Customer Reviews

Magellan Maestro 3210 Portable GPS Navigator-3.5-Inch

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Unit is small which is something I needed when fitting it in my bag. The USB car charger that comes with the unit will also charge your blackberry but you can't use any other USB charger to charge your GPS. (i tried my moto USB charger and my BB USB charger. A standard USB cable to connect to your PC might.

Unit works great in NYC and Philly. Which is known for poor GPS reception. I lost signals a few times in NYC but not for long.

The biggest problem is that the route color is green and often the map color is green. So...its hard to read sometimes. (don't judge colors in the pictures) You can't change map color options like you can in other models, (or i just can't figure it out). Also I have the 3200 model which is the same I think just lacking the AAA stuff.

The GPS is fast. Its not instant like some other reviews have said. It still takes 10 sec or more to find route or reroute. But the signal holds in major cities and the GPS has not randomly thrown me 500 ft in some direction when I am not.

Nice upgrade from older models.
Nice purchase if you are looking for something small.
Nice purchase if you love the Magellan UI compared to other GPS systems.
Nice purchase if you want a budget unit.

Bad purchase if you want all the latest features.
Bad purchase if you want to customise to your prefernces (like map color)
Bad purchase if you have a fuctional GPS and think this is a huge upgrade.
Bad purchase if you have a wind shield far away (tiny screen)

I have the Roadmate 800 and bought the 3210 for my wife. The upside is the small, light size and the responsive touchscreen. The downside is the mapping software. It seems that Magellan went backwards instead of forward when they did the software. The unit routinely picks routes that are not logical or efficient. As opposed the the Roadmate series, the 3210 will not do a proper recalculation until you pass the next turn. It can take you miles out of your way. Also, it does not recognize the smaller, less travelled roadways that the Roadmate does. I do not have any faith in the accuracy of the units directions.

The info on Amazon is wrong. This unit does not have Text to Speech. Magellan tech support says the only ones that have it are. 3225,3250,3270.

I researched various PORTABLE GPS unit as I tend to travel (in a rental car) on leisure and work.

This GPS device seems to be the best so far (test drove from Chicago):

+ It is slim - fits in your pocket
+ Provides several user friendly options - Sensitive Touch-screen, 2D, 3D maps, satellite identifiers, Variety of Point-Of-Interests (you can even add customized POIs), Re-route options and intuitive intructions.
+ Most impressive aspect was that the re-route was instantaneous when waiting at the traffic lights at New Jersey!!
+ Battery consumption was low. USB power adapter works from car-charger and if you have blackberry power cable or USB laptop cable you can charge with those too.
+ Statistical & accurate live metrics on your driving, speed, direction, mileage covered, time to destination.

- The only bad thing was occasional slow start-up (app 5 to 10 seconds).

I have sent my GPS Roadmate back to Magellan in fort worth Texas you pay shipping and took me over 10 phone calls to tech support in India where there is a language barrier the simplist questions they put you on hold for at leat 10 - 15 min ea time. My average phone call time is one hour each time you call. The company does not provide updates for you GPS but tells you to purchase a new GPS it is no longer made after only one year. Never got one upddate and there are major highways not even on the unit.
I was promised a new GPS and was told it will take at least a month to get because of " processing" what a joke... If you want frustration buy a Magellan. By the way there is no contact phone number for there California Headquarters forget that.

I have had mine for about 3 months now. It worked really well for a period of less three months, before it started acting up. One time when I happened to turn off my car ignition right at the moment the GPS is playing an audible message, something must have happened to it because ever since that, my GPS behaved strangely and it often locks up and won't respond to the touch screen. If you wait long enough, it will often reboot by itself and work for a few minutes before it acts up again. I figured perhaps it's a software glitch and so I tried the reset button. It helped a little but did not fix the problem. A few more days later, it can no longer detect the satellite signals. So I called the Magellan tech support. They guy politely took down my information and said someone will call me in 24 hours. Well, after 2 days, no one called. So I called them again. They tell me they don't have my information in the computer. He politely took the information and asked me to hold while he try to access the computer. A few minutes later he said the computer is down and they will call me later with an RA # for the repair, and also insisted that I would have to pay for the shipping when sending it in even though it's not my fault that the unit failed. It's been over a week now and still no one had called me back with the RA #. I am not sure what is going on there. I might have to just toss it and buy another GPS. I need one that is reliable and won't crash in a middle of a trip.

