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591 of 592 persons found the following review helpful.
Excellent GPS Unit!
By Allen
I expended a lot of time researching a GPS unit to purchase. I "settled" for the Magellan 4250 because I couldn't warrant the further and added $100-200 to buy a similar Garmin product and I stayed away from TomTom because a syndication store rep noted that those units were returned finelooking frequently.
I took this unit with me to Las Vegas and it got me from point to point without issues. Directions are clear and the interface is beauteous straight forward. Entering addresses is rather easy, route calculation is reasonably fast. It has a day/night mode and is rather visible even in direct sunlight. My only complaint with the screen is that the unit is still too bright when in night mode and the luminance is set to the lowest level.
I used the Trip Planner to enter multiple destinations for my trip up to Vegas. This made going from one point to the next easy as I didn't have to make any address entries or search for a POI. I just click on Guide Me, select the destination from my saved Trip and I'm on my way.
POI was very useful. You may search POI by Name, Category or AAA TourBook and then search near you, in a city or near an address. I like the breakdown of POI Categories, very user-friendly. If you have a Bluetooth compatible phone, you may contact the POI if they include the phone number. Just select the phone number and you'll be connected by way of the built-in speakerphone, which works beauteous well. A feature that I didn't think I would use is the capacity to choose what POI icons (coffee shops, buying goods areas, gas stations, atm/banks, etc.) appear on the map. I found this feature rather utile in searching for a nearby coffee shop.
AAA data is great, I actually employed this to find a nice breakfast restaurant. It gave me the restaurant hours, diamond rating and dress attire. Additional AAA TourBook selective information include these categories: Accomodations, Restaurants, Destinations, Attractions and Events. I found the Events outdated, but I was told by a Magellan sales rep that AAA will be freeing quarterly updates. As of this review, AAA still has not freed any updates, they hope to have it up sometime in late 2007. Looks like they are waiting up to the last minute.
AAA Members have further and added benefits, see AAA's internetlocation for more details. One remarkable gain is an extra year warranty.
The Voice Command feature is a nice extra, but it will most likely go unused.
Bluetooth was not compatible with my phone (Cingular 8125), however, I was competent to test it using the Sony Ericsson W800 and it worked flawlessly. When you receive a text message an icon appears on the map and you may read the message directly on the screen. The same goes with phone calls. The only downside is that you can't import your contact list.
Live Traffic data is free for 3 months and it looks like $40 per year subscription, rather reasonable. When you have the unit plugged into the FM power/receiver, you'll see an icon on the bottom right hand of the screen indicating traffic status, or if there are any issues on the way to your destination. I have yet to determine how fast/accurate the traffic updates occur.
A nice feature with this unit is that once you have entered your destination, you may look at the direction list and if you see a street that you don't want to include (let's say because you recognise it has heavy traffic), select that direction/step and you may exclude this from your route. Nifty.
If you are into customizable icons/voices, they are not built-in.
Overall, I am very happy with this buy and would gladly commend it to family, friends and strangers reading reviews on Amazon.com.
Job well done Magellan!
*** 2007-11-29 Update****
I've had the unit for in regards to a month now. I have further and added comments.
Auto Detour: If you are in traffic, the unit will suggest a Detour. I've only used it once, but it came in very handy.
Traffic: I've come to the conclusion that this is finelooking accurate, even though I wish there was an option to use the Auto Detour feature before actually hitting traffic.
Exit POI: While on the freeway, I may check to see freeway exit Restaurants, Lodging, Gas Stations and Auto Service Shops. The unit displays the distance to each Exit POI.
Voice Command: I didn't think I would use this much, but with proper annunciation, I found it more commodious to say "Magellan Go Home" rather of pressing the choices on the screen.
Size: Since this is my primary GPS unit, I may be taking it's size for granted, but I like that I may fit it in my jacket pocket.
Support: When I original got this unit, I couldn't register the product, so I called Support. They were very helpful in helping me register my product. I also had to call them a second time to get assistance in activating my Traffic Subscription, again they were very helpful and was competent to resolve my issue.
