Automotive GPS Systems

5 comments

1. 

   T. Zimmerman says:

   October 7, 2009 at 4:02 am (UTC -6)

   I had a Megellan 3000 and was happy with it. It was time for me to get a new slim one so I went back to Megellan. Got this new unit out 4700.
   
   When I got this new GPS I was very happy with the looks and the features.It found my location in a short time. I programmed it to location around the area it it worked very well.
   
   Then I try to program it to go from Connecticut to Florida and it did find the direction in a short time. But in about a minute it gave a message it needs to restart to increase its proformances. It did this every time I re-programed it to Florida at different location. So i did try to program it to a location from CT to TX. and it worked fine. I sent it back and got a new one — it did the same — kept shutting down and restarting. Must be a cluch or something in the software.
   
   I would not buy this unit until they fix this problem. Their service men are no help. When I called them they said that they never heard about a problem like this. I spoke to two different people. But looking at some of the complains on other units I see that others had this same problem.
   
   I’m not sure with ones.
   Rating: 1 / 5

2. 

   C. Lee says:

   October 7, 2009 at 7:01 am (UTC -6)

   This is a replacement for the same model and I am still having the same problem – inaccuracy in arrival of destinations. It will bring you to the actual street but the wrong house number. For example, destination 5 Wallace st located on the right, it will bring me to 15 Wallace st on the left. At first I was happy to find this product as the price was reasonable for a well known brand. I am a letter carrier so I was able to test it out consistently. Needless to say, I was very disappointed to find that once again it’s not reliable. The battery life is average and all other features function as expected but I cannot get over the major flaw. This will be the last time I buy this product.
   Rating: 1 / 5

3. 

   Mark R. Patters says:

   October 7, 2009 at 7:04 am (UTC -6)

   I thought that this new unit from Magellan had great features for the price, and it does. Too bad it does not work reliably. My major complaint is that frequently it takes 10-15 minutes to acquire the GPS signal, while other times it acquires it almost instantly. The Bluetooth connected to my iPhone with no problem, but the speaker volume was so low it was impossible to hear or be heard. The distance and road name for the next maneuver which appears at the top of the screen frequently disappears. When it works, the GPS function is great, but waiting so long for it to acquire a signal is a real drag.

   This was my second GPS, but first Magellan. I was hoping that Magellan would post a firmware update by now, but they have not, so I am sending it back to Amazon and looking at a Garmin.
   
   ————————–
   
   Added September 17, 2009
   
   Well, I didn’t send it back. I read a post that said that the poster found that the Magellan 4700 had trouble acquiring the GPS signal, but, get this, only when his dash-mounted Sirius Satellite radio was on. I have a dash-mounted Sirius radio and had the Magellan right next to it. I moved the Magellan to the left side of the windshield, and it connects up in under 30 seconds every time. The Bluetooth and other deficiencies haven’t changed, but at least it is now great at showing routes. I would raise it to 3 stars.
   Rating: 2 / 5

4. 

   Odysseus says:

   October 7, 2009 at 7:51 am (UTC -6)

   I really wanted to give this item 3 1/2 stars instead of 3 but the option wasnt available. Now on to my review.

   Let me start off by saying that I have only owned this device for about 2 weeks and this is my first GPS purchase, although not the first GPS I have used. My only other experiences came with rental cars while in germany the past 3 years which is a must have for those of us that dont speak the language. So although i am not a long time GPS owner I do know what to expect from such devices.

   This system did an excellent job navigating me from New Jersey all the way to Ft Hood Texas. There were some minor quirks that i noticed along the way and I will explain those later, but I can say that for the price and the included features this GPS is recommendable.

   I was initially going to purchase a garmin after it was recommended by a co-worker, but after going into a store and doing a screen comparison i decided to avoid the garmin systems all together. the screens and graphics of the garmin were crisp and beautiful, but although it doesn’t sound like it, there is a huge difference between viewing at 4.3 and 4.7 inches. Especially while driving on busy roads. Although the garmins offered a lot more eye candy the 4.7 inch magellan seemed more practical. I was also looking into a gps with a traffic receiver, but from what I read from a lot of other users, gps traffic receivers are inaccurate. The maestro 4700 does not come with a traffic receiver and I do not plan on purchasing one. The sound on the Maestro is excellent. Its loud and easy to understand. If your playing music loudly you will not be able to hear the GPS but at regular music volume levels the text to speech works fine. You are not able to change the voice or personality like some other gps systems and thats fine by me. The voice is kind of robotic but I was able to understand it just fine. The chime is a nice little bonus that I think more GPS systems should implement especially if the gps for example says “make a right turn in .5 miles” and when you get to within .5 miles their seems to be 2 or more corners for you to make a right turn. well the chime comes in just before it is time for you to turn which makes this process easier. I did not use the fm transmitter or bluetooth features so I will not be able to comment on those. I heard bad things about the voice commands so I turned that feature off as recommended by other users. From my personal experience working with other electronics, voice command just isnt ready for the consumer market. The GUI on the Magellan is excellent a lot easier to use than any other I seen. Entering an address was a snap on the qwerty keyboard and the touch screen has been responsive. The AAA POI is my favorite feature. In the mood for your favorite fast food restaurant but dont know where one is located, just type it in. Even if you are not sure of the name of what your looking for, the search features makes it easy to find.

