Henrietta used to know her way around…but now she's become somewhat unreliable.
Henrietta is the name I gave to the female voice that emanates from my Magellan Roadmate 2000, a Global Positioning System I installed in my car in January of '07. As I mentioned here and here, I found her generally helpful and in some cases, extremely useful. You can't follow the instructions mindlessly but she's handy to have in the car, especially when one is venturing into new frontiers. Or at least, she was.
Recently, I ordered and received their new software upgrade for the unit, and I had my assistant install it. The graphics are better, there are a few new features and there are updated maps…but in the process, Henrietta got stupid on me. I've used her to guide me on seven trips since the upgrade. Twice, she was fine. Twice, the route she suggested would have gotten me to my destination but not at all by the swiftest, most direct route. And three times, she simply pointed me in the wrong direction, thinking addresses were not where they truly are. This is not a passable batting average. She seems to be especially bad — and she wasn't before — at avoiding situations where I'd have to cross a busy eight-lane boulevard at an intersection without a traffic light. Also, her voice has gotten a bit surly and defensive…like she knows she's screwing up but is determined to make it my fault.
I am mentioning this here because I recommended the Magellan and a number of you bought one on my say-so. In fact, some of you bought yours via one of my Amazon links so I feel especially responsible. Beware. Newer and fancier is not always better.
Soon as I have time, I'm going to phone the Magellan folks and ask them if others have complained to the point where the company is scurrying to upgrade the upgrade. If the answer is no, I'm going to see about rolling back to the old software…and if that can't be done, I'll probably dump Henrietta for someone else. I know it sounds cruel but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.