Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Magellan
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Pretty good for the money
Summary: 4 Stars
I just received this GPS and right out of the box it worked great. There were no glitches, frozen screens, or lags like some people have complained about in their reviews. I think Magellan fixed most of those bugs so if you were to order one today, it should not have any problems. It comes with the lastest firmware (2.36) and the maps are very up-to-date.
GPS Signal: I acquired a signal instantly. I don't know why some people said it took forever, they must be living in an area with a lot of obstructions. My signal never faded and was never lost, either.
Routing: The routing was pretty accurate. Re-routing is insanely fast, it took only about 2 or 3 seconds before it got back on track if I made a wrong turn. The nice thing about this GPS is that it gives you a pleasant chime right before your next turn. Also, the screen splits in half and gives you a diagram of your next move since the map can look kinda cluttered. The text-to-speech works fine..sounds pretty computerized but it is understandable. Volume is plenty loud, I can hear it with my stereo turned all the way up.
POIs: The database seems comprehensive enough...the only thing it has not found for me so far is Sally's beauty supply which I thought was pretty common. It has all your major chains - Walmart, best buy, target, etc etc. I didn't really care too much for the AAA tourbook info, it wasn't as extensive as the POI list so there seemed no point. Pretty good feature if you go out to eat and stay at hotels a lot (neither of which I do often).
Touch screen is very responsive and very easy to input data. It completes city and street names for you so you don't have to type out the whole thing.
The only complaint I have about this unit is the map. It is HORRIBLE to look at during the "day mode". Night mode is a lot better to read since it is a black background with a neon green route. It switches to night mode automatically after a certain hour, but you can turn this option off and keep it on day mode if you want. However, there is no way to put it on night mode during the day. The day mode is a light green background with a neon green route. Pretty dumb if you ask me. I called support to ask if they have any downloads available to change the map color, but they said engineers are working on software right now so there is nothing yet. The map really does get washed out in sunlight and it is pretty hard to see. The fonts and everything else on the map screen are big enough and easy to read (I don't know why some people complained that they were too small).
In the end I am deciding to return the Magellan for the Garmin nuvi 650. The maps on the Garmin look a lot easier to read (white background with hot pink route) and the unit has pretty much the same features as the Magellan except for bluetooth (which I would not use anyway). I couldn't stand the daytime map on the magellan. Other than that it is a great GPS system and I would still recommend it to anyone.
Customer Review: Magellan Maestro 4040 - Good but NOT great!
Summary: 4 Stars
There are more expensive GPS units out there and in my research I looked at the specs for most of them. I bought the 4040 because Ritz Camera offered the unit at a price that made it impossible to pass up. It does have a lot of features but there are a few that it really lacks in. Likes: Text to speech. This feature lets me hear the name of the road before I turn on to it but sometimes when dealing with unusual spellings the synthesizer tends to garble and you really need to listen. Also when a route starts with N. as in "N Rt 32" it actually says N instead of North and it does it in a run on fashion that can be confusing when listening. Like, "Continue Nroute32", which is real hard to put across here on paper but believe me when I tell you it took some listening to get to understand. This unit is on its umpteenth firmware update from Magellan and they have fixed alot of the problems that were pointed out in earlier reviews. One big annoyance is that you can't see your actual traveling speed (in MPH) while on a Route. It shows it when free driving without a destination but once you put in a destination and start calculating a route it goes away and won't come back while the route is in progress. I do like the way it recalculates on the fly if you decide to take a road you know is better and faster than the one it mapped out for you. It doesn't shout "make a u turn" at you over and over again like some I have driven with in friends cars. The Bluetooth worked just fine as far as making a connection with my cell phone but friends complained of a very annoying echo of their OWN voices so I stopped using it and went back to my Bluetooth headset. It will NOT allow you to input an actual latitude and longitude and it will not read out the actual latitude and longitude of your location. This is a ridiculous fault as far as I am concerned. Every GPS should be able to show you your location and accept input using coordinates. One major annoyance is that it thinks my house is about 100 yards farther up the road than it is and I cannot force it to recognize a different (actual) location. How dumb is that. Every place else I have been using the route calculator it was spot on. Why my house is giving it a problem I don't know and why I can't park in my own driveway and force the box to accept that location as my default HOME location is a serious deficiency. Overall I do like the unit but keep in mind that I only paid $169.00 for it from Ritz. It I had paid the 3, 4 or 5 hundred dollars that other retailers are asking for the same unit I would be seriously POd and probably would have sent it back. I love the wide screen and the touch screen works very smoothly. It doesn't always pick the route I like best but I just go ahead a drive the way I want to and it compensates and then when we get close it leads me right to my destination. So far I like it but I know that sometime in the future I will want a unit that clears up the deficiencies of this one. Hey maybe if I hold on to it long enough Magellan will fix them with more firmware updates.Customer Review: Great GPS, Voice Recognition Absolutely Pathetic
Summary: 3 Stars
First a Caveat: This product does not come standard with Voice Recognition. That is an add-on that you purchase through the Magellan Website, receiving a code that unlocks that feature. (AAA members can save $15 off the (GULP) $99 Voice Recognition upgrade (ripoff) by clicking on the 3A icon during checkout)
My wife has used this for about 8 months. She travels extensively in the Western US and it has made ONE mistake in that time. She doesn't even question it anymore because it is right so often. The Points of Interest (POI's) feature hooks her up with the nearest Starbucks or Gas Station as needed. She doesn't particularly like techie things, but the interface has never given her any problems. If you get one (or any GPS), spring for the beanbag dash mount for $12.
Bracketron UFM-100BL Nav-Mat GPS Friction Dash Pad
Now the Cons: The reason you need the Bracktron for this is the battery runs down quick (a bit over 30 minutes if you are using the menus) and the powercord, strung up to your windshield mount is a pain in the butt. The Bracketron lets you get a good position.