I searched long and hard to find a GPS unit that I wanted which was affordable and didn't contain a bunch of things I didn't need. I found that with the Magellan Maestro 3210.

The unit is about palm-sized and pretty thin. It comes with a car charger (while you may see the port and think "Great, this works with my cell phone," think again -- it behaves as if you've plugged it into your computer and doesn't charge) and an arm so you can affix it to your windshield.

This little gizmo is amazing! It has maps of all 50 states, plus Canada and Puerto Rico, and over 6 million points of interest! I can find anything: restaurants (which are even further categorized as fast food, Chinese, Cajun, etc.), gas stations, banks, medical facilities, the geographic center of a city (although why I would need that, I do not know), museums, courthouses, and more. We were looking for a restaurant called the Victorian something (we weren't sure what it was), so we did a POI name search on the partial name 'Victor', requested it close to our current position, and we got the route in seconds. They even have some AAA ratings, plus it gives you the phone numbers for AAA should your car break down. You can even access your longitude and latitude!

The satellite lock is very good as well. I can turn it on inside my house, and it'll lock onto my position almost instantly. I do not believe that Magellan has an updated map for this unit, or that they even offer such a thing for the Maestro series, but it's perfectly acceptable for well-established areas.

We've been using it for a while now, in town and on trips, and it hasn't steered us wrong yet. We like to take different routes just to see how the system copes with the error. It really likes U-turns, but in the city, it does a good job of getting us onto a different street. It lets you know when your next turn is coming up in 2 miles and .5 miles, and it also dings (different tones for left and right) when you're on top of your turn so you're not likely to miss it. The voice is a standard female voice, and I don't see any option to change that. It's easy to use right out of the box, without instructions. You can set your home address so you can reroute yourself home, from anywhere, with the touch of a button. Add locations into your Address Book so you can access them easily. I've also noticed it will save your previous destinations (and so far, with approximately 40 of them, none have been removed from the list) so you don't need to continually input them.

There are a few nuances which we found annoying but not deal-breakers:
- We took it out of town, and it gave us a side road which cut our travel time by 15 minutes. Fantastic on the way there, except on the way back it refused to route us by that same side road, as if it didn't exist. We followed it anyway, and the unit kept telling us to make a U-turn to get us back to the interstate.
- One of the main roads in our town does not permit you to turn into a business from it; you have to take a back road to get there. However, since the street address is on that main road, the unit will tell you that you have arrived as you pass it but will not tell you how to get to it via the side roads. I don't blame the unit for that (it got us to the right address without problem), but it's something to consider.
- You can put in a route, and the system will "drive" it for you; we haven't found a way to teleport ourselves directly to the end of the route or at any point along the way, but you can drag your finger along the touch screen all over the map so it's easy to bypass.

We are absolutely pleased with the 3210. No problems so far. It's been a fun item to have! Highly recommended.

Bought mine at best buy, on the fly, in a hurry, because I lost my other a few days before my trip back home. It's accurate, very easy to use, the screen is big enough but not bulky, the voice is tolerable. My only beef is that the only way you can charge it is through the car lighter. What happens if it doesn't work? As is the case in my 99 grand am. So basically here's my review... If your car lighter works buy this GPS, if your car lighter doesn't work, get it fixed so you can buy this GPS and not have to use somebody elses lighter to charge the thing. Also it comes with a window mount that is very easy to use and secure. Great product, perfect price, enjoy.

We purchased a Garmin for our parents, who live in Texas. The unit worked great. However, my husband didn't like the size of it - it was like a small CRT monitor. So, we chose this Magellan because it was a flat panel model, came with a windshield mount, and the price was under $200 at the time of purchase. We've had it about 2 months now. Overall, it has been worth the purchase.

