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Product: Magellan Magellan Maestro 3250 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
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I actually had ordered the 4250, but the seller accidentally sent me the 3250 and I decided to keep it since the only difference really seemed to be size, and I found the 3250 to be bigger than I thought.
I did a lot of pre-purchase research and had settled on Magellan partly due to the AAA integration, but then chose the Maestro **50 series because of the integrated live traffic updates which I think is a GREAT feature - especially since I work in a high-traffic part of the Northeast which I think has some of the most infamous and even nightmare-inducing roads.
I really enjoy the voice command features although I wish more of the system responded to them. For example, it would be nice if they could build in for basic commands to always be recognized (e.g. “Cancel” or “Yes/No”).
I am finding the touchscreen to be easy to use and responsive, but would have liked a volume control wheel on the side of the device so that I could control the volume without having to back out of another screen I might be on.
Entering of addresses is definitely improved over older Magellan GPS devices that I’ve used in rental cars - a suggestion here, however, would be to make the type screen set up like a standard keyboard (think Blackberry) instead of laying out all of the letters in alphabetical order, but this isn’t a big deal.
I love the Bluetooth integration, and it works great with my phone even though it wasn’t on the pre-loaded list (the only thing it doesn’t pick up are SMS messages, but I’m okay with that). A suggestion here would be if it could automatically connect to my phone when I turn it on (like my Bluetooth handsfree does) rather than forcing me to manually connect them both each time which is kind of annoying.
The only other issue I’m having right now is with turning the device on… Sounds strange, I know, but it doesn’t seem to always want to come to life when I hit the power button - even if I hold it in for a few seconds. It comes back on easily when I leave it plugged into the car, however with GPS thefts on the rise, I have taken to unhooking it and keeping it with me.
Overall, it’s a great GPS for the money and the live traffic, AAA integration, and voice response are, in my opinion, its best features. You can’t really go wrong here.
I’ve been using the Magellan 3250 for a couple of days now and so far it’s been a pretty good GPS unit. Among the positives:
Text-to-speech is accurate (although it pronounces DR as Doctor).
Driving on the open road I was consistently picking up 8 or 9 satellites. In a parking deck I was still pulling 2 to 4. The unit powers on and is ready to run in under a minute.
Missed turns and detours are calculated pretty quickly and the route exclusion works well if you are trying to modify the suggested route.
The screen is bright, although it did get a little washed out the afternoon setting sun.
Among the negatives:
It’s crashed once already. We’ll see if that is a reoccurring feature.
The route exclusion works great unless you try to use it twice. Then the unit goes back to the original route you didn’t want to take in the first place. I kept trying to get it to follow my apparently unique path to the interstate and it never once figured out where my preferred exit was even with repeated re-route requests.
Don’t call their customer service. I’m currently in the process of getting my three month subscription code to active the traffic monitoring service. The code was supposed to be in the box, but along with a complete lack of instructions or documentation there was also an empty spot where my code should have been. I’ve called Magellan twice in the last 3 days with no luck. I might get a callback within the next 24 to 48 hours with my code, but I don’t think anyone I’ve talked to knows who has the authority to issue these codes.
This wouldn’t be such a big issue if their traffic monitoring service wasn’t what set them apart from Garmin. With the Garmin you have to spend $130 for the special OTA traffic antenna in addition to a year subscription. The 3250 has the value added perk of including this antenna.
Overall it’s a good unit, but so are Garmin’s. For the most part GPS devices work the same everywhere. So if you don’t care about the traffic monitoring service and you think you might need to call tech support - go with the Garmin.
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!
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