Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Magellan
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List Price: Buy Used: from $62.97 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Very Bad service if you need repair
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought a Magellan 4040 six months ago, and have used it very extensively over this time.
However, I made several mistakes that I will go into. First, I saw on their website the first of January that a new "update" was now available. First mistake, don't ever download a new version. First the process is out of a torture film. Boy, are they not user friendly when it comes to updates.
Well during this "update" you have to hit the reset button, another big mistake. I ended up with my unit only having a blank blue screen with a black bar across the bottom. It gets better (really worssse!) when I try to get it repaired.
I first email the support? department and get an email back saying to furnish the necessary information for them to issue a return Authorization Number to send the unit back for repair. I email back the information. It has been over a week with no response from Magellan.
On Tuesday of this week I decided to call and find out what the problem was. As you stated I was connected to someone on the other side of the world that I could hardly understand. Then I found out that they were in the marketing department, and got transfer to the "support?" department. Same story with the personnel in that department. After 30 minutes of trying to get them to understand that all I wanted was a Return Authorization Number, the lady stated that she was not "authorized" to give me the number and would have to transfer me to the "service" department. Again I was transferred and waited another 15 minutes with no connection. I hung up and am contemplating my options, one of which is to report Magellan to the Virginia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. At least I can get the company's name in front of the authorities, even if they cannot force them to give me the service that all consumers deserve.
I am sorry that this was so long, but hopefully it will help those on the forum that are looking to buy a GPS unit. Be careful, and my recommendation would be to stay away, FAR AWAY from Magellan!
Customer Review: One step forward two steps back for Magellan
Summary: 2 Stars
I had the Roadmate 760 series and was impressed very much with the unit. I bought the 4040 to replace it as the Antenna Assembly went bad and it was almost half of a new one to get it fixed.
Dislikes. Font for streets is so small it is virtually worthless to look at, as you can't read it and safely drive anyways. Font of streets same color as street White on White in night mode. In day mode its better but the streets are still way too small compared to the 760 or for that matter for this model.
Accuracy. You are actually passing the street and it shows you haven't visually made it to the street in just about all the cases. I would say there is at least a 2 second delay between what is happening and what is being displayed. Better know exactly what street you need to turn on or you will miss it as the unit won't show you there yet visually on the map.
On older models if you missed or should I say misunderstood the directions you could push a button and it would repeat them. No such function on this model. So in essence if you didn't hear her correctly, the first time or can't read the street due to fonts being too small and the same color as the street, your SOL.
In conclusion this model is virtually worthless for people with bad eyesight and actually maybe a hinderence and lead to accidents for those driving with it.
The display on this vs the 760 in my opinion is worse too. Too much pushing buttons to get the same information that was previously just displayed on the screen.
On the older model you had a locate function so say that you were a pizza delivery man/woman. You could press locate on a street and it would show you what the street number is you were passing or near. On this model it just gives you a distance to/from a major highway/street.
I would not recommend buying this unit for anyone with bad eyesight and in truth it has some whistles and bells however it might actually cause confusion and or accidents. I would not buy this unit again.
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Customer Review: I've got 3 Garmins and the 4040 is an excellent GPS.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had the Magellan Maestro 4040 for about 2 weeks and picked it up at Costco for a great price. I've been a GPS user for about 10 years and own a variety of solid Garmin products. I was skeptical on switching to Magellan but I'm glad I took the chance.
The interface is very simple and straightforward. The signal strength is stronger than all my Garmins and it has a built in antenna which is something less to break...I had this happen on one of my other units. The time to start up and locate itself is also faster than my other 3 units. The screen is large, clear, and bright. The bluetooth links with all of our phones with no problem and the speaker and microphone work well for the hands free. People I've talked to said it sounded great.
The Costco version has the latest software update so some of the issues I've read in the reviews do not apply...such as no ETA, etc.