   I read some reviews that stated that boot up time for this GPS was bad and I have to disagree. I havent timed the device, but when im done putting on my seatbelt and putting on some music, the gps is ready to go. the longest time to calculate a route was when i initially put in the route from new jersey to texas which is understandable. But usually route calculation was done within 5 to 8 seconds.

   Routing from New Jersey to Texas was easy and the same as what was shown on google maps. I printed off a hard copy just in case my new gps died, which i am glad to say did not happen. their wasnt much traffic at all so I couldnt use the traffic re-routing feature. The traffic re-routing feature seemed to pop up often even if traffic only slowed down for a 5 minute interval because of highway construction. i pressed the feature just to see what it would do but I always maintained my original routing pattern. But their were some quirks with the gps which i will now explain.

   Lane assist works great and popped up often, but I did notice 4 typos on my way to Texas. For example Lane assist seemed to tell me to follow the exit on the right when it should have been the exit on the left. The ironic thing is that the highlighted route and the text to speech was going the correct way but lane assist didn’t match up correctly. This happend once on the new jersey turnpike going northbound, once on I95 south in Maryland and a third time I foget where but I think it was Arkansas. Also while in Tennessee, and again I forget exactly what road, lane assist told me to follow signs for Nashville when the actual sign on the highway said Knoxville. Again the actual highlighted road on the map was correct but lane assist didnt match up.

   3D view is terrible. Compared to other GPS systems it seems to be a generation behind. its almost like playing a game on xbox 360 and then playing the same game on the old PS2. Their are no little tree icons and the map drawings look like they were done with a crayola marker. In fact their is almost no difference between the 3D view or 2D view until you enter a major city with land marks. You will then see little 3D icons on your map. A nice piece of eye candy for about 30 seconds, but really adding nothing to your routing experience. I really think Magellan should have just left the feature out which would have lowered the cost of the GPS, but since other companies offer 3D views I guess they had to throw something in.

   While I was testing the Magellan while in New Jersey I also noticed that it gave me a strange route. To get on route 55 from my house I would simply go to the corner, make a left turn, drive straight down for about 30 seconds, and get on the highway, but for some reason the magellan kept telling me to make a right turn. I usually ignored the magellan and made a left anyway and the magellan then rerouted me the way I normally would go. While im on the subject of rerouting, I would like to mention that it is fast and almost instantaneous, but let me get back to my point. One day I was not pressed for time and decided to see exactly which way the magellan would take me. needless to say it took me on a back road entrance to get on the same highway. The route took more time and placed me at an exit further north than my original route. Also, while in New Jersey I accidently got off at the wrong turn while doing a traffic circle. This was familiar territory so I didnt panic, but the Magellan seemed to be confused. The text to speech was naming streets as if I was on the correct road and the map seemed to want me to make u-turns. Personally I dont like when GPS systems offer U-turns as routing option. I believe that they should simply route the driver around a corner and put the driver back on the correct road. If I thought I could make a u-turn safely then I would just go ahead and do so, I dont need a machine to tell me to pull into the nearest driveway and turn around. The magellan has an option to turn u-turns off, so I have disabled this feature. Unfortantely I did not go back to test the traffic circle again.

   One more thing I would like to mention. Not really a pro or a con, but I think its worth mentioning. I noticed while I was in Virginia (after I got a speeding ticket for doing 78 in a 65) that the magellan shows the little side roads that link highways. You know the little short paths on the grass that police use to hide and set traps for unlucky drives like myself. They usually have a sign that says “Authorized vehicles only”. It doesnt show all the side roads so I wouldnt depend on it for 100 percent accuracy but it did come in handy 1 time when I was speeding pass a state trooper in Tennessee.

   In conclusion I would say that the Magellan Maestro 4700 is in need of a minor firmware update. But if you are in need of a basic routing system with a big screen, loud volume, loads of POI’s at a great price (i paid 220 with free shipping) then this device is recommendable.
   Rating: 3 / 5

5. 

   June Davies says:

   October 7, 2009 at 8:57 am (UTC -6)

   Easy for a non computer dunce. Able to use right out of the box. Great price through Amazon. Wished I’d bought one sooner. Voice recodnition doesn’t go well but I haven’t messed with it either.
   Rating: 5 / 5