Magellan Magellan Maestro 4350 Best Price, Reviews, Compare
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Magellan Magellan Maestro 4350 Best Price, Reviews, Compare.
Product: Magellan Magellan Maestro 4350 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
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As this is a lengthy review, those not wanting to wade through the entire text can derive a summary under the 'Conclusions' heading.
Test Conditions:
All tests were conducted in the Northeast U.S. Although I don't believe another portable GPS, I do have a factory installed navigation unit in my 2006 Audi which I've utilized for several side-by-side comparisons (the Magellan is actually for my wife's car) .
Updates to the 4350's operating system and navigational firmware are available at no-cost from Magellan's website. These significantly improve the functionality and stability of the unit and if you have one you'd be making a mistake not to install them. The map is made relativity easy by the CD based instruction manual that comes with the unit. It took me about fifteen minutes to bring my unit up to date and in a month of testing since, it has never crashed, frozen, or seriously misbehaved. All findings posted here are based on a unit updated to the following: OS Version 00.42.01.0919 and Navigation Version 8.3.2.64084. As the 4350's were unprejudiced released in September 2008 there are no diagram updates available or required.
Startup:
If powered by an ignition controlled power source the 4350 turns on/off with the car. Otherwise pressing the power button for about two seconds turns it on.
Acquiring satellites happens very rapid - we're talking seconds, not minutes. Only once, inside my house during a very heavy snowstorm, did it pick longer (about two minutes) to lock.
Display Screen:
The show is plenty shining and the touch shroud feature is very sensitive (sometimes too noteworthy so) . An optional power-saver feature dims the mask somewhat between turns when using the built-in battery. I found this very useful as besides saving the battery it tends to rep your peer when it 'wakes up' to normal brightness. Since that happens about five seconds before the first spoken notification regarding the next turn it gives you a visual heads-up that a verbal instruction is imminent (so if you happen to be blaring Hendrix on the car stereo you have time to lower the volume a bit) . Touching any allotment of the cover will also restore it to chunky brightness.
The menu system is well organized and intuitive. There are a few things I'd change but overall it's very superior.
Audio Quality and the MP3/Photo/Video Player:
The audio is loud and distinct even with the volume all the contrivance up, which was never significant for me. There's a male or female impart option for each available language (English, Spanish, and French) .
Like most units in this note range the 4350 announces the real street names along with the turning instructions. The pronunciations are occasionally off but they obtain the point across. One queer thing was although the male enlighten pronounced 'county' properly the female would say 'count'. I.E... "In one quarter mile turn lawful onto count route 513".
The built-in MP3 player and the photo viewer are nice enough and gain the job done. The video player only handles Xvid .avi files, which limits its usefulness, but I maintain this is the only GPS to have a video player so you probably can't do better elsewhere.
Now to one of the two substantial gripes I have with this unit...
There's no headphone/line-out jack! What gracious is an MP3 player without one??? This restricts you to listening through the single (mono) speaker or using the FM transmitter to send the signal to your car stereo (more on that later) .
POI's (Points of Interest) and AAA:
Magellan claims 6 million POI's reside in the 4350's database (my Audi only has about 1.7 million) . Locating one couldn't be easier. You can search by name, category, and/or spot. In addition to this is a listing of all facilities reviewed by the AAA, complete with descriptions, ratings and member discounts. AAA members also catch an additional year of warranty coverage and one-button access to local certified garages. Although it's not mentioned in the rather sparse instruction manual, you can import your believe POI's as Google .kml or .kmz files. To do this you'll need Magellan's 'Content Manager', a free download, which if you updated your firmware you'll already have.
Route Selection:
Planning a route is extremely easy, as is adding interim stops (something you detached can't do with many GPS models) . The keyboard can be configured as QWERTY or ABC and it gray's out irrelevant letters as you type - a nice feature.
Once you've selected your destination the 4350 calculates four possible routes: Fastest, Shortest, Most Economical, and Simplest. The fastest route is chosen by default but you can ask the relative times and distances or view the routes compared visually on the draw before selecting the best one for you. Some or all of these routes may be the same as multiple criteria are often met by the same route. I found the [post-upgrade] route selections to be very reliable, certainly on a par with my Audi's unit.
