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| Magellan Maestro 3250 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator | 
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| Brand: Magellan
Category: CE
List Price: $449.99
Buy New: $162.00
You Save: $287.99 (64%)
New (38) Used (3) Refurbished (3)
Avg. Customer Rating:  107 reviews
Sales Rank: 908
Color: Black/Silver
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: Unknown
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: Unknown
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 5.1 x 9.8 x 2.1
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: Magellan Maestro 3250
Model: Magellan Maestro 3250
UPC: 063357117951
EAN: 0763357117950
ASIN: B000V4PZBY
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not quite perfect, but feature-packed and a pleasure to use January 7, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This model is among the most feature rich GPS units available. Though the screen is modest in size, it is perfectly suited to a small car. Try the 4250 for a bigger screen. The 3250 will get you from A to B competently and with little fuss. The Navteq maps seem to be accurate and up-to-date, and many of the extended features work very well.
Strengths:
- Basic operation (fast and sensible routing, timely notification of turns, easy address input)
- Interface (well laid out, fast and intuitive, particularly the map screen)
- Signal (acquisition is very fast and reliability is high)
- POI database (large and fairly comprehensive, synchronized one-touch Bluetooth calling, AAA tourbook is updateable)
- TrueView feature (though distracting at first, it helps dispel doubt when approaching complicated intersections)
- Exit POI function
- Built-in real-time traffic tuner
- AAA partnership (free extended warranty and other useful AAA perks)
Weaknesses:
- Inadequate computer synchronization. Magellan should offer readily accessible POI, firmware, and map updates. The AAA tourbook update webpage is temperamental (though this is hardly Magellan's fault.)
- The unit is reluctant to power up on low battery power. Holding the power button for 6 seconds or more becomes necessary. A glitch?
- Voice features such as voice command and Bluetooth calling are impeded when cabin noise rises even slightly.
- Voice command could be more comprehensive.
- Pairing with Bluetooth devices is lost when battery power drops close to zero, though pairing is fast and easy. This is barely a problem.
- RDS traffic info is available only in major metropolitan areas (though I imagine this is the same with all brands.)
- Runs slowly every so often. Though not a problem in itself, delays following touch screen commands can confuse operation. An hourglass is suggested!
Some improvements could be made, but the simple functionality of this unit earns it 5 stars.
 See my edit at bottom: DO NOT BUY January 5, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
...but, unfortunately, it's buggy.
This is my 5th GPS unit. Pros are its very easy to use and generally intuitive interface, nice form factor, points of interest database, speedy response, good satellite reception, and contrasty screen. When it works the way it is supposed to do, which is most--but unfortunately not all--of the time, then it's the best GPS that I've used over the years.
In the ten days that I've owned it, however, it has frozen twice, requiring hard resets. The voice recognition is spotty. It stopped responding once, requiring a hard reset to restore its hearing, and it often will come on out of the blue (barking, "Say a command") without first calling it to attention with the magic words ("Magellan", noting that, should you fancy, it also responds to "Miguel" and "Ellen").
At least for my phone, Samsung M610, the blue tooth connection was also dodgy. Voice commands, at least for my phone, are non-existant and don't work with dialing or answering functions.
I would recommend skipping the blue tooth and voice recognition and getting its less expensive twin, 3210.
A minor point is that the mapping algorithm is different from prior Magellan units and on some trips I think it prefers to take a somewhat longer route--at least it's a different one than the older unit used to recommend.
Let me close, however, by saying that if you've never owned or even used a GPS unit, by all means, get one. The technology is as close to magic as anything I can ever think of. It will come in handy time and time again. Your family will love you for it.
-Edit--
After a few more weeks with this product, I am DOWNGRADING to DO NOT BUY. It is consistently buggy. It rarely gets through a trip without doing something it shouldn't. When voice recognition is activated it will randomly ask you to "say a command" and in so doing interrupt the navigation. It has now begun to automatically start up in the system preferences screen and there is no way out. Even a reset does not always fix that one. I will be contacting the vendor or manufacturer about returning it. VERY DISAPPOINTED.
--Second Edit--
It continues to malfunction. After two months of ownership it is currently totally unusable and frozen on a screen requesting that it be plugged into a USB port for a system update. I have had my first long run in with customer service. After two phone calls to India and one to the Philippines, each time tediously repeating the same information to representatives with accents so thick as to be barely understandable, I was told that I could ship it in my own packaging and at my own expense to a repair facility in Texas, that would spend 4-6 weeks servicing it and then return it by ground shipping.
