- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 62 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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14 out of 18 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"The Maestro 4040 looks better on paper than it actually is"
Pros: Lots of features (if they work correctly; which they don't)
Cons: Poor routing, poor software design, long recalcs, viewing route list hangs unit up, slow map redraws
Summary: OK....I couldn't wait and bought the 4040 at Circuit City at 10 AM. I returned it at 7 PM. Can you tell I wasn't impressed?
I will give you my opinion and I'll be interested to see what Fletch has to say in his upcoming, in depth review.
I'll start with the good. Let me preface this by saying I'm from NY and recently my job took me to CT, where I currently live. I do a lot of traveling for work, especially on the east coast, and am always in NY to visit friends and family. I know the NY streets like the back of my hand, since I was born there and lived there for just about my entire life.
Pros:
- Good screen; visible in all kind of lighting. The little sun that hit it directly didn't affect its readability.
- Seems to be jam-packed with routing featrure, i.e. detour by road. How well they work is another story and I'll explain this in more detail in the "cons."
- Routing engine seems, well, OK. Just OK. It took some of the same routes as my 2720, but took some really odd ones, especially in NY. I'll explain later. Both units use NavTeq maps, so the choices of routes probably come primarily from the routing engines. However, the NavTeq maps on the Maestro seem more outdated than my Garmin, which is running under Navigator 8. Navigator 8, with its NavTeq maps, is out about a year now, so shame on Magellan if this is the case.
- Good, loud speakers. Very impressive.
- "Exit POI's" While traveling on the highway, this will take you to POI's in the direction you are traveling, and not behind you.
- AAA guide. Very useful if you're a AAA member like me.
Cons:
- Slow map redraws. The Windows hour glass would pop up now and then and this frustrated me, much as one would be frustrated by the hour glass on a slow computer. My Garmin redraws instantaneously, so flawlessly that you cannot even tell.
- When switching to the list view, to examine the route, the hour glass literally hangs the unit for a minute or more. You cannot even scroll past certain roads till the unit catches up to the text. That's how awful and unacceptable it is.
- You cannot set "Home" to your current location. You must input an address. Seems like it's no big deal until you realize that some people live in condos or complexes, and the physical address of their unit either doesn't exist or doesn't take them to their door.
- The unit is bulky. Not as streamlined as the Garmin. This is not something you'd feel comfortable with carrying in your pocket throughout the day, especially in the summertime when your pockets are already filled with your wallet and cell.
- U-turns. Friggin U-Turns. There is NO option to turn this off. If you miss a turn, you will travel endlessly as the unit keeps trying to roue you the opposite way via a u-turn. I was on 372 (in Cromwell CT) and the Silas Deane Hwy in Rocky Hill CT. I intentionally missed my turn and for what seemed like miles, the unit insisted I make a U-Turn. You do NOT make a U-turn on either road, unless you're begging for a ticket from the cops who hide in the strip malls waiting to nail you.
Same thing happened on major roads in NY where only a psychopath would take a U-turn.
- When starting out on a route, the Maestro rarely tells you to take the highlighted route, as the Garmin units do. You have to drive some for the TTS to kick in. Not such a big deal I suppose, but you're sitting there confused for a bit, wondering in which direction to travel.
- TTS. (Text to Speech). Extremely robotic and not as conversational and natural as Garmin's. Garmin units will say, "In 500 feet, make a left turn onto Broadway." The Maestro goes something like this: " In 500 feet make a left turn"....pause......"Broadway." The Maestro TTS certainly isn't pleasing to the ears and the phrasing is unnatural as you can see from my example.
- POI - I didn't test the accuracy of many POIs, but one thing about the Maestro POI was annoying. When the list for a category would appear, it would not tell you the direction of each POI, like the Garmin does. You'd have to select it and route to it to find out where the heck it was. However, there is a useful "exit POI" function that would take you to the POI toward your exit on the highway, and not behind the direction you are traveling.
-Detour function. What should have been a HUGE plus is actually a huge disappointment. The Maestro wanted to take me on a strange route to Brooklyn, NY (more on that later). After waiting for the hourglass to disappear (tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, snore) to examine how the unit wanted to route me, I disvovered some really shady, unexplainable raods it wanted to route me on. So, I selected the first road, chose "exclude" waited for the recalculation and expected to be a happy camper.
I then examined this new route. Back to "list." Back to more hourglass. I noticed that the road was not excluded. ***? I tried it again. More waiting. Still there (the raod I wanted to exclude) but I noticed that the unit changed the way it wanted to take me to this road. It didn't exclude the road, only how to get to that excluded road.
