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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It has a few quirks, but overall I love it!!!, December 22, 2008
This review is from: Magellan Maestro 4370 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
4350 vs 4370: The 4370's screen is higher res ad it's sold exclusively at Best Buy, otherwise they're exaclty the same. ...I haven't seen the two side-by-side.
Why I bought the Magellan 4370?: I spent a great deal of time researching all the units and I eventually narrowed it down to the Tom Tom Go, Garmin Nuvi and this one. On paper, they're very similar, but the Tom Tom's wikipedia-like Mapshare made it the early leader. The problem was after spending about 2 minutes playing with each of them, the Garmin clearly had the best interface, now making it the leader. After spending a great deal more time playing with the menus, I stumbled upon some POI features in the Magellan I couldn't live without. The ability to customize the on-map POI's was exaclty what I needed. I could choose to have my bank, and only my bank visible on the map. Same goes for my favorite restaurants, places to shop, etc. And when I'm on the interstate, I can easily find food, gas, and lodging at the next exit...without pushing a button.
What I'm using it for?: I'm somewhat new to South Florida, so between work and fun, I'm constantly looking for an impossible address, and then I'm hungry and/or need an ATM. Also, I go on many weekend trips.
Pros: Lane change is useful, 3d building are cool, one-touch is great, time to destination is a life saver, but the far-and-away best features are the POI's. I don't want to push buttons, I'm driving, I just want it to show me what's nearby. The Exit POI's are even cooler. Again, without pushing a button, I can see if the next exit has gas, food, lodging and/or car repair/towing services. I can't tell how many times I printed out google instructions, called someone to look something up for me or was hungry and no idea where to go. What took me so long to get a GPS?! I love this thing!
Cons: Needs to be reset far too frequently...stupid Windows OS. It's easy to reset and takes only seconds, but this shouldn't happen in a $400 device. As compared to the satellite images I'm used to using in Google, these maps look cartoonish and old (Google needs to make a GPS). Suction cup/install kit that comes with it looks like a small crane on your dash/windshield...hideous. And like my Sun Pass, it doesn't keep its suction forever. When driving in a parking lot, it thinks you're on the main road making it jump around like a crazed fool recalculating over and over again...very annoying. The map is rather accurate, but I've seen a few small mistakes...destination is actually on the other side of the road, you don't need to go all the way to the light and make a u-turn, destination is no longer there/map is now out of date, etc. The street names are mostly pronounced accurately, but sometimes they get butchered...more amusing than an issue.
Conclusion: Despite the cons, I love this thing and I can't stop raving about it. Like my first cell phone, how in the world didI ever live without one?
Wishlist for future GPS designs: Aside from the many POI's that show up as logos (likely due to Magellan selling advertising to these companies), I can't tell one POI within a category apart from another. i.e. All shopping POI's are blue with a shopping cart, no matter if I select "all," or just "Target." I wish I could customize them so that Target was red with a "T" and Walmart was blue with a "W." Maps should be satellite images instead of 1980's-looking computer graphics. I'd like to be able to touch an on-map POI and choose if I'd like to route to it. As it stands now, they're hard to touch, and when you do get them, you have to push another button at the top and then decide if you want to route there...still better than Garmin and Tom Tom. I'd like the clickable items I the menu to be boxed, so that they cover a larger area and are easier to click. i.e. Like the Garmin.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, a GPS worth talking about!, June 5, 2009
This review is from: Magellan Maestro 4370 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
I have had so many portable GPS units, it's not funny. I've had one of the first Tom Tom and about eight or nine others including Pharos, Garmin, Nokia, and several lesser brands.
These boasted of being accurate, having media players, blue-tooth, fm transmitters, etc.
My recent gps was a Nokia. Who knew they made one. Big mistake buying it. The blue-tooth was terrible at best. Part of this being the speaker. The fm transmitter was absolute garbage. It did a terrible job putting it on any channel. The media player was a joke. The USB connector for the power had five metal prongs, bare prongs. Everyone else has them mounted on something so that one of the prongs won't get bent like mine did. Not worth fixing since it wasn't considered a defect.
Some of the other units I've had had had poor mounting systems that allowed the unit to bounce or was a pain to have to re-mount if I moved it from one vehicle to another. Most have stupid gooseneck mounts, which you can never seem to position correctly and which bounce slightly when you drive. Some used a proprietary charger. Most came with just one charger and no case.
Some of the units had poor graphics or too much on the screen. Most you have to manually turn on and off in the car. Some had the software on a SD card. If you wanted to put music on it, you needed a new and bigger SD card and you had to move the software over to the new card.
Anyway, the best piece of advice I can give anyone is to buy a GPS at a store where you can return it, even if you have to pay a 15% restocking fee. The Nokia I bought recently was a POS but because I bought it online, I could not return it. If I had bought it at, say Best Buy, I could have returned it, even if it meant paying $20 - $25. I wouldn't have been stuck with it.