The only downfall to the unit is that I can't search for POI's while I'm on an active route. My other units would allow me to search near current location, near route destination, near route, etc. I've got to cancel the route to look for things in the area. That is really about the only negative thing I'd have to bring up.
The one thing that I really like with the 4040 is that it has a "route exclusion" function. The only way I could get my other units to do this was either just take the alternate route and listen to the rerouting, or try to trick it with the detour function. The route exclusion is great. I'd have went with another Garmin if they would've had this ability.
I'm suprised at the amount of negative reviews for the 4040. I was expecting it to have some issues and it has turned out to be a great unit. Sometimes when people are having trouble with a unit not being able to do certain things, it may be an operator issue in which they haven't figured out how to use it effectively.
I would definitely recommend the 4040 with the latest software version.
Customer Review: Very good product for the price!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Magellan Maestro 4040 is a really good unit for $120. The 4040 is quick on start up. I tried the unit right out of the box and the unit seems slow to reroute if I make a short cut I know is faster because of traffic. The unit works well but could be better. I checked the maps and discovered they were database version 27 but an updated database version 31 is free from Magellan if you pay shipping of $10 and apply within 30 days of purchase. The unit I received had software is version 2.62 but Magellan has an updated software version 3.61 free for download on their web site. After the map updates and the software updates were applied the unit seems faster to reroute if I take short cuts and seems to contain a few new streets the old map version did not have installed. I have only used the unit around town and on one 120 mile trip. So far the unit is working great.
Steps I took to get the updates:
1. I ordered a Magellan Maestro 4040 from Amazon.com on Sept. 11, 2009.
2. I registered the product on the Magellan web site.
3. I called Magellan's support at 800=707-9971 and requested a map update. I was given account # and fax # to send proof of purchase. I faxed the info to Magellan.
4. I received a phone call from Magellan and gave them my credit card info for shipping the maps update. The update arrived within 4 days by FedEx.
5. I installed the 2008/2009 map update database version 31. The map update also updated the software to version 3.01 (I think was the right number)
6. I installed the software update to version 3.61.
Note: Do not install the downloaded software update before you update the maps to version 31. This is from the Magellan web page.
"The software update version corresponds to your map database version:
If you have map database version 27, your software will be updated to v2.62.
If you have map database version 31, your software will be updated to v3.61. "
My unit is good to go!
Customer Review: First Impressions
Summary: 3 Stars
I have used the Hertz NeverLost system several times so was swayed to the Magellan unit because of that. The Maestro 4040 is new so should have the latest and greatest and the price was right. I got the unit three days before two business trips, first to Detroit and then on to Sacramento. I thought it was a good test of the unit and if it worked, it would really add to my trip.
The shipping was perfect and came quicker than expected. The instructions are sparse but you really don't need much as it is fairly intuitive. The big thing for me was that it is not compatible with my Sprint Pocket PC bluetooth phone. In looking at the list of phones the Maestro supports, it is very limited so be careful. I have no problem connecting it to a number of different headsets and it worked perfectly in my Prius but not the Maestro.
I am also so far not very impressed with the mounting bracket it comes with. I primarily wanted this unit for travel so I need more of a universal mount than the supplied one. I ended up just leaving the bracket at home and wedging it in the cup holder or coin tray.
As for the actual usage, it is pretty good and fairly accurate. It somehow thought that an Outback Steakhouse was in the middle of a bunch of houses once but other than that, it got me around quite nicely. The three hour battery life is more like two hours but it was only a problem since I wanted to charge both my car and cell phone. The screen layout was nice as is the volume. The voice intructions are clear and easy to follow. The AAA section was very disappointing as it is not tied to the POI lookup which can be done by catagory.
I am happy to finally have one of these things and just can't imagine anyone travelling to strange places without one. The 4040 could certainly be much better but it has already had several firmware updates so perhaps it just needs a bit more tweaking to get it just right and make it the perfect GPS.