Magellan Maestro 4250 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Magellan
|
List Price: Our Price: $58.00 You Save: $541.99 (90%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Magellan Maestro 4250 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Masterful, outstanding GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
First and foremost, this is a truly great GPS. Second, you MUST upgrade the firmware to the current level -- makes it perform at peak level. (Also, if you're a AAA member, upgrade the AAA Tourbook data and get your free, members only warranty extension -- see [...]). Third, make your own assessment, don't put too much faith in the negative reviews -- I frankly question the honesty in some of them.
I've only had my 4250 for a few days, but both my wife and I agree that it's an incredible device. Read the previous review by BrandonNM, "Jeff" and see that I agree completely with his comments. But also notice that many of the cons are being addressed by Magellan with the new 4350 and 4370 to be released in July 08. I read many, many reviews and user comments in trying to decide whether to buy the Maestro 4250, wait for the new one or go with the Garmin 760. I'm glad I chose the 4250 and can happily wait a couple of years to get a newer Magellan replacement.
If you have or buy the 4250, be sure to tap on every icon and every info box to see what it will display. The manual is definitely too brief (that's a minor negative) and doesn't show all the options (and that's a major plus -- there's more here than meets the eye). An example, tap on the "Arrival time" box when you're in a route, it changes to remaining time and remaining miles before going back to arrival time. It seems everything has buried options underneath.
I read many reviews and user comments. Some are clearly biased, others I wonder how they got a unit that was bad. Mostly I just don't accept the negatives I read. Except for not having enough time to see if it will break down, I've exhaustively checked every option more than once. Most complaints about the 4250 not doing this or that are because the reviewer or user didn't take the time to find the proper path or method. Another example -- a major review that said you can't change a planned route once it is entered. I planned a route for my current 1000-mile round trip. I then Optimized and Saved it. I went back and added a new stop (Append) and re-optimized. I went back and deleted one of the stops and re-optimized. All went perfectly. It even found for me a shoe store in a huge shopping center -- the shopping center wasn't mapped, but the shoe store was pinpointed on my GPS and it told me I was there when I got to within 50 feet.
The new firmware definitely improves responsiveness and re-routing if you make a wrong turn. For example, a new stretch of highway was put in where the older instructions said to turn. Before I was 100 feet on the new road, I heard the "calculating route" message and a corrected route taking me in from the opposite side was displayed. Fantastic! And that happened more than once! (Lots of new roads on this trip.) The map is the same NavTec map in use by all current GPSs -- an update is expected this Fall and hopefully that will resolve some of these. I had no problems finding any of the POIs we chose -- that will certainly be hit and miss as on any GPS as places change over time. But the AAA data was accurate and up-to-date to the last quarter. We have been AAA members for many years and have always relied on the AAA tourbooks, getting new ones for every trip. Now we don't have to get the newest annual book unless we want it -- the most recent updates can be downloaded every quarter to the 4250.
We haven't yet tested the Bluetooth, but our phone is supposed to be compatible. At this point using Bluetooth is problematic between any two devices, so it's just not a big issue for us.
One thing I want to point out, is that Magellan appears to be addressing many concerns with the 4250 (the 2007 high end model) both with firmware updates and corrections in the manufacturing stream (later purchases don't have the same issues are the earliest ones). They are also making changes is the 2008 line (4350, 4370, etc.) to address concerns like not being able to enter addresses with voice commands (the 4350 will have that as well as a "pedestrian" mode.
Some more good things: The touch screen is quite sensitive and almost always responds to a tap. Occasionally, it will miss (just re-tap) or will pick up a double-tap (oops, go back) minor stuff. The screen brightness is great, but definitely bright at night. Volume and brightness can be adjusted with the Options menu and there you also can see your battery level. The volume is orginally set to High -- too loud for our relatively quiet Camry, but that's fine with loud music. We found no problems at all with the Magellan responding to our voice commands. Normal tone of voice, picks up my low voice and my wife's higher voice with no problem at all. I actually like the window mount. Set it up properly, and it easly turns from side to side (driver to passenger) while staying in place for finger taps and remaining level to both views.
I also had to contact Magellan Tech Support because of a difficulty signing up for the 2nd year warranty (it never told me it worked). I got a response within 24 hours confirming my extended warranty.
