13. The Road Test

After getting familiar with both units over a four month period in different geographical locations, it was time to set up a test route to compare the units side by side. We should mention that during the first sixty days, the GPS unit of the iWay 500c was replaced due to regular software crashes as well as display and startup difficulties. Lowrance explained the issues with early software problems and sent us a new unit at the end of January. The second unit worked without complaints over the remainder of the test period.

The test track was set up to cover typical usage patterns with well known and less known destinations, high and low traffic areas as well as a drive to the airport. We chose Chicago for this trip and began the journey from the western suburbs of Chicago to a shopping area in an older Chicago neighborhood. The second destination was the Sears Tower in downtown. From there we went to the home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, and finished the route at O'Hare airport.

Both devices were kept in its standard navigation configurations, which meant both devices were configured to choose the fastest route for each destination. The Magellan unit always requires the user to choose from options such as Shortest Route or Shortest Time. We kept Shortest Time as our standard choice.

Defining The Fastest Route From The Suburbs To Downtown Chicago

This first route led us from Saint Charles, located about 50 miles west of downtown Chicago, to Lincoln Square on the north side of Chicago. The route simulates a commute from the suburbs to the outside of downtown or a drive to a newly-discovered and densely populated area on the edge of downtown. There was no problem with setting the target destination in both devices. The Roadmate 700 chose a 35-mile route and estimated travel time at 48 minutes. The iWay 500c decided to chose more toll-ways, resulting in 37 miles distance and an estimated travel time of also 48 minutes.

On this first leg, we went with the route suggested by the Roadmate.

Ready to go: The Roadmate chose a shorter route on the first leg.

We caught a rare sunny day in Chicago for the test, making the Roadmate display almost invisible for most of this first drive. However, we managed to find our way through the suburbs and to the toll way with no problem because of the detailed voice output and a very recognizable "ding-dong" audio signal right before every turn.

Both navigation units keep the driver informed with much more data than is needed for such a trip. But the extra information is interesting to follow and allows drivers to keep track of the navigation process. As mentioned earlier, both maps can be configured to scale automatically, which makes sense when traveling speed is increased or decreased. Information provided included remaining travel distance, remaining distance to next turn, remaining travel time and points of interest (such as gas stations, restaurants, hospitals, ATMs or hotels).

The maps displayed by the Roadmate were much greater in detail than the iWay's. The Roadmate displayed every street detail with most street names, while the iWay did not provide the name of every street crossed and even omitted the display of smaller streets along the route. One reason for this effect is a three- to four-times more aggressive scaling process than the Roadmate's, which causes the map to scale in and out much more often than actually needed. A neat feature of the iWay is a capability to display 3D maps in a horizon view, which enables the user to see upcoming turns earlier than on the Roadmate's display.

Disagreement on the final stretch of the route: The Roadmate guided us off the toll-way early and into a stretch plastered with traffic lights. Even though we had chosen the fastest route with the Roadmate, the iWay provided a much faster route with its standard configuration.

Leaving the toll way, the Roadmate sent us on a 3.3 mile stretch with 24 traffic lights to reach our destination, while the iWay opted for a slight detour but only 1.1 miles through city traffic and four traffic lights. We arrived at our destination after 57 minutes - nine minutes later than originally estimated. Clearly, the Roadmate's choice was not the fastest route available, but brought us safely to our destination.