Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Magellan
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List Price: Our Price: $62.97 You Save: $537.02 (90%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Good but not Great
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought the 4040 to use on extended trips as well as around town in unfamiliar areas. Unfortunately, I found some misleading details in the product descriptions, both here and on the Magellan site. They make mention of the 'trip planner'. From the description, I thought I could plan a trip with one or more intermediate stops, and have the 4040 give me an estimate of the travel time, distance, etc. Unfortunately, it will only give this information from your current location to each of the stops you put in the planner. Not at all useful when trying to figure out when you need to leave to get someplace at a certain time, and make stops in between. I have since found the Garmin Nuvi series allow 1 intermediate stop.
When routing a trip, the unit allows a choice of 'shortest distance', 'fastest time', or most or least use of freeways. In several trips, I found it selects some very unusual routes. In one case, it called for nearly 20 turns in a trip of only 10 miles. I knew the area, and could make the same trip with only 5 turns. I suspect the route the unit selected was marginally faster or shorter, but the difference was not significant. I have had several similar instances with other routes.
Interestingly, I checked the routes on both Mapquest and Google, and found they both also produced the same routes. Perhaps they all use the same mapping service/algorithms. It would be nice to have a routing option of 'least turns'. As far as I know, this is not an option on any gps.
The unit has a good, bright screen. Menuing is a little confusing at first. The bluetooth connected to my phone without problem, but does not allow access to the phone address book. It also does not allow access to the addresses in the gps if you are currently on an active route. It makes it hard to make calls while using the gps.
I bought the 4040 at Costco. I have since ordered a Nuvi 360 from Amazon, and will be returning the 4040.
Customer Review: Potential for excellence - maestro falls short in debut
Summary: 3 Stars
Purchased the Magellan Maestro 4040 based on a few online reviews and timing. The Garmin Nuvi 650 had not been released yet and the Nuvi 350 was considered excellent, but older technology - so I chose the Magellan.
Pros: Large Screen, sub $400 pricing, text to speech feature.
Cons: Unit malfunctioned during a recent trip - using reset button after finding it hours later seems to have removed the rebooting demons at least for now. Tech support is basically non existent - I guess that's how Magellan keeps the price low. Also, the exclude road feature is useless/frustrating as the unit will just continue to route around and try to put you on the road you are trying to avoid in the first place.
A wish list feature would be a way to map and save a personal route with choice of interstates, etc... This would be helpful on long trips where the user knows "shortcuts" and would like the unit to prompt a personally chosen route.
The Magellan is a very good unit, but with its current short comings I would only rate it a 7 out of 10 - so I chose a more conservative 3 out of 5 on Amazon's rating scale. In my month of usage it has sometimes picked perfect routes (usually shorter trips) and other times chosen routes that did not make much sense to me (longer trips), but hey there are a lot of roads out there and so many combinations to choose from that it is hard to fault the unit for its route choice.
So, while the Magellan is not perfect (no GPS unit is) at this price and with the features included it is certainly a good choice if you will use it for recreational purposes. If you require a GPS for daily/business usage all the reviews I've read seem to favor the Garmin Nuvi 650 Series as a better choice and worth the extra $150 or so.
Good Luck and Happy Travels.
Customer Review: Excellent GPS system
Summary: 4 Stars
I have experimented with GPS systems going back 10 years. Last one I used was Delorme USB device with laptop. After much research I narrowed it down to Nuvi 660, TomTom 910 and stumbled on Magellan 4040. My daughter steered me to 4040 based on it's sturdy looks and screen. I did read the reviews on line and even though there are negative reviews the key navigation feature on this system are really good (multi-point trip plan, detour, exclude-route, exit-poi, split-screen before turn etc.).
It does not have MP3 (which is a good thing because menus are less complicated).
Using it for last week I find the satellite reception excellent and quick to acquire signal.
Screen is very nice 4.3" and bright (even usable in sunlight).
