Branding;Personal Technology;Consumer Electronics;Technology Mapping Your Route, Magellan-Style Need a straightforward guide to drive from A to B? This compact GPS device will take you every step of the way.. Technology Product Review By Arik Hesseldahl For a long time, buying a GPS navigation system for your car meant buying a big brick. No matter the vendor, whatever the price, buying an electronic gadget to get you from point A to B without getting lost required installing an unsightly and bulky contraption that was difficult to operate. <BR /><BR /> Although car manufacturers sniffed out an opportunity and started adding navigation systems to autos, consumers tended to resist them as an add-on accessory. <BR /><BR /> Until recently. In the last year or so, the standalone systems have improved hugely. With a little help from Moore's Law, which says chips get smarter and smaller over time, vendors like TomTom, Garmin (<ticker>GRMN</ticker>), and Magellan have shrunk the size of the devices while increasing their capabilities. <BR /><BR /> For the last several days, I've been testing the Magellan Roadmate 2000. Magellan, a rather storied brand in the history of the GPS business, traces its roots to the mid-1980s when systems based on global-positioning-system technology were first making their way into the public eye. Magellan was for years the brand of choice among hunters and hikers. <BR /><BR /> <leadin>Magellan Back on Course</leadin> More recently, companies including Garmin, and later TomTom, elbowed in with slick marketing, better designs, and easier-to-use features (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/28/06, "TomTom on the Go-Go"). Magellan as a corporate entity was passed from one owner to another, first to Orbital Sciences (<ticker>ORB</ticker>), and then to Thales, the French defense contractor. <BR /><BR /> Under both, the Magellan brand was neglected, and its sales and market share suffered, while rivals Garmin and TomTom carved up the spoils. But this year the firm was acquired by Shah Capital Partners, a private-equity firm led by Ajay Shah, a former executive with Solectron (<ticker>SLR</ticker>), and his plan is to give the Magellan brand the focus it needs to flourish in a suddenly hot market. <BR /><BR /> If the Roadmate 2000 is any indicator of the future, Shah is off to a good start. Like the newer class of products, this unit is no brick. It weighs less than 8 oz. and is about an inch thick, four inches wide, and three inches high. <BR /><BR /> Its screen is bright and clear and easy to read. Inside, it reads signals from satellites using a Sirfstar III chip, made by SiRF Technology (<ticker>SIRF</ticker>), which gives it great reception even in cities. The Roadmate 2000 uses a touch screen that is exceptionally user-friendly. Entering addresses is easy, thanks to software called QuickSpell that anticipates the names of cities and streets. <BR /><BR /> <leadin>Chiming In With Directions</leadin> Once you've got your destination set, you get to choose from route preferences, such as relying on or avoiding major highways. Out of cash? An option lets you circumvent toll roads, too. <BR /><BR /> And like those of rival products in its class, the 2000's map gives you a sort of hybrid 3D view. Whereas older products used a moving flat map, newer products display a map that looks forward, as though from a helicopter close on your tail. That makes the turns ahead a little more clear, and gives you a point of reference that is based more on what you see from behind the wheel. <BR /><BR /> This Roadmate also gives spoken directions based on the route you've selected, telling you when to turn, when to get ready to make an exit, and so on. What threw me was an unnerving bell that would chime whenever it was precisely time to make a turn or exit. It sounded like a bell from a carnival attraction, and I kept looking around for someone to hand me a cotton-candy prize. An added sound clue may be helpful to those who find some navigation clues vague, but for me it was unnecessary and try as I might, I couldn't find a way to shut it off. <BR /><BR /> That was my only complaint with what is otherwise an excellent midlevel navigation system. It's selling for $399, though I've seen it priced online for as little as $299, so do shop around. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061128_499410.htm http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/05/0515_twitter/index_01.htm,http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080512_157155.htm,http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080512_209322.htm False