The Magellan Car Kit improves the GPS of an iPhone or iPod Touch.Magellan may be best known for its dashboard GPS navigation products, particularly its oversize offerings like the Magellan RoadMate 9250Tâ€"LMB with its 7-inch screen.
But now it is making a product that helps bring a small screen to your dashboard, a GPS car kit that adds a more powerful antenna, speaker and charging for an iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S, as well as the third- and fourth-generation iPod Touch.
The $100 cradle has a 30-pin connector at the bottom and a secure ratcheting clamp at the top. There is even an adjustable bumper to push up against the back of the phone so it won't rattle around. The whole assembly attaches to a suction cup mount that sticks on your windshield.
In a test using the car kit and a stand-alone iPhone, the car kit produced directions a little bit faster than the unmounted iPhone â€" and this was in an area with strong reception.
Of course, Magellan would like you to use it with its $50 navigation app - which happens to be quite good. But you are not limited to its app. The cradle will work with any navigation software you care to put on screen.
One thing that's a bit quirky: Although the device plugs in, you still have to connect the audio wirelessly using Bluetooth, which appears to interfere with my car's hands-free Bluetooth system.
