Considering my experience with an early Magellan GPS unit, I decided to wait until they sorted out the kinks, increased functionality and lowered the price.
I've purchased a Magellan GPS unit awhile back costing USD999.99 and I couldn't take the painfully slow response and long lag. I could drive faster and be at a considerable distance while the unit tries to recalculate the route. Further hurting to this previous unit is how big and bulky it is. There is no touch screen function, while users have experienced random freezing of the display.
Fast forward to GPS units of 2007/2008 and we have nice slim touch-screen GPS units with better than average processing speed.
Highlights:
1. What's great with Magellan Maestro 4250 is that it is a quarter of the price than early intro GPS units a few short years ago making it very affordable for everyone.
The GPS chip and built-in antenna is very sensitive that it was able to immediately detect my position in a few seconds. This is versus
...
the painfully slow detection of early GPS units in which I was already driving quite a distance before it was able to detect and route me home.
In fact it's so sensitive that it doesn't need to sit directly on top of the dashboard to get a clear view of the sky. Even with a sunshade blocking the windshield or messing with the device indoor by the window, the unit was able to determine my position.
2. Touch-screen. I must admit that there is a bit of lag, which may not be apparent for first-time users. However, this becomes more evident at you become familiar with the functionality of the GPS. There is also a problem which the screen sometimes does not respond properly. This again may be more of a problem to users with bigger fingers as small icons and points of interests are lined up on the screen.
You can explore the surrounding area of where you're currently at by tapping into any of the points of interests presented on the screen. You can also move in any direction by dragging your finger across the screen and the map will move along.
The screen is very bright even at the lowest setting. Of course like any device, direct sunlight will wash out what your viewing especially when placed on top of the dashboard.
3. Map. It is what you can expect of all GPS units from hand-held to in-car. There are options such as turn-by-turn directions similar to Google and Yahoo maps and then there is the 3-D map which gives you a visual representation of the area. There is nothing that can be done in this regard as they are meant to be colorful and simple rather than realistic which will end up dull and more of an eye strain and hazardous as the goal is to have your eyes on the road at all times than spending time viewing the map.
You have the ability to zoom in and out of the map and as I said above explore the surrounding area on the map by dragging your hands on any direction or tapping on the points of interests.
4. Speaker. The volume is adjustable. The female voice is natural and pleasing. Pronunciation is accurate for USA diction and intonation. The same obviously cannot be expected when it encounters unusual street names or when you program foreign names into the built-in address book.
At the loudest setting, there is evident distortion due from the small size of the speaker on the already compact size device.
5. Menu. Like all electronic devices that try to give you as much functionality these days, you have to give time to be able to navigate thru the menu and options. However, thanks to it's touch-screen feature the arrangement is much easier and less hazardous. However, I'm sure the arrangement won't please everybody as there is surely more than one way to categorize items based on personal preferences.
6. Bluetooth. This is very functional for the few supported phones that seem to be an outdated phone list already. For other Bluetooth phones that it doesn't support, you can still patch into the GPS unit but as a headset device. This means that it takes over and acts as the speaker and keypad. Your Bluetooth phone will recognize this as a headset device and will pass all functions and audio sound to it rather than the phone. The good thing is that you can tuck your phone away while the GPS alerts you visually and audibly of incoming calls. You can even use the address book of the GPS to dial out numbers.
Sadly that's where the fun ends. The GPS unit is very lame in acting as a Bluetooth headset device. For one, it cannot automatically patch with your phone unlike real headset devices. Even if you "paired" both already, you will still have to go into the menu of the Magellan GPS and start the pairing process from your phone. This should be automatic. When two previously paired Bluetooth devices are within range, they should automatically sync together.
They should constantly update the list of phones, but to date I haven't seen them release new firmware or software.
7. Hands-free / Voice Command. To activate this feature you speak the word "Magellan" and it will ask you to speak a command. There is nothing to invent or memorize here as there are very limited commands to take note of. However limited they are, it is still the most functional command you will need like the ability to "Go Home" from wherever you are or even reroute to the four choices of fastest route, least use of freeway, etc.
I particularly enjoyed the voice command feature of asking where I am and how far I am to my destination. It will speak the distance and approximate arrival time based on my current travel speed.
I did not enjoy having to speak over and over again. All you had to do, according to the manual, was speak clearly. No shouting needed. But this is not what I experienced. The placement of the unit was where everyone will think to place it - in front of you and at the center of the dashboard. I had to end up speaking louder and louder for commands with longer phrases like "Distance to Destination" than for simple commands such as "Cancel" or "Reroute".
This feature is highly useable for drivers who don't have a co-pilot, but it's still not up there. This particular feature feels like something alongside the first-release GPS units that is more of a beta release.
