Magellan Maestro 4250 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Magellan
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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 |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Magellan Maestro 4250 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: abysmal customer support
Summary: 1 Stars
I accidentally entered the wrong S/N when registering my 4250 online. Though it accepted the S/N I entered. The print is extremely misleading and I made a typo because of it. What looked like a 6 was actually a 5. I was unaware it was the wrong s/n until I tried to activate the free 3 month traffic subscription. After I entered the traffic subscription coupon it generated a coupon code that did not work (a ridiculously long code that I entered several times) on my device because of the S/N error. (I figured out the S/N error only through perusing the different user settings and finding a product information page. If you buy one of these, don't try to read the box, turn on the device and go to the product id screen.)
I called India (customer support) and it was an excercise in futility, and I knew that as soon as the guy answered the phone. This is not a racist comment in any way. The problem is customer support is farmed out to companies in India, but they don't have any tools available to them to help you.
- Even though I registered online fully the guy in India can't see my info and you have to slowly phonetically spell your personal info over the phone, again. It's the same info that you enter online.
- He tried to walk me through the process of entering a traffic subscription activation coupon, but I was already there on my PC. Once he understood this he asked me to enter the activation coupon code, which I dutifully did. Nada....
- As I explained to this gent, the coupon was used for the wrong device and I need a new coupon code for the GPS that I do own.
- Not only could he not provide a new 3 month code, or tell me where to write to in order to get one, he said he cannot correct the erroneouus online information. I now have two Maestro 4250's assigned to me.
- I feel sorry for the person that buys the 4250 that I already registered. They are in for a nightmare when they get the error stating this number has been used already.
It's a deal breaker for me that a typo when registering the device could cause this much of a problem, and Magellan has no provision to correct it. I only hope Magellan reads Amazon reviews. Amazon shouldn't carry Magellan. Decent hardware, but zero support.
Customer Review: 'Maggie' is part of the family now. . .
Summary: 5 Stars
We returned a Garmen 650 for this Magellan after doing research. We have used her a several months now and she has done quite well, although not quite perfect.
Her 3d presentations and voice directions work very well --it is nice to see the Walmarts, Starbucks laid out ahead in perspective in bright, crisp details. She does a nice job of alerting you to turns and pronounces street names fairly well. The bluetooth to the cell phone is handy, the phone numbers of places of interest she will dial and all that come in very handy sometimes. The hardware, USB, software, mounts and carring cases are nice. We play with the voice recognition a lot, that is fun, and does keep both hands on the wheel.
My wife became quite attached to her during an emergency a month after we bought her as during Hurricane Dolly I had to stay behind (working in Harlingen) and sent her, our kids and 'Maggie' on ahead to San Antonio, a city my wife had never been before. . . Now, I do not think you could hardly buy Maggie from my wife! She took my wife right to a complicated parking scenario in a hotel on the 'River Walk' without wasting a turn --Maggie was especially reassuring to my wife in that extreme condition (indeed, she still is reassuring to have to me, too, especially being the husband of a directionally-challenged wife :-( )
Almost always she works just great! (Maggie) ( ;-) )
However, if there were a 4 1/2 star rating I would have given her that (didn't want to hurt her feelings with a four and went with five) as on very-rare occasions Maggie will get it just a little wrong: the worst, one trip she had the 'distance to destination' abokut 50 miles off when we were about 200 miles from home. There are other times when she 'reroutes,' e.g. after I make an unexpected or bizarre-to-her turn, sometimes she will choose a reroute that is longer than optimum. But again, these slips are rare and have never been signficant. Also, I don't like having to 'exit' my trip to search for a Starbucks, the only other annoyance I can think of, but I can live with that as it is easy to 'resume'. . .
Like I say she is part of the family now, wouldn't consider another --would not leave home without her. I highly-recommend her.
Customer Review: Great Unit Overall
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned a Maestro 4250 for a few years now. I bought it refurbished for $130, and I think it is great overall... I love the features and it is very easy to use... easy to understand voice, routes me very well overall..
Once in a while, but not often, it will choose a strange route, but as I said, this is not common, and from what I have read, pretty much all GPS's will do this from time to time.. I like that it will warn you of turns a couple times in advance and then make a 'ding' when it is time to turn to remind you. You can also choose to reroute when you are stuck in traffic... There are tons of points of interest, although admittedly some of them are outdated. I always call first to make sure the point of interest still exists if it is not a big box recognizable name store.
