I'm not a GPS expert (this is my first one), but from what I have read in reviews and seen at stores, the Roadmate 1212 is awesome, especially for the price ($80 at BestBuy on Black Friday). It's hard to find a GPS that speaks street names for under $200 (most in this $ range only speak the turns - I found a Garmin 260WT for $189 that did this, but that was on a super sale). Don't be fooled by the specs on the Roadmate 1200 - it does not have spoken street names, just turns. The 1212 is the least expensive model that calls out the street names. The touch screen is very responsive, menus are easy and intuitive, and the features for this price range are great (points of interest mapping, POI off of highway exits, auto-rerouting if you miss a turn, accurate routing, easy detour and rerouting during current trip plan, etc.). 3.5" is plenty big so don't be fooled into thinking you need 4.3". In fact, bigger is not better, especially if you mount on your windshield - you want to be able to view the road.

All-in-all, if you haven't had a GPS, or even if you have and you just want something relatively simple and that works, I highly recommend the Magellan Roadmate 1212. The 1212 is a great value, nice features for this price range (e.g., spoken street names), and very easy to use.

Costco in Mesa, Arizona had a Black Friday sale for $100 on the Magellan Roadmate 1212 yesterday. My wife and I were out to get it at 9:00 a.m. On the same outing we saw and picked up a refurbished Magellan Roadmate 3100 at Pep Boys for $69. So we tried them both out and discovered the refurbished 3100 didn't pronounce the street names (Text-to-Speech), and though it had something like 160 million Points of Interest vs. the 6 million in the 1212, the 1212 had our local Target store, while the 3100 had no Targets within 8 miles. So we returned the 3100 and kept the 1212.

One thing we noticed in testing the 2 devices was that Text-to-Speech really makes for safer driving and is reassuring when you get off course. We turned into a neighborhood and the 1212 got us right back onto course via a way unknown to us. Hearing it say "Turn left on Capri Street" was very reassuring to us, and was the deciding factor in returning the 3100 in spite of the price difference. (I also knew the 1212 was newer technology).

Lucky us! I learned later that day online that the refurbished units aren't eligible for a one time map update. We would not have been happy customers under that scenario.

So I thought it would be neat to see whether we could do any Geocaching with the Magellan Roadmate 1212, which is a car gps, NOT a trail GPS. Initially I was discouraged. Nowhere in the menus is the least hint of the ability to enter Lat/Lon destinations. I got online and read the users manual, which mentioned the ability to create Points of Interest on my PC and import them with an SD card. That intrigued me because the SD slot had been taped over at the factory. I installed the included CD and sure enough, got a program called Magellan POI File Editor. With it I created the following:

-File: Geocaches.mgln

-Category: Home Geocaches

-Point of Interest

Then I copied the .mgln file for it from the My Documents folder to the SD card and stuck the card into the RM 1212.

In the RM 1212 I did the following:

-Cancel out of any current route

-Points of Interest

-My POIs

-Change POI File

-Select a POI File

-Pick my file "Geocaches" from SD card

-Choose categories to display (Home Geocaches)

-Go back

-Select category from file (Home Geocaches)

-Pick Nearest

-Select the POI I entered on my PC

-Save

I'm still not sure how I got it to exist in my address book once I removed the SD card. That was weird. But it does.

Sorry I'm not more of an expert. But I'm pretty happy that I can geocache reasonably with this entry level Roadmate 1212 from Magellan.

Other stuff:

-Vehicle mount: good

-Car charger: good

-Wall charger: none

-USB cable: none

-Speech volume and quality: good

-Navigation: OK (well, astonishing), but keep in mind we are in Arizona, where that's not much of a challenge. Your mileage in the eastern US may vary.

-Display: bright and clear

-Menus and controls: easy, simple, and optimized

Should I have given this 5 stars?

I purchased the 1212 from a big box store recently and so far I like it. It is very easy to use and the interface (Windows CE Core 5.0) is easy to use and the voice direction is clear and easy to understand. There are a few quirks though....
1. Sometimes the system lags when you press a button and you have to press it again or wait.
2. If you enter into a submenu from the map or route screen it is difficult to get back to the original map menu. Though the system seems to still keep you on track and let you know about turns etc...
3. The included software link and software on the installation package are not very useful. You get a standard PDF version of the user manual which contains a good amount of information on the operation of the product and was useful. The software POI (Points of Interest) editor allows you to enter additional points of interest and upload them to the GPS. Only one problem with this software. Unless you know the longitude and latitude coordinates of the place you want to add you won't be able to and the software is very basic in that you can only enter known information and there is no way to look it up or select it. Other software Vantage Point and Mapsend and mapsend manager are not for this unit and therefore do not work.
4. This may not be a problem with the routing algorithms of the software but it insist that I take a turn into a oneway street to get to my house which is not possible. On the upside is that if you turn around and go another direction the unit quickly calculates a new route for you. Same thing it does if you miss a turn. As a side note: the maps for this unit according to the magellan site are from 2007 and the site lists the unit as a new product and there are no updates for it. I have not contacted magellan asking them about an update but the other products seem to have one so eventually we'll see one for this one.
In the box:
The unit comes with a suction cup windshield attachment kit and a power cord to plug into your car lighter. If you want to connect it to your PC you will have to purchase a separate usb to usb mini cable.
Some other neat features it has..

-You can edit (from the unit) and add your own points of interest.
-The unit contains a SD card that you can backup and restore saved information on.
-the unit can be carried with you around town and so if you are walking it will tell you where you are, direction etc...
- the screen has "+" and "-" buttons to easily adjust the topview detail. again the lag sometimes hits here.
-It is sensitive to where I am moving and even vertical direction when moving around just inside my home office here.
-If you touch and drag your finger on the screen it will move the map accordingly though with a slight lag.

When purchasing this unit I also looked a the comparable Tom Tom 130, I chose this unit because the text talk (where it speaks the street, destination and road names). The tom tom unit had that as an add on for ~$100
All in all for the less than $200 that I paid for this unit I think I got my money's worth and I like the unit so far. Only time will tell if my needs out grow or the maps become dated too quickly.
I you are looking for a unit under $200 and are willing to put up with its little quirks then you will be quite happy using this little gem.

One thing you might consider before purchasing any GPS unit is to figure out where you want to install it. I have not found the perfect position but I am thinking that on the drivers side near the door on the windshield near the dash. So I would have to operate it left handed. But that seems the most out of the way. I also tried installing it way up by the rear view mirror but it seems a little close to my head to read easily. The windshield attachment is fully adjustable and is about 6 inches long fully extended.