My Complaints:
- At times the unit is a little slow to respond when an option is selected
- There is no quick/easy way to add a POI by name to the Trip Planner
- Text to speech doesn't always come off well (i.e. Los Angeles/CA-60 W is read "Los Angeles Forwardslash C A Dash Sixty W")
- Searching for a POI by name takes when it comes to 15 seconds
- I upgraded my phone to the AT&T Tilt, Bluetooth usage is fixed to making and receiving calls
That's when it comes to it. I still commend this unit.
*** 2008-07-30 Update****
I upgraded the firmware on my unit to version 4.60 and I felt the need to update my review. Magellan has bettered rather a few things:
- Improved visual cues on the map makes navigation easier
- Bluetooth connection is now automatic, I was enjoyably amazed to receive a call from a friend without having the need to re-connect my Tilt. I was even more pleased when I was capable to dial a POI phone number without re-connecting. (Still no SMS or Contact aid for my Tilt, but that is in all likelihood an OS issue)
- Map scrolling is faster
- Re-route calculation is noticeably faster
- Magellan even fixed the text to speech issue I noted in my last update
One of the features I wish Magellan would improve is the time it takes to do a POI Search By Name. I use this feature rather a bit and waiting the 15 to 20 seconds to display a result set just seems too long.
I'm pretty sure there were other improvements that I haven't seen, but the fact that Magellan has freed at least 2 firmware upgrades since I purchased my 4250 states that they are consecrated to bettering the user experience for their products.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Job well done Magellan!"
*** 2009-07-12 Update****
Magellan freed yet another firmware update, version 4.86, and I have to applaud them for their latest fixes/additions:
- POI Search By Name time has in the long run been reduced! I searched for a store (whose logo resembles a bullseye) and search took 4-5 seconds, very fast! There are still times when it takes around 10 seconds, but that didn't occur too often.
- Map drawing speed has also been increased when you scroll around, it is rather noticeable.
- Voice Command is more responsive.
- Lastly, Magellan added 2 new turn chimes, one for a left turn and another for a right turn. Very nice.
Alright, consider this my last review update (unless Magellan releases another firmware upgrade). I officially have no more complaints.
Thanks Magellan!
271 of 274 humans found the following review helpful.
It's a good unit, but likewise has some flaws
By M. Avecilla
I thought I'd follow up with my decision and part my experiences therefore far.
I had both units, decisive versus the Garmin and popped open the 4250. This is our family's firstborn GPS unit and our only other experience was a positive one using Hertz Neverlost.
PROs:
- As noted already, I'm a fan of the POI system on the Magellan and the fact that gas stations, ATMs, grocery stores, restaurants, coffee, etc show up as I roll by is appreciated. Easy to tap on an icon and get routed.
- POI alerts are gorgeous cool; I applied the included SW to get red light cameras and speed traps and as you approach these areas, the unit will warn you that you're within your specified range of what ever it is. I let the wife take this on a business trip she went on and she regularly had the unit warning her of these types of things in an unfamiliar area.
- The AAA guidebook is genuinely gorgeous neat. Not only does it provide POIs, it further provides the AAA info such as a description of the place, typical cost, a rating, business hours, accepted forms of payment (cash, visa, MC, etc) and a phone number that you may plainly tap on when paired with a BT phone. More selective information seldom hurts in my opinion.
- The voice recognition, while not perfect, is kinda cool. When rolling along, I may say, "Magellan", "Where am I?". The unit then presents me the trip computer (speed, heading, alt, etc) and states the road I'm traveling on. While that's kind of neat the original time, stating "Magellan, nearest coffee" and being staged choices that I may vocally navigate to by glancing at the screen and selecting the number of the related place, or moving to the next page by saying "next" or "previous" is more functional. You may likewise ask it things like, "nearest ATM", "go home", "nearest restaurant" to which you'll get a sub-menu you may work through (american, italian, etc.) or you may just get imagination and say "Magellan, nearest chinese restaurant" select one by number and have it route you without touching or looking (if you want to take whatsoever is closest) at the unit is neat.
- The unit is snappy in acquiring where it is (w/in 10 sec) and I may even get signals within my house. Maybe that's the norm today, but I didn't suppose that.
- It's thin without any further and added antenna to be extended. What you see is what you need. There is the FM antenna that runs with the power adapter if you're going to use the traffic subscription (I haven't tried this)
- Text to voice is nice. My wife was a big fan of having the unit speak to her in street names rather than being vague. I like it as well. Some names get butchered, but for the most share it's pretty good.
