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October 31, 2008 1:37 PM PDT

Magellan Maestro 4350 GPS debuts

by Bonnie Cha
Magellan Maestro 4350

Magellan Maestro 4350

(Credit: Magellan )

It's been a little while since we've seen anything from Magellan, but on Thursday, the GPS manufacturer revealed its latest in-car GPS, the Magellan Maestro 4350 series. Consisting of the Maestro 4350 and the Maestro 4370, both portable navigation devices feature a new user interface called OneTouch that gives you quick one-click access to your favorite destinations.

Basically, you preselect your favorite businesses (restaurants, banks, gas stations, and so forth) and addresses and then the GPS will provide a single page where you can just tap on the appropriate icon to navigate to the destination from your current location. There's no need to go through several menus or manually enter addresses since they're all in one place. You can also add applications, such as Bluetooth or multimedia to the OneTouch interface.

Shared features on both PNDs include text-to-speech functionality, integrated traffic receivers, Bluetooth, and lane guidance. The difference between the Maestro 4350 and the Maestro 4370 is that the latter has a higher-resolution touch screen and is available only at Best Buy. Both models cost $499.99, though Best Buy is having a sale on the Maestro 4370 where you can get it for $399. We should be getting our model next week, so check back soon for a full review.

Bonnie Cha is a senior editor for CNET, covering smartphones and GPS. When she's not testing the latest gadgets, you can find her chasing after her crazy lab or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California. E-mail Bonnie.
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by John B. Kendrick November 1, 2008 7:49 AM PDT
Magellan is very late in the game for this functionality which has been on Garmin units for years. On my SP2720 I can even organize by folders of my favorite locations and routes, and I have 40 - 50 locations, complete with address and phone number, stored in the unit so they are easily accessible.

BTW, I recently wrote on my blog about the iPhone's GPS, which surprised me with its abilities. Here's the link if you're interested. http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/iphone-does-gps/
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by whizkid454 November 1, 2008 2:26 PM PDT
I really don't understand the point of "favorites". If some location is a favorite place to visit, why would you need directions since you already know where it is, especially if the location is your own city/town. If you're on vacation, you're most likely not going to ever use the favorite again.
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by darcal2000 December 1, 2008 5:28 PM PST
You're assuming that you'll always be driving to one of your "favorites" from home or a location you're familiar with. If say I set my mother's house as one of my favorites and was somewhere far or somewhere I was unfamiliar with and needed to go to my mother's house, I can just simply tap my "favorites" and get to my mother's house that way instead of typing out her entire address.
by dbaker37 November 10, 2008 5:40 PM PST
Favorites is a great feature to have you can save starbucks as a favorite and when you are out you can just hit favorite button and it will list the starbucks around where you are instead for going thru poi and typing starbucks. I think you thought it was just one store that you saved to your favorites
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About Miss Direction

Bonnie Cha is a senior editor at CNET.com, covering PDAs, smart phones, and GPS. Though she didn't grow up in an era where GPS was widely used or readily available, she really wishes she had. Perhaps then she wouldn't have gone through the horrifying experience of her dad putting the car in reverse on busy I-95 just to make the exit for Disney World. In Miss Direction, Cha answers your questions about GPS, discusses the latest industry news and trends, and shares her tales from the road.

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