Now on to this Magellan, the 4370, which is a newer model of the 4350. First of all, Best Buy had it on sale for $149, which was a great price. I bought it knowing that I would have no issues paying 15% of the price for re-stocking if I didn't like it.
The bad (cons) first:
1. Doesn't show your speed.
2. Weird location for the plugs; there are two. One for the headset which doubles as the antenna port and the USB port for charging/power. They are on the right side of the unit with the headset port above the USB port. The USB cable is angled to the bottom so it points to the front windshield.
3. Included case is a POS. It's not an enclosed case for one thing.
Now all the good stuff (pros). Pay attention because this is important stuff most of you have no idea of.
1. Great graphics or at least very clear because of the higher resolution screen.
2. Easy mount to use since it's basic. The suction cup is small but holds this thing really well on the dash. By the way, for you folks in California, the law is that you have to mount this puppy on the lower left area of the front windshield. Don't mount it in the middle of the front windshield or anywhere where it can interfere with the driver's view to the front. The mount is firm but again, can be positioned easily. Plus the pivot points have teeth so once you tighten the mount, it will not move at all.
3. Great price at Best Buy. (That was important to me, although even at full price it was nice.)
4. Comes with home and car chargers.
5. The software is stored internally so the SD slot is available for all the pics and music you can store on an SD card. I have an 8GB card with lots of music and lots of pictures.
6. You can play music and still navigate or play pics and listen to the turn-by-turn directions or turn the music off.
7. The FM transmitter works well, even on strong signal stations.
8. Blue-tooth is good and even does texting on the GPS screen. I have never heard of that.
9. Volume is loud and you can change the voices (different races and gender).
10. This is a big one for me. TURNS ON AND OFF by itself in the car if you use the cigarette/car adapter. No more having to turn it on or off manually.
11. The satellites are picked up very fast.
12. The names of the streets are pronounced.
13. Comes with a case. It's not very good but good enough to put in your glove compartment.
14. Easy menu to use.
15. Tells you what path to take when the road forks before you get there.
16. Bright screen during the day and changes to a screen that is easy to see at night.
17. Lots of options for use, including the ability to immediately see where you are using GPS coordinates.
18. AAA Roadside and other AAA information readily available.
19. Once you get to your destination, it tells you that you are there and it's done. Some GPS units start telling you to turn around right away.
So far, I think this is the best GPS that I've had, especially the graphics. Hope this helps.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bang for Buck but room for improvement, June 3, 2009
This review is from: Magellan Maestro 4370 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
I have owned a Maestro 3225 (Costco special) for 1.5 years. I recently purchased both a Magellan Maestro 4350 & 4370. I paid about thirty bucks more (including shipping/taxes) for the 4350 (3 weeks prior) but surprisingly I think it is worth more. The 4370 follows the laptop fad of a glossy highly reflective screen with no bezel surround. Actually it has a bezel but the plastic surface is flat from corner to corner. All that does is add more area to create a reflective glare that makes the screen harder to see in daylight. It's fine at night however.
Surprisingly there is also a small, but significant (to me) software difference as of June 3, 2009. I immediately updated both units with Magellan's latest firmware & files once I charged their battery. When on a route the 4350 allows instantaneous speed as one of the toggles in the lower left corner (along with distance remaining, ETA, and trip time remaining) but the 4370 does not. I do not have them both in front of me now but the software version of the 4350 is (apparently) more recent than the 4370 so it may be something that will be corrected/added later. I have not yet browsed their files (from my laptop while connected via USB to mini USB) to see if I can copy something from the 4350 to the 4370. I will likely do that after backing up the 4370 in case the graphics differences come into play.
In addition the 4370 sometimes pauses slightly when announcing your next turn where the 4350 never does. The 4350 is not perfect however. Occasionally the verbal does not match the graphics. The graphics are always correct but it seem the verbal commands (rarely) will jump ahead to the turn after the one you have not yet made. I have not had the 4370 long enough to experience it doing that.
The graphics on the 4350 are quite adequate so I would rather have the 4350 for difference in daytime use but I cannot talk my wife into switching with me.
Magellan has odd pricing these days. I also just got a Roadmate 1440 from Amazon via Pony Express aka We'll ship when we get aroundtoit. Including shipping (free for the 1440) and tax (local 4370 purchase @ BB) it was only fifteen bucks less than the 4370.
I have not used the Bluetooth, Media Player or FM modulator yet.
UPDATE: Magellan produced another software update which added current speed as one of the toggles in the lower left of screen. Groovy. For a buck fifty I have to increase the star rating from my original 3 of 5 to 4 out of 5. Vent mount (purchased separately) reduces daytime screen glare.
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