Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

This is much better than the Garmin Nuvi. Once you power it on it only takes a second to be ready and recognize your position. The Nuvi would take minutes sometimes. The navigation is excellent as well. When there is an immediate turn after another the first it show you both in advance. This is really helpful!

Very reliable, charge lasts a long time. Still trying to to learn to use it. In order to locate a particular store or restaurant, you have to cancel your current trip and enter a POI and most times you won't find it unless you already have the address. Works great for mapping out shortest and fastest routes and gives random POI places but certainly not all inclusive. My cell phone "Navigator" was pretty inaccurate as far as mapping but it did allow me to select a wide variety of restaurants, stores, etc.

This was a birthday gift for a friend, and she loves it. Says its very easy to use, although she tries not to fiddle with it while driving (cumbersome at times)

Purchased recently and took a trip to New Orleans, without the GPS I probably would still be riding around looking for various destinations (apartment hunting). Great product, a MUST have!!

The GPS did not work. It would not even turn on. Returned item for a full refund.

The Magellan Maestro 4040 is a really good unit for $120. The 4040 is quick on start up. I tried the unit right out of the box and the unit seems slow to reroute if I make a short cut I know is faster because of traffic. The unit works well but could be better. I checked the maps and discovered they were database version 27 but an updated database version 31 is free from Magellan if you pay shipping of $10 and apply within 30 days of purchase. The unit I received had software is version 2.62 but Magellan has an updated software version 3.61 free for download on their web site. After the map updates and the software updates were applied the unit seems faster to reroute if I take short cuts and seems to contain a few new streets the old map version did not have installed. I have only used the unit around town and on one 120 mile trip. So far the unit is working great.

Steps I took to get the updates:

1. I ordered a Magellan Maestro 4040 from Amazon.com on Sept. 11, 2009.
2. I registered the product on the Magellan web site.
3. I called Magellan's support at 800=707-9971 and requested a map update. I was given account # and fax # to send proof of purchase. I faxed the info to Magellan.
4. I received a phone call from Magellan and gave them my credit card info for shipping the maps update. The update arrived within 4 days by FedEx.
5. I installed the 2008/2009 map update database version 31. The map update also updated the software to version 3.01 (I think was the right number)
6. I installed the software update to version 3.61.

Note: Do not install the downloaded software update before you update the maps to version 31. This is from the Magellan web page.

"The software update version corresponds to your map database version:
If you have map database version 27, your software will be updated to v2.62.
If you have map database version 31, your software will be updated to v3.61. "

My unit is good to go!

All I can say is Buy this GPS. this is the first one I have owned and all I need. The wife took a trip and as she got to the city she was going, never there before, it was raining so hard she could not see the signs, this GPS took her right to the Hotel, no wrong turns. Paid for itself right there!

product works well, when it is off for a long time i have to restart it two times to update position. but after that its great.. map updates are pritty pricy though.

I really like magellan GPS units - bought a tom tom but wanted to go back to magellan but after buying this one found out there are no updates for this unit and it is outdated by a couple years and when I travel a lot i need the latest updates on roads. suggest buying a model with updated files.

This is my first GPS owned so I have no other system to compare it to. I read a lot of reviews about this product before I pulled the trigger. I always read the negative reviews first to see if they can scare me away from the product, but the two most reoccuring issues were the cradle and the customer service, in which neither one have anything to do with the actual product. I have not had to call customer service so I cannot comment on that. My GPS cradle fits like a glove though.

Routing
I'll get into my favorite features and call it a day. It is very simple IMO to enter an address, put in the city, street name, then building number. From there you can choose your route (fastest time, more use of freeways, less use of freeways) and can also exclude roads on the route. Sometimes I will GPS a place I'm not exactly sure where it is, but Magellan will give me the city streets route, and I'll know the highway is much more convenient, so I can just go back to choose route, and tap most use of freeways. And to get back home, you simply tap the home button and route.

Bluetooth
The bluetooth is pretty nice. Once paired, you can dial someone's number 1 of 2 ways: select there # from the GPS if you've entered the # with their address, or you can simply dial it from your phone. Pairing the two is as simple as pairing anything else bluetooth.

POI
The POI database is pretty abundant. The only thing I did not have success locating via POI is the club. Everything else from schools, to sports complex, to airports, to atms, to fast food I have had no problem. And it doesn't just simply select the closest available so you accidentally get the wrong one. You can select POI's by city, current position, by name, etc. Depending on the criteria you select, it gives you a list of POI's to choose from.

