricane katrina. The tow companys operating in and around the new orleans area were picking up twice as many cars as we were. We would be lucky to see every third or fourth street sign still standing. It was almost impossible to find any address. I talked to other tow companys to find out the big secret was g.p.s. navigation. The sign might have been destroyed, but the physical address did not change. After getting one, it has saved hours of "hit and miss" car and address finding. Talking on my hands free with my new magellan guiding the way, my wife overheard a soft voice telling me to turn left just ahead. Who is in the truck with you? Oh, thats just Betty i told her.

“Get Me to the Airport on Time" Dennis Boulder, Co

Twenty-five miles after the generator light went on in my rental car, the electronic dashboard blacked out. Almost simultaneously, the skies opened up. With the battery almost drained, the windshiled wipers barely made it back and forth across the windshield, and splashback from the heavy truck traffic made it difficult to see the road. I was on the Trans-Canada Highway, 50 miles from Calgary, hoping to limp into a gas station before the car died comletely. Earlier, I had completed my photography assignment near Golden, BC, and was headed to Calgary to catch my flight back to the States. With 38 miles to go - in the middle of nowhere, in a driving rainstorm - the engine finally gave up the ghost. I coasted to a stop on a very narrow shoulder, barely out of the traffic lane. I had seen no mile posts along the highway, but I had kept track of exit numbers and when I finally was able to reach the rental car company's road service on my cell phone, I gave them the last exit number. They had no clue where I was. My hopes for a warm, dry flight home began to fade.

This was the first trip for me and "Maggie," my Magellan RoadMate 800. She had faithfully led me to my Canadian work sites, but she was still new to me and I wasn't familiar with all her features. But now she was my only hope. In desperation, I pushed the "Locate" button, and up popped a cordinate and, miraculously, a mile post number, where none existed! The tow truck driver said, "I know exactly where you are. I'll be there within 30 minutes." Two hours later, the driver dropped me at the Calgary airport, and, thanks to a short weather delay, I caught my flight back home. I was going to buy Maggie a cocktail, but she'd already gone to sleep.

“Self-Reliant in Chicago" Karcius Gardena, Ca

In December I visited Chicago for my grandmother's funeral. I am from Los Angeles and I hadn't been to Chicago in 8 years, and had never driven around by myself. I recently bought a Magellan RoadMate 2000 in November, some friends and family said I didn't need a navigational system but my argument was that I could take it anywhere and you never know when you would need it. I rented a car for the weekend in Chicago. I have to tell you it was so refreshing not having to rely on anyone for directions. I was able to get around with relative ease, visiting family and friends, just by putting in their address and letting the RoadMate 2000 guide me. I found out more about Chicago in that one weekend than I did in all the previous years of visiting combined. It made a painful visit less stressful. Thank You Magellan!