8. Live Traffic. This would have been a great function except that it costs USD10.00 per month (cheaper if subscribed on an annual basis) to use this feature. The device has a built-in FM tuner programmed to hunt the strongest signal in the area that contain traffic info. So you will be dependent on the what station is providing updates and how fast they are updating.
I'm not a fan of paying a monthly fee on top of all the other monthly fees in my daily life. In any case, should you decide to subscribe to it you'll be happy to know that the feature is built-in and ready for use versus older units which needed an external patch on the GPS.
9. AAA. Thanks to their partnership with AAA you get trusted information on lodging, restaurant and other services based on the location you are at. And if you're a AAA member, you even get another year of warranty by registering with a special code that AAA will give you. If you click on the "Tow Truck" icon, you are given the coordinates of where you are which you can easily relay to AAA so they can come and help you.
Although I've been a AAA member for quite some time. You won't really need to have a membership to appreciate the preloaded information. Of course, to avail of the discounts of the particular establishment you have to be a member and show your card.
10. Others. What's great is that the maps are built-in a solid-state memory which makes accessing faster and safer. There is an external SD memory card slot which will help you back-up your information should anything happen.
11. Accessories. The usual standard accessory - cigarette lighter adapter, home charger, windshield mount, dashboard mount sticker to replace the suction cup, and soft pouch to protect the unit when hiding away.
Then again California residents like myself can't legally install devices by clinging on the windshield. So the work-around is to use the included sticky label to attach on your dashboard than the windshield. Yeah, right. I would suggest heading over to third-party manufacturers such as Pro-Clip USA who specialize in creating great mounting clips which is less tacky than a windshield or dashboard mount. (I said less tacky only. Wouldn't we all would want to have a true built-in car navigation system). They create speciality mounts for well-known units including this Magellan Maestro 4250 unit.
CONS:
- What can I say, the unit still locks up randomly. When I power it via the cigarette lighter socket it just simply gets stuck on the warning screen. What should happen is that it displays the obligatory warning screen then disappears to display the map. Sometimes it's just there on the screen. The only remedy is to either reset it or power off and on (sometimes more than once). This is a hassle as you would want to start and drive than worry how to make the GPS work.
- At a rare occasion it displayed a totally different map which I am not even familiar with. I don't know why it got confused with the coordinates, but I had to re-select the region.
WHAT I WOULD HAVE LIKE THEM TO ADD:
- Updates to the unit in terms of firmware and software to ensure current streets, fuel stations, restaurants, etc. Also current support of new Bluetooth phones.
- A more intelligent system that memorizes your preferred daily route from home to work, for example, so that it will not have to constantly tell you to go to the freeway, avoid the freeway or find the shortest distance. What if you had a preferred choice of first avoiding the traffic areas of the freeway and use local roads then hop on the freeway at a certain point. It should be able to do this so there would be no annoying voice prompts constantly re-routing and making you turn where you don't want to go.
CONCLUSION:
With all that's said and done, the price is very reasonable for the function and feature that it comes loaded with. My deciding factor in wanting to keep this unit is how stable the software will be as I've said I experienced a few freezes of the screen. The unit has been out for quite some time, so I'm disappointed that they are not able to address this stability issue to date.
If you can live with this as well as the attractive price, then it's something worth looking and investing into.
EDIT: 07 APRIL 2008
I have to knock down the GPS a star or two from my original rating because of two things:
1. When I power up the unit, it sometimes still thinks I'm in a different area. I realize that it still has to get a lock on signal from the satellites, but to actually be driving off and tell me I'm in a place I'm not is dangerous and misleading.
2. Twice has the GPS steered me to another direction. I've mapped a frequented place and always cross a main bridge which is the off-ramp from a freeway. The unit is letting me go elsewhere other than pass straight thru the bridge. It's like the bridge is not there at all to the unit when the street is clearly marked in it's own map. However, it wants me to go circles around it and then back again just to reach my destination. If I didn't know the area, I would have just followed it to an improbable direction where I would have to fall off the bridge and then fly back up with the car. Amazing.
3. When using the unit out of town, it made me turn LEFT. However, I didn't pay attention to the directions and missed the turn. Of course it told me to u-turn when it was safe to do so. I made a u-turn at half a mile and headed back so I can this time turn RIGHT to the original turn it was making me go to. However, this time it was now making me turn LEFT again (instead of RIGHT) to an open field so I can go around in a big circle.
I'm disappointed I had high hopes to love this unit. The price is still reasonable at the performance it was giving. But I couldn't understand the decisions it was making as to why it was making me turn circles instead of a straight drive thru the road ahead of me even if the street has been there for ages even before I was born.
A mild recommendation this time.
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