Firmware Updates/Map updates/any updates: The website gives clear directions that have no relation to reality. No Mac support, so I used my PC. No Firefox support for the update, but it didn't tell me that, I had to discover it on my own when it wouldn't update. Once I went through IE and got the update going, I never got the dialogue boxes my carefully printed instructions stated I would. I pushed the reset button on the device when everything froze, but I hadn't been prompted to do so. It worked. The online help is called "Maggie". She is a most unhelpful sort with no clue. She would probably be successful working with the Motorola Razr voice recognition crew. Birds of a feather...
VOICE RECOGNITION: Yes, I'm shouting. It absolutely sucks in capability and execution. The functionality is very limited. If you can't speak or program an address by voice, what is the point? and this system lets you do neither. If I only need to get home, it will let me select home, or POI's that it preselects, but no search via voice. As if that weren't enough, it wakes when it hears "Magellan", or "felon", or "chillin", or "gel inserts", you get the idea. The radio will wake it. The kids from the backseat trip it accidentally and it pops into voice mode, asking you to pick a command. Whoever executed this voice execution should be executed.
So, would I buy it again? Absolutely. Would I pay for voice recognition? Puhleeze... Oh, and as a final way of saying thank you, the Magellan website states that activating the Voice Recognition irreversibly alters the device and you can't go back. I now know why Voice Recognition orders are non-refundable. On second thought, maybe I'd shop a bit before I bought it again.
Customer Review: First time GPS Owner
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first GPS owned so I have no other system to compare it to. I read a lot of reviews about this product before I pulled the trigger. I always read the negative reviews first to see if they can scare me away from the product, but the two most reoccuring issues were the cradle and the customer service, in which neither one have anything to do with the actual product. I have not had to call customer service so I cannot comment on that. My GPS cradle fits like a glove though.
Routing
I'll get into my favorite features and call it a day. It is very simple IMO to enter an address, put in the city, street name, then building number. From there you can choose your route (fastest time, more use of freeways, less use of freeways) and can also exclude roads on the route. Sometimes I will GPS a place I'm not exactly sure where it is, but Magellan will give me the city streets route, and I'll know the highway is much more convenient, so I can just go back to choose route, and tap most use of freeways. And to get back home, you simply tap the home button and route.
Bluetooth
The bluetooth is pretty nice. Once paired, you can dial someone's number 1 of 2 ways: select there # from the GPS if you've entered the # with their address, or you can simply dial it from your phone. Pairing the two is as simple as pairing anything else bluetooth.
POI
The POI database is pretty abundant. The only thing I did not have success locating via POI is the club. Everything else from schools, to sports complex, to airports, to atms, to fast food I have had no problem. And it doesn't just simply select the closest available so you accidentally get the wrong one. You can select POI's by city, current position, by name, etc. Depending on the criteria you select, it gives you a list of POI's to choose from.
En Route
When driving Magellan always gives you a heads up 2 miles in advance of your next turn. It gives you another heads up I believe half a mile from your turn. It is pretty spot on for when to make turns, whether on the highway, or in the city. When on the highway, it will tell if the exit on the left or the right, and will say the exit name, and display the exit # and name. The small problem I've had is once you arrive. I would say about 80% of the time it says I have arrived about 100-200 feet early (which is better than late), so finding someone's house could take an extra 60 seconds or so, but it has not caused me any problems because it's not like I'm driving with my eyes closed.
Hope this review was helpful, and I would definitely recommend this product. Easy to use with multiple functions including things I have not mentioned here (i.e. mutliple routes).
Customer Review: An exercise in frustration
Summary: 1 Stars
If you have an older 4040 and decide to update the firmware / software / map update you are in for the frustration of your life. First of all you can't even find a reference to updating anything on this unit on Magellan's web site. To find it I had to register the product on line and only then did a message show up at the very end of the registration form that an update was available. And then starts your headache. The supplied USB cable is exactly 10 inches long. I do hope the execs feel good about saving all that money on this usless cable. You either have to get a longer one or do your updating on the floor or in the back of your computer. I have a hub on my desktop and even at that the unit was upside down with no way to see it rightside up due to the lack of space on my desk. (Personal problem I know) ...
Then you are told you'll either need to have a fully charged unit or an AC adapter (also not included with the unit) but by the time you download the software and the unit turns on for even a few minutes the download program says the unit does not have enough power to do the update. You are now locked in an endless loop causing you to eventually have to shut down your computer by pulling the plug. (You read this right.) This in the year 2008 is pure insanity. Because the 4040 does not have the power to do the update I naturally tried to cancel the update but could not do it. My computer keeps telling me there is not sufficent power so I simply unplugged the 4040 and turned it off. But the computer now keeps trying to find the unit and announces that it can't find the 4040. I can't cancel the update and am in an endless loop. You must go buy an AC adapter for this one time use and of course it's a special adapter (wish everyone would just use one type of power input plug and call it a day) - another personal problem.
To top it all off the instructions tell you that your addresses will be wiped out so you have to back them up. Nowhere is there any instruction on how to do this. So by the time I turn on the 4040 and find the addresses then write them down for later re-insertion the unit is about to shut off due to a low battery. Finally, I have a 2 gig mem chip in the 4040 yet the software says it can't see it.
I'm ready to toss this and go back to my Garmin 330 that works flawlessly from the box to my car and back. Problem is that unit belongs to my wife for use in her car. (Another personal problem.)
My recomendation --- get a Garmin. I fly a 172 with a Garmin G-1000 and it's the best there is in General Aviation so you know it's as good as it gets in your vehicle. Nobody should have to rewind to the days of DOS Version 1.0 to update anything!
Will