It's portable and compact to carry easily.
TTS instruction do sound computer generated but understandable. The chime feature before the turn is excellent and accurate.
Route re-calculation is quick 1-3 seconds if you miss a turn.
Route calculation is 1-5 seconds (5 seconds for 1500 mile trip NE to Miami).
The best feature is AAA tour guide. It has all USA,Canada,PR attraction, lodging etc. guide. Find anything near given city and click Route.
You have to experience this feature to appreciate how useful it is.
Bluetooth integration is very good too (I heard it does not download phone contacts).
Some limitations:
I do see slowness on manuver list on a long trip listing.
I do see slowness when zoom-in/out though nothing that will get in the way of nevigation (it's not as snappy as Nuvi 660).
I don't like the fact it removes map when doing route re-calculation.
I think this is a very good navigation system, I gave 4* because of slowness.
Robert
PS: I did download latest firmware 1.22 (which went smooth on first try).
Customer Review: So, So.
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this unit to replace an old Roadmate 360(which with the exception of outdated maps, was doing just fine) and was initially drawn by its screen size. This later proved to be the bain of its existance(to me anyway)
The unit runs on Magellan's latest OS(on top of Windows ce) and includes the newest map graphics "update" which, according to Magellan, they spent a million dollars revamping. I wont argue that the map display is not easier to read then the last, because it actually is, what I find lacking is the amount of data provided, as well as user adjustability. The display is just plain BORING. For example, there is no ETA. Anywhere. For a GPS, this is asinine. I know many of you will say "does it really matter"? Well honestly, yes it does. Try using a GPS equipped with this (most of them have it except for magellan in-car units) and then use one without this feature. You WILL miss it.
Another complaint is its total lack of adjustability. The display may be easier to read(for some), but the color scheme is NOT changeable and gets old really quick. Also the so called "night mode" is totally useless. It will auto-switch to night mode, however none of the menus are converted to night mode and just about blind you, as well as when the unit enters night mode, the brightness has to be MANUALLY turned down. Totally unacceptable for a unit costing upwards of $500.
Lastly, while the unit does contain NavTeq map data, its routing alog's are very questionable at times. I just bought a unit for $179 (Mio 220C) that has, by most peoples opinion, a lesser map product, however this unit consistently creates better routes than the Magellan costing over twice as much.
Im not bashing this unit, per se, I just think Magellan has a lot of ground to make up before the Maestro is taken seriously.
Customer Review: I'm Impressed
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll start out by saying I grew up knowing how to use Atlas maps and never really saw the "need" to own a GPS unit because of all the "error" stories.
I recently traveled with a friend out of town and was really impressed with his Maestro 4040 and it's ability to get to restuarants, nitespots, hotels, etc.. and all by talking to it!!!He purchased the voice command option via the internet from Magellan. The part that I loved about it was it was coupled with his AAA membership. I also am a AAA member, for 30+ years, so my "need" requirement turned into, I really "wanted" one.
I shopped and waited and bought the Magellan Maestro4040 at Amazon for well under $300 and free shipping. I was surprised the package arrived in two days!!!Then I was delighted that it was complete with Both chargers and mounting brackets,usb cord, no shortcuts, perfect!! I charged the unit then went online and downloaded the newest firmware and installed it as the directions state, really easy to follow by the way. Then... I purchased the key to unlock the voice command from Magellan and I got a AAA 15% discount!! Great deal, a talking and listening GPS with AAA features for under $380. It couldn't be better could it? This thing actually works, I have used it around home to learn how to use it and once out of town and was super impressed by how quick it found itself and locked on to the satellites. Then getting around was a breeze, Telling me the distance to the turn and the name of the road, how nice is that!! The only feature I would like to see it have is, to be able to build a route on my computer and then download to the GPS. It just would be a little more convenient. I am trully impressed by the overall quality, features and value of this unit and highly recommend it for the money I have paid.