A 'One-Touch' menu allows you to store your current destinations as icons on a single menu. 'Home', 'Previous', 'SOS' (emergency), and AAA 'Service' icons are there by default. You can add five of your beget which can point to specific addresses or POI lists. I.E... A list of all Starbucks in the fresh residence.
Finally, being a portable arrangement you can choose your type of 'vehicle' from: Car, Bus, Emergency, Bicycle, or Pedestrian. In another undocumented feature, when switching to pedestrian mode you'll be asked if you'd like the unit to remember your car's residence. Garmin makes a broad deal of this feature; you'd believe Magellan would at least mention they have it too. Go figure...
Guidance - On the Road:
On the road is where this unit really shines. The 4.3" veil packs in a surprising amount of diagram detail without looking cluttered. Maps can be displayed in 2D or 3D (I bewitch the 3D idea which my Audi doesn't have) . Landmark buildings can also rise from the diagram in three dimensions but in my rural position I've yet to leer this in action. Information regarding the next turn is displayed across the top of the conceal and I especially like how the names of irascible streets appear as I near them, then go. You can choose which POI categories appear on the procedure - I chose restaurants and gas stations. Unlike some other units this feature works in 2D or 3D mode. For major chains (BP, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, etc) the generic symbols are replaced by the company logos, allowing you to spy at a seek what type of establishment is coming up.
An optional warning displays the race limit on the left side of the blueprint when you reach or exceed it by a percentage you preset from 70 to 130%. You can also state an audible alert for this if you wish (I have a wife who performs that function) . Although I don't think this an vital feature, those who do should know that in my situation it only worked on the interstates.
A recent feature called 'Lane Guidance' is one of the valuable reasons I settle this unit over the Garmin 760. At complicated interstate exits it displays a visual representation of the overhead highway signs to expose you which lane you need to be in for an upcoming maneuver. The Garmin models with a similar feature called 'Lane Assist' are far more expensive. The only other GPS to offer lane guidance advance this sign range is Navigon's 7200T but its POI database is tiny and its search features are reportedly terrible.
The verbal directions are extremely distinct and right. It always beat my Audi in giving me a heads-up regarding the next turn and was usually more specific as to what I needed to do.
Besides the detailed spoken instructions the 4350 also produces a 'doorbell like' chime at the point you should be turning. It even chimes differently for left, fair, and U turns. This is a feature that several prior Magellan owners have mentioned missing after switching to another sign. For some reason Magellan initially omitted it from this model but the firmware update restores it along with another enhancement that tells you which side of the street your destination is on.
Lastly, recalculations (required if you go off the designated route) were very posthaste, taking about the same amount of time as my Audi's unit and often producing a better result.
Bluetooth, FM Transmitter, and Traffic Info:
At first the 4350 refused to acquire my Blackberry Curve but after doing a hard reset (as suggested by Magellan's website) the units paired just up. Bluetooth connectivity has been attractive since then but all is not well... When making/receiving a hands-free call I found the audio on my extinguish to be safe but I had to roar at a distance of two feet from the unit in order to be heard faintly at the other ruin. In actuality I had to announce 1 to 3 inches from the built-in microphone in order to be heard properly. Compounding this whine is the fact that there's no external microphone jack like on some other brands. This was the most disappointing aspect of this test. Even though I don't employ this feature, some of the people I gave these to might want to. Therefore if you need Bluetooth capability I must recommend you discover elsewhere.
In my initial review I stated that the FM transmitter (which sends all sound from the 4350 to the car's audio system) worked like a charm in my Audi but didn't design so well in my wife's Sable Wagon. I attributed this to the Sable's rear mounted antenna and the fact that the U.S. severely limits the transmitter strength of these units. However, further tests have resulted in superior results with both cars. One thing I did leer is that the DC power cord seems to act like an antenna so if you're having reception problems dart the power cord into the 4350 (this seems to work even if you don't trek it into the cigarette lighter) . My MP3's played encourage with FM quality and were automatically muted during turn instructions. As this feature draws universal complaints from Garmin users, I wasn't expecting great from Magellan but I'm pleasantly surprised by how useable it is. With that said, the volume from the 4350's built-in speaker is more than adequate for most applications.