En Route
When driving Magellan always gives you a heads up 2 miles in advance of your next turn. It gives you another heads up I believe half a mile from your turn. It is pretty spot on for when to make turns, whether on the highway, or in the city. When on the highway, it will tell if the exit on the left or the right, and will say the exit name, and display the exit # and name. The small problem I've had is once you arrive. I would say about 80% of the time it says I have arrived about 100-200 feet early (which is better than late), so finding someone's house could take an extra 60 seconds or so, but it has not caused me any problems because it's not like I'm driving with my eyes closed.

Hope this review was helpful, and I would definitely recommend this product. Easy to use with multiple functions including things I have not mentioned here (i.e. mutliple routes).

We have had this product 2 years and it provides an impressive number of features for the price. We travel a lot between N. Calif. and Phoenix and "Ingrid" (that's what we call the unit's female voice) has proved invaluable.

Recently, we paid Magellan $80 to upgrade the maps to the 2009 version. On a recent trip to Phoenix, the updated maps were full of errors and Ingrid got completely befuddled in the Southeast portion of Maricopa County. Also, we have a AAA enabled version of this unit, and it was unable to find the nearest AAA office with the new map update.

We wrote Megellan and their response was that the maps were provided by a third party vendor (and were done in 2007 for the 2009 update!!);So Sorry. So be aware that the maps may not be as up to date as expected and may have some flat out errors. Oh, and the hardware performance seems to have deteriorated with the map update as well. It takes longer to find the satellites and seems to have more trouble finding the route at times, even if the map is correct.

I bought this product in March of 2008 and just recently called customer service for the second time since I purchased the product and had no problem with understanding the customer service rep or getting a reasonable response for my reasoning behind calling. I am very pleased with my product purchase and the Magellan company.

The unit worked great right out of the box. The Magellan customer service was great as well, I was able to get the latest map up-grade free of charge. It's very easy to use and accurate as well. Much better than any other gps I've had in the past. The widescreen really is a great feature also. Two thumbs way up. thanks

I have a Mio C320 and purchased this because it has Canada maps.
Still learning how to use the 4040 but the Mio has better views and easy to use.

I have had my Magellan for about 2 years and really liked it. I especially liked the specific clues it gives you when you are to make a turn. HOWEVER, I go about 3 times a year to the Charlotte NC area, which is rapidly developing and where many new roads are being built and others closed or moved. The maps had LOTS of errors for that area.I eagerly looked forward to updated maps. In the fall I saw a map update dated Spring 2008 and bought it, even though it cost over $70. I went to Charlotte for Thanksgiving and found the maps were WAY out of date still. Roads that were accurate on a AAA map dated 2007 were not correct on the Magellan. When I contacted Magellan and told them their map update did me no good and I wanted a refund, they said they do not give refunds on maps. Period. This product is no good if its maps are not reasonably current, and clearly the maps are not. They should refund a customer's money.
PS The maps also cannot find an ENTIRE zip code in Pennsylvania,Hidden Valley, 15502. If you go to Hidden Valley the maps show all the roads properly, but if you try to find Lake Road in 15502, it sends you to Lake Road in 15501, 16 miles away!

My Fiance loves it. It works great and it got to us really fast. Thanks!

I purchased the model 4040 in january, 2008 the maps were last updated in july 2006. I contacted Magellan and was told there would be map update in the next quarter which kept shifting to the next quarter until november I contacted them three times by E-mail asking if I was supposed to pay for this up-date and received no response. The unit also has soft-ware issues such as directing you in circles, telling you to take private roads that lead to no-where and the voice in most cases you can not under-stand ie: turnpike has become tcup. I would have returned the unit if they had not kept re-assuring me that up-date was coming.

I received the Magellan Maestro 4040 for my birthday in Feb. last year. After about 5 months, the voice completely stopped working. I called the technical help line, but they insisted that I need the proof of purchase, which I don't have because it was a gift. They also told me I could update it if I bought some SD memory. I wasn't sure why I needed to buy memory, though. I understand that this is their policy, But my mother-in-law paid over $300 for this, and it broke in less than a year. I will never buy a product from them again!