Though I think the maps on the Garmin were better looking, these are fine for seeing where to go. Once programmed with the destination, the unit provides an estimated time of arrival, which does update. So, if you get stuck in traffic it affects the arrival time. Magellan also tracks your average driving speed. Both units offer spoken directions. This is both good and bad. It's good because the unit tells you to keep right or left when exiting off a ramp or highway that splits into two directions. It tells you when you're approaching your turn and when you've reached your destination. However, it is extremely annoying when traveling on a highway with local and express lanes. I-270 in Maryland does this and the unit is constantly telling us to keep right, or left (with no rhyme or reason) in and out of the local lanes! It's also annoying while driving on long highways like 95 as it keeps reminding you to remain on the current road and not get off. We mute it while on these roads. However, if you have no clue at all where you are going, this is a helpful feature. I found the advance notice justa bout right. The unit tells you your turn is coming up in about half a mile (sometimes greater notice if you're ona highway) and then chimes when you've come upon the turn. The unit also displays what road you are on, and what the next road is supposed to be. Another plus is if the Magellan loses satellite signal (such as in a tunnel), it displays a list of all your upcoming turns/roads per the route it calculated. While this isn't as good as the turn by turn directions, it was a nice back-up. The Magellan offers four choices of "chimes" to notify you of your next action (turn, exit, keep right, etc.). They range in volume and annoyance depending on what you prefer.

The points of interest is a nice feature. We tested it locally by searching for a restaurant. It displayed all the local choices, from closest to farthest, fast food to sit down. We chose McDonalds and it got us there exactly as we would normally go - the quickest route. It allows you to search by coffee, restaurant, gas station, etc. Though this feature wasn't a priority for us, it is nice to have. I once drove through Arkansas, and would have loved to have had this then. We never did find a place to eat, and ending up waiting until we passed into Tennessee!

Other reviewers have noted that the unit often chooses longer routes. My husband found a setting to "avoid highways" or "quickest route" much like MapQuest. This has worked okay for us. Also, if you have a general idea of which way you wish to go, the unit will recalculate for where you are. We recently drove to Fort Meade, and the Magellan wanted us to take 28 instead of 95. We stayed until we passed 28 and it recalculated for 95. If you miss a turn it does the same, or instructs you to make "a legal U-turn." The menu is more complicated than the Garmin. Some features are buried that really should be easier to access. However, a bit of patience playing with the unit before taking any trips helps resolve this. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with customer service (or lack there of), but I honestly think most companies would have the same problem. I've never read a review from a GPS buyer, and I read through a lot before buying this model, who had a good experience with customer service after discovering problems. So, buying a GPS is bit of a gamble. I recommend this unit since the price is reasonable, and the flat panel is nice. However, my parents love their Garmin so it really does come down to price and esthetics.

My husband bought me this GPS for Christmas, and I love it. My job frequently takes me to unknown areas or addresses and the GPS gives me a since of security.
However, I have had a minor glitch or two with this unit. Since this is my first GPS I have nothing to compare it to so I am not sure if all GPS units would do this or not but ...... One time it didn't show a major freeway interchange that I should have taken so it misguided me past the exit. Once I went past the interchange it re-routed itself and got me back on track, but it did take me 10 minutes out of my way to get me back on track. Another time (this has happened twice) it said "you have arrived" or "destination on the right" and it was not correct. Example one: In one incident I was looking for an apartment so I was in the complex on the street, and it said destination on the right, which it was, but 3 building behind the one I was in front of. Example two: I was looking for a steet address on a street that was a circle with East and West. I followed the GPS directions but it took me to the wrong house on the east circle. It should have been the west circle, and the address it had me arrive at was one number off. I wanted 35313 West circle, and it had me at 35312 east circle. That one took me a while to figure out on my own.

As for the description of this item, it does not have the speech to text as stated. However it does give you 3 indications of when your next turn is. One at 2 miles before the turn, one at 0.5 miles and then it makes a ding noise when you are at the turn. So the text to speech is not necessary, at least for me.

All in all even with the minor glitches I have experienced it is mostly correct and very helpful. It is also simple to figure out how to use. Even someone who is technically challenged could figure this unit out just by playing with it.
I am please with it and I would recommend this unit to a friend.