If we have any problems over time, I'll post here. We are extremely happy with our purchase. If you don't like some of the current concerns (no voice address input, 2007 map, etc.) wait for the new releases and pay a few hundred dollars more. Or do like we decided -- get a great GPS and plan to upgrade in a couple of years when it's a lot better. (You can see the new features for the 4350 series on the tigergps site -- Amazon will probably add that info soon.)
Customer Review: Magellan Maestro 4250
Summary: 5 Stars
I've never owned a GPS but when I saw the sale price on the Magellan Maestro 4250 and read about its many features I thought it was time to try a GPS. I read the somewhat mixed reviews with interest. While it's overall review score was favorable the serious problems people had who'd written negative reviews certainly concerned me. Still, I decided to order a 4250 knowing I could return it to Amazon within 30 days if I had any serious problems during that time.
All in all I've found the Magellan 4250 to be an exceptional product. My wife and I have been house hunting for some time in a moderately-sized metropolitan area and the new GPS is saving us a lot of time. We used to pour over maps to plan efficient routes between suburban and city addresses when doing "drive bys" of homes for sale. With the 4250 we can enter a series of street addresses and press "Optimize route" (or words to that effect) and it will quickly find a good, sensible route from one address to another to another. In addition, you can also specify least or most use of freeways or select the fastest route to a destination.
Nearly all routes I've seen in use with our 4250 have made sense, though they're not always the routes I'd have chosen. And I haven't seen any that were out and out wrong or even "round about" or out of the way except for two erroneous routes, which were easily corrected, and which I discuss below. In addition, see below for the 4250's ability to automatically adjust to "wrong turns" taken by the driver without any user intervention needed.
I found the 4250 quite easy to use. Initially I was able to find and use the basic functions without even reading the instructions (though I had read a good deal of info and reviews online before purchase). The touch screen is quite responsive and easy to use. After skimming through the user manual I found I was able to use nearly all the features without needing to refer back more than once or twice over the month or so I've been using the device.
The voice commands work surprisingly well even with the car windows down and in moderately heavy traffic. Another feature I like very much is that if I deviate from the 4250's suggested route, the GPS quickly adjusts and gives me a new route continuing on from the "wrong" turn I've made rather than trying to get me to turn around and go back as, according to what I've read, some GPS units do. And it does this over and over if I continue to choose a different street or road at any point along the way and without any intervention needed on my part. I just decide not to turn where it tells me (or take a turn off the suggested route) and it recalculates and displays the new route from my current location within a few seconds.
I was concerned about reviews of the 4250 I'd read saying the display was too bright at night. It does not seem so to me. There are five brightness levels and there is an option the user can turn on so that the 4250 automatically changes to a "night" display in the evening. This changes the background from white to black and, combined with an adjustment to the display brightness, seems to be quite satisfactory to me even with the GPS suction-mounted at the top of the windshield.
I registered my Magellan Maestro through AAA and obtained a second year of warranty coverage at no additional charge. And as my wife and I often use AAA guidebooks when we're traveling to find restaurants, lodging and points of interest, we like the fact that the AAA guidebook entries are incorporated into the devices database. We don't currently have a compatible bluetooth-enabled cell phone so I can't comment on the cell phone/bluetooth/GPS interface functions and performance (for GPS/cell phone integrated voice dialing of phone numbers of motels, restaurants and points of interest displayed by the 4250).
Overall I must say I've found the Magellan Maestro 4250 has more than lived up to my expectations. It's quite easy to use, very flexible and adaptable (adjusting to changes in the route choices made by the driver without any needed intervention) and my wife and I have found it quite useful. I'd rate it a very good buy, especially at the sale price we paid for it. It came with an easy to use quick attach/detach windshield suction mount, an attractive padded fabric storage sleeve, and was easy to update the firmware (no map update was needed).
I've had only a few minor problems with the Magellan Maestro 4250 in approximately a month of moderate use. On two occasions the 4250 has apparently been confused about its location and offered an incorrect route (because it had an incorrect starting location). I simply turned the unit off and then immediately pressed the power button again to start it up. It then oriented itself properly and provided the correct route as requested.
I do have a couple of criticisms/suggestions. 1) It would be nice if Magellan would include one free map update (for the next update to come out following purchase, however long that might be) or, alternatively, offer the first update after purchase at half-price; or at least extend the free map update period to, say, 90 days rather than just 30. 2) In addition, I don't like the fact that the battery isn't user replaceable. What happens if it fails on a long trip? You send it in to get the battery replaced and have no GPS unless you purchase another one in the meantime.
