Just got the Magellan 1340 My Review

Noticed Rachel's comments about the 1340. I just got one about a week ago. (I previously had the 1212 but got this because of some quirks in the 1212 and the additional features in the 1340)

Just wondered whether Rachel (or anyone else who has used the 1340) noticed this: The screen, on its brightest setting, is much dimmer than the 1212 or any other GPS I have used. It is very difficult to see in the sunlight, whereas the 1212 was easy to see.

Also, of less concern, when the 1340 pronounces the street names, the voice is slightly muffled compared to the very clear voice of the 1212. This is not as much as concern as the screen brightness, but just an observation.

I purchased a Magellan 1340 and has the same observations. The 1212 is a better unit.

Being a gadget type guy I have used or at least looked at many many GPS units also. I looked at the 1340, for some of the reasons listed above I was not a rosey about it as the OP. Road avoidence can be acheived on my 765T Gamin, just not in the same way. I use waypoints on the fly, download ready made routes from the computer when not on the fly. Using the detour option can also often acheive the same effect. (Just used it to change from going on I95 to the Merrit Parkway, one button push) Screen brighter than the 1340, and map screen easier to read/see for me. Doesn't mean Garmin gets it 100% correct, cause they don't.

I saw the 1340 is $129 at Costco right now, in-store. I also see the current coupons include a $30 off coupon for the 1340. I didn't see anything at the store showing the coupon. I wonder if they're selling it for $99 or the $129 was supposed to be the coupon price.

The coupon price is $99. Price shown in the store is $129 but does not reflect the coupon price.

Just picked this up prior to a business trip for $100 from Costco.

First thing I did was update it to the 1.10 firmware.

So far I'm impressed. The unit has only had an issue with a couple of destinations that are not on a mapped road. One was a mine and the other was a reservoir (yes these are part of the trip).

Directions and cues are excellent.

My biggest peeve with this unit is there are functions not listed in the manual I discovered by accident.

The first was the fact that you CAN SCROLL a map- maybe this is new with 1.10 firmware? The response varies with each attempt to scroll. At first I thought it wouldn't because the first time I tried it didn't scroll. Basically, place your finger on the map, pause slightly and then drag the map with your finger. This function is EXTREMELY pressure sensitive and somewhat speed sensitive. Move too fast and no scroll, not enough pressure and no scroll.

Next is the ability to set a "pin" on a map and choose that as the destination. This is how you navigate to a specific longitude and latitude since I see no way to enter coordinates.
ETA recalculation was excellent, and we're talking about driving mountain roads with construction.

The screen kept up with my car movement at 85 mph on even the highest zoom . . . Did I say 85? Shame on me

Auto routing after missing a turn happens quickly, but it did get confused slightly a couple of times. But these were not your typical in town reroutes. However it seemed to straighten itself out after driving the equivalent of an additional block.

I wanted the smaller screen and am very happy with it so far. In fact I've liked it better each day as I've learned more of the functions.

The biggest drawback is the inability to set a route on a computer and upload. However, building a route is pretty quick when you use the city center function, which I've done for my return trip. It lets you save these routes as an address so you can build them, save them for later use and call them up when you need to.

Will find out on my return trip how close you have to get to the city center for it to consider you as arriving. But since these are small mountain towns I may actually be driving right through their reference point.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that there was a problem with the screen brightness, as well and the fact that the voice is slightly muffled when speaking the street names. (Both of these shortcomings are in comparison to the 1212 unit.....which is much better in these 2 areas.)

I contacted Magellan support about these issues a couple of times and they said they were aware of the issues and that hopefully a "fix" would be issued. As the posting by swdw mentioned, a firmware update (to version 1.10) has been posted on the Magellan website and I downloaded and installed it, thinking it was to correct the brightness and sound issues. However, I did not notice any difference in either problem, so I emailed Magellan support. They said that the update was to correct another issue, and did not address the brightness and sound problems. They acknowledged that "you are correct that there is a significant difference between" the 1340 and 1212, but could not tell me for sure when or if another update will be issued to correct these known problems!

I hope so, because this is otherwise a very good unit, especially for the low cost at Costco this month.

I too picked up the 1340 at Costco for $99. I've been using a Roadmate 800 for several years and while I've enjoyed it's use, the maps were out of date and I had no guarantee that the updated maps would actually be current. So I decided to try the 1340 since Costco has such a generous return policy.

I've used it on several business trips where I knew where I was going. And plan to use it on a longer driving vacation in a couple weeks. I'll probably know afterwards if I'm keeping it.

But so far here are my pros & cons:

Pros:
Size - I love it's small size.

Highway lane assist - highlights which lane to be in for exits and splits

Text to speech - tells you the name of the street to turn on.

One touch buttons - assign a button on the screen to search for the closest gas station, Starbucks, etc.

Scrolling - You can easying scroll the map by dragging your finger across the screen. I haven't had any problems with this and while my 800 had this with buttons, it was very clunky and slow.

POI - I used to load custom POIs into my 800, but it seems that all of these are now std on the 1340. But see below about custom POIs.

Quick entry - As you type the name of a city or street, it eliminates the letters that aren't possible. It also suggests a city based on previous entry and/or proximity. My 800 had the former but not later.

Smoothness of scrolling - the maps scroll very smooth while driving.

2D/3D - This is a toss up. The method of switching between the two is strange (you start scrolling the map then you're given the option). I haven't decided which I prefer. My 800 had both but I used 2D 99% of the time.

Cons:
Zoom - Every time I turn the unit on, it zooms in real close, such that you can't see a block ahead. The unit should remember my zoom setting.

Text to speech - since this is a computer generated voice, it's not as clear as the pre-recorded voices on my 800.

Routing - seems to make mistakes routing me ways that are not the Quickest route. I compared some of the routes to what Google suggested and found in some cases it gave the same answer, so it's probably a mapping problem.

Routing part 2 - While driving in downtown Chicago, I had a couple of times, where I should continue to drive straight, but it wanted me to go around the block. It's like the map doesn't know the street continues. I've heard other Magellan users have complained about this. This never happened on my 800.

Destination - Sometimes I'm presented with the same street with different directors (W & E/S & N)or the same street as an Ave and St. Other than seeing on the map, which one of these may be the correct one, I'm just guessing. On the 1340, after entering an address, there's no option to see the destination on the map (like my 800 allows). The only thing you can do is see the route (which my 800 doesn't do) then zoom and scroll and zoom some more.

Auto power off - it seems that frequently the unit doesn't turn itself off at the time I've set on the menu. It seems that if I'm in route to a destination, it won't turn off (which my 800 would do). Now this might be a plus or a minus. It's sometimes annoying when you actually arrive and the unit doesn't agree, it stays on.

Custom POIs - It doesn't currently support custom POIs. It looks like it should and I know a lot of people are trying to hack a solution.

Auto zoom - when nearing a manuever, the unit will zoom in, but it zooms in so far you can't see street you're turning onto until you're at the intersection.