Magellan GPS Reviews

I attempted to update maps as many others have and a third party chat support attempted to assist with the process. Their assistance managed to wipe everything from my unit and was unable to restore it. I sent an email to Magellan support advising what had happened. They informed me that Magellan is not affiliated with any third party support and don't do phone or chat support. All support is done through email because email support helps them keep detailed records about all issues in one place and ensures their ability to retain the chain of events as it occurs as well as our communications with their support team. Unfortunately they don't take the time to go through that chain of events.

Recently I experience the same problem other customers are going through with Magellan GPS unit. I turn on my unit and it read: Unfortunately, SmartGPS Combo has stopped. After several attempts trying to get it to load I called Magellan Technical Support and was surprise that they no longer offer Tech Support :(. I feel that the company should have sent out a e-mail notice to all of existing customers and gave us heads-up warning about their product or their issues they're having within their company! Now, I have spent my hard earn $$ money on another gadget that is no longer useful (junk). I feel that Magellan should offer a refund or replacement of all units that no longer works! I am a registered user and I'm sure they have my e-mail address. I hope all readers who reads this band together. I was always told: If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. :)

I must confess that I am not technically adept but I was able to easily use my previous GPS. I was unable to get the Roadmate to locate an address - it located gas stations, restaurants, etc. but not an address. For a senior the keypad was so small that I was frequently hitting the wrong key - no way I could keep it in the dash holder and type - had to take it down. Downloaded online manual and it was of little to no use to me - bottom line is I cannot use the unit and as they cannot be returned I gave it away.

The advertising sounds good with "Lifetime Map updates". Read the terms, a Magellan lifetime is 3 years. Goes by quickly and then you have a device with inaccurate maps. From what I can see on the website I cannot purchase new updates. Planned obsolescence.

DO NOT BUY MAGELLAN GPS devices!!! their customer service is non-existent. My Magellan GPS was acting up a little, but not to bad, so I downloaded the “Recovery Tool” for my device, followed the instructions exactly, which wiped and reset my device. However, when it was done “recovering”, there were no maps loaded (none at all). Other than that the unit was working great. I connected it to my PC and went to the spartgpseco.com site using the Chrome browser. Logged in, the site recognized my unit, applied a newer firmware update. But when all was done and over, my device still had zero maps loaded.

Keeps getting lost. Will not recalculate. Wants to route you somewhere else. Complete wrong direction. Then when you get close to your destination - it starts giving correct directions. ME - I'm going to throw it away and purchase a TomTom. Have had 2 of them before and they always worked fine.

I ordered an Magellan Roadmate GPS, model #5375T-LMB, to replace the 8 year old Magellan 2145T GPS I already own but could not update. I did have years of great service from that GPS, but figured it was time to upgrade. Yesterday, 10/1/18 I received my new #5375T GPS. To my surprise, not only are every link supplied for customer support no longer active, I am encountering the exact same problem with linking my computer to the new GPS as I was with my old GPS. I have spent hours trying to just register it, with no luck at all. I even tried a different computer. The SmartGPS ECO program will not load, nor will the Magellan web site even notice the GPS is plugged into my computer. It has me running in a continuous loop.

Company is trash, the site, the login, the phone numbers, the free updates, contact information is all bogus, there is no way to contact them, either to complain or praise. They do not want contact. Worst company I have ever dealt with.

I bought a Magellen RoadMate 3065 LT from Canadian Tire in 2014. I bought it because This unit had Lifetime map upgrade, however Magellan says Lifetime updates mean 3 years. After 3 years of use, the unit is now considered obsolete and not eligible for any map updates. I feel lifetime map updates should be longer than just 3 years! I feel as though I was lied too. They should have advertises 3 years map updates, not lifetime updates.

I tried for 45 minutes to get through to Magellan to purchase a part for the mount for a Roadmate RM2622-LM. There is no parts list available. The warehouse sales page shows the specific GPS, but the mounting accessory shown is obviously the wrong one. When I tried to reach customer service, putting in my email and password several times, it would log me in, and I could update my information. The process to register the new GPS failed because the program download had an error. When I tried several times to get a service request to ask for help to get the part, I kept getting ‘Server Error’ messages. Magellan GPS does not do service!

I had two Magellan Roadmates that were 1 yr old and the batteries swelled up 1" and split the units so they didn't work. At that time Magellan had an online chat option so they said send them in by courier and they would replace them ($50 for shipping). That was Jan. 2018. 9 months later and still nothing and there is no way to contact the company. I tried sending emails to the email address they originally provided me but the responses stopped in Feb 2018. STAY AWAY from any of Magellan products! I tell everyone I can to NOT buy any Magellan products.