- My mobile phone (LG Muzic - Sprint) is not listed as supported, but it works for everything except the text messaging when paired with BT. I may find POIs, click on the phone number affiliated with the result and the unit calls the place. Speakerphone is okay and at times it is hard to listen with road noise. It's usable, just don't suppose polycom quality.
- The approximated arrival time is nice. In my experience, I've seen it overestimate the amount of time necessitated by a couple minutes. However, it does update as you approach your destination and I've not yet exceeded the arrival time. I'd much rather have it work this way than be too aggressive with arrival time.
- When routing, once I've chosen an address either by city, zip code or whatsoever that other option is that I can't do not forget at the moment, it gives me the option of selecting the parameters for routing (examples are shortest distance, most immediate route, most use of highways, least use of highways) and an option to keep away from toll roads. I may either just hit 'go' or update my parameters before hitting go. Again, perhaps this is standard, but I like these options.
- Also, the capacity to exclude roads is nice. Once a route is selected, I may hit the next maneuver arrow to pop up the maneuver list. From there, I may tap on a road and tell the unit to exclude the use of that road to reroute. Handy when construction/traffic is an issue.
- It came with a travel pouch. Nice touch when throwing the unit in a bag.
- AC adapter was included along with the car adapter. The Garmin I got only had the car adapter. Weird.
- Reroute is fast. Drive past an instruction and within a few seconds, the unit calculates a new solution. If you're moving enough, I've run into scenarios where the reroute computation get started is fast, but takes a bit to figure out the actual route.
- Wife acceptance element was good. She's not a tech guru, but is happy with this unit. It's intuitive for her to use and she told me it significantly scaled down her stress when she had to drive in So CA on business having the unit with her.
- Adaptive keyboard is nice. As you type a city or street name, the unit removes invalid letters that aren't related with the rectify spelling of a street name. It's minimized fat fingering a faulty letter and speeds up typing since you may be a bit sloppy. Additionally, it does the same thing when selecting street number to permitting you to chose only valid house numbers for the street you've selected.
Cons:
- No help for waypoints on a multidestination route such that the unit moves onto the next destination upon arrival of the former destination. The 4250 does concede you to plan a trip and enter multiple destinations, but it won't advance to the next destination without me telling it that I'm ready to do so. More of an aggravation to me than anything since I may get to the next destination within a few clicks.
- As noted previously, the power button doesn't always behave. I've kept it on for 10-15 seconds with no response and didn't get one until I pushed it repetitively, held it down and did a number of other respective things to get it to turn on. In the 2 weeks I've had it, I still don't recognise what the magic sequence of pushes of the power button is necessitated to get it to turn on when it decides to act up. But I've not had to use the reset button on this unit yet either.
- Routing gets a little wonky giving me a heap of questionable directions at times; I have selfassurance the unit will get me where I need to go, but am not always sure that it selects the best way to get there; for instance, yesterday it fundamentally told me to take an offramp and then take the continuing onramp in lieu of having me just carry on on the original road. Although technically, I guess it may have been the shortest route for the roads given. Still....
- While voice is cool, the unit is at times hard of hearing and you may need to issue commands multiple times to get it to respond. Some have reported untrue voice activations (radio or something else triggers it to turn on). I've had this occur only once when others in the car were speaking. There is an option to disable voice recognition.
- BT with mobile phone doesn't pull in my contacts. I may use the phone to dial using the contacts and the GPS unit handles the call; it'd be better to me if the GPS could see my contacts
- My GPS and phone don't 'see' one another when in the vicinity of each other; I've not had BT appliances before, but I expected the units to pair mechanically if they saw one another. Instead, I have to manually connect the phone to the GPS if I want to use it. Kind of a pain - possibly because my phone isn't supported?
- Unit hasn't woken up on a few occasions when connected to car adapter power. It normally comes on mechanically when I turn on my car. There have been times that I've necessitated to play the power button roulette game until it comes on. I've not picked up on a pattern of when this occurs. I was going to interchange the unit, but am unsure now if I will after hearing this isn't an apart thing amongst this model - I'm guessing SW bug is involved.
- Can't enter addresses thru PC or trip plan. I think someone said tomtom can.
