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| Magellan Maestro 4250 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator | 
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| Brand: Magellan
Category: CE
List Price: $599.99
Buy Refurbished: $129.99
You Save: $470.00 (78%)
New (26) Used (7) Refurbished (7)
Avg. Customer Rating:  314 reviews
Sales Rank: 756
Color: Silver/Black
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: Unknown
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: Unknown
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Clothing Size: 2GB
Size: 2GB
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 425
Model: Magellan Maestro 425
UPC: 063357118033
EAN: 0063357118033
ASIN: B000V4PZCI
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great GPS, but headache for newbies June 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just bought this 4250 a week ago and as soon as i received it i had it on a dry run. The first time i opened it, it was amazing...with all the features with the price way beyond best buy and circuit city it felt like a steal (and now i see that it's $10 less than i bought it last week!)! after reading the other reviews and seeing that they almost said everything nice about it, ill just share the bad side of this GPS.
1. after the first time i turned it on, my 4250 began to stop stalling on me on the opening screen. it wouldn't turn off or respond to touch even if i press the reset button. there was no way of shutting or resetting it. it happend to me several times we even thought it was the battery. it was very frustration i almost threw this thing in the air and send it back. i had to study the whole thing on its web site and manual and was later found out that i could simply hold the power button for 10 sec. to restart it. the website explained it as incompatibility issues or something...i hope it wouldn't cause major problems in the future. imagine a newbie solve this problem...
2. software update is too long. i found out that they only release updates of the map yearly. hmmm...that means any changes in the roads will have to wait on my GPS on the following year.
3. after you disconnect the GPS in your computer, the GPS would still think its connected to the computer. you would have to reset the thing to work. hmmm...i wonder how i can upgrade later if i have to keep resetting it?
3. minor case...but i hope they improve the selection of the voice command and make it easier to tell the GPS rather than speaking robotic-like to it.
but overall, i love this GPS because of its price vs. product = a STEAL!
 Disappointing mounting system June 25, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I couldn't believe what I found when I tried to mount this unit in my wife's van. Since it can't be mounted on the windshield (too far from the driver's position, plus a long dashboard), it would have to be mounted on the dash. Well, the dash is curved, with no flat area on it at all. The 4250 mounting bracket only is adjustable with 2 degrees of freedom - up/down, and left/right. There is no way to pivot the unit clockwise or counter-clockwise on the mounting bracket, which is what is needed for this van's dash. If I mount it as it is, the screen would be tilted about 30 degrees off of level horizontal. This seems like a nice unit, but some designer had his head in the sand when designing the bracket. The Garmin units have a great mounting bracket, so that's where I am going next.
 Excellent unit! June 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I spent 3 months researching GPS units. I had a Garmin C330, and my major issues with this unit were satelite reception/aquisition. Tried Garmin, TomTom and Magellan. It came down to the Magellan Maestro 4250 vs the Garmin Nuvi 680. I only use my GPS once or twice a month, so my purpose was finding an affordable unit that had bluetooth, text to speech and live traffic updates. Was not necessary to spend the extra $100 on the Garmin. This unit is the best around for $250!
Pros: Live traffic works well, although have only used this feature twice. bluetooth works great for me. Others have complained about low speaker volume. I do not have this issue. Phone is loud and clear to me. Satelite acqusition is VERY quick. reception is top notch. Wide, bright screen, intuitive menu. Have found that it is very accurate. Text to speech feature is great. split screen direction feature. And Exit POI is great, WITH PHONE NUMBERS! Free year of traffic updates
Cons: Large, awkward mount. the unit shows that you are located before the raod even when you have passed it. (not a deal breaker, the chime sounds when you need to turn), sometimes need to turn it on twice.
I would definately recommend this unit. I feel it is the best around for a bargain price!
 Painful to operate June 23, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This GPS is very difficult to work with. Sometimes talks to you sometimes it doesn't. It constatntly asks "what you want to do"? in the middle of your route. I would not buy this product again.
Masterful, outstanding GPS June 21, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
First and foremost, this is a truly great GPS. Second, you MUST upgrade the firmware to the current level -- makes it perform at peak level. (Also, if you're a AAA member, upgrade the AAA Tourbook data and get your free, members only warranty extension -- see [...]). Third, make your own assessment, don't put too much faith in the negative reviews -- I frankly question the honesty in some of them.