This product that I purshesed from Amazon.com.The magellan 4040 GPS was in very good condition. You can never tell that it was refubrished.
Thank you Amazon .com & thank,s to the company,s that you deal with them.
G.O

I find the Magellan to be an excellent GPS product. Directions are always accurate. Pronunciation of some words is incorrect. I live near a town named Hauppauge, pronounced hah-pawg. The Magellan will say Hatch-Patch. I guess Magellan has trouble with the letter G. Also, the Magellan screen text told me to proceed to Western LI, as in Western Long Island. The voice told me to proceed to Western LEE. It took me a while to figure it out. Fortunately the visual street path shown on screen kept me on the right track. Overall, it works fine. Don't expect words to be pronounced perfectly.

Whats not to like. $99.00 price, large easily seen screen all the cables and to ice the cake 1.5 million points of interest that have shown me where all the good stuff is in my new neighborhood. The voice directions are clear easily heard over the radio and very customizable. If you are looking for a good portable GPS to take from car to car travel like I do up and down the Eastern seaboard then look no further. If upgrades are your thing for a few dollars more you can add voice activation to this unit and the traffic radio to route you around traffic jams. The touch screen is sensitive enough without being touchy the menus make sense and entering your destination is a simple process. Buy it and you will like it.

I was very pleased with the product purchased and the service provided by the seller.

This product was exactly what I ordered and was delivered within three days of ordering it. I am extremely pleased with it.

Very useful item, drove around Reno, Sparks NV. like I was born and raised there! Very much a time saver when in unfamilar territory.

I got this unit to replace my Mio c230. The unit came preloaded with maps; and ready to use right out of the box. The first main screen has three icons: "Show Map" (will show you the current location), "Enter Address", and "Points Of Interest". At the bottom of the screen there are three small icons: "Home" (to store your home address, by tapping on it the Maestro will take you home), "AAA Roadside Assistance" icon, and "Phone" icon (to make phone calls thru the unit's Blue Tooth). Entering address is real easy; you have a choice of entering zip code, city name, or current city. Then enter the street name, just few letters and the Maestro will find few matching street names to choose from; then enter the number, choose the navigation preference (Fastest Time, Least / Most use of highway or Shortest distance); that simple. The destination may also be an intersection, or picked from the address book, where you can store a large number of addresses.
The second main screen has three icons: Trip Planer, where you can enter multiple addresses (up to 20), then chose the sequence or let the Maestro "optimize" the rout for you. This "Trip Planer" is very useful for anyone especially succor Moms, sales people and the likes (Garmin does not have this feature). The second icon "Exit POI" will display a list of POI on the next Freeway Exit, be it Gas, Food, ... etc. tap on anyone, and the Maestro will take you there. The last Icon is "User Options", where you can setup your preference: the map region, volume, brightness, trip computer, 2D / 3D map, Language, Time Zone.. .etc.
The map screen ("Normal" and "Routing" mode)is displayed while navigating, this is what I like the most: On the top it shows the name of street you're on, the direction of travel (N, E, S, W) and the satellite status. The bottom of the screen shows the time of the day, Main Menu Icon, and current speed. On the sides there are icons to zoom in or out, change volume or mute. If you tap on the direction indicator, it will show your current location (Street name & nearest crossing street) which can be saved to the "Address Book", and useful if you need roadside assistance . An arrow indicate your position on the map. In "Routing" mode, the screen shows the next maneuver icon in the lower left corner, tap on it to display a list of maneuvers. As you approach POI, it will be displayed on the screen, tap on POI, and the Maestro will take you there. As a maneuver is approached, the Maestro will automatically split the screen to show the shape / direction of the next maneuver. The bottom display is replaced by distance to next maneuver and remaining time / distance to final destination.
This unit also has an SD card expansion slot, and a standard earphone plug (which is helpful if you are in a convertible or on a motorcycle, I replaced my Mio C230 only because it lacked this feature). It comes pre loaded with maps for the US, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. A voice command option is available as well as traffic alert. Included in the box with the Maestro 4040: A/C home charger, Car Cigarette Lighter Charger, Windshield mount, Adhesive disk, Protective Pouch, Quick reference Guide, User Manual on CD and USB Data Cable.
This unit is very good overall and very easy to use. One thing worth noting: It will not remember a destination unless you save it in the address book; i.e. it will not keep a history log. I've also done some search, and it seems that there is no road map for Europe compatible with this unit. If someone knows of an available one, please let me know.

