|
| Magellan Maestro 3140 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator | 
 enlarge
| Brand: Magellan
Category: CE
List Price: $499.99
Buy New: $251.85
You Save: $248.14 (50%)
New (5) Used (1) Refurbished (4)
Avg. Customer Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 6848
Color: black/silver
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.6
Dimensions (in): 4 x 1 x 3
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: Magellan Maestro 314
Model: Magellan Maestro 314
UPC: 763357117233
EAN: 0763357117233
ASIN: B000PF886S
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
Excellent for the price March 12, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was mainly looking for Text To Speech. I bought this for 149.99 and have had it for about 2 weeks. I am happy with the unit so far. The POIs are sligtly outdated. It did not know about a mall 10 miles away from my home. But its not a big deal. It grabs satellite signal very fast, reroutes quickly and gives efficient routes. The coolest feature is Multiple Destination Routing and how it optimizes where you should go first. (This feature is only available in Garmin's higher end units.) Bluetooth feature was an added bonus (the other side could hear me clearly). I had researched a lot before buying and was aware of the very low battery life (compared to other brands available in the market), but then I use it only in my car, so I don't even need an A/C adapter. The car adapter works good for me. Overall, this unit is very economical, does what its supposed to do very well (give routes), and good value for money.
Update 03/21/2008
I did a bit of research online. Firstly I updated the firmware to the latest version from Magellan's website. According to people's reviews, its supposed to improve some things, but I haven't had got opportunity to play around with the unit much after upgrade. But most importantly,
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=66&threadid=2120938
provides a way of updating Magellan 3225's POI database to 6 million. Those instructions work for 3140 too. And after upgrading, it does find the new mall 10 miles from my home, which I had said earlier it couldn't find. I highly recommend Magellan 3140, now that you can easily upgrade it to 6 million POI which is the industry standard now.
 Fantastic GPS for the price. Almost Perfect!!!!! March 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
At this price ($149.99 that I paid), this unit is fantastic for the following reasons.
1- Very fast lock onto GPS signal
2- Very clear crisp display compared to other GPS's
3- 4.5 million points of interest which is much more than any other gps at this price.
4- Blue tooth which again is rare at this price point as well as text to speech navigation.
5- Contrary to other reviews you can pan the map by dragging your finger along the screen and once the circle is over a road it shows the road name to which you can navigate or save.
6- Multipoint destinations with optimization. You can put in many destinations and it will calculate the best/shortest route which I do not use but would be very useful to some.
Minor cons about the unit are
1- You cannot update maps or points of interest on the internet free of charge like with TomTom but this is not a major issue.
2- The sound is adequate for the most part but with heavy road noise it can get drowned out at times, but this may be due to the higher than average road noise in my car!!!
All in all a great unit which I cannot see anyone being unhappy with. No gps will give you the route you expect when you know the roads real well but this unit gets you there pretty well just like any other would and the features of this unit are fantastic.
Works great. Gets me there. March 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've had this item for a little over a month and it really does the job. Text-to-speach is a real key part to this unit as it keeps me from needing to look at the screen all the time. There are a couple peeves like it thinks my house is a block away and I have found that it likes main roads - even when taking "shortest" route, but if you follow it it brings you to the destination without a problem. The speaker needs to have the ability to be louder, too. I did a lot of research before buying and the Maestro 3140 fit my needs at the lowest price possible. The Bluetooth feature is real cool and to me it was a bonus! I'd recommend this unit to anyone. Not the cheapest available but the features make it a very economical choice.
Very User Friendley March 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent GPS, lots of POI's, very intuitive and user friendly, fast rouing and re-routing when you make a wrong turn. It has a easy to read (bright) display, and a eye-friendly night mode, that dims it and uses darker colors for background. It does have some problems though. There are no current map updates for it yet, the one it comes with is August 2006, and a update via download or purchase at their website would be MUCH appreciated. Also, there is a software update (version 2.16) available online from Magellans website (free), and I recommend getting it, it makes some pretty nice improvements. You will need a blank SD card (I would say at least 128MB. but a max of 2GB) and start with a full battery like the update says to. Maybe the other complaint I have relates to the one about the outdated map, it has routed me strange ways, taking longer routes than I needed to. There might be newer streets and freeway exits that it doesn't know about. But it does eventually get you there. I like that it gives you phone numbers for the POI's too, so you can call ahead. Although some of those are outdated too. I live in California where it's illegal to suction it to the windshield, so I also recommend a friction dash pad. It is very east to use. I went to multiple electronics stores, and liked the Magellans best. There are a lot of good GPS units out there, but for the price you won't find one better than this. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is the map being slightly outdated, especially in southern California where the roads change on a daily basis.
 worst piece of junk ever February 29, 2008
6 out of 15 found this review helpful
I got this for my boyfriend who just moved to my city and didn't have a clue how to get around. He has to plan every trip outside the neighborhood, to the last detail - which this GPS is GREAT for. IF you have the EXACT address, and already know where you are going in general. This IS NOT a good gps to have if you are lost, or need spontaneous directions from somewhere you are unfamiliar with. It got me lost several times, took me through some crazy winding neighborhoods and ended up spending an extra hour to get home.
Like I said, you need to have a clear plan of where you are going before you leave, and know the exact address of where you are going. You cannot be in the middle of the city and decide you want to find the nearest Home Depot or movie theatre. It has a few restaurants and gas stations programmed in and that is it. You cannot see ahead of the map, only what it shows you. Navigating through the menu is the most frustrating thing because you have to enter in every letter and number, go back, figure out how to save it, etc. Not user-friendly or for someone who isn't a gadget freak. Most of all, I totally lost confidence in it because it has gotten me lost on more than one occasion. LOST!
**UPDATE 09/12/08**
I am still hating this GPS system, in fact I refuse to let my boyfriend even use it when I am in the car because it's so irritatingly WRONG. I know Atlanta like the back of my hand and on NUMEROUS occasions this thing gave wrong directions. It doesn't recognize our exit, which is off of another exit making it a little complicated but HELLO there are signs that point to our road but this GPS can't figure it out. It also stalls right when you need to know where to turn and you end up missing the turn. It has helped my boyfriend out a few times when he needed to get somewhere without me but other than that, this thing is totally worthless. You are better off googling the directions beforehand or getting GPS on your phone. This thing should be recalled.
|
|
|
Copyright
©
2006 Adminpal LLC | |
