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When the primary Bluetooth GPS receiver came out, frankly I thought that was something I didn't need. Actually, I'm not one of those drivers who spends a lot of time talking on the phone. Later when I upgraded my GPS to a unit that had Bluetooth, I loved being competent to talk "hands-free" so much I would never consider buying a unit without that capability.
Buying a GPS is most times difficult because there are so a great deal of manufacturers and they have so some merchandise to choose from. If you're focusing on a GPS that has Bluetooth, then you're narrowing the field down some, but still, you have a ton of possibilities.
In this article I'm going to make the choice of the right Bluetooth GPS a little (how in regards to a lot?) requiring little effort for you. Once you finish reading this, you'll be ready to buy the right unit for your needs and your budget.
One thing that helped me when I purchased my unit was realizing there are three main manufacturers of GPS devices. Garmin is the industry leader with in all probability 70% of the market share. Tom Tom is fast catching up with great productions and outstanding prices. And Magellan surely holds it is own as one of the early pioneers with a lot of proprietary features.
I'm not going to tell you which unit I chose. I will tell you it was made by one of these three.
Let's talk in regards to each of these companies and their GPS's that have Bluetooth capability.
Garmin
Garmin has a huge range of products. They have assorted GPS gimmicks that have Bluetooth integration. Personally, I like their newer, sleeker nuvi line. The nuvis are replacing the StreetPilot as Garmin's flagship line of GPS receivers.
There are various nuvis with Bluetooth. Their numbers are the 360, 370, 660, 670, 680, 760, 770, 780, and the recent arrivals the 880 and the 5000.
The 300s all have the littler 3.5-inch screens. The main divergence amongst the 300s and the 600s is the screen size. If you want a huge screen, try the 5000! It's screen is a huge 5.2-inches along the diagonal.
The 600s also have what's called FM transmission capability. That is, the sound from the GPS is routed through your car's stereo system.
What the 700s offer above the 300s and the 600s is multi-destination routing. In other words, if you want to drive from New York to Calgary to Vancouver to San Francisco, you may enter all that data in your GPS at one time and it will calculate the best route to get you to all three places. (Unfortunately, it can't make the drive shorter!)
Nuvis presently run from right around $200 for the 300s to $350 or so for the 700s. The 5000 is presently around $650, and the 880 runs in regards to $1,000.
Magellan
I utterly adore Magellan's Maestro line! In that line, there are two GPS's that support Bluetooth, the 3250 and the 4250. They are the same, except the 4250 has the larger 4.3-inch screen.
These appliances are comparable to the Garmin nuvis. Magellan does have a proprietary thing with AAA, where they offer their Tour Book in truth on the device. (You have to be a AAA fellow member to access it.)
At the moment, the 3250 will set you back when it comes to $200. Believe me, that's a lot of GPS for that amount of money. And the 4250 is in regards to $250.
Tom Tom
Tom Tom is the newer kid on the block. And they have been acutely benefitting market portion with outstanding merchandise and very aggressive pricing. The Tom Tom Go line supports Bluetooth. The Go 510 runs somewhat less than $200 and the Go 920 runs amid $300 and $350.
Unfortunately, no six hundred word article may tell you all you need to know in regards to these outstanding devices, even if you narrow it down to just the ones with Bluetooth. What you need to do now, is to get on an informative internetsite where you may in truth look at specific models and check their current prices.
This is a refurbished GPS. Refurbished in general means that the unit has been returned to the manufacturer, who brings the navigator back to like new conditions. Some GPS may integrate cosmetic blemishes. When a Magellan GPS product is shipped back, for whatsoever reason, it is inspected, tested, and repackaged for resale. The item may no longer sold as "new," only as "refurbished." Magellan's refurbished items are verified to be in original working condition after undergoing an inspection routine by factory-qualified service teams. Each Magellan refurbished productions comes with a 90-day fixed warranty. Please note that this device does not qualify for Magellan 30-day map guarantee.
We've been big fans of Magellan's Maestro line since it came out in early 2006. The Maestro interface is fantastically easy to use, even for those who are not totally comfortable with electronics. At the same time, Magellan was in front of the industry with utile inventions like multi-destination routing and pre-loaded reviews for points of interest like hotels and restaurants (from AAA). With it is 3200 and 4200 series, Magellan has bettered the Maestro line giving them a SirfStar III chipset that provides super-fast. satellite lock and making them thinner. In fact, at .7 inches, these are -- at the time of this writing (November 2007), the thinnest portable GPS navigators available. Distinguishing among models is likewise somewhat easy.