I've only had my 4250 for a few days, but both my wife and I agree that it's an incredible device. Read the previous review by BrandonNM, "Jeff" and see that I agree completely with his comments. But also notice that many of the cons are being addressed by Magellan with the new 4350 and 4370 to be released in July 08. I read many, many reviews and user comments in trying to decide whether to buy the Maestro 4250, wait for the new one or go with the Garmin 760. I'm glad I chose the 4250 and can happily wait a couple of years to get a newer Magellan replacement.
If you have or buy the 4250, be sure to tap on every icon and every info box to see what it will display. The manual is definitely too brief (that's a minor negative) and doesn't show all the options (and that's a major plus -- there's more here than meets the eye). An example, tap on the "Arrival time" box when you're in a route, it changes to remaining time and remaining miles before going back to arrival time. It seems everything has buried options underneath.
I read many reviews and user comments. Some are clearly biased, others I wonder how they got a unit that was bad. Mostly I just don't accept the negatives I read. Except for not having enough time to see if it will break down, I've exhaustively checked every option more than once. Most complaints about the 4250 not doing this or that are because the reviewer or user didn't take the time to find the proper path or method. Another example -- a major review that said you can't change a planned route once it is entered. I planned a route for my current 1000-mile round trip. I then Optimized and Saved it. I went back and added a new stop (Append) and re-optimized. I went back and deleted one of the stops and re-optimized. All went perfectly. It even found for me a shoe store in a huge shopping center -- the shopping center wasn't mapped, but the shoe store was pinpointed on my GPS and it told me I was there when I got to within 50 feet.
The new firmware definitely improves responsiveness and re-routing if you make a wrong turn. For example, a new stretch of highway was put in where the older instructions said to turn. Before I was 100 feet on the new road, I heard the "calculating route" message and a corrected route taking me in from the opposite side was displayed. Fantastic! And that happened more than once! (Lots of new roads on this trip.) The map is the same NavTec map in use by all current GPSs -- an update is expected this Fall and hopefully that will resolve some of these. I had no problems finding any of the POIs we chose -- that will certainly be hit and miss as on any GPS as places change over time. But the AAA data was accurate and up-to-date to the last quarter. We have been AAA members for many years and have always relied on the AAA tourbooks, getting new ones for every trip. Now we don't have to get the newest annual book unless we want it -- the most recent updates can be downloaded every quarter to the 4250.
We haven't yet tested the Bluetooth, but our phone is supposed to be compatible. At this point using Bluetooth is problematic between any two devices, so it's just not a big issue for us.
One thing I want to point out, is that Magellan appears to be addressing many concerns with the 4250 (the 2007 high end model) both with firmware updates and corrections in the manufacturing stream (later purchases don't have the same issues are the earliest ones). They are also making changes is the 2008 line (4350, 4370, etc.) to address concerns like not being able to enter addresses with voice commands (the 4350 will have that as well as a "pedestrian" mode.
Some more good things: The touch screen is quite sensitive and almost always responds to a tap. Occasionally, it will miss (just re-tap) or will pick up a double-tap (oops, go back) minor stuff. The screen brightness is great, but definitely bright at night. Volume and brightness can be adjusted with the Options menu and there you also can see your battery level. The volume is orginally set to High -- too loud for our relatively quiet Camry, but that's fine with loud music. We found no problems at all with the Magellan responding to our voice commands. Normal tone of voice, picks up my low voice and my wife's higher voice with no problem at all. I actually like the window mount. Set it up properly, and it easly turns from side to side (driver to passenger) while staying in place for finger taps and remaining level to both views.
I also had to contact Magellan Tech Support because of a difficulty signing up for the 2nd year warranty (it never told me it worked). I got a response within 24 hours confirming my extended warranty.
If we have any problems over time, I'll post here. We are extremely happy with our purchase. If you don't like some of the current concerns (no voice address input, 2007 map, etc.) wait for the new releases and pay a few hundred dollars more. Or do like we decided -- get a great GPS and plan to upgrade in a couple of years when it's a lot better. (You can see the new features for the 4350 series on the tigergps site -- Amazon will probably add that info soon.)
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