Best Investment For My Iphone Yet! Reviewed by P Miller from USA on 02/03/2010 11:36 pm
I bought the Magellan Premium Car Iphone Kit yesterday and received it. The car Kit is by far the best navigation system for the iphone. What I like best is that fact that I don't have to remove my case from my iphone when I use the car kit. That was the deciding factor when I was choosing between the TomTom iPhone car kit and the Megellan iPhone car Kit. I am absolutely glad I bought this. It's easy to put together and operate. I definitely would recommend this to anyone that has an iPhone or Touch and looking to purchase a Car Kit to use with a navigation app.
Accuracy
5
Ease of use
5
Durability
5
Cost/Benefit
4
Overall Rating
4.8
Great Car kit with Navigon App Reviewed by JJ from NC on 02/01/2010 04:46 pm
This car kit really makes my navigon app a whole lot better. I recommend this to anyone who has the navigon app.
I know it is a magellan car kit but it is designed for the iphon and read every where that it works great with tomtom and navigon apps and it does.
Thanks
JJ
Accuracy
5
Ease of use
5
Durability
5
Cost/Benefit
4
Overall Rating
4.8
Magellan iPhone Car Kit Reviewed by William L from NY on 01/19/2010 01:31 pm
Outstanding cradle for the iphone, a must have if you use your iphone with magellan or tomtoms gps app.
I found that autonavdirect had the best price as magellan site charged shipping fees and amazon super saver shipping is very slow.
Got my magellan iPhone car kit from autonavdirect in only 3 days.
Thank You
Accuracy
5
Ease of use
5
Durability
5
Cost/Benefit
4
Overall Rating
4.8
Magellan I phone car kit Reviewed by Jonathan from GA on 01/13/2010 05:15 pm
I love my new Magellan car kit for iphone.At first I was not sure about getting it for my iphone, but after viewing some demo videos online I realized it was a must have for me. Went to magellan to order it and was recommended to autonavdirect and got it from them very quickly. If you have an iphone with the roadmate app, get the car kit and you will not be disappointed. Great design and really enhances my iphone.
Accuracy
5
Ease of use
5
Durability
5
Cost/Benefit
5
Overall Rating
5.0
A wonderful GPS enhanced mounting solution for iPhone and iPod owners Reviewed by Gil from UT on 01/13/2010 05:14 pm
I received my Magellan premium car kit finally. I have already downloaded the Magellan GPS app from the iTune store and I'm very excited about how wonderful this car kit functions.
Not sure about some of the other reviewers but this Magellan car kit makes my iPhone so much better with much louder audio volume, I had to turn the volume down on the car kit because it was too loud.
The Bluetooth paired up quickly and the GPS reception is so much better when the iPhone is connected to the Magellan car kit.
This is the perfect solution since my family owns 5 iPhones, mostly 3Gs and not everyone own a GPS, with this Magellan car kit, we can share the car kit between our iPhones when someone needs to take a trip.
We all use protective cases and it's great that it is not necessary to remove our phones from the protective cases when we mount the iPhone to the car kit. This is a huge plus and a great design from Magellan.
I feel some reviewers may look into the mirror instead of blaming Magellan if they don't understand this car kit was probably designed for convenience more than cost savings. When they paid the $129 for the hardware, they should not expect the software to be included with the hardware.
The option is they can buy the Motion X software for $2.99 and use this car kit with a 3rd party navigation software and still enjoy the better GPS reception and BT features along with excellent audio volume output.
There will be some reviewers that may be disappointed but I would guess more will be delighted to find such options for their iPhones as the Magellan premium car kit.
I'm tired of carrying a cell phone and a GPS, and with this Magellan car kit, it made my life much more enjoyable.
Thank you Magellan for introducing us to this wonderful GPS solution for our iPhones.
Accuracy
5
Ease of use
5
Durability
5
Cost/Benefit
4
Overall Rating
4.8
Magellan Iphone Car kit is GREAT Reviewed by Paul P from CA on 01/12/2010 10:08 pm
I could not be happier with this new item that magellan came out with. I figured it would be great for the roadmate app I got on my iphone, but did not realize how great it is for other apps and cell phone use in my car.
If you are looking to get one look no further as AutoNavDirect is the best in the business. My item was shipped out same day as I ordered it and got it in record time. I read a review online that magellan took almost a week to ship it out.
Trust me on this one, Get this and you will love the item and AutoNavDirect.com
Accuracy
5
Ease of use
5
Durability
5
Cost/Benefit
3
Overall Rating
4.5
Great iPhone GPS solution from Magellan Reviewed by PND4ME aka GPS4ME from San Jose, CA on 12/29/2009 04:03 pm
Magellan Premium Car Kit vs. TomTom Car Kit for iPhone:
I was fortunate enough to be sent a Magellan Premium Car Kit in advance for review and I already have a TomTom Car Kit for iPhone for some time so I like to offer my initial opinion on both of these iPhone enhancement products.