It has other features like voice recognition/bluetooth but I have never really used them... Once in a while it will ask me out of the blue to "say a command" which can be annoying, but I have never really bothered to try to figure that out, so I can't comment as to whether the feature works properly or whether maybe I accidentally did/said something to prompt that.
I bought one of these units for my parents as gift for some occasion, since I like it so much. They have used it many times, and have not complained of problems doing so, which is a testament to how easy it is to use, since they are technological illiterates of the highest degree! If mine ever gives out, I will gladly look to Magellan for their most recent version, but it is still going strong for me after around 3 years now.
I've found that on more than one occasion it has routed me all the way to an address when I was told that GPS's can't find their way there for some reason (per my host). And it has routed me the best way (per my host) to other locations, when I was told GPS's always choose the wrong route to the destination, so I think it must be better than a lot of other GPS's out there...
I plan to buy a GPS for my father-in-law for fathers day (I better get moving!), and will likely buy a 4700, but I am tempted to get him a 4250 like I have since I am so familiar with it and happy with it!
Customer Review: You can't go wrong...
Summary: 5 Stars
If you want a device to navigate you, Magellan is the best. I bought this 4250 couple of weeks ago, I love it so far. My friend bought a Garmin which has similar features (with some more bells and whistles), but when it comes to mapping and navigation this beats the Garmin hands down.
You can select POIs of your interest to show on the map. You just tap it to get the full information and route to that POI (which you can't do on a Garmin). Talk about "Exit POIs", you can't praise the people enough who put this idea in to this unit. When you are on a freeway, tap this icon to list all the restaurants, gas stations and hotels on the forth coming exits. This is the best I can say, which saves lots of time finding a restaurant or hotel of my choice.
As some people mentioned, I too agree the device had some glitches initially. After I updated with the latest firmware available on Magellan website, it works flawlessly now.
Bluetooth is a so so. It works, but the volume is not loud enough as the map announcements. After pairing with the phone first time, when you switch it on next time it doesn't show it is connected to the phone even though it IS connected. I accidentally found this when I received a call immediately after I switched on the device. So, actually I don't need to push 'connect' as someone mentioned here. It DOES connect to the phone each time I switch on the device.
Another nice thing is 'Smart Detour' (even if you are not subscribed to traffic alerts, this works) this device alerts with an icon blinking on the left asking if you need a detour when it detects the high way speed suddenly drops to a single digit speed.
People, please stop complaining about customer service. For any technology device, you can't expect anything more. YOU as a consumer, know better than those folks. You must be talking to a guy who never saw a device that he gives support for. So better find your answers elsewhere. If I need support for a device, I Google it first. Calling customer service is the last option (if I want to return it)!!
I strongly recommend this device. You can't go wrong.
Customer Review: Frozen GPS
Summary: 2 Stars
I have owned TWO of the Magellan 4250 units. TWO of them because the first one I ordered worked for about 4 hours, I turned it off, went in to my office and when I came back out to drive home, I turned the unit on and it froze.
So I called Amazon.com and returned it and they refunded my purchase(Thank You Amazon) then and sent me another NEW unit.
This unit worked Fine, it got me out of a few jams while on business in Oahu and worked fine back home in California.
Then the second unit, I had for only 19 days froze also, it froze while trying to update the maps via the update disc they sent me(the 30 day "supposedly free" map guarantee)which was an extra $10.00 and a total hassle to get because of all the Proof of Purchase and Registration info I had to provide.
After that I called Magellan customer service, I went to the steps of trying to revive the unit per their instructions, no luck at all with that, the unit was frozen.
Magellan customer service told me that I had to send the unit in and instead of repairing the unit they would send another unit to replace it.
Here's the kicker though and they won't tell you that(I read it in the fine print) they will send you a Refurbished unit first before they will send you a new one, they will only send you a new unit if there is not a refurbished one in stock.
For me this was unacceptable, I purchased the Magellan Maestro 4250 new out of the box and new is what I expected back in return for a unit that was only 19 days old and Magellan said that they could not guarantee me that I would recieve a new unit for a replacement, so my only alternative was to return it and search for another brand.
The Pros, I comes with AAA roadside assistance(if you have AAA) which I do. The spoken street names are more than loud enough
The Cons, The bugs I found were, the 4250 had a hard time recognizing my voice while using voice command.
The other was the Bluetooth phone feature, no matter how high I turned up the volume, I had a hard time hearing the person I was talking to through the unit.