Great features and Amazon price! December 28, 2007
43 out of 45 found this review helpful
I purchased this unit last night to replace my Garmin i3. The Garmin is a great little unit, but I was ready for a few more features.
To read up about the Garmin i3 (and i2/i5) check this site: http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/garmin-streetpilot-i3/4505-3430_7-31468216.html
Short version:
Magellan 3250 is a great GPS unit and the price from Amazon was far the best one that I could find. Also, I ordered it last night and Amazon/UPS had the unit on my doorstep 24 hours later (and I didn't pay for overnight)!
Long version:
Within 30 minutes of having the unit out of the box, I was able to take it on a 90 minute road trip and compare back-to-back with the Garmin. Below are a few of my findings:
Screen size: The 3.5" Magellan screen was a nice bonus when compared to the Garmin's 1.5" screen. I was happy with the Garmin display, so I am that much more happy with the Magellan.
Screen Zoom: While the Magellan was fine, the default zoom level on the Garmin provided just a bit more information (zoomed out a little more) and I find that the added view was helpful when navigating unfamiliar areas.
Brightness: I never had a problem with the Garmin, but the Magellan was definitely brighter.
Re-calculation: The Garmin was quicker to detect that I had left the route and start the recalculation. Once the Magellan detected that I was off route (usually at about 75% re-calc on the Garmin) it would initiate and finish the re-calc very quickly (usually at the same time as the Garmin, despite the Garmin's 75% head start). The quickness with which the Garmin detects that you have the left route is NOT always a blessing. One of my few complaints about the Garmin was that it was/is U-turn crazy. That is to say that it detects that you have the left route and tries to force you (repeatedly) into a U-turn to get back on route. I had no such trouble with the Magellan.
Bluetooth: The Garmin i3 is a budget model and does not have this feature. With the Magellan, my SMT5600 Smartphone is not on the supported list. However, it still works as a bluetooth headset, which is sufficient for me. The quality (both on my end and on the end of the person that I made the test call to) was better than my Motorola bluetooth earbud.
Traffic: This is another advanced feature of the Magellan, which the Garmin does not have. I was not able to test this feature because I have not yet started the free trial.
Maps: The maps are from NAVTEQ*** (6/2007) and were very accurate. The Garmin also uses NAVTEQ maps (~2004 edition) and are also very good.
Routing: Both the Garmin and the Magellan calculated the same base route when going from A to B (and it was a route that I know well and can attest that the selected route was good).
Re-routing: Here, the Magellan is the hands-down winner. Not only did the Magellan NOT display the "possessed U-turn demon" of the Garmin, but it seemed to make smarter assumptions (i.e. not forcing me back to the highway when local was just as fast) when re-routing.
Mounting: Because the Garmin is very small (fits in the palm of your hand), the mount is a ball-and-socket which makes it very easy to adjust to any angle. I was pleasantly surprised that the beefy Magellan mount provided a similar range of flexibility.
Navigation: While both systems navigate quite well****, I have to give the nod to the Magellan. Whenever there are complicated branches, the screen splits into two (map and branch) clearly showing which branch is the correct one to take. The Garmin describes the branch (stay left/right, then stay right/left), but a picture is worth a 1000 words! In some cases the Garmin did have a few extra niceties like the top screen banner indicating what the next major action would be (e.g. "on I696 to exit 165 John C. Lodge south"). Also, the Garmin uses names for highways (e.g. "John C. Lodge") while the Magellan uses the highway numbers (e.g. "M-10"). If you are local, the names might make more sense, but I know from experience that out-of-towners would prefer the highway numbers over the names (here the Magellan wins again). The Magellan has text-to-speech and the Garmin does not; I can see that this would be useful for out-of-town adventures.
Finally, one point to the Garmin for verbosity. The Garmin was/is always talking before the Magellan and sometimes even when the Magellan sat quiet (e.g. "stay straight for next 9.9 miles" would come from the Garmin after merging onto the highway). The Magellan said nothing to assure me that I merged to the right path; maybe a minor point I don't know.
Controls: This is the #1 reason why I am replacing the Garmin. The Magellan has a touch screen (as do most GPS devices now). The Garmin i-series uses a thumb-wheel. While the thumb-wheel is very fast to use while sitting still (possibly faster than the touch screen) it can become nearly possible to use while driving on less than perfect roads (a bounce can send the selection up/down causing you miss the selection or select the wrong item). I know that you are not supposed to play with the GPS while driving, but honestly - who doesn't!?? Since I do, the touch screen is a definite winner.