I was initially stunned by the price of this new Magellan Car Kit at the price of $129.99 since I feel these days with the cost of GPS being as low as $59, why would anyone buy an extra piece of hardware for their iPhone at $130?
I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels this way but I thought about it and found I have already invested well over the $130 Magellan is asking for the Car Kit on individual iPhone accessories such as a DC car charger, Bluetooth hands free car kit, windshield /dash mount, protective case (Skin) cover etc. So why am I so surprised when I see this $130 price? I guess part of it is sticker shock, I purchased each accessory individually and the cost of a DC car charger, or a BT hands free car kit from Costco was not over $100 and I guess that was the difference.
Understanding this concept would make you understand better how HP can charge only $1,000 for a laser printer and justify charging $125 each for the replacement ink cartridge and imaging drum etc. I guess it is the convenience of having something already and sticking with what you have.
So with my iPhone 3GS 32 GB, it is the convenience of having everything in one package, my DC car charger, BT hands free car kit, Windshield/Dash mount, amp out speaker and aux audio out option is not more reasonable than if I was to compare it to a $59 PND because the $59 PND cannot do what an iPhone can and the convenience makes all the difference in the world.
OK, enough with my reasoning as to why I can justify buying a $130 Magellan Car Kit and a $119 TomTom Car Kit, besides being extremely passionate about PND’s, this category excites me because I feel the future is in these Mobile Internet Devices (MID) and not so much so as with these PND’s.
When I opened the attractive retail package Magellan sent me, I was not disappointed with the quality and forethoughts that went into the design of this Magellan Car Kit. I’m not saying TomTom’s Car Kit is inferior but what I do find is the Magellan Car Kit offer much more options and feels much more solid than the TomTom Car Kit.
Don’t get me wrong, they both work, but depending on how much you value your iPhone, a protective skin is almost mandatory yet you are unable to use it with the TomTom Car Kit and it requires you to make the extra effort of removing the protective skin or cover before you can mount it into the TomTom Car Kit. In my book that is more wear on your protective cover by having to remove and reinstall each and every time you wish to use your TomTom Car Kit, and also it’s an accident waiting to happen if and when your iPhone slips out of your hand and land on something that will either dent the case or worst cracked the screen. Why take the unnecessary risk and extra time when you can bypass all the trouble by using the Magellan Car Kit?
I don’t work for Magellan nor am I paid by Magellan, I have been a GPS / PND enthusiast for over 15 years and own just about every model GPS that was made available from Garmin Magellan and TomTom, so I have a fair amount of knowledge as to what works and what don’t.
Each of these products have their limitations and strengths, from what I can see the noticeable difference between the TomTom Car Kit and a Magellan Car Kit is obvious.
1] Price = TomTom Car Kit win at $10 less
2] Flexibility = Magellan Car Kit win hands down with not requiring to remove protective covering when mounting into the Car Kit.
3] Volume/Sound Quality = Magellan wins over TomTom on this one since Magellan’s sound quality have more bass and offer better audio quality than the TomTom
4] Using 3rd party GPS applications = Magellan seems to be easier since it does not require you to download the free TomTom Car Kit tool software. I tried it with different applications such as Navigon software, Motion X etc and the Magellan Car Kit appears to function just fine without doing anything but putting your iPhone in the Car Kit and launching the 3rd party applications.
5] Bluetooth sync = It was not as easy for TomTom since the code for pairing is 5555 and not the more standard 0000 or 1234. Magellan sync easily. Once the BT sync they both work.
6] Microphone sound quality = TomTom Car Kit win on this one, the sound quality on the other end of the call is clearer but the audio portion from the Car Kit speaker is not as clear as the Magellan Car Kit.
7] Mounting options = Both have the option to mount to the windshield or on the dash with a dash mount disc, locking the mounting suction cup have different methods, TomTom uses a twist while Magellan utilized the standard tab lever method.
8] Mounting angle option = Although both suction cup offers tons of flexibility as to mounting angles, once the windshield mount is locked into position, the TomTom offers more angles than the Magellan Car Kit, the Magellan Car Kit offer only 90 degrees and 180 degrees mounting angles while TomTom cradle is adjustable to many different angles after the windshield mount is secured. The concern I have here is how long will the moving parts last. TomTom Car Kit offer more option but seems to me that it may also loosen up over time and vibrate or have premature failures.
Overall, I believe it really depends on what you are expecting as to which iPhone Car Kit may be right for you. I would say if you want a more flexible iPhone mounting Car Kit solution without having to remove your protective cover/case/skin and one with better audio quality then the Magellan Premium Car Kit would be the obvious choice.
If price is a concern, then the TomTom Car Kit for iPhone may be good enough.
For me, I own a lot of different PND make and models and I have both of these iPhone Car Kits and both the Magellan and TomTom GPS applications. I feel these iPhone GPS applications are as good if not better than a standalone PND solution and with the Magellan Premium Car Kit option, it just completes the package.
Disclaimer: I’m not a Magellan or TomTom employee, nor am I paid by the company to write these opinions.
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