Magellan Maestro 4040 Auto / Road GPS

Comments:
I have had the TomTom and Garmin units, and they were fine. But this Magellan has many thoughtful features that make it outshine those other units. It acquires the satellites much more quickly than those units. Programming routes is easier than those units. It automatically changes to a black backround at night to avoid interfering with night vision. The split screen function it changes to for turns allows you to see what the intersection looks like in advance to avoid confusion about which lane to choose when turning, than follows up with a bell at the exact turning moment. i just found it to be an all-around better unit than the other three I have owned; two TomTom units, and a Garmin.

Comments:
An excellent unit with high degree of accuracy. Routing methods are excellent. Like the bluetooth hands free for use with cell phone but volume is not high enough. Biggest peeve is the maps are out of date and it costs an additional $80 to update them. The initial update should be free with the unit. When you buy a GPS you expect the maps to be current at the time of purchase. They are not with this unit.

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The Magellan 4040 is large enough to be practical yet small enough to be portable. It's easy to use with a good display and sound.

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The 4040 makes an excellent addition to anyone's gadget group. The screen is large and legible. The voice is clear and understandable over normal traffic and radio noise. An easy and intuitive screen. My only problem is the routing sometimes sends you in an indirect route when you select either quickest or fastest route. I do live in a rural area and that might have something to do with the way the software selects routes. If I was unfamiliar with the geography it would take me a longer way around. (Example: Sun Valley ID to Twin Falls ID - route would take me down Hwy 75 to Hwy 20, east to Carey and south on the 93 to Shoshone and on to Twin Falls. The correct route would be to stay on the 75 from Sun Valley to Shoshone then 93 to Twin Falls. 4040 would make route about 10 miles longer). But as a general aid to navigation I love this unit and have had several makes and models previously.

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Great product, inexpensive to start into the GPS arena. The upgrade options are relatively inexpensive as well.

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We needed a bluetooth hands free to comply with California law, and for the price, I got the GPS that I have been looking for for free. The recognition is excellent, fantastic number of POI's, accuracy is wonderful and in spite of knowing that the maps are 3rd Q of 2006, it still is very accurate and quite complete, and we have had a lot of growth in this area over the past two years. I know I will have to update the maps soon, and look forward to seeing how much more accurate the locations are. It was easy to use right out of the box, plugged it in the wall and set my "Home" location up immediately. The AAA added functionality, for roadside assistance location and phone numbers could make an emergency situation much easier to handle. Also, the AAA tourbook info will be very helpful when we go on vacation for locating places to visit when in unfamilair territory. The only drawback is the need to backtrack through all multiple levels of menus to get back to the main menu (a main menu button would be a great cure). I had a business trip on the east coast, the unit got us to the location in a small town (except it had it on the other side of the road-not a complaint unless you are REALLY directionally challenged)

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this the best gps i ever used,everything about display,routing.location finding, batery life and faster signal is awesome.but the only thing designe should be more slik and weight should be little less.

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Magellan's Maestro series, and the 4040 in particular, promises all sorts of goods. Bluetooth compatibility, 4.5 million points of interest, color screen, battery back-up, an SD/MMC for expansion, additional maps for regions "around the world" and so on

Comments:
Re-route is very slow. Many times this tool can't understand where is my position. Specialy when I start from Parking. It takes too long time untill it can found when I realt am (even much time after I left the parking) <br>; Maps are not updated - It d

Comments:
There is not much to say, this more looks like TOM-TOM than Magellan. <br>It looks cool but nothing else is great about this product. <br>User friendly but not so friendly after all. <br> <br>THX