Magellan RoadMate 300

The Magellan RoadMate 300 is an affordable, comprehensive system. It has all the functionality that one would expect from a satellite navigation system of this type.

It is easily transferred from one car to another, and with voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions is easy to use as well.

The touch-screen menu makes controlling the system straight-forward. The RoadMate 300 is ready to go straight out of the box - you can navigate to any location on the map without having to first link the RoadMate 300 to any PC.

Mapping for the UK, together with a large Points of Interest (POI) database come pre-installed on an SD memory card. It is possible to purchase maps for other countries/regions as these are all stored on removable SD memory cards. Points of Interest are separated into categories and cover such places as Petrol Stations, Hotels, Restaurants, and Post Offices etc. They are the ideal companion for any long journey as they allow the user to quickly locate the nearest amenity and navigate to it - running low on fuel - just choose the nearest petrol station and the RoadMate 300 will seamlessly navigate your vehicle to it.

Multiple stops (waypoints) are simple with the RoadMate 300 Trip Planner – your route can be pre-programmed prior to your journey and the RoadMate. The RoadMate will then take you from one destination to the next without having to continuously program in new destinations.

Voice guided directions are given with voices coming in a variety of different languages, such English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.

The RoadMate 300 allows you to store up to 200 destinations for a maximum of 3 users, giving a total of some 600 destinations which should be adequate for most users. The RoadMate 300 calculates the route to your destination in one of four ways - shortest time route, avoiding toll roads, most use of motorways and least use of motorways.

If you should go off the planned route - either by accident or on purpose - the RoadMate 300 will automatically calculate a newly optimised route to your destination taking account of your current position. This is a good feature as it allows you to leave the current route - maybe due to congestion ahead - and the RoadMate 300 will calculate a new route without any user input.

It is also possible to exclude certain parts of the route from your journey - ideal if you are aware of congestion or hold-ups prior to starting your journey.

If there is congestion ahead, simply click to avoid that part of the route and system will re-route you. "Instant Location" is also a feature of the RoadMate 300 – in an emergency e.g. vehicle breakdown, the system will tell you your exact location to help the breakdown or emergency services locate you.

The RoadMate 300 is a good, solid performer and is worthy of consideration.