I started the updates from the office site. It then stopped right in the middle and now I can't use my device at all. It would be nice if someone could contact me so I could send it in for you to fix free of charge being as it was your program that ** it all to hell.

I purchased the 3045 several years ago as my first ever GPS. It served me well as far as I knew, however when it came time to update I was never able to make it work on my iMac. I had the newest OS and I also had two Macs. I wound up giving it to a coworker who used a PC and updated it. A year or so ago I also received a 9616T-LM as a gift. The larger screen and better graphics made it preferable to the 3045 except that it seemed to constantly lose the satellite signals when I was driving. I was also against a brick wall with updates. I did manage to open a dialog with them and they offered to help, something that took several months for them to finally get around to.

I had purchased a Magellan GPS 3045-LM with a lifetime map updates. I have not been able to do an update since the new SmartGPSEco software was implemented although the program tells me that there are updates available, in checking the Magellan website I learned that know they have a disclaimer that the useful life of a GPS is only 3 years hence maps will only be updated during that period as follows:

I purchased this Magellan 5230 LM unit because it has both a gps and a dash cam. The first one was for my vehicle and the second was for my wife's car. After about a year they both quit, so I purchased two more after contacting Magellan, even though I was only a few day out of warranty on one of them, they would not help me. I couldn't even send it in for repairs and pay for it myself. Again, just shortly after the warranty period the new gps's failed. All four GPS's had screen problems. If you touched the left corner, it registered as a touch in the middle of the screen. In some parts of the screen it would not detect any presses. They have always been slow starting up right out of the box, and acquiring a signal takes some time.

I have been using the Roadmate GPS for a few weeks and found that the map was extremely outdated. I have purchased the device in 2018 but the map was 2004. I tried using their new web based content management to update the map but it kept giving an "insufficient storage" error similar to many others that have reviewed the Magellan devices. After countless hours of trial and error I was finally able to create a workaround that would fix the issue. For everyone else that has been tortured by this issue I created a YouTube video to help you out: **. Magellan needs to get its act together and find a viable solution as their technical support team is nonresponsive.

I purchased a RoadMate GPS unit at Best Buy in Houston TX more than a year ago. I did so because I liked the bigger display and the panorama screen. The imagery was attractive and the onscreen navigation intuitive. I was a happy customer in the making. Until I wasn't. Problem #1. Updating maps. A nightmare. A third-party website without logical, understandable instructions. Downloads that failed. Failure that screwed up the operating system. Ultimately requiring a complete reinstall of both operating system + maps. Called customer support. Horrible experience.

My uncle gave my mother a Magellan RoadMate 5120-LMTX. You have to use the SmartGPSEco.com website to update map. The plug-in only works for Chrome web browser and not Firefox even though it is suppose to work for both. Even when the plugin works, it takes forever to download the map. The plugin and/or website doesn't recognize that the 5120 is plugged in even though I am using a mini USB data cable that came with a newer Garmin GPS. The link for their Recovery Tool software is broken. Overall an awful experience.

I am trying to use the Magellan update manager to update my Magellan GPS Roadmate 2036 and have not had any success installing the software on my machine. The logs are cryptic, the error messages are worse and customer support (god knows where they are) wants to have remote session to your machine which is not acceptable to many people in this age of security hacks. I will continue to examine their software and try to solve the problem myself. It would be nice if they can tell you anywhere how to trace and debug the software. We do not need, God who knows who with strange accents and not very trustworthy names, to access our devices where we keep our financial information and other things. Grow up Magellan if you want to compete.

I have had the Roadmate 5120-LMTX for years. Trying to get the content manager to recognize the GPS unit or even logging into my account fails every time. Recently I learned of a new content management site set up for replacing on computer Content Manager program. Went there, registered, had to download a file to install so the site could recognize my GPS device. Did that, installed ok, rebooted computer, went to site again and my GPS is not seen or recognized by the site. Went through reinstalling the file as recommended, retried on the website without success. SO MUCH FOR MAGELLAN GPS LIFETIME UPDATES!!! Thales Navigation is terrible at supporting their products and I will NEVER purchase ANYTHING Magellan again.

We have owned a Magellan Road Mate vehicle GPS for several years. The left side of the touchscreen suddenly became unresponsive so we are unable to use the 'back' button and a number of letters on the keyboard to type in locations. Contacting someone at Magellan proved to be very difficult. Their customer service line is disconnected, no one answers the phone at their head office, and it took one week to get a response to our online request for assistance. In the end, we were told that Magellan does not provide help to customers 12 months after the purchase date. Overall, exceptionally poor customer service.

