A Review of the Magellan Maestro 4040

I honestly am terrible with directions and like the stereotype male, I hate to stop to ask directions and that's usually because if it's not written down I forget what someone has told me before I get back in the car. I'm not sure if it's ADD or just selective listening. It drives my wife nuts so I usually ask HER to get out and ask for directions. She's much better at remembering.

Two years ago I had the attitude that GPS was another expensive gimmick; a toy for people who have extra money to spend on non-necessities. Six months ago I was in New York and saw first hand how these things work since my brother owns a Garmin brand. "Pretty cool," I thought. Fast forward to a month ago. We were attending my nephew's wedding in Manhattan and then also dropping our 3 kids off at summer camp for 3 weeks in the mountains of PA. I thought, hmm, no time better than now to get a GPS to help me navigate to Manhattan and then to PA from there.

I ended up buying the Magellan Maestro 4040 (AAA model) from Costco. So what does this thing actually do for you? As with most GPS devices it will calculate your current position and direct you to just about any address you key in and which is already stored on the device. It shows you via a map, shows your position on the map, and tells you via voice instructions where to get off (but in a nice way). I was hoping for a sexy sounding voice, but it's a computerized female sounding voice. Some brands actually let you choose male or female. My wife was annoyed she didn't have the option to choose a male voice on this model!

The screen on this is about four and a half inches on the diagonal. The map is bright, sharp, and easy to see. The unit attaches either to the windshield with a suction cup and bracket or you can use an adhesive disk and attach to the top of the dashboard. The voice directions are sometimes a bit difficult to understand but generally pretty good. I recommend using the suction cup. It holds REALLY well.

When you get the Magellan home, you should charge it first. Key in your home address into the address book along with any other addresses for which you might want future routing. You can then plan routes from home to any address in your address book. You can also use the touch screen pad to enter an address. You don't HAVE to charge it first in order to put it in the car and start using it. Just use the included cord that plugs into the cigarette lighter and you're good to go.

If you have a fair amount of addresses, you should purchase an SD memory card to backup your address book. There's a slot on the Magellan for the card. Backup is important because if you download any firmware/software updates, you will lose your information stored in the address book.

When you get ready to map out directions for your first trip, it's about as easy as typing on a keyboard. You touch the screen icon for "Enter Address" and touch type on the screen keyboard the city, zip code, an entry from your address book, a previous city you've entered, or by intersection. As you enter enough information the device will often come up with a number of choices and you can easily scroll down and choose the city, and street you're looking for. You end by keying in the address number.

Once you've gotten the destination information entered, you choose the route method: Fastest time, shortest distance, least use of freeways or most use of freeways and if you want to avoid toll roads. It will calculate the route, display the map and then will start directing you showing you where you are on the map and also speaking to you as well. You can also click on an icon to see the directions and then go back to the map. There's a touch screen control on the map for volume (albeit very faint), muting, zooming in or out on the map. Also, on the bottom of the map it will show you your arrival time. It's been pretty accurate. Every time you stop or get stuck in traffic, it will recalculate your arrival time. The top left of the screen shows you the current direction you're traveling.

You can also plot several destinations for one trip using the trip planner.

AAA Model

If you are an AAA member you can type in your membership number. If you need roadside assistance you can use the device to transmit your exact location to AAA for help.

The AAA Tourbook information is also included. It includes the ratings, discounts, hours, and facts about AAA rated hotels, attractions, and restaurants. You can choose to have the Magellan route you directly to one of the destinations from your current location. This worked out really well on a day trip to Williamsburg, Virginia a few weeks ago.

Points of Interest

There are tons of points of interest preloaded into the Magellan. Hotels, gas stations, banks, airports, restaurants, etc. You can choose what POI's you want to display on the map. When you touch one of the icons on the screen you can get information about the POI and then have the GPS route you directly to one of your choosing. You can also create custom POI's which can be uploaded via the included software.

That was the Good. Now for the Bad and Ugly

There are drawbacks to the GPS, and I don't think it's limited to this brand. The Maestro will not always work well on very busy freeways where there's lots of forks in the road and exits. An example is coming off the New Jersey Turnpike. The road forks several times. The Magellan can say something like, "in .5 miles, exit 177 I-87 North on the right, then right." Well if you're not paying attention you'll see that the Exit then forks and forks again and the GPS can't always tell you exactly which road to take. If you are driving at 60 mph with tons of traffic you can't really stop to look at the map. You KNOW when you've gone the wrong way because the Magellan will say something like, "Recalcuating Route. Take the next legal U-Turn." So take responsibility and look at the written directions on the device before you need them. Know where you're supposed to go, FIRST!

Also, the GPS doesn't always work well in congested large cities like Manhattan as all the tall buildings can sometimes block the signals.

I have also found that this device takes longer than I'd like to figure out exactly where I am before it starts giving me directions. I may be driving around town with the unit turned off. When I need it I'll turn it on and it may take 30 seconds before it figures out exactly where I am and starts giving me voice directions.

Magellan says that they do send out updated maps that can be downloaded into the unit through your computer. I've had the unit for about a month and have not gotten notice that there are any updates.

Recommendation

I highly recommend this. Even with its faults, this has been a lifesaver. I took it on a plane with me to Seattle and it was great using it in the rental car to help me get to the hotel and to the meetings I needed to attend. It got me door-to-door to the summer camp for my kids and the people in the office were amazed. They said I was the first person they spoke to who said the GPS actually got them there without any problems.

So 4 out of 5 stars for my rating!