We've been big fans of Magellan's Maestro line since it came out in early 2006. The Maestro interface is incredibly easy to use, even for those who are not completely comfortable with electronics. At the same time, Magellan was ahead of the industry with useful innovations like multi-destination routing and pre-loaded reviews for points of interest like hotels and restaurants (from AAA). With it's 3200 and 4200 series, Magellan has improved 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. Distingushing between models is also fairly easy. 3200 and 4200 Family of Navigators
Distingushing between models is also fairly 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-loade 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 information (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 4250 Exceptional?
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 Easy to use navigation features SmartDetour and auto re-route. View larger. |
 Access built-in AAA information from your GPS touch screen. View larger. |
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The intuitive user interface makes the Maestro series incredibly easy to use. Use the big icons on the 4.3-inch widescreen touch screen to search for your destination by address, intersection, or any of 6 million points of interest (POIs), including restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, and more. You can even touch an onscreen icon for a nearby destination, see name and address, and get an instant route. Turn by turn visual and spoken directions guide you every step of the way.
Auto re-route gets you quickly back on track whenever you make a detour or miss a turn. QuickSpell feature intelligently searches and checks spelling when you enter addresses. The 4250 offer multiple view options, including 2D, 3D, and TrueView that shows your upcoming turn using a 3D split screen. Maneuver List displays the full turn-by-turn details of your route. Auto night view adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing.
 Click to see a video on the Magellan Maestro 4250's Voice Command system. |
Voice Command further enables hands-free operation so you can keep your eyes on the road. Say a command to access the most used navigation functions. Find the nearest coffee, restaurant, gas and ATM or get an instant route home. Plus, you can ask for your location, the distance to your destination and quickly 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 locations for member discounts, approved auto repair facilities, attractions, events, and more. The Maestro 4250 also provides AAA members roadside assistance details, with exact location and a toll-free number. Plus, the Maestro 4250 is Bluetooth-enabled so you can connect your Bluetooth cell phone directly to AAA for immediate help when you need it most.
Note: AAA member roadside assistance requires AAA membership.
Bluetooth for Hands-Free Calling
The Maestro 4250's Bluetooth wireless technology lets you make hands-free phone calls with your Bluetooth-enabled phone. You can store or sync numbers and contact information through the easy-to-use touch screen, and even place calls directly through the Maestro 4250'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 avoid accidents, slow downs, road closures, severe weather and more. Your Maestro 4250 automatically recalculates your estimated time of arrival based on traffic conditions and prompts you to reroute when a quicker way is available.
 One of the thinnest portable GPS navigators on the market |
The 4250 is super-thin, lightweight and fits easily into any pocket. The integrated rechargeable battery enables you to operate the Maestro 4250 away from your vehicle for up to three hours. The battery recharges while driving via the included vehicle power adapter.
Tons of Data
The 4250 comes pre-loaded with Navteq maps of the United States and Canada, and 6 million points of interest (POIs). POI data includes telephone numbers and addresses.
It also has an Address Book in which you can create and store POIs and addresses that you use frequently.
Flexible Routing
The 4250 provides a particularly large number of routing features relevant to its price point. Multi-destination routing lets you select up to 20 destinations and find the best route to get to all of them. SmartDetour prompts you to route around heavy or stopped freeway traffic.Customizable route methods let you choose between several different routing methods, including "Fastest Time", "Shortest Distance", "Least or Most Use of Freeways", and "Avoid Toll Roads". Route exclusion lets you pick streets and freeways you want to avoid.
Magellan Maestro 4250 GPS receiver, Adhesive disk for dash mounting, Basic cradle, Vehicle power adapter (12-24 watts), Quick reference guide and CD, Windshield mount
Optional Accessories
AC Wall power supply/charger, USB data cable
About Magellan
Magellan is a leader in the consumer, survey, GIS, and OEM GPS navigation and positioning markets. Recognized as an industry innovator, the Company is the creator of the award-winning Magellan RoadMate series and the Magellan Maestro portable car navigation systems, the Magellan eXplorist and the Magellan Triton outdoor handheld navigation devices, and the Hertz NeverLost car navigation system, the best-selling single frequency GPS survey product line on the market. The Magellan Maestro series includes such unique features as built-in AAA travel information and voice command and control driving which no other portable GPS manufacturer in the U.S. or Canada offers. The company is recognized worldwide through its Magellan brand and has experienced dramatic revenue growth as GPS technology has proliferated across a range of consumer and commercial applications. The Company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California with European headquarters in Carquefou, France.
Customer Review: Magellan 4250
We recently purchased this relatively inexpensive unit prior to a trip to the west coast for use in our rental car. Cosmetically the unit is great....compact and stylish. It is easy to read even in bright sunlight, very good 'ease-of-use', and the accessories are top quality, ie. mounts, cables, etc. The voice function is excellent and easy to undestand even for an old guy with marginal hearing. That's the good. The not-so-good would be that the maps are 2+ years old and clearly out of date in some areas.....updates are rather expensive at about $80.00 from the Magellan webpage. One would think that when you buy a new GPS unit that it would have up-to-date software which brings up another point. The installed operating system software was also quite old and had to be updated (free of charge but a pain in the butt) before the AAA functions would operate. Directions are pretty easy to do this. All that being said, the unit tends to get confused easily if you take a detour or miss your turn. Had numerous instances in CA, when a freeway exit was missed, that the unit got 'lost' and would tell us to turn left instead of right even when the traffic signs said different. Overall, it's equal to or better than the 'factory' nav system in my own car which cost a whole lot more. At $185.00 it's a great deal even if it does loose its way at times. I think we all have that problem!
Customer Review: Update and traffic made it stupid
I've had this device since Feb 2008. In Dec 2008 I signed up for a one year traffic subscription and did a firmware update. I've regretted it ever since...I don't know which one did it, but it now picks completely asinine routes most of the time. When driving on the freeway, it will tell me to get off then right back on. Or go an exit short or further than it should and wind through obscure neighborhoods rather than sticking to main streets. The favorite one I've run into lately is driving through downtown Seattle on a clear freeway with the "most use of freeways" option selected for the route: it says to get off the freeway, drive six blocks through downtown away from the freeway, make a right and go for one block, then another right and go the six blocks back to the freeway to get back on it. Even in good traffic, that little detour will take 5-10 minutes. And a lot more almost any time of day. With the traffic subscription, it colors the road to indicate traffic volume (green for moving, red for stopped, etc.). However, if you have an address programmed, the line that indicates the route you are taking covers the traffic information so you can't see it at all--worthless. I clicked on every option on the device and couldn't figure out a way to change the route indicator line. I think there is one newer firmware upgrade, so I need to install that and see if it helps. There's no way I'm buying the updated 2009 maps for $ bucks. That's a good chunk of the purchase price of a new unit.
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