Their support number is disconnected, they do not answer emails to support, they do not monitor their social media. In fact it is not updated for months. The lifetime maps will not download. Their local BBB sent them my complaint and they did not respond to either of two BBB communications over a 60 day period. I have to conclude they are out of business. My recommendation is to try to contact them before you give them your money. There are a lot of better choices in my opinion that hold a lot less risk.

I purchased a Magellan 5230T-LM for my daughter. When I went into the Magellan site to update my maps I was told that I would have to pay for the map update. I submitted a ticket to Magellan support and was told that my device did not come with lifetime updates and was told to sent a picture of the box (which I had thrown out) or some proof that it came with lifetime updates. I responded with a picture showing the model number and serial number showing that is should come with lifetime updates. 1 week later they sent me directions on how to update my unit.

I purchased a new Magellan GPS in Nov of 2017 and just opened it May 2018. When I registered it, it stated I should update the maps. I tried and it failed due to insufficient space. I tried to use it and I keep getting the message address search not available. I contacted support and they told me to use a micro sd card. I purchased the micro sd card and continued to get the same error. They then said to delete the existing map and do it again, which I did and still received the same message. They never responded when I informed them that that didn't work either. I now own a brand new GPS that is worthless.

I've had several Magellan GPS's. A major problem is that when a newer device is offered for sale, the company immediately drops all support for anything older. No drivers, no software --- just try to find a manual for a SporTrak on the Magellan site. If you call support with an issue, the response is to buy the newer unit. Once a GPS device is no longer offered for sale, it's like it never existed if you visit the Magellan site, or call support. If you do get support, it's about money --- everything costs. Magellan wants money for what other GPS makers offer for free.

The Magellan RoadMate 5330T-LM was a 3 year anniversary work gift for my wife. She received it Last January. Worked kind of OK until around November/December, but kept forgetting to notify Magellan. The touchscreen was out of sync. Contacted Magellan in February of 2018 with all of the product info and that it was a gift and the date it was registered was the date it was received. All I wanted to know was how to calibrate the screen-- had the same problem with a Garmin GPS and they have a way to recalibrate. Have emailed back and forth with Magellan February through March and now they won't reply to me. All I want to know is how to recalibrate, or how much it will cost to send it to them to fix/replace. And now the unit will not turn on.

I purchased the Roadmate RV9490T-LMB a week before going on our trip. We never got it to work, when we came back a couple of month later I left the Unit in the motorhome and forgot about till we were going on our trip this year. I had major problems with the map update, it would not register on any of my computers. I contacted the support team, which totally gave me the runaround. Any phone numbers they gave me advised to contact then per e-mail, which I have over 20 e-mails with no result. Then in this last March 2018 they advised me to return the unit which I did and they had received the unit in 2 days.

Worst company for customer service. I did the map update last weekend and it didn’t work. Now the maps aren’t there and it is a useless ornament on an ambulance dashboard. I have emailed Magellan several times. The only response I received was a request for more information. I replied to the email with a follow up on their website. This was Monday. To date I have not had any reply. I cannot find a customer support phone number that works. This is a useless company who will never get another dime of my money. Definitely buyer beware.

How to get your old Magellan GPS to be recognized by SmartGPS Eco website By Walt ** (Magellan ought to give me a few new GPS for figuring this out for all their customers). I own a Roadmate RV9365T-LMB and a Roadmate 2230T-LM. I bought them new and have been ticked off for at least 4 years now that they wouldn’t update. This is ever since they started using the SmartGPS Eco website. Well, after screwing around for several days and many hours, here is what I came up with and it worked to update both my Roadmates. Now I am just ticked at the company that since 2012 they have determined there is no need to update the RM 2230T-LM map only the software.

As with other Magellan users, they changed their Map Update program to SmartGPS Eco from Content Manager. It no longer recognizes the RoadMate-5045-LTM and I suspect other legacy products. Calling the help center directed me to an India site that tells you your drivers are defective and for a price of $80 for a three year contract, they will correct the drivers and set up a new universal GPS map download program that works. Of course, the USB driver is working just fine and SmartGPS Eco program sees the GPS but just doesn't recognize it.

I called Magellan support. They connected me to a gate. They said they needed to fix my drivers in my laptop for a certain price. I needed to fix them so they could download the map updates then they said they needed another certain amount of money to send me the CD so I can put it in my laptop and download it into my RoadMate 1700. It's been a month now haven't received no CD. I live in Louisville Kentucky. Magellan is in California. It don't take a month to receive a CD. I told him I was very unhappy and I who wanted a refund they said it would be a couple of days. Well we'll see. I bet it don't happen so don't let them scam you too.