A very fine GPS, however my nearly new unit requires a 2008/09 map update.Ok,I bought it a few months before the update, but I discovered it has a 2006 map onboard. I should not have to pay $75 for the update on an 8 month old unit. Shouldn't this be included for the first year?

I started experiencing problems with mine after updating the firmware. The unit has shown that I am driving off the map when in fact I am on a road that has existed for 50 years this has happend numerous times. The arrival time changes wildly while driving your route. Customer service HA! You'll get more satisfaction talking to a potted plant. Trying to get a problem resolved via the Magellan website is ridiculous.

Let me start out immediately by saying I really like the Magellan 4040 GPS but it isn't perfect. But then what GPS is? In general, a GPS is a great tool to have; however, I have yet to find any GPS that can replace local driving experience and good common sense. For example, I know that I can travel north on a particular route with no problem but I also know to avoid the same route when traveling south because of highway construction that closes down all lanes but one bringing traffic to a crawl. I had high hopes for this particular GPS because of the acclaimed Magellan Traffic Service that is available as an option. I purchased the traffic kit separately but the service is only available in certain cities and while Atlanta, GA (where I live) is supposed to be one of those cities, it seems there is no one manning the command post as I have yet to see any traffic alerts. The traffic kit consist of replacing the original cradle that comes with the unit and on the plus side it is made better and includes an external antenna connection which you don't get otherwise. I use an external antenna because I mount mine just below the radio beneath the dash and no GPS will pick up signals very well unless it has a clear view of the sky so I mount an external antenna on my rear shelf with a clear view via the back glass. I just don't like anything mounted on my windshield, besides they tend to get washed out by the sun light there. So while the Magellan Traffic Service is useless for me, the optional traffic kit mount proved to be very complimentary.

I recently used the unit on a 1300 mile round trip that consisted of combined scenic and freeway driving. I started out in Atlanta, GA and traveled to and from Mansfield, OH. I first planned my trip using a combination of atlas and mapquest.com. I wanted a mixture of scenic roads and freeways on the way up and absolute fastest time on the return trip. In addition, I needed to make a slight detour to Wytheville, VA on the way up. This is where the trip planner functionality of the GPS came in very handy. I was able to sit down on my sofa and enter all of my destinations and even run a simulation of the trip as if I was on the road. The simulator is excellent for just sitting down and learning all of the numerous features that this GPS is capable of. Of course there were times when the GPS wanted to go a different route than what I wanted and this goes back to my beginning statement alluding to the fact that the GPS can't take the place of the human mind. A GPS is nothing more than a small computer running a piece of software. Being a software developer myself I am well aware that an application can only be as good as the programmer(s) that programmed it. They also rely on having current map data to make correct determinations and this is where I think all current GPS units fall short. I would love to see Magellan or Garmin provide constant map data updates via the Internet. I would gladly pay a premium for a subscription service that would allow me to get updates on a daily, weekly or even a monthly basis. As it stands now the map data is at least 2 years stale right out of the box. There's gotta be a better way!

So, why did I give it 4 stars instead of 5? Partly because of the fact that you must purchase the optional traffic kit to be able to use an external antenna and but mainly because the firmware can be a bit buggy at times selecting routes. This occurred on my return trip to Atlanta. I live just north of Atlanta and when I was ready to leave Mansfield, OH, I punched in my home destination using the fastest available route and the itinerary initially had me going south of Atlanta before finally heading back north which would have been an extra 2 hours of driving. I say "initially" because as I got closer to GA, the itinerary miraculously healed itself and began showing the correct routes to take. Hopefully a future firmware revision will cure this but for now I will be very careful to double check all routes ahead of time. This might be a killer for many, but for me, the numerous positive features offset the negatives making this a great deal. Anything else I could say would be purely subjective to preference so I leave it at that.

Magellan Maestro 4050 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

We originally ordered the Magellan Maestro 4040, but the seller ran out and sent the 4050 instead. We have a 4040 and love it and wanted to give it as a gift to our son. He is directionally challenged.

We did research prior to accepting the 4050. The reviews and descriptions did not state that it had sayware text to speech. Well after several hours of looking we finally found that the 4050 did have what we wanted. The 4050 is a newer version and has the traffic kit. Sign up with 3 months free and then you will be charged a fee. We do not use this feature.

The screen is large and clear. Programming is a cinch. This is a great tool for business travelers that have to hop off a flight and into a rental car to find an address that they've never been to before. We are very impressed with the 4050 and the 4040.

