Thales Navigation's Magellan RoadMate is smaller than a tri-corder and lighter than a Stephen King novel. The device is a completely self-contained GPS system that provides highly detailed topographical maps of the continental United States and Canada, as well as 3-D route displays.
The ultimate in user-friendly technology, plotting a turn-by-turn course to virtually anywhere in North America is as simple as turning on the power and entering in an address on the RoadMate's vivid 2.25" x 3.0" color touchscreen. During a test run at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, CA, the press was invited to try out the product. After clearing the museum's concrete parking structure, which blocked the GPS signal as expected, the RoadMate was quickly back online; its soothing voice prompts whisked us to our destination. We repeatedly disregarded the RoadMate's instructions on the way back and each time the device plotted an alternate route in seconds. The RoadMate gives real-time updates on route changes and quickly admonishes the driver of any mistakes (if only it could warn you not to drive to your ex-girlfriend's house at 2 in the morning).
There are two versions of the RoadMate, the 700 and 500 series, with the key difference being the 700 series' built-in map data, whereas the 500 series comes with four CD-ROMs, from which map data for different regions of the continent must be downloaded. As you might expect you do pay extra for the convenience of having your complete map information preloaded with the 700 series. Otherwise both versions are equally simple to use and may be transferred from vehicle to vehicle. In addition, they are completely portable, lacking connecting wires of any kind. There are also practical dash and windshield mounts available plus your choice of color faceplates.
Pros
Its compact size is only one of the virtues of the Magellan RoadMate. The designers have taken the time to create features that not only make road travel as efficient as possible, but which can actually enhance the traveling experience. The stern but comforting computerized female voice-prompt is almost pre-emptive in its ability to sense when you're about to deviate from your appointed course. Even then the system will find a way to get you to where you need to go.
The system's on-board computer contains over two million points of interest: shops, parks, gas stations and restaurants. There are compact flash memory cards available that increase the system's data storage space from 128 to 512MB. Routes can be calculated in any of four different ways: Shortest Time, Shortest Distance, Least Use of Freeways or Most Use of Freeways. The color LCD is bright and with extra large text clearly visible day and night. The text input is intuitive, with the keypad automatically deselecting the letters least likely to be used in the spelling of your destination. A built-in address book can store up to 100 addresses, saving the best routes to your frequent destinations. The system works better than one would imagine and entering locations is straightforward and to the point. The logistical problems of voice-recognition technology are the last hurdle to circumvent and the people at Thales are sure to add that functionality as advances permit. The Instant Locate feature places your current location in the event of an emergency. An array of 12 geo-synchronous satellites offers a wide umbrella of signal coverage, reducing system downtime to a minimum.
Cons
The price is prohibitive for the kind of people that would probably benefit most from this product (those with the budget will most likely opt for integrated nav systems in their various rides). The "custom" faceplates leave much to be desired as we can't see consciously choosing to stick a simulated wood grain-covered hunk of plastic to our dashboards. Any car equipped with tinted or heat-reflective windshields will probably also need the external antenna in order to insure solid signal reception. The device wisely disengages from interactive use while the car is in motion, reducing the chance of an accident, but you'd better know a little about where you're going otherwise you'll be pulling over a lot.
Phat Noise
Expanding Your Musical CapacityOn paper, PhatNoise fits all of my requirements: it integrates into the stock head unit, is easy to install, and it has removable media and the ability to contain my music catalog. For those who have a CD changer, the installation process is very simple: remove two screws at the top of the protective case, slide out the CD changer, remove the CD carrier, remove CDs, replace carrier, and unplug CD changer. The two brackets attached to the CD changer are reused and mounted to the PhatNoise housing.
To install the PhatNoise system, attach the adapter cable to PhatNoise, insert the DMS (Digital Music Storage) cartridge, attach the adapter cable to the existing CD harness (making sure the cable connector fits in the protective hanger), wait a few seconds until the lights go out, turn on the car's power, switch the audio system into CD mode, and start playing music.
The power of PhatNoise is not only in the hardware, it's in the software. It comes bundled with a CD and Music Manager software that prepares and catalogs audio files from your CD collection. If your computer has an Internet connection, Phat Noise can even download the CD artist/track data from Gracenote CDDB database. This saves you the time of entering the track information, which is later used to create playlists.
The playlists are presented to the user via a computer-generated voice, which tells you the mode of operation you're using (browse, artist, genre, etc.) and the current CD followed by titles. Once you're in a playing mode, the songs are presented seamlessly.
As mentioned, PhatNoise stores the music on a removable media cartridge, in this case a 20GB hard drive contained in a proprietary housing. The data is loaded onto the cartridge via a USB docking cradle. The docking cradle uses a USB 2.0 connection for faster transfer. If your PC has an older USB 1.0 port, an inexpensive upgrade card can be installed to greatly improve transfer speeds.
The first step is to install the PhatNoise software from the included CD; upon restart, the USB dock can be connected. When you first run the software, it will ask if you want to register, followed by a message for upgrading to the new PhatNoise 2.0 software (free). The software has some additional features, such as ripping audio files straight to the DMS cartridge.
The easy-to-use software can search your hard drive and subfolders for audio files that can be added to your collection. Once you have dragged and dropped the files into artists/playlists, simply choose "save and eject" to copy the files to the DMS. The DMS can then be returned to the PhatNoise system for your listening enjoyment. As a point of interest, PhatNoise works with both MP3 and WMA file formats. A side note: the PhatNoise software is designed to work with PCs running Windows 98, second edition or newer, or through emulation on Mac OS 9+ with Virtual PC/Win 98.
For the consummate audiophile, or the everyday person, it's easy to exceed the storage capabilities of some on-board solutions. PhatNoise is probably just the thing you have been searching for. It offers convenience (editing and saving playlists are a snap), compatibility and that cool factor.
PhatNoise is available for a variety of cars. See www.phatnoise.com for a complete list.
PhatNoise has also introduced two new products to complement its line of PhatNoise PhatBox Digital Music Players. The first is the PhatNoise Home Digital Media Player, a DVD player-sized audio system that uses a PhatNoise DMS cartridge to store MP3-, WMA-, Wav- and FLAC-format files for hours of continuous play. Audio is sent to one's home stereo via the digital audio output (coaxial) or analog RCA plugs. There are S-video and composite connectors for viewing the browser-based interface on a television display. A smaller integrated LCD display serves a similar function. There is a USB plug for future networking capabilities. The second product is the PocketBox, a USB keychain storage device-sized media player that plays MP3- and WMA-format files, as well as digital voice recording. The plug-and-play USB flash drive connector easily imports songs from your digital music collection and displays info on the three-line LCD display.