Magellan Roadmate N509M-5000 - Garbage device. Right out of the box it does work but will say turn left, go 9k, pull a u-turn, go back to exactly where you were, and turn left heading north back in the direction I was already going on the exact same street. Updates... never worked. I am an IT specialist and this stupid thing won't stay connected to any of my main machine's ports (USB 3 or 2) using different cables. Tried other computers. Same thing. Keeps connecting and disconnecting. My digital camcorder stays connected using the same cable, same ports, for 6+ hours to transfer 128GB of data yet this thing can't even stay connected to update a map.

Bought the Trx7 GPS 2 weeks ago. First day of setting it up had some problems with it wanting to connect to GPS and called them. They answered and talked me through it and everything worked fine. I was trying to download Spotify to my unit with no luck and messaged them about the problem. It's been a week and no answer to the email. In the meantime I have called 5 days straight and no answer and no callback. I don't understand how it is so hard to just answer a simple question. I will never purchase anything from Magellan again. That's for sure.

I bought the Magellan RoadMate 7771T-LMB and tried to complete the setup by registering the unit as stated in the documentation and got an error stating “Unknown error try again later”. I did this for 3 days with no luck. It also showed there were map updates available but couldn’t do the update because it was not registered. At this point I tried to call support as stated in the manual and the support call recording stated go to their website and email them for support then hung up on me.

Updated on 02/12/2019: I purchased a 6615-LM directly from Magellan mainly for the camera. After 1 day, the power switch ceased to function. Magellan said to send it back and upon receipt would send me a new one and reimburse my shipping charges. After waiting and waiting, I was told they never received it so I had to fax them the FedEx proof of delivery. They finally sent me a new one but never reimbursed the charges even after six months of correspondence, calls and promises. Anyway, after 14 months of light use (and now out of warranty), the power switch on the replacement unit also ceased to function. The only way to turn the unit on or off is to plug in and out of the power source. It is also anything but user friendly. Have gone to Garmin. Magellan - never again.

I recently attempted to upgrade two of my devices using SmartGPS Eco (like many others on here), after the usual email chase I got nowhere with Magellan other than circles. I tried every browser and platform except Opera and as a last resort it worked and allowed me to upgrade the units. The other issue I had was while the units stated lifetime maps even though they were registered I could not get the maps so after several emails (again) I managed to get them to change the information (the units were bought from CTC). If you are having trouble entering the SmartGPS portal (the wheel keeps turning on the log in page) give Opera a try. It work for me. As for Magellan it looks like they are no longer interested in the auto segment and just leaving loyal customers in the dust. Shame on them.

I'm not going to repeat what I have read current reviews listed. It would be a waste of time. I agree with all of them rated 1 star or less. This company does not belong in business. No possible way to get a map update - immediate response telling you to try again in 48 hours which is worthless, nothing changes. No C.S. phone number, they hide behind a computer generated email message. I ask myself "what is happening to customer service today" but Magellan is leading the way to piss poor customer service. I'll check out TomTom, but any company that does not supply a C.S. phone number will not see my money.

I have owned a Magellan Roadmate for several years now. No complaints about the unit - it is a good unit, it is very accurate, and it works very well. My complaint concerns the method used to access the lifetime free map updates. Formerly, I used the Magellan Content Manager, which worked great. I never had any problems updating the unit software or the maps. Magellan now has switched the updates to a website called SmartGPS Eco. I have found this new website to be absolutely worthless so far. I have had no success in logging on to the site using two of the recommended browsers - Firefox and Chrome. My contacts with customer support have also been useless. I reported the issue on Jan 14 via email. I received a reply on Jan 15 indicating that they are aware of the issue and that I should wait 24-48 hours and try again.

I have really enjoyed the GPS, it has worked well over the last year but... I have been trying to update the maps for over a month now. Cannot log into the SmartGPS eco and they supposedly can’t just put the update on their site... I have been told my computer is the problem, their server is down (which they really like to say and that my GPS is defective, It is too bad that such a quality product has such terrible customer service.

New Xmas present - we getting ready for a trip and I open the GPS for 1st use. 1st thing - you have to boot it up to register etc... There is no power. Before 1st thing, you have to charge up the device. The only connection that comes with the GPS is a car cigarette lighter connection that just doesn't fit in the computer or any USB connection. I contact Magellan customer support - no, no USB cable is included, you can charge up the device in your car and then return home to register the device via wifi in order to use the device. Stupid stupid stupid... How much does a USB cable matched to this device cost??? Stupid stupid stupid. Sending it back, Stupid stupid stupid.