Magellan RoadMate 1430 Review (GPSmagazine.com)

19. Screen Brightness

Figure 78: Testing the Screen Brightness

In order to test the RoadMate's screen brightness, I used a Mastech Digital 4-range luxmeter (LX1330B), capable of accurately measuring from 0 up to 200,000 lux. A luxmeter is used for checking the level of illuminance, defined as: 'the density of the luminous flux incident on a surface'. It is the quotient of the luminous flux by the area of the surface when the latter is uniformly illuminated. - (E = df / dA).

This luxmeter has a rated accuracy of ±3% ±10 digits.

The RoadMate was placed in a controlled lighting area, and the luxmeter's sensor was held 12-inches away from the LCD display, with the light sensor horizontally facing the screen. The GPS was set to the Main Menu during the light reading. Measurements were taken three times, and the average was used.

The RoadMate's screen registered 88 lux on the meter. The screen appeared bright, and easy to see when driving. The RoadMate's screen was very slightly dimmer than the Maestro 3250, which scored 92 lux, although the difference was not noticeable to my eye.

20. Speaker Loudness

Figure 79: Measuring Speaker Volume

In order to accurately measure the RoadMate 1430's loudness, an Extech Type 2 digital sound level meter was used. This type 2 sound level meter meets ANSI and IEC 651 Type 2 standards, and has a rated accuracy of ±1.5dB.

The sound meter was setup on a tripod spaced 12-inches (measured horizontally from the face of the LCD display to the tip of the sound meter) from the GPS.

The volume was set to maximum on each GPS tested, and the sound level meter was set to capture the peak level over a 2 minute period.

	Distance	dB A
RoadMate 1430	12"	78.3
Maestro 3250	12"	85.4
Garmin nuvi 785	12"	75.4

The RoadMate 1430 was roughly equal in loudness to the Garmin nuvi 785. Magellan's Maestro 3250 was "louder", but sounds quality wasn't as good, and the voice became tinny and distorted at maximum volume.

I occasionally found the RoadMate 1430 difficult to hear when traveling in a car at highway speeds. Although, the voice quality was crisp and distortion free even at maximum volume.

21. Pros

Good routing engine
New, improved windshield mount
Good text-to-speech voice quality
Traffic antenna is built-in to the 12v adapter
Ability to use Zip codes when entering addresses or searching for POIs
Supports multi-destination routing (trips), and route optimization (sorts the stops by distance)
Four different routing methods to choose from: Fastest Time, Shortest Distance, Least Use of Freeways, Most Use of Freeways (Although it would be nice if the GPS would display estimated drive times for each of the four methods so you could make a more educated choice about which method to select)
Where am i? feature provides one-click viewing of your current location, time of day, speed, direction of travel, and also is an easy way to save your current location into the address book for future use (even if your current location doesn't have a valid street address)
Ability to exclude specific roads from the route
Map displays arrival time, remaining time, and remaining distance
Shows direction of next upcoming turn
Fast power-up
Slim design. Fits nicely in a coat pocket.
TrueView shows 3d and 2d rendering of upcoming turn
Touch screen is very sensitive, requiring only a light touch to register commands
QuickSpell text entry system makes typing addresses and business names a snap
6 million POIs
Exit POIs feature lets you see what restaurants, gas stations and hotels, if any, are available at each highway exit (only available when driving on a highway)

22. Cons

Poor customer support
Speed limit information not displayed on the map
Can't search for POIs while navigating to a destination; have to cancel the current route to do a POI search (you can use exit poi to see pois at upcoming exits, though)
No way to manually invoke the TrueView of upcoming turns
Bright blue LED on 12v power adapter too bright at night
No QWERTY keyboard layout option
No way to search for a POI near the destination address
No way to manually invoke night mode
Night Mode only darkens the map screen. All other menus remain in the (blindingly bright) blue theme used in regular daytime mode
Frequent false traffic alerts
No QuickSpell feature for POI searches
Can't insert a single stop along a route
Passive windshield mount
No Bluetooth, AAA TourData, or Voice Recognition, all of which are included in the similarly priced Magellan Maestro 4250

23. Conclusion

Magellan's RoadMate 1430 is a slim, nicely designed GPS that is easy to use. The included 12v power adapter has an integrated traffic receiver, and the Magellan includes 3-months of free traffic service, after which it'll cost about $40/year to continue receiving traffic alerts.

The RoadMate 1430 uses a new, lower-profile windshield mount that works better than mounts used in previous Magellan models. It's still not a powered mount, so you'll have to connect the power and traffic cables to the GPS instead of the windshield mount.

Navigating with the RoadMate 1430 is a breeze. The unit feels fast and responsive. You can literally enter text as quickly as you can type. Magellan's QuickSpell feature makes entering street names a snap, only allowing you to press letters that will spell a valid street or city name. The RoadMate 1430 speaks actual street names, and I found the text-to-speech quality quite good. I also loved the handy "Where Am I?" feature that displays your current address and proximity to major roads and services, and I appreciated Magellan's split-screen "TrueView" of upcoming turns.

Routing on the RoadMate 1430 was generally very good, although it did appear to have trouble efficiently handling missed turns. For example, when I would miss a turn, the RoadMate would often prefer U-turns or time consuming circular paths instead of simply re-routing along the new path.

The RoadMate 1430 doesn't display speed limit information on the map -- a handy feature found on many similarly priced GPS devices. Also missing is lane position information, the ability to add a stop along a route, and the ability to search for POIs while en route to a destination.

Compared to the SiRF StarIII GPS chipset used on Magellan's higher-end Maestro models, the RoadMate's Centrality AtlasIII took longer to acquire the initial signal, and occasionally had difficulty tracking accurately on the map (which would sometimes cause the unit to recalculate the route, even if I hadn't missed a turn). Still, GPS signal performance was overall quite strong, and I had no trouble getting signals behind tall building or in bad weather.

As of this writing, the RoadMate 1430 is priced about the same as the Magellan Maestro 4250, which is odd considering the Maestro is supposed to be Magellan's higher-end product line. Given the current pricing, many buyers will undoubtedly be confused as to which they should buy: the Maestro 4250 or the RoadMate 1430? The RoadMate 1430 doesn't have Bluetooth, voice recognition, or AAA TourBook data, has less memory, and uses a slightly lower performance GPS chipset than the Maestro. However, in my testing the RoadMate 1430 was actually faster to use, had newer maps, and exhibited more sophisticated routing logic, making it an overall stronger navigator. That said, you do get more features for the same money with the Maestro 4250. Buyers more concerned with core navigation capabilities than features should probably favor the RoadMate 1430 over the Maestro 4250. Those willing to sacrifice some speed and usability quirks in exchange for more features might prefer the Maestro 4250.

Magellan's RoadMate 1430 offers text-to-speech, traffic, a large POI database, and pre-loaded maps of the US and Canada in a slim, widescreen GPS that's easy to use. The RoadMate 1430's pricing will inevitably come down over the next few months, making it an even more compelling choice.