So I pulled over and played with these "detours" and raods I wanted to exclude for a good 20 minutes, each time unsucessfully, trying to trick the unit into taking the road my preferred way. FINALLY I discovered that I shouldn't exclude the road I didn't want to travel. but the EXIT that road takes you to. How effin dumb is that? The Magellan engineers need to go back to grade school.
What makes matters worse is that you can only exclude one road at a time, so it's hit or miss and you have to keep going back to the drawing board to finally extinguish that road. The Garmin 2720 nails this one beautifully. Garmin gets it right!
- Routing engine. Going from CT to NY. Not exactly the sticks, so you'd think that a decent unit, especially one for 500 bucks should get it right.
Instead, not only where the choice of roads questionable, but, no matter my pref - fastest, use of highway, etc,. the Maestro wanted to take me off the highway, WAY before my destination and though the streets in a shady neighborhood with a traffic light on just about every block. My destination was in the Bay Ridge NY area (for those familiar with NY...and CT. I know fletc is) . The Maestro wanted to put me on the Jackie Robinson Hwy and exit to the streets of East NY (bad area) to Kings Highway (which truly isn't a highway - there are lights at every corner or so). Only a tourist, who just got off a plane and is visiting NY for the first time, who can't speak English and has an IQ of 52 would go this way.
- Limited routing prefs. Fastest or shortest time etc. No combination or options like more use of highway, less use of highway, etc. You are stuck with one choice. Lame. Phone GPS's offer more and cost a hell of a lot less.
Conclusion: The Maestro looks AWESOME on paper, but is terribly disappointing in real life usage. I was truly hoping that Magellan would get this one right, but they have a long way to go to compete with Garmin...or even Tom Tom. I'd have to give the Maestro a failing grade.
I wanted a compact unit to go with my bulky Garmin 2720 and 2730, plus GPS technology has become a bit of a passion and hobby. What I wound up doing was returning the Maestro and bought a Garmin nuvi 350 for my wife. The software of the nuvi doesn't compare to the 2720 (less routing options), but playing with and driving around with it for a couple of hours, it seems like a Picasso compared to the Magellan Maestro. The nuvi is quick, map redraws are instant and not noticeable, and the routing is SO much better than the Maestro, at least in CT and simulated routes throughout the northeast.Updated
I may be mistaken about the POI not showing directional pointers prior to selecting them for your route. I read somewhere that they do, although I don't remember seeing them. Maybe you have to drill down a screen.
In any event, given all the other cons, I cannot recommend this unit.
- 4 replies to this review
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This seems like it was written by someone working for Garmin. I noticed a very similar review that also suggested getting the Garmin. Looks suspicious to me.
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The numerous "cons" you mentioned are in line with what others have been disappointed with, notably the U-turn disaster. I also have lived in NYC all my life and know the streets so I'll give it a test. I bought it off HSN for $299 last night (very, very late last night) and I know I'll be able to return it without a problem. I'll start researching the Garmins that I've seen so highly recommended. Thanks for taking the time to write your review... well worth the read.
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Robgps,
Thanks for the great post. Have a question... I'm moving into a new job and will be traveling daily to 3-4 meetings in San Diego metro area within a 2-3 hr radius. I'm also relocating so a GPS unit is key as the roads are all new to me.
Sounds like from your post you recommend Garmin but was wondering if you would recommend one model over another knowing I need this for business use. My main concern being showing up timely for appointments and also having good POI's for downtime in between meetings and to grab some food.
I've seen the 2720 in action, a coworker used this when I did some shadowing of her daily job, and the maps seemed accurate for the San Diego area. Obviously a bit more expensive then the Nuvi series so deciding how much to spend is confusing and also being new to traveling for work thought I may not be thinking of all the different usages that are important. And I'm not too concerned about Bluetooth as I have a phone system in my car. What are your thoughts? Appreciate your input... -
I wouldn't put much faith in what robgps has to say. From what I've read it looks like he and fletch are on a mission to bash Magellan. I've been a Magellan user for over 5 years and have found my RM 700 and 6000T to be very solid GPS receivers. After only a few days of using my new Maestro I have seen the maneuver list lock up, TTS confusing, etc. Also I don't understand why you would buy a GPS if you are going to devaiate from the route and be annoyed by the uturn guidance. rob, I think it's time to put the GPS down and buy a Thomas Guide.
Where to buy
Magellan Maestro 4040:
$109.95 - $411.86
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$411.86 | Yes |
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$109.95 | Yes |
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