3200 and 4200 Family of Navigators
Distinguishing amongst models is likewise somewhat easy. The 3200-series navigators feature a 3.5-inch screen, while the 4200s have a 4.3-inch widescreen display. The 3200 and 4200 offer great, basic navigation with turn-by-turn spoken directions, pre-loaded maps of the 48 contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and 1.3 million POIs. The 3210 and 4210, add maps for Canada and Alaska, AAA travel info (see details below) and bump you up to 6 million POIs. The 3220 and 4220 add maps of Mexico. The top-of-the-line 3250 and 4250 add a host of other features, including text-to-speech directions that give real street names, Bluetooth for hands-free phone calls, integrated traffic (with a free 3-month subscription), and voice command.
What Makes the Maestro 3250 Exceptional?
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Easy to use navigation features SmartDetour and automati re-route. View larger. |
Access built-in AAA info from your GPS touch screen. View larger. |
Click to see a video on the Magellan Maestro 3250's Voice Command system. |
Voice Command and Control
Voice Command further enables hands-free operation so you may keep your eyes on the road. Say a command to access the most applied navigation functions. Find the nearest coffee, restaurant, gas and ATM or get an instant route home. Plus, you may ask for your location, the distance to your destination and speedily get details for the nearest roadside assistance and more, all with the sound of your voice.
AAA-enabled
With built-in AAA travel information, the Maestro 4250 gives you instant access to the most trusted source for trip planning, searchable AAA TourBook listings, Show Your Card & Save emplacements for fellow member discounts, approved automati repair facilities, attractions, events, and more. The Maestro 3250 also provides AAA members roadside assistance details, with precise emplacement and a toll-free number. Plus, the Maestro 3250 is Bluetooth-enabled so you may connect your Bluetooth cell phone directly to AAA for prompt aid when you need it most.
Note: AAA fellow member roadside assistance requires AAA membership.
Bluetooth for Hands-Free Calling
The Maestro 3250's Bluetooth wireless technology lets you make hands-free phone calls with your Bluetooth-enabled phone. You may store or sync numbers and contact info through the easy-to-use touch screen, and even place calls directly through the Maestro 3250's integrated microphone and speakers.
Integrated Real-Time Traffic
The integrated traffic receiver offers onscreen RDS-TMC traffic incident reports in real-time. A free 3-month traffic service subscription makes it easy to keep away from accidents, slow downs, road closures, severe weather and more. Your Maestro 3250 mechanically recalculates your approximated time of arrival based on traffic conditions and prompts you to reroute when a more quickly way is available.
One of the thinnest portable GPS navigators on the market
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Magellan Maestro 3250 3 5 Inch Navigator Image
Magellan Maestro 3250 3 5 Inch Navigator Picture
Magellan Maestro 3250 3 5 Inch Navigator Picture
Magellan Maestro 3250 3 5 Inch Navigator Pic
Magellan Maestro 3250 3 5 Inch Navigator Pic
Magellan Maestro 3250 3 5 Inch Navigator Pic
Most helpful client reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
 Great GPS and good functionallity
By rjgsphinx
I have been very impressed with this GPS unit. I have had various before, Garmin and Tom Tom, but this unit is by far the easiest I have used.
The voice functions work well altho you from time to time have to repeat words, but I love the fact that using voice commands does not require you to touch the unit AT ALL for a great deal of basic commands.
The traffic functionality seems good but I have not had any situations to test it yet. I did have to use the detour function in an area that did not have traffic coverage and it was easy to use and very intuitive.
One complaint on the unit, and the only real reason it gets 4 stars, not 5, is the screen is VERY bright, which works outstanding for the duration of the day (I have never seen a unit so easy to read in sunlight), but at night it may not be dimmed as much as I would prefer. The colors may be set to mechanically change to night colors, which do help, but the luminance is a little too much for my taste.
Overall, I would highly commend this unit to anyone.
7 of 7 humans found the following review helpful.
 Magellan GPS 3250
By Walter R. Davies
I purchased my magellan 3250 last year for $300 at $99.95 I think this a great deal. I can't say sufficient regarding the Magellan 3250. Its little on the dash so it doesn't block you view is very good at finding the quickest or best way to get someplace (except in Indendence, OR) Will take you right up to the front door. But what I Liked the best was in Portland when we were stuck on the freeway do to a wreck and the Magellan was capable to help us get around it and save an hour of time.
I like the Blue-Tooth for my Cell phone and the voice commands also.
Walt Davies
4 of 4 persons found the following review helpful.
 POOR SUPPORT
By TomA
Magellan will NOT help these refurbished units. This item comes with EXTREMELY OLD maps and software installed and Magellan wants you to compensate $80 to upgrade it to the latest version. If this unit was factory refurbished, why doesn't it have the latest software?
This unit goes back to Amazon.
See all 45 client reviews...
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