0ur opinion:

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The Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS system offers one of the most intuitive and feature rich travel experiences out there, and with a price that makes the competitors tremble. With an integrated AAA TourBook Guide, SayWhere text to speech delivery and Live traffic reporting capability, and BlueTooth connectivity and Hands free calling features, the Maestro 3250 is popping up in new vehicles and pockets daily.With Voice Command and Control say something to your Magellan 3250 to access your most popularly used functions and navigation systems. Use your voice to find the nearest coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, bank machines and more. Talk to your Maestro 3250 and ask for you exact geographical location, how much longer and the distance to your desired locations and so much more with this powerful voice recognition system.Browse the exclusive AAA TourBook and collaborate with users to get ratings and reviews on hotels, restaurants and more. Find great discounts and coupons as well to these points of interest along your journeys.

-- November 13, 2007:
We've been big fans of Magellan's Maestro line since it came out in early 2006. The Maestro interface is incredibly easy to use, even for those who are not completely comfortable with electronics. At the same time, Magellan was ahead of the industry with useful innovations like multi-destination routing and pre-loaded reviews for points of interest like hotels and restaurants (from AAA). With its 3200 and 4200 series, Magellan has improved the Maestro line giving them a SirfStar lll chipset that provides super-fast. satellite lock and making them thinner. ln fact, at .7 inches, these are -- at the time of this writing (November 2007), the thinnest portable GPS navigators available. Distingushing between models is also fairly easy.

3200 and 4200 Family of Navigators
Distingushing between models is also fairly easy. The 3200-series navigators feature a 3.5-inch screen, while the 4200s have a 4.3-inch widescreen display. The 3200 and 4200 offer great, basic navigation with turn-by-turn spoken directions, pre-loade maps of the 48 contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and 1.3 million P0ls. The 3210 and 4210, add maps for Canada and Alaska, AAA travel information (see details below) and bump you up to 6 million P0ls. The 3220 and 4220 add maps of Mexico. The top-of-the-line 3250 and 4250 add a host of other features, including text-to-speech directions that give real street names, bluetooth for hands-free phone calls, integrated traffic (with a free 3-month subscription), and voice command.

What Makes the Maestro 3250 Exceptional?

Easy to use navigation features SmartDetour and auto re-route. View larger.

Access built-in AAA information from your GPS touch screen. View larger.

Easy To Use lnterface
The intuitive user interface makes the Maestro series incredibly easy to use. Use the big icons on the 3.5-inch touch screen to search for your destination by address, intersection, or any of 6 million points of interest (P0ls), including restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, and more. You can even touch an onscreen icon for a nearby destination, see name and address, and get an instant route. Turn by turn visual and spoken directions guide you every step of the way.

Auto re-route gets you quickly back on track whenever you make a detour or miss a turn. QuickSpell feature intelligently searches and checks spelling when you enter addresses. The 3250 offer multiple view options, including 2D, 3D, and TrueView that shows your upcoming turn using a 3D split screen. Maneuver List displays the full turn-by-turn details of your route. Auto night view adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing.

Click to see a video on the Magellan Maestro 3250's Voice Command system.

Voice Command and Control
Voice Command further enables hands-free operation so you can keep your eyes on the road. Say a command to access the most used navigation functions. Find the nearest coffee, restaurant, gas and ATM or get an instant route home. Plus, you can ask for your location, the distance to your destination and quickly get details for the nearest roadside assistance and more, all with the sound of your voice.

AAA-enabled
With built-in AAA travel information, the Maestro 4250 gives you instant access to the most trusted source for trip planning, searchable AAA TourBook listings, Show Your Card & Save locations for member discounts, approved auto repair facilities, attractions, events, and more. The Maestro 3250 also provides AAA members roadside assistance details, with exact location and a toll-free number. Plus, the Maestro 3250 is Bluetooth-enabled so you can connect your Bluetooth cell phone directly to AAA for immediate help when you need it most.

Note: AAA member roadside assistance requires AAA membership.




Bluetooth for Hands-Free Calling
The Maestro 3250's Bluetooth wireless technology lets you make hands-free phone calls with your Bluetooth-enabled phone. You can store or sync numbers and contact information through the easy-to-use touch screen, and even place calls directly through the Maestro 3250's integrated microphone and speakers.




lntegrated Real-Time Traffic
The integrated traffic receiver offers onscreen RDS-TMC traffic incident reports in real-time. A free 3-month traffic service subscription makes it easy to avoid accidents, slow downs, road closures, severe weather and more. Your Maestro 3250 automatically recalculates your estimated time of arrival based on traffic conditions and prompts you to reroute when a quicker way is available.

0ne of the thinnest portable GPS navigators on the market

Take lt Anywhere
The 3250 is super-thin, lightweight and fits easily into any pocket. The integrated rechargeable battery enables you to operate the Maestro 3250 away from your vehicle for up to three hours. The battery recharges while driving via the included vehicle power adapter.