It is a wonderful GPS tool for the money....oh yeah, and the directionally challenged!

Very user friendly and accurate. Takes you all the way to the specific address not like some that just get you to the general area.
The 4040 also has maps of Canada for our trip to Niagara Falls this summer. Large display screen is easier to see when driving.

First a Caveat: This product does not come standard with Voice Recognition. That is an add-on that you purchase through the Magellan Website, receiving a code that unlocks that feature. (AAA members can save $15 off the (GULP) $99 Voice Recognition upgrade (ripoff) by clicking on the 3A icon during checkout)

My wife has used this for about 8 months. She travels extensively in the Western US and it has made ONE mistake in that time. She doesn't even question it anymore because it is right so often. The Points of Interest (POI's) feature hooks her up with the nearest Starbucks or Gas Station as needed. She doesn't particularly like techie things, but the interface has never given her any problems. If you get one (or any GPS), spring for the beanbag dash mount for $12.
Bracketron UFM-100BL Nav-Mat GPS Friction Dash Pad

Now the Cons: The reason you need the Bracktron for this is the battery runs down quick (a bit over 30 minutes if you are using the menus) and the powercord, strung up to your windshield mount is a pain in the butt. The Bracketron lets you get a good position.

Firmware Updates/Map updates/any updates: The website gives clear directions that have no relation to reality. No Mac support, so I used my PC. No Firefox support for the update, but it didn't tell me that, I had to discover it on my own when it wouldn't update. Once I went through IE and got the update going, I never got the dialogue boxes my carefully printed instructions stated I would. I pushed the reset button on the device when everything froze, but I hadn't been prompted to do so. It worked. The online help is called "Maggie". She is a most unhelpful sort with no clue. She would probably be successful working with the Motorola Razr voice recognition crew. Birds of a feather...

VOICE RECOGNITION: Yes, I'm shouting. It absolutely sucks in capability and execution. The functionality is very limited. If you can't speak or program an address by voice, what is the point? and this system lets you do neither. If I only need to get home, it will let me select home, or POI's that it preselects, but no search via voice. As if that weren't enough, it wakes when it hears "Magellan", or "felon", or "chillin", or "gel inserts", you get the idea. The radio will wake it. The kids from the backseat trip it accidentally and it pops into voice mode, asking you to pick a command. Whoever executed this voice execution should be executed.

So, would I buy it again? Absolutely. Would I pay for voice recognition? Puhleeze... Oh, and as a final way of saying thank you, the Magellan website states that activating the Voice Recognition irreversibly alters the device and you can't go back. I now know why Voice Recognition orders are non-refundable. On second thought, maybe I'd shop a bit before I bought it again.

This product so far as been reasonably acceptable. One small piece broke off of the docking station within the first week of use, but other than that it is working well.

I bought this GPS for the bluetooth and street names. If I had it to do over I would buy another brand. It would be nice to be able to change the voice but that's petty. I have bigger reasons for being unhappy with it:

- a major local highway extension built almost 2 years ago not on the map.
- the unit started having issues with the power adapter, the connection is loose and if the contact isn't perfect I get the message that it is switching to battery power. This blue screen pops up constantly and has gotten so annoying I can no longer use it.
- Customer Service is horrible. I contacted them about my problem and got a vague scripted reply telling me to reset the unit. I replied that it didn't help and didn't hear back. A subsequent email still got no response. At this point I'm inclined to toss it in the trash but it would be an expensive loss.

I will never buy another Magellan. Buy a Garmin or Tom Tom.

We chose this because it's a lot like the one we purchased via Costco but they no longer sell it. The difference with this one is that when we updated the card, it takes us on crazy routes. Round about ways that takes more time rather then "fastest time". Maybe we just need to do another update but I don't have that problem with my other from Costco. But if you don't know where you're going, it'll get you there. Just can't say it will be the most efficient route.

Have used the GPS for one trip of around 1,000 miles. In most cases iT was OK. Did get lost in Flagstaff due to road construction and also on one road or street in Las Vegas near the strip.

One problem, I have, I probably have an update but it would appear that updates are only available on Windows machines and I have all Apple computers.

This is my second Magellan Maestro. I can't say anything bad about this product.
It works extremely well. You will not be disappointed with this.