Boot-up: The Garmin always boots fast and doesn't antagonize with the nag screen for too long. The Magellan seemed to boot a little slower, but what really bothered me was the nag screen that sticks around for several seconds after it has been dismissed.
POI: Do NOT underestimate the importance of the POI database. In this case, both the Magellan 3250 and Garmin i-series have 6 million built-in points of interest. A lot (most) of the budget systems have "millions", which usually translates into just a few more than 1 million. If you do not believe that 6 million is a big advantage over 1+, buy two systems and compare for yourself. You will be shocked at the difference that it makes in finding exactly what you are looking for. BTW - Both the Garmin amd Magellan POI database includes accurate phone numbers as well. This is especially great on the Magellan because you can call directly from the GPS unit via bluetooth to your cell phone!
NOTES (a.k.a. Why all the asterisks?):
My first attempts at replacing the Garmin were all a bust. The systems could not hold a candle to the Garmin for accuracy or sheer number of POI.
*** Something that I noticed on the other units is that they were all using TeleAtlas maps instead of NAVTEQ maps. In some cases the TeleAtlas maps had N-S streets swapped with E-W street names. I actually ran into a situation where the map claimed that there was a street where there was none, and obviously hadn't been one anytime in the past 20 years. Some people blame the navigation for these errors (i.e. the GPS vendor and not the map maker), but clearly inaccurate maps are not the results of a GPS navigation issue. They are simply bad maps. My advice is to avoid units that use TeleAtlas maps.
**** An issue, which probably is navigation related but could stem from the bad maps, is that one of the systems consistently took me to the back side of destinations. On a trip to Radio Shack, this is not a big deal. On a trip to the airport, this is a huge deal because it can lead you miles out of your way!
Magellan 3250 is awesome December 28, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought the Magellan from Amazon around thanksgiving and have been using it since. I just moved to Chicago and would have been scared to move around had it not been for the reassurance of the Magellan. It is always accurate and has yet to let me down. On my recent visit to St. Louis it even routed me around accidents on the interstate by using nearby surface streets. A feat I would never have attempted without a GPS.
The cons, cold start is slow, rerouting after wrong turns could be faster. An irritant is the fact that you can't access the points of interest menu if you have a route programmed in. You actually have to cancel the route to access the POI by category. I hope Magellan works on that. The stand could have been better designed and it is difficult to plug in the adapter while the unit is on the stand. Have not yet used the bluetooth or AAA guide so cannot comment on that. Alll in all a good buy.
Where am I? I love that function. December 27, 2007
38 out of 44 found this review helpful
I am a wind farmer; I plant GE wind turbines in rural Indiana. I work on setting up wind farms. I use the where am I to set the Turbine site numbers. Some of the roads in rural cannot support the heavy trucks to deliver the turbine parts so I use te trip planning to take me as 'FOLLOW ME' driver without getting onto the no-travel roads.
After a new pad is set, I use the 'Where am I' to log the site number.
Part two of my job takes me to other parts of rural america on my leased 4x4 Dodge Cummins truck. The Magellan Maestro 3250 gets me there from here. I grew up on the west coast so mountains are my reference.
Here in Indiana, it's easy to get lost without the sun (cloudy) or points of reference so the Magellan Maestro 3250 gets me there and out of trouble (like talking on the phone while driving, since I use the bluetooth to do my talking while driving.
Update: I went to O'Hare Airport in Chicago to pick up wife who came to visit over New Years. After the airport, I ask magellan for a nearest pizza resturant. I wanted the Chicago deep dish style that I have heard about. The magellan found a pizza place just off the exit and we had a wonderful treay of Chicago pizza.
I had the 3250 route me away from construction and avoided toll roads enroute back to Indiana.
Update 2: I noted that there were a few complaints about third world support. I called the toll free number and was greeted by Melvin, as I understand that he is Mombie, India. I can understand that speaking so they can understand you may be an issue. My technical question was: may I use a charger with the min-USB2 plug to charge the Maestro 3250; his answer was that it will charge the 3250 BUT it will sense that it is connected to a computer and I cannot program the GPS while plugged into the wall outlet. I will have to wait until the 3250 is charged, then do the trip planning. A very reasonable answer.
Granted, I am Chinese and understand that others may not be as understanding in trying to listen to the answer. I interact with americans from all over the USA so trying to understand Texans or Carolinians requires me to ask or repeat back what I have heard.
Update two: this magellan GPS does not like the cold. It was -5 below zero farenheite today and the GPS stopped working. Pullerd it off the mount, put it in my pocket to warm it up and the unit started working again.
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