Tons of Data
The 3250 comes pre-loaded with Navteq maps of the United States and Canada, and 6 million points of interest (P0ls). P0l data includes telephone numbers and addresses.

lt also has an Address Book in which you can create and store P0ls and addresses that you use frequently.

Flexible Routing
The 3250 provides a particularly large number of routing features relevant to its price point. Multi-destination routing lets you select up to 20 destinations and find the best route to get to all of them. SmartDetour prompts you to route around heavy or stopped freeway traffic.Customizable route methods let you choose between several different routing methods, including 'Fastest Time', 'Shortest Distance', 'Least or Most Use of Freeways', and 'Avoid Toll Roads'. Route exclusion lets you pick streets and freeways you want to avoid.

What's in the Box
Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS receiver, Adhesive disk for dash mounting, Basic cradle, Vehicle power adapter (12-24 watts), Quick reference guide and CD, Windshield mount

0ptional Accessories
AC Wall power supply/charger, USB data cable

About Magellan
Magellan is a leader in the consumer, survey, GlS, and 0EM GPS navigation and positioning markets. Recognized as an industry innovator, the Company is the creator of the award-winning Magellan RoadMate series and the Magellan Maestro portable car navigation systems, the Magellan eXplorist and the Magellan Triton outdoor handheld navigation devices, and the Hertz NeverLost car navigation system, the best-selling single frequency GPS survey product line on the market. The Magellan Maestro series includes such unique features as built-in AAA travel information and voice command and control driving which no other portable GPS manufacturer in the U.S. or Canada offers. The company is recognized worldwide through its Magellan brand and has experienced dramatic revenue growth as GPS technology has proliferated across a range of consumer and commercial applications. The Company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California with European headquarters in Carquefou, France.









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Testimonials

Average Buyer Rating:

Buyer's feedback: - * A good GPS with a few gripes ...
This is a fairly solid GPS and I am happy to own it. Very easy to use and does the job, so to speak. The 3D map display is nice and the spoken road names are helpful. Very small and portable and Magellan's technical support is good, too.

One grips is the screen is very difficult to read during the day, as glare washes it out easily. For the month I have owned it, I had trouble turning it "on" twice, after which the unit performed a "soft reset" for no reason, even with the latest firmware installed. The voice command feature works poorly, even when I speak clearly and slowly. It works half decently with the engine off, but poorly when the car is running and road/engine noise is present.

Overall, though, I like this unit. The features for the price couldn't be beat, and I did a lot of research.

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Buyer's feedback: - Works Well
Got this for my daughter a month ago.
She has used it several times with good results. I had heard from friends that the Garmin units lack a little in accuracy and plot some strange routes.
We had a good experience with a Magellan unit in a rental car 8 yrs ago on a vacation.
Before we did anything, we registered & updated the firmware to the latest version. Following the directions, we set up the bluetooth easily. The bluetooth works with my daughters Virgin Mobile phone, even though it is not on the list of supported phones.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Fantastic ...
I was so impressed with this Magellan 3250.."She" and I had quite an adventure going to Florida and back. We made it through the mountains, the forests, road closures, construction zones, and potty stops. The only question I had for Magellan was, "Why did you want me to take a detour when I was at a complete stop in one-lane traffic and inside a mountain tunnel?"
I don't know how I could have accomplished that! I would highly recommend this model to anyone...my only complaint, it can't tell you where the closest potty is!

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Buyer's feedback: - Green on green?
Urgh... Another technically great product undone by design decisions that can only be explained by assuming that a disgruntled designer managed to sneak through a major flaw when no one was looking.

In this unit, the map background is all green (at least in urban areas), and the line showing your route is green. (see the picture for a example) Pale green and darker green, for sure, but when using the product in direct light, it's pretty much impossible to distinguish. Even at moderate light I found it hard to tell apart, meaning that I could not just flick my eyes over to the display and see where i was supposed to go.

I called tech support immediately, but was told that there is no way to change the map colors. Returned it the next day.

Oh, also - the max volume is ridiculously low. In my convertible I could not hear anything even at max volume. (Both Tomtom and nuvi worked fine in the convertible.)

All in all, I recommend the nuvi instead.

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Buyer's feedback: - * ok if you know where you are going ...
Visually easy to see in all light but ran into 2 problems on our first trip-an exit to an expressway ramp is on right but voice kept saying 'Take ramp on left' and one route sent us the long slow way through a very bad part of town (recent new roads seemed to be missing). At highway speeds the voice would lag and announce a turn right at the intersection-too late to turn safely. Also, when not in 'guide me' mode, did not show all of the upcoming road road names. Tech support hard to understand - strong accent. I returned unit for a Garmin 260