The Magellan Maestro 4040 is the third Magellan GPS unit I've purchased. The unit is compact and easy to use. However the database it uses is terrible. Routes given by the 4040 are often 10% longer in time and distance than popular Internet mapping programs. Accuracy is poor also; usually a block difference between the 4040 and the real address. My suggestion is to look at other brands or use Internet mapping.

I ordered the model 4040 but received the model 4050 which is the same navigation unit with the addition of the Traffic Kit and a carrying case. I took the unit on a 2700 mile road trip from Atlanta through New England and found it to be very reliable, accurate and quick to reroute if I either missed a turn or decided to take a different route than was programmed. The quick rerouting response was very helpful in New York traffic. I relied on it to get me to destinations through many unfamiliar areas and I was very pleased with the outcome. I did have one instance where it sent me out of my way for some reason. The only other difficulty I had was that I could not program it to avoid a particular route. In this case I wanted to avoid the George Washington Bridge so I used the Fastest Route option but used a paper map to find a road that would avoid the bridge and as soon as I went off the programmed route it rerouted me the way I wanted to go. I would recommend this unit. It was well worth the low price I paid for it.

My sistter first bought this Magellan and me and my friend borrowed it for a road trip. Now my friend just bought one and I just bought one and our friend just bought one and another friend just bought one. Converting people to Magellan one person at a time??? he, he, needless to say we are very satisfied with this GPS and it is very user friendly and will get you to wherever you want to go as long as you listen to "Maggie" ( Magellan). My advice to first time users is to use it as much as possible to trips that you are familiar with, grocery, bank, etc.. so U will get familiar with the directions.
Few problems that my friends had was supposedly it gives them the wrong direction only to find out that they have checked shortest route instead of fastest route or accidentally checked avoid freeways. Even if U think its giving U d wrong directions, it will get U to your destination.
Also, dont rely on the GPS, it is still better to have a map and know where U are going. New streets and subdivision are not updated ont the GPS right away, which is what happened on a recent trip to Florida, I'm glad I printed out directions on Mapquest since the subdivision where we were staying is in a new subdivision.

I was going to buy a GPS navigator, I was looking around for a good one. This was on sale and seemed like a bargain, so I bought it. I hate using it.

I used to use TOMTOM for palm on my treo and I thought that basic package was better. I Gave my dad a TOMOTM 910 as a gift and borrowed it on a visit to England. It was much better, not perfect but i didn't hate it like the Magellan.

I don't know how many times it must have sent me in on stupid routes in places I don't know. But a couple of times setting off from home it has sent me on ridiculous routes I knew were wrong. Once instead of getting on the interstate and heading south, it routed to got north 20 miles get of and back on the same exit then head south????? A route I take on many occasions and it usually points me south.

The map view zooms to silly levels for no reason. Some times your position and destination would be on top off each other with miles to go. Making it very hard to see the route needed to follow. The 3d view is just useless.

i might be doing it wrong but if you are on route and need to find POI, such as a gas station, you can't unless you are on an interstate and use the POI option. I have to cancel the planned route and set another.

Unless you have no other choice stay away from Magellan. I have only had this a few months, just waiting to buy the replacement.

I'll keep it brief. Customer service is beyond non-existent!
Bought hand held unit, worked fine in US.
Bought Direct Route EU, software. Would not load on unit.
After 7 months yes 7 MONTHS of emails/letters/ phone calls.
Magellan finally agreed to exchange, but they sent wrong software.
THEY DO NOT CARE, and just give me a run a round AGAIN.
So I have a useless GPS.

This megellan maestro 4040 navagator is every time I wanted. Large, easy to read, self teaching, sturdy. Everything about the product I anticipated and more. Nice value too.

THIS IS MY FIRST GPS NAVIGATOR AND JUST LEARNING TO USE IT. I AM PLEASED W/ IT SO FAR....IT GETS A STRONG SINGAL AND IS FAIRLY UNCOMPLICATED TO USE...THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE W/ IT, IS THAT IS DOESNT RECOGNIZE MY STREET FOR MY HOME ....MAYBE I NEED AN UPDATE????? IF ANYONE CAN HELP ME W/ THIS PROBLEM, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT....

As a professional driver, I can tell you that this unit has everything that you need to find your destination, fuel stops, points of interest, etc. Excellent visibility, easy to operate, much better than any Nuvi. Period.
If I would change anything, I would make the voice guidance 'sexier'. Like a Marilyn Monroe type voice. :) But that's just me...
If anyone is looking for a good GPS, this is the one to buy.