The 4350 comes with a three month trial for a real-time traffic avoidance system but the service doesn't extend to my space (coverage areas are shown on Magellan's website) so I haven't seen it in action. According to Magellan's website a yearly subscription costs $39.95. Some competing GPS's approach with free lifetime traffic alerts but be aware that those bear commercials.
Conclusions:
The best things about the 4350 are all to do with its core functionality - it gets you from one residence to another with determined maps and explicit verbal instructions given in a timely manner. My Audi's navigation system sometimes fails to provide all pertinent information regarding an upcoming turn, or it alerts me too slack to react when driving in heavy traffic. The Magellan unit never faltered in that regard. In fact some may think the 4350's guidance to be too chatty but I like to feel confident that I'm prepared for the next proceed, even in traffic, and this unit gave me that feeling.
Magellan has produced a corpulent featured unit with reliable performance at a very competitive [street] trace. This was why, despite the missing headphone jack, I gave it five stars. Had I discovered then that the built-in microphone was so lacking that it made the hands-free feature useless, I might have gone to four stars. Serene, it's a colossal choice for anyone who doesn't need the Bluetooth capabilities.
Pros:
Brand fresh paunchy featured model.
Excellent volume and audio quality on navigational prompts.
Highly detailed exhibit with 3D maps.
Lane Guidance feature and informative audio prompts.
All accessories included (case, AC & DC cords, USB cable, sturdy mount, owners manual on CD) .
2200 ma heavy duty battery.
Great value due to vulgar street notice.
Cons:
Terrible built-in mic and no external mic jack renders the Bluetooth hands-free feature worthless.
No headphone jack!(What's with Magellan and a few five cent jacks? ) .
Must update the firmware to have a ready-for-prime-time unit.
Power and traffic cables lumber into the unit (instead of the mount) .
It's been few days since I bought the Magellan 4350. It is an capable fragment of art. It's ready out of the box. Although I had cramped exertion connecting it to my luminous phone (8125), it worked very well after that. The FM transmitter is a nice feature where you expend the car audio system to listen to GPS directions, MP3 and gain your enjoy phone conversations with pleasant quality sound. The Magellan 4350 sign is not even comparable to the premium mark paid for the GPS option built in current vehicle.
On the other hand, Magellan customer service is very abominable. Cannot even come by through and talk to technical encourage for benefit. I was going to rate it at 4 stars, but because Magellan has many different GPS products with same venerable customer service, I decided to fairly rate this unit (4350) with FIVE stars.
After using the unit several times, the GPS directions are definite and very beneficial, for example, its instructions for the next turn are determined and proper that you won't miss your next turn or exit (I ran through such jam with my aged Garmin Street Pilot c340 where I missed my next turn/exit several times) . Also, it's considerable to mention that Magellan 4350 recognizes "Michigan" U-turns very well. The FM transmitter is a nice feature, moreover, the unit interrupts the MP3 function and speaks the directions/warnings appropriately. The only thing I found that to be careful of is when using the unit's Bluetooth feature with the phone, the unit does not interrupt the phone conversation to tell directions; therefore at this point, you'd need to be aware of the directions and next turn, displayed on the unit conceal, when making phone calls.
Hope this helps.
I purchased a Maestro 4350 based on well-behaved professional reviews and notice value. My diminutive usage to date shows it has reliable features. Some nice features my daughter's NUVI 760 does not. That's where the salubrious ends!!
Magellan provides puny or NO service. I downloaded the software updates and the unit hung up, said "please wait" for over 18 hours. I called C/S and reached a person with very small English skills and could not solve the quandary but gave contact to rep return instructions. A week and a half later got a call to give instructions for return and repair, a really rapidly response you consider?? I had already returned the unit for a refund. Bought a second one from Amazon/BestSeller21 and received Improbable service. It was delivered in less than 3 days!! At the Magellan web region, which overall is infantile, you can't stammer what it is that you are going to download as an update!! To build obvious that I didn't contemptible up the 2nd unit I sent three text message about more information on the downloads and satisfactory procedures. NEVER GOT A RESPONSE!! I received a demand from the Magellan Web Master asking for a review of my experience. I gave them this same information and got no response from my previous messages or the surveys input. Before I wrote this review I visited Magellan's plot and they have eliminated the down loadable updates?? #*
