Still, I'm quite pleased with this purchase based on my experience so far (about one month of moderately heavy use) am glad I bought it.
Customer Review: Handy, but could be better
Summary: 3 Stars
This is the first GPS that I've owned. We purchased it at the end of December and have been using it fairly regularly for about a month. Since they have been around for several years now, I was disappointed with some of the quirks and other issues I've discovered with this unit:
The screen is way too bright at night, even on the lowest brightness setting. It's nice that the screen turns to a black background automatically, but it's still too bright.
We've found that the GPS sometimes takes odd routes. Ex: We took a trip from Illinois to Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. The drive from Illinois to Madison was new to us, so we utilized the GPS to get there. However, once we were in Madison, we knew the best route to use to get to our destination (in Appleton). The GPS was trying to route us another way, which would have taken an additional 2 hours to get to the destination! (This was using the "Fastest Route" option on the route planner). The GPS kept trying to recalculate the route, but instead of grasping what we were doing, it wanted us to turn around, drive back to Madison, then continue on the route it had originally planned. This lasted for about an hour before it FINALLY figured out the route we were taking. Before it adjusted the route, it wanted us to backtrack 40 miles to get on the other route. This was ridiculous.
When exiting to eat, fill up with fuel, stop at a rest stop etc., it would be nice to have a way to pause the navigation so it does not constantly try to recalculate the route while you're at the exit. If there is a way to do this, I haven't discovered it yet.
A QWERTY keyboard would be a definite improvement. Since the letters are just on a touchscreen, I don't see why this isn't the standard format? When entering a city to route to, it automatically highlights the possible letters for you so it's easier to work with this keyboard format. Ex: If you want to travel to Chicago, IL, you would type the C, then the GPS eliminates (darkens) any letter that isn't going to be the next letter in the city name. The H would be highlighted, but something like the X would not (assuming there is no city in the US that starts with Cx). I just don't understand why they went through the effort of doing this instead of designing a QWERTY keyboard from the start. Now, the highlighting trick with a QWERTY keyboard would be quite cool.
I have been using the system on batteries some and the system does not give any warning that the batteries are about to run out. It just dies. This is NOT good when you're relying on the GPS to get you somewhere. It happened to me last night and I nearly got lost. I would think they could add a battery monitor and let you know when you've only got a certain amount of time left on the batteries. (Laptops have it, why can't these?)
Things that I like about the unit:
Having the street names called out while giving directions is VERY nice. I have been with people using other GPS systems that just say "Turn right in .5 miles" and the driver is left guessing exactly which street to turn on. Having the GPS say "Turn right in .5 miles on 1st Avenue" is great. There are some issues with the text to speech, however. A couple examples come to mind: Instead of saying Illinois 84 as the road name, it says I L 84 (pronouncing the letters instead of the state name). Also, if a road has multiple names, like a highway reference and local street name, it announces them both but without pausing between them. It sounds like one big, long name. If you're listening to the directions and not looking at the screen it can be difficult to discern what road it's talking about.
Another feature that we've utilized, and was handy, was the ability to have directions to an intersection. Recently, we had to find a FedEx location and all we were given was the intersection that the building was located at. I had noticed that there was a way to have the system provide guidance to an intersection and decided to try it. It worked great!
We recently relocated from another area and did not have a phonebook for a couple of weeks, to find things like Hardware stores, etc. We were able to use some of the addresses in the GPS to help us find the store we were looking for, and use it to guide us there. I find using the POI database to be a little tricky (i.e. using the lookup method by category can be difficult), but if you want to just search for something by name it seems to be easier. Ex: We were trying to locate a Home Depot store. I couldn't find it using the category search, but I typed in the name Home Depot and found a store. This system kind of served as a mini phonebook for us until we got a real one. Obviously, every address is not stored in this system. There have been times that we wanted to find a McDonalds or something, knowing that there would be one close to us, but the unit didn't know anything about that specific location.
The product is a good size. It's quite thin, fitting easily into a purse or pocket, and the widescreen is nice. I like being able to click on the arrow in the lower left corner to see the route that the system has planned. I also enjoy the compass located in the upper left corner, and the ability to touch that button to find out fun information like rate of speed, elevation, distance to the next exit, distance to the previous exit, etc.
Overall, I like having something to help navigate for me and the unit has come in handy already, but for the price I paid I was expecting more.