I ordered this GPS and received it in 3 working days, this was standard delivery. Best price on the internet. The unit worked right out of the box. It is very easy to enter data. Really great if you miss a turn, it will recalculate the route quickly.

Steve

The Magellan works well, and has great features, but it gets confused and has you go in circles to get to some places. I have used it on several trips and it has worked well. But at times it wanted to take me around the block to get back to where I was at the time. Not certain why but it has happened more than 4 times on one trip to San Diego. Does not always get you to the location you want, some times off by more than a mile in rural areas. In all inspire of short falls it is an amazing piece of technology.

Very acurate directions with text-to-speech and I had it at excellent price of $207.00. Wish it had MP3 built-in.

So I had to take a trip into a town 30 miles from home, and my GPS arrived that day in the mail. I was so excited... I got the address of the store I needed, typed it in...and...it didn't recognize the street or the store. (the store is in a newer shopping center..about a year and a half old). I called customer service for the gps, and they told me that there are no updates available at this time and it's a third party vendor..there's nothing they can do, and no time frame on when they'd be available.

I mapquested the store, drove there the "old fashioned way", had my gps in the car...IT actually got me home in a jiffy, faster then the mapquest...just wish it was able to get me there in the first place. There is an option, once i was there, to be able to save the coordinates and save the location (even though it didn't recognize the street)...but i didn't chose to do that since I won't need to go back there.

Besides having "older" maps, I love it. If you live in an area where they're building and lots of new construction, it may be problematic. Otherwise, I love the mounting system..easy on, easy off...secure and well designed...the touch screen and prompts are easy to use. I feel that (besides the maps) I got a really good deal for the money!

...just waiting for the map updates...

:)

Overview: I bought this GPS when my Navigon was stollen. I thought I'd save some money, but the problems cost more than buying the more expensive GPS. I returned this item.

I can't use this GPS since it cannot do the main thing well. It can't find the fastest route from place to place. This flaw shows up when I have want the fastest route, which should include some streets other than Highways. In general this flaw adds about 2 extra hours or 150 miles to each 8 hrs of driving. I figured with the cost of gas and my gas milage, that the routing flaw costs enought to buy a better GPS in just 3 day trips. So this one is being returned.

Con: Due to some flaw in the programming, the fastest route uses fastest roads, instead of fastest time. It happened on every segment of my trip from Atlanta, to Tenn, to Ohio, to DC to Orlando. For example, when I was going from from Cocoa Beach to Athens, GA the fastest route was over 10 hours, the shortest route, was under 9 hours, but when I mapped it with Mapquest, I found the best route, which was under 8 hours.

Con: Around town, it has the annoying habbit of wanting to go around the block to the left before making a turn to the right. True, 3 lefts do make a right in this GPS world.

Con: Some great features only work sproadically. The AAA feature helped when I got a flat tire. The GPS shows the number to call, my location between exits, my city, etc. This is exactly what the tow truck driver needs to know. However, the AAA representative did not tell the driver the information that I told her, so the driver had to call me back to get the info again. However, by that time, the GPS no longer showed the info. All these were now zero'd out. So he had to drive up and down the interstate to find me anyway.

Con: Another missing feature is the lack of ability to increase the detail on the map. The small streets are invisible when looking at a map that shows more that 3 miles. But when I show the local streets, the main trip road is just a strait line, boring, wasting the big screen, insufficient info. The Tom Tom has a nice slider feature to quickly zoom in and out. What would be great would be an option on how much detail of the map to include. Some like a lot, some less. Let the driver decide.

Con: Phone integration works with the bluetooth, but alerts pop up with the call, so the driver has to take eyes off the road to pick the right buttons to answer the call.

Pro: The voice is loud and clear and other than sometimes having odd ways of saying the street names, the voice is great. Easy to understand, speaking at good times to prepare for upcoming turns, pleasant.

Pro: Once the phone is connected, the speaker microphone both work great.

Pro: price is great. Maybe because of the problems.

It does what it says. I hate that they always send you down toll roads for everything. Online maps do the same thing so, it isn't that new to me. Crisp clear voice and the big screen is beautiful. Hope it stays that way over the years. Fastest time isn't always the fastest. I would like more personal options like changing the voice or more tones to choose from.