Those are the main things that I may think of. Overall, I'm fortunate to have gotten a unit that works for the most portion and am happy with the features it brings for the price. There are some nice things that Garmin provides, but when it came down to it, having BT in this feature packed unit seemed to make more sense for me than the more pricey (when comparably equipped) Garmin 750. Garmin units are nice, but at the higher price I haven't yet felt the need for MP3s (I have an iPod and a music phone), pictures, a translating dictionary or other stuff I'd likely not use. I don't need a GPS that may make coffee, but I do suppose it to guide me to coffee!
For me Magellan was the right choice and I'm pleased to have it as my original GPS unit. There's a great deal of POIs, the AAA guide book is a nice touch and talking to the unit is neat. Hopefully this helps somebody else that's looking to make a decision.
249 of 259 humans found the following review helpful.
Buggy and unreliable
By Jay Macintosh
I wanted so much to like this GPS. I expended a lot of time researching divergence ones and narrowed my selection to the TomTom 920, the Nuvi 760 and the Maestro 4250. Both the TomTom and the Maestro had numerous cool features that in truth appealed to me (Voice inputs, AAA guide and so forth). In reading reviews, I decisive versus the TomTom since some indicated that it would not get you to your destination on the most effective route and their client service was attrocious. Reviews of the Maestro were mixed and the most mutual complaints where the unit crashing. The Nuvi had great reviews but was so much more costly than the other two units. Amazon had the Maestro on sale for $356 and that chance was to great to pass up. On the introductory day of plugging the unit into the cigarette lighter I got a message "USB connection detected, please refer to PC instructions for downloading maps". It would not let me do anything and the screen just sat there frozen. Thinking I had not read the instructions thouroughly I unplugged the unit and operated by way of the battery. The unit worked very nicely, clear screen, nice picture resolution, voice commands worked great, all in all I in truth liked the whole package. The next day I went to turn the unit on and not one thing happened. I held attempting and in the long run had to call client support. They were very courteous and I had no wait time (unlike a heap of reviews that quetioned the client service). The rep told me to hold the power button for 10 seconds and push the reset button at the same time. After attempting a few times, the unit at last powered on. I then told him that I had this problem when connecting the unit to the cigarette lighter. He told me to push the reset button while the unit was on and to try again. Same results "USB connection detected....". He then said that this was a known problem and that my unit was defective. These words echoed in my brain as this was the same answer I had heard so a heap of other people utter in their review "this was a known problem". If it is a known problem then why not FIX IT!
Here I had read all the stories in regards to other people having their unit crash and now I find myself two days later in the same predicament. I was both disappointed and frustrated. It is a in truth nice looking unit and works great when it works. But having two crash issues in as a heap of days just made the product not authenti sufficient for me. I am amazed that a company like Magellan that has so much experience in the GPS market is competent to put out their top of the line unit with so a heap of bugs to make the unit unusable.
I ended up bitting the bullet and ordered a Nuvi 760. Based on what I have read, my wallet may be a little littler but at least I will have a authenti GPS. I have not received it yet so I cannot compare the two but I am hopping for better results.
Update:
January 15th, 2008. I have now received the Nuvi 760 and took it for a test drive today. Right off the bat I did not like the interface of the Nuvi as much as I did on the Maestro. The way the Nuvi gave directions was very sparse. On the Maestro, it was very good at warning you in advance of turns that you may encounter, it even showed you a graphics of the turn you were when it comes to to make. Just before the turn, it would warn you and then right at the turn a little bell would chime telling you to turn at that spot. This was a very nice feature that I thought was standard on all units. The Nuvi does not do this and only tells you just before the turn. The volume level on the Nuvi is exceedingly very low, I may scarcely listen the unit on high level, the Maestro was much louder. The AAA elaborated emplacement features of the Maestro are a wonderfull feature that the Nuvi lacks.
Now, it has only been one day that I have owned the Nuvi so I will surely update this review again or post a full review on the Nuvi page, but so far I vastly prefer the interface and map routing of the Maestro but the Nuvi appears rock solid in performance. I did not encounter one problem or crash whereas with the Maestro I had two crashes and two difficultnesses that were fatal.
In summary, if we could put all the features of the Maestro into a Nuvi, we would have a perfective unit. I in truth wanted to like the Maestro and I genuinely liked the Maestro features and function, if only it was not as fatally buggy I could commend it.
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