Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review
November 14th, 2009
Magellan Maestro 4040 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review from Bakers Biscuit jgab. Refurbished GPS works great! I bought this as an Amazon Daily deal also. After reading the reviews I was a little worried about purchasing the Magellan 4040 refurb but I needed to upgrade from my Garmin I3 and I felt the price was reasonable considering a new map for Garmin is almost 100 bucks.
I can certainly say that it was an upgrade – I have had no problems in the two weeks since having it. It was very easy to operate and get started right out of the box. the large screen is nice and easy to read with an upgraded version of it’s program the display shows estimated arrival time, along w/ length to next turn. One feature that I really like is that the map will show me how my next turn will look with an icon in the bottom right corner.
Some features are virtually useless like AAA directory and service. I would imagine that if I were a AAA member it would be nice but even the POI featured in AAA directory are not very helpful. I live in the Chicago suburbs and very often I cannot find a local store that should be listed in the directory. This is more of a map problem than a device problem but nonetheless it is a problem. I am surrounded by WalMarts and my device could not find a Walmart within 50 miles. after an extensive search the device pointed me to a Walmart Optical in another state. I’m finding that the map is very inefficient at finding places which I know the names of and are readily available on my Garmin I3. This is probably the most distracting feature (or lack of) that I find with the device. Although I have to say that It is very easy to input addresses and the Magellan is quick to calculate the route for me.
On the positive side I like that when I turn the unit on it does not take an unreasonable amount of time to get me to the map screen and subsequently find the satellites. As a matter of fact I’m quite impressed with its satellite finding abilities. My Garmin I3 had serious issues keeping a satellite read in the city of Chicago with all of it’s tall buildings but this little baby had no problems for me although It did take me on a couple of longer than needed routes. I think this is normal though with most devices I’ve seen (I travel a lot and have much experience with GPS devices).
I sent an email to the Magellan customer service site because the install disk would not let me go through the process of installing “POI Manager” onto the Magellan 4040 and have not heard back from them in over two weeks. i realize that is not a good sign but considering what I upgraded from I don’t feel it’s a bad place to be.
I did try the bluetooth feature which is really nice. One phone conversation was loud and clear while another conversation was a little difficult to hear. It should be noted that the clear conversation happened with a land line at the other end while the not-so-clear happened with a cell phone. I have not used the feature since I have a bluetooth earpiece that I absolutely love. Another nice feature but just a bell/whistle for me.
I noticed that this unit has the option to upgrade to a voice command unit. That’s a nice feature as I’ve grown to love the voice command of my BlackBerry. Unfortunately that upgrade will set you back another 100 bucks. Too rich for my blood.
Overall I like the device for the price and I can’t complain. The large screen as well as the easy to manipulate menu’s make this a 4 star product for me. At 150 bucks you really can’t beat the price for all of its features. I would have easily given the Magellan 4040 refurb a fifth star if I could only find the nearest WalMart, Walgreens, Target, etc..
*UPDATE
*Sept 16,2008
As most other reviewers have noted the customer service dept is pretty much useless. The email i sent in regards to the “install POI manager” error was finally answered albeit a completely useless and non relevant answer to my problem (twice). I emailed them back and received virtually no help. I just hope I never have to contact the company for a bigger issue.
The POI may be a nice feature for a computer geek like me but the Magellan 4040 still has had nothing else that I have been disappointed with. I love the unit and even recommended the same unit to my parents from a popular electronic store online (which rhymes with “tiger direct dot com”) when they had a refurb for 80 bucks. Just my luck the same unit goes on sale for 2 days only at almost 1/2 the price! But overall I find that the unit still lives up to my expectations. I use it just about everyday to work since it gives me a constant update on my ETA – also comes in handy to have it operating when traffic gets out of control and I need to find a shortcut.
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