Magellan Maestro 4250 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Magellan
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List Price: Our Price: $49.99 You Save: $550.00 (92%) 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: 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 There are tons of points of interest, although admittedly some of them are outdated.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: Road Trip Companion
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought this to accompany me on a cross country road trip that went through Chicago, Black Hills, Colorado, Utah, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. All of this took me through a variety of locations including city, isolated, and national parks. Entered approximately ten destinations into my trip planner and took off. Found the device extremely accurate including in Wisconsin where street names were like XY, and in getting me into and out of Chicago and Las Vegas. It was great in computing my distances between current position and destinations. It was amazing to be in the middle of no where and hear the bip indicating a turn within feet of the correct location. The voice directions were helpful in that they gave you a good feel for your next action with sufficient time to get in the correct lane.
I bought this because of its relationship to the AutoClub including incorporation of its tour guides. The Points of Interest features and AutoClub information were excellent. The Exit POI features to find next gas or restaurant off turnpikes were also helpful.
As with anything, we did encounter some situations where we needed to improvise. However, I would say that most likely any other GPS device would have had similar problems. In Chicago, we found ourselves in an extended tunnel where we lost reception. In the mornings, we realized that it took some time for the unit to "wake up" while it was finding the satellites. Once that happened, it worked as intended. And every now and then, we found a closed restaurant or gas station. But overall, I would rate those experiences as a matter of getting used to working with a GPS device rather than a deficiency in this product.
There were four of us in the car, and all of us were very pleased with the unit, to the point that they started referring to the female voice as "Maggie." The price is excellent and I feel that I got excellent value for what I paid. The Amazon price was excellent compared with retail outlets.
Customer Review: Great unit... if you upgrade to the latest firmware
Summary: 5 Stars
The best piece of advice that I can give is to immediately update the firmware. The device came pre-loaded with firmware version 2.32. The latest available for free from Magellan's website is 4.6. This latest firmware has solved the constant crashing problem, and further address many of the complaints of the previous generation of software.
Overall, I find the Magellan quite easy to follow. It's definitely a communicator... telling you two or three times of each impending turn. It gives you a split-screen view of upcoming turns, and beeps when you're at the turn. The map is clear and concise, and seems to have about the right resolution of those little extra side streets. I personally prefer it over Garmin's view.
There are certain quirks to the interface, however. The address book is hidden under "routing," and it is difficult to add a previous address to your address book. Similarly, there is no way to independently adjust sound effect levels, so either that annoying "CLICK!" is too loud, or the turn-by-turn instructions are too quiet. And finally, while you would think that your car is in the middle of the little triangle indicator, it's actually a little bit in front of it. Overall, though, these are minor complaints, and don't detract from the overall score of 5.
Whenever I have trusted my own navigational instincts over the Magellan, I have been proven wrong. Near-instantaneous remapping is a feature that I use almost constantly. Not only that, but if there is a route that you prefer to take, you can simply charge on ahead and take it, and the Magellan will re-route accordingly. Estimated times seem to be about right. The additional points of interest database, while 90% useless, is actually 10% useful for finding gas stations.
While there are things to nitpick about the unit, once updated it's actually suprisingly reliable, useful, and intelligent. I'd gladly buy it again.
Customer Review: Great GPS from Magellan!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is our newest Magellan and a huge upgrade from the 3050T.
This unit is quicker, thinner and has more features. I had considered the Garmin, but after flying past the streets that have no signs or their signs are covered too many times, the Garmin became a real pain...it also lacks the ease to changing the volume.
The Magellan tells you where you will turn vocally and chimes ahead to the turn. The Garmin keeps repeating "turn right on X street" when you get too close to slam on the brakes and turn sharply...or if there is no sign...you'll just pass the street and need to do "a legal U-Turn".
The older and thicker 3050T has a slightly better sound quality. But the new unit is much better to read and guide us to where we are going.
The 4250 allows for you to program favorite routes and trip planning also. Also it allows you to easily get to shopping, food, gas, airports, etc with voice commands. You can also use voice commands to find out the distance to your destination, or time of arrival. So far it has been 100% correct!
The Blue-Tooth feature is great! It has not failed us when we use it. Just remember that when your Blue-Tooth is turned on the cell phone will discharge quicker. We plug the cell phone into the car charger to avoid this issue.
Also a plus; after a few of the same routes taken, it remembers my route.
The older 3050T never did that.
I bought mine at Costco for $249 with a coupon and the one on Amazon for $279.
Not a bad price for all the bells and whistles.
BTW, this 4250 allows us to "plug into" our own AAA membership and use their mapping, routing, hotel/motels recommendations...plus get us help quickly if we get stuck with car problems. Nice!
Even without the "traffic" package subscription, the 4250 tells you if there is a detour or traffic problem...a nice feature.