Customer Review: Magellan's Maestro 4250 Soundly Delivers
Summary: 4 Stars
Magellan's Maestro Series 4250 GPS offers users a solid and reliable experience. The device is exceptionally intuitive and easy to use. After a few weeks, it has performed flawlessly, although I have found that satellite acquisition times vary from instantaneous recognition to a few moments, necessitated by an occasional, automatic re-boot. I have not needed to manually reset my unit.
Ad hoc and pre-programmed routing is fast, accurate, and performs favorably vis-à-vis other market leading units, as reported in GPS Magazine and elsewhere. Recalculations for routing are timely and generally responsive. The unit offers hands-free Bluetooth operation on mobile phones that "pair" and "auto-respond" automatically--though not all models are supported nor is instant messaging. Voice commands work but require patience and repetition for optimal results.
Programming the Address Book is straightforward, with options to enter data by location, intersection, or zip code with a touch screen keyboard that guides users through a capable algorithm for interactive word completion. Ideally, this task would be made easier if Magellan provided software on its CD, and cabling, that permitted users to sync their contact information from PIMs such as Microsoft Outlook from PCs, or by infrared or Bluetooth transmissions from smartphones or PDAs. Alas, these capabilities are missing in most OEM offerings.
The Maestro 4250 does not offer a built-in (or an optional) FM transmitter, or multimedia capabilities, though these features would be redundant if you already own an iPod, MP3 player, or similar device, and an FM transmitter. I prefer the 4250's internal speaker, anyway, since FM transmissions do not always provide uninterrupted, clear channel service on vehicle audio systems--at least not without requiring the user to periodically change frequencies, especially on long trips, which can be tedious. The effort does not always guarantee a static-free result either. The 4250 "speaks" to its users in a pleasant female voice, a guidance system that alerts them to upcoming turns, and the like. "Missy" can be silenced and/or used in conjunction with a split-frame on the touch screen that temporarily displays upcoming maneuvers with arrows alongside an optional 2D or 3D image map, also set by user preferences. Daytime and nighttime views are offered on maps but not menus. Directions with street names are audible on the 4250's monaural speaker, and volume levels can be adjusted at will. With the push of a finger, users can access six million points of interest (POIs), instantaneously with colorful, large and small icons, and "buttons" on the brilliant 4.3" glare-free touch screen that is encased in an ultra-slim, stylish cabinet, measuring less than an inch thick. For its size, the unit is one of the slimmest, lightest, and most compact in the market. Routes--even those with multiple destinations--can be programmed for fastest time, shortest distance, greatest use of freeways or highways, and least use of tollways. Detailed AAA travel guide information, which is accessible from the menu, is not integrated into the Maestro's huge POI database at this time, but would be a welcome improvement. Live traffic updates, which is an optional feature in the Maestro's routing algorithms, is available to users, and is reasonably priced with a yearly subscription. A free three-month trial period is offered. I highly recommend this option. All users can configure their own detour options on the device, if desired, with its built-in maps for the lower 48 States and Canada. They can identify their immediate "Location," and re-route themselves "Home" from anywhere with the push of an icon or button on the touch screen! A "Roadside Assistance" icon is available to AAA members for emergency service. Magellan and AAA websites allow users to register and update their maps, POIs, and travel guides online, anytime; however, it would be nice if these purveyors offered their patrons--especially those of the non-broadband ilk--optional CDs for their updates, even if it necessitates a nominal, additional cost for shipping and handling. Notwithstanding, with all of these features and conveniences, the Maestro 4250 is an exceptional GPS, if not unsurpassed in its utility, peace of mind, and safety to users.
Included in the box are a windshield mount with a dashboard disk option, and AC and DC cables, which work on the desktop and the vehicle's cigarette lighter. I prefer a third-party cupholder mount that secures my GPS at eye-level in my vehicle, and keeps the device within easy reach without obstructing instrumentation. Some states do not permit windshield mounts, so the use of the included dash mount disk option or other third party solution, such as a vent mount, etc., may be necessary. A soft fabric sleeve also is provided to store and carry the GPS. Documentation is provided on the CD as a PDF file.
Published battery life for the Maestro 4250 is 3 to 4 hours, which is important for those who plan to use their units on foot. The device offers a "sleep mode" which can be programmed to "time-out" at different intervals to extend battery life.
Bottom-line: The Magellan Maestro 4250 is a capable performer. Like all GPS units, newer models that offer additional "bling" at a premium price point will soon succeed it. However, this unit, as currently offered, is a bargain. Given its many useful features, build quality, and overall reliability, it is an investment you will likely not regret.
