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1. Shane Bushman

   July 14, 2011

   61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

   
   A great device that should rank amongst the top, July 23, 2007

   By 

   Shane Bushman (Palm Beach, FL USA) –
   
     

   This review is from: Magellan Maestro 4050 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (with 3 month free traffic) (Electronics)

   Since the maps and GPS chip in this model are the same as the Garmin NUVI 660 what sets them apart feature wise is the 4050s AAA database, and its’ voice control (which isn’t as useful as you’d think) –and the Nuvi’s MP3/Picture player/Calculator/etc. Since the unit is likely destined to sit on your dash and serve as a GPS, the Garmin’s features don’t strike me as real incentives either.

   What you get here is a robust, and solidly built unit with a strong mount, loud and clear voice, and responsive touch screen. by contrast the Garmin voice seemed quiter, and the overall build quality left me wanting more. The Garmin feels flimsy. the Magellan is built like a tank.

   The unit gets strong signals even indoors, and the routing engine is very fast. It re-routes off course in only a few seconds, and the POI database paired with the AAA database is a HUGE plus. The traffic feature is actually pretty neat, and useful if you drive at different times of the day.

   Also, everything is self contained in the <agellan, whereas the NUVI puts the blu-tooth reciever, and traffic receiver in the lighter power cord. THat’s great for making the unit smaller, but what if you run off the battery or want a permanent installation? You lose the traffic and Blue-tooth. The Magellan has these in the unit itself (the traffic receiver is part of the mount).

   I had no trouble connecting my Motorola SLVR to the Blue Tooth receiver, and the POIs have phone number attached that can automatically be dialed. If you are a AAA member th choice is a no brainer. to be able to search for restaurants, car rentals, hotels, etc. that give AAA members discounts is awesome. just search your area and select your favorite to route too.

   There is no perfect GPS though. A couple of times the voice sounded gurgly (probably a CPU overload) and the voice command feature takes a few trieds to hear you sometimes. Unlike the other reviewer I have never had the voice recognition come on unless I directly addressed it.

   After a trip to LA and using Hertz neverlost we were determined to get a GPS. While the Neverlost was bulletproof, this GPS feels the closest to it. The Garmin looks good too, it just feels a little lacking in quality and the blutooth/traffic receiver being in the lighter bothered me. Also, the mount is smaller, so for those of you who drive a truck the GPS might just be out of reach with the Garmin.

   EDIT – Just wanted to add that this thing caluclates time almost exactly. I have yet to arrive at any destination more than 5 minutes (more or less) off from the 4050s estimates. Remarkable!

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2. Mike K "technoguy"

   July 14, 2011

   125 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Fantastic, September 19, 2007

   By 

   Mike K “technoguy” (Chicagoland) –

   This review is from: Magellan Maestro 4050 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (with 3 month free traffic) (Electronics)

   Do you really need a GPS device?? If you are reading this review the answer is probably yes.

   We have used them for a number of years and I’m now at the point where I wonder how we ever got along without one. No more trips to the computer for confusing Mapquest directions or frantic searches to find the car atlas after a wrong turn. Both facts leading to a significant reduction in “marital moments.”

   I could give many examples where GPS has “saved the day”. Here is a recent one:

   This summer my wife and our three small children traveled from Chicago to South Dakota for a wedding (I had to work). Like many rural wedding, each part of the event was in a different place. The church was in one town, the reception in another and their hotel in a third. After the wedding she wanted to visit cousins on their farm in Southern Minnesota, followed a stop in the Twin Cities. Lastly, she was going to travel to Northern Minnesota to spend some R-n-R at a lake cabin.

   The night before the big trip I added all of the addresses in our GPS unit. I then labeled them: church, reception, hotel, farm, Twin Cities, cabin. Now all she had to do is press the right address and go. No worries about missing a turn or taking the wrong road, even on a pitch black rural night. If she decided to change her plans the Magellan would take care of it. GPS units figure out the route from where you are to your location, something Mapquest can’t do. The peace of mind that the Magellan gave both of us was worth its purchase price alone.

   I have to tell you that even a basic GPS unit could have done the above routing task. In fact, for most people, a basic unit is all that they need. However, sometimes you want something more. Does the Magellan Maestro 4050 deliver this “more?” Read on to find out!

   Unit Overview

   The Magellan Maestro 4050 is really an evolution of the popular Road Mate series. However, there are many significant improvements. First is the fact the 4050 has a large 4.3″ screen. Although the typical 3.5″ screen would work fine, I like the larger screen as I suffer from FFS or Fat Finger Syndrome. A bigger screen gives me a bigger on-screen keyboard when typing in an address. This results in less error and less growling on my part.

   The icons have also changed with this series and now they have a friendlier, more polished look. The Maestro units use the very popular (and highly sensitive) SiRF star III GPS chipset which acquires signals quickly. Like other Magellan units, the underlying OS is Windows CE. The Maestro also has a built in battery that should allow a couple of hours of use. This would make it possible to use the unit outside of the car for a short period.

   Routing

   In my opinion, routing is the most important function of any GPS unit. Magellan units, in general, have always had excellent routing engines and the Maestro is no different. The maps on my unit are dated from late 2006 and so they are pretty recent.

   Adding an address (or intersection) is a snap. Older Magellan units (like the Roadmate 300 series) ask for a street first. When you added a common street name like “River” or “Washington” you were forced to pick from a dozen or more choices (“North River,” “River Drive,” River Road,” etc.). Later models, including the Maestro series ask for the city first eliminating a lot of confusion. It is amazing what a simple change can do to make a product more useable. Thanks Magellan!

   I had no problems entering addresses, even difficult ones that have confused other units. I think that this is in part due to the fact that the maps are newer and therefore, more accurate. Magellan units always ask for your route preference (“shortest time,” “least use of expressways,” etc). Many other units require that you dig into menus and sub-menus to do this which often causes undesirable results. For instance, when traveling in a city during rush hour it may be easier to take regular roads in lieu of expressways. Since the Magellan always asks routing preferences this is easy to accomplish.

   Naturally, it is very easy to exclude a particular street or routing direction (perhaps you know that street is under construction). You can also route up to up to 20 different locations using the “trip planner” option. The Maestro will then “optimize” the list for you making the trip more efficient. This option would be great for a delivery driver who has to travel to multiple locations on his route. The Maestro also tells you what side of the street your destination is on. Surprisingly, many other brands do not. Knowing what side of the street your destination is on can be really important, especially if it is on a busy, multi-lane street.

   The unit can present map data either as 3D (“bird’s eye view”) or in a traditional 2D map view. It will automatically switch to a nighttime…

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