Customer Review: Tough decision
Summary: 4 Stars
While researching GPS units I couldn't decide between the Maestro 4250 or the Garmin nuvi 760 so I bought both so I could do a side-by-side comparison and return whichever fell short. It wasn't an easy decision and Santa had to ultimately make the choice for me.
NOTE: I didn't test/compare bluetooth or MP3s since my main focus was on the GPS itself
Address Entry:
-Point to Maestro: As you type in an address invalid letters/numbers are inactivated. This feature was helpful in easily knowing whether or not Maestro knew about an entered address and to help prevent typos.
-Point to Maestro: When entering a street address a valid range of street numbers for whatever street you entered is displayed. I really liked this feature. If the Maestro couldn't find an address at least you could pick a location it could find that was close to where you were trying to go.
-Point to Nuvi: The Nuvi saves your state as a default which helps speed of the time spent entering addresses. With the Maestro there is no way to enter your state as a default so every time you enter a city you have to choose from a list of every city in every state that matches your criteria. This was more annoying than anything else. If there is a way to change that I couldn't find it and therefore it's not intuitive enough.
Mapping Software:
-Point to Nuvi. The Nuvi came with the latest version of the mapping software. Maestro's maps were outdated and cost about $60.00 to upgrade to the latest version. This really upset me merely on principle. Nothing like paying $200 for an out of date item. If Maestro could have offered me a free map upgrade to the latest map version I MIGHT have chosen the Maestro over the Nuvi.
Navigation:
-Neutral point. Both the Nuvi and Maestro performed better under circumstances. In one instance neither the Maestro nor the Nuvi knew about a semi-new highway exit. The Nuvi caught up to where I was going rather quickly but the Maestro never did until I got onto a road that has been around for a long time. The Maestro kept instructing me to drive several miles out of my way. In another instance the Nuvi wanted me to take a bunch of wacky turns to get where I was going whereas the Maestro selected the most straight forward route. And in yet one more instance while weaving my way through the back streets in my neighborhood the Maestro led me the correct way but the Nuvi kept telling me to do a legal u-turn and go back to the main road. The Nuvi didn't figure out where I was until I was at my house. I would have liked to have been able to see how the Maestro performed with the most recent mapping software for a more apples-to-apples comparison.
-Neutral point. Both models performed well in rerouting me after "missing" a location. In some instances the Nuvi rerouted me quicker and in others the Maestro did.
-Point to Maestro. I preferred the vocal directions a little bit better on the Maestro. There were more of them and more frequently. Although at times it was weird...for instance calling 123 Elm Dr as 123 Elm Doctor. Good for a chuckle or two.
-Point to Maestro. The maestro chimes when you should be taking a turn. Not sure if this happened with vocal directions turned off.
User Interface in general
- Point to Nuvi. Much more intuitive
- Point to Nuvi. With the Nuvi you can easily see your start location and ending location in a single snapshot view. The Maestro didn't have this feature...or again, if it did I couldn't find it so it wasn't intuitive enough. While navigating to a particular location on the highway I couldn't figure out why both GPS units were telling me to get off the next exit and head back the way I had just come. After the 3rd or 4th time I figured something was wrong with the location I chose. Sure enough...the location I selected was in a different city. The Nuvi made it perfectly clear what had happened....would have taken a while to figure out on the Maestro. ***This ended up being the ultimate reason Santa chose the Nuvi over the Maestro***
-Point to Nuvi. Adding multiple way points was easier in the Nuvi and again you could see your entire route with all of the way points easily identified.
-1/2 point to Maestro. Voice command was sort of cool but limited. I REALLY liked this feature when researching the GPS units but it really wasn't robust enough to be a deciding factor.
-Point to Maestro. While driving a route the Maestro shows many more peripheral street names, etc. even with the Nuvi set to show the most details on its map.
-Point to Nuvi. The Nuvi displays the speed limit as you are driving your route....at least in most instances.
Misc:
-Point to Maestro. The Maestro came with a carrying case. The Nuvi didn't.
-Point to Nuvi. I like the way the Nuvi connects to the car's power source and mounts to the windshield better than the Maestro. The Maestro was sort of a hassle to connect and disconnect.
Bottom Line:
I sure which I could have selected my favorites from both models and combine them into one. I think you'll be okay with either model...it's most likley what you deem to be the most important features that will be your deciding factor.