Magellan Announces Maestro 4250, 4200, 4220, 3250, 3200, 3210
Magellan announced six new devices, all to be available between September and October. Not too much has changed in features between their similarly numbered siblings… except for the size. Finally the Magellan devices have shed some of their bulk and are now some of the thinnest devices, at .7 inches in thickness. This makes them some of the thinnest GPS devices offered. The new devices will feature combinations of AAA tourbook information, voice recognition (we can only wish it works better than the 4050 but our hopes are not too high) RDS-TMC traffice receivers, and SiRFstarIII chipsets. Press release follows, and we’ll have a full wrap-up (including photos) shortly.
Maestro 4250 - Most feature-rich widescreen GPS unit
When a wide screen is what you want, the Maestro 4250 is the top of the line. It offers integrated live traffic with 3-month trial subscription to Magellan’s real-time traffic service; Magellan’s industry-first voice command and control; built-in AAA TourBook and Roadside Assistance information; SayWhere(TM) text-to-speech; and Bluetooth compatibility for hands-free calling.
Available in October, the unit will retail for $499.
Maestro 4220 - First Maestro unit to include built-in road maps of Mexico
Featuring a 4.3-inch QVGA, full-color, anti-glare touch screen display, the Maestro 4220 includes preloaded maps of Mexico, in addition to the 50 United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. This Maestro 4220 also includes 6 million searchable points of interest and SayWhere(TM) text-to-speech.
Available in October, the unit will retail for $449.
Maestro 4200 - Widescreen value at $349
Maestro 3250 - Most feature-rich in the most compact GPS unit
The most compact portable auto navigation device on the market, with a 3.5-inch touch screen, the Maestro 3250 delivers integrated live traffic with 3-month trial subscription to Magellan’s real-time traffic service; voice command and control; built-in AAA TourBook and Roadside Assistance information; SayWhere(TM) text-to-speech; and Bluetooth compatibility for hands-free calling.
Available in October, the unit will retail for $399.
Maestro 3220 - First Maestro unit to include built-in road maps of Mexico
Featuring a 3.5-inch QVGA, full-color, anti-glare touch screen display, the Maestro 3220 includes preloaded maps of Mexico, in addition to the 50 United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. This Maestro 3220 also includes 6 million searchable points of interest
Available in October, the unit will retail for $349.
Maestro 3210 - Feature-rich, highly affordable price, AAA TourBook included
Featuring a 3.5-inch QVGA, full-color, anti-glare touch screen display, the Maestro 3210 includes 6 million searchable points of interest; built-in AAA TourBook and Roadside Assistance information; and preloaded maps of the 50 United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Available in September, the unit will retail for $299.
Maestro 3200 - Value-priced at $269
Well, I went with the MAGELLAN 4250 as a gift for my father-in-law. I think he will like the features as well as the 4.3 size. I really would have liked to given him the GARMIN 660, but a little 2 much $$$.
I have been trying to find the perfect mix of vehicle and trail GPS units. I ended up with the Magellan 4250 for the car and the Garmin legend CX handheld for trails. The Magellan has some quirks that I have seen mentioned on some reviews. They are not show stoppers however. My problem is that I can not figure how to use the Garmin legend CX. Are there any websites that make it simple. I am some what technology challenged. Any help, Thanks in advance. Greg
This is from a 7 year user of factory installed unit.
We’ve had the 4250 for about a month and it is a keeper.
Pros: Big bright and colorful screen.
Outstanding volume (I have hearing problem).
Has a lot of good features.
Address book entry, management, destina- tion all easy.
Good logical directions and warnings.
Cons: No music or photos (I don’t care)
Although it has a headphone symmbol at the
power plug in, head phones don’t work.
There is no “audio out” function.
I have a Motorola IHF1000 (b/tooth) car kit
and have been able to pair the 4250 with it,
but unable to get them to “connect” so that
I can hear instructions on my car speakers.
I WILL APPRECIATE ANY COMMENTS ON THIS ISSUE.
Would I recommend it to a friend…yes.
Would I buy it again…absolutely.
Faithful Bill
I went with the 3250 and love it. It’s my first GPS and so far, I couldn’t be happier. Clear, easy to use and understand, gives me a clear screen without blocking my view. Great bluetooth connectivity as well.
I called Magellan support about the “headphone” on the 4250. First off, what a joke!! I spent 20 min. with a guy who barley spoke English and tried to describe to him what I was looking at on each side of the unit. He finally gave up and put a supervisor on who spoke better English but was equally dense as if he had never seen the unit. I tried to explain to him that the unit has a mini usb port with a picture of a headphone. I explained to him that I got an adaptor to convert mini usb to a standard headphone jack but that didn’t work. He insisted that it should and there must be a problem with the unit and offered me the opportunity to send my GPS to the infamous Magellan black hole. No thanks. I will return it to Costco, but I still think Magellan made a mistake with the side label and there is no headphone function for the 4250
Tim, I look forward to reading your review of the Maestro 3250 (my main concern being the speed at which the product processes or recalculates routes. In my experience, this is one of Magellan’s needs for improvement.). When might I expect this to be posted? I am very eager to purchase a GPS receiver soon and am deliberating on my choices. Thanks.
I just moved to Mexico City and am interested in buying a GPS unit online that has maps of Mexico City and the rest of Mexico. Can you provide any advice about a reliable unit to purchase and if I will need to purchase additional software for Mexico City? Thanks for your advice and assistance in advance.
Ken, that symbol is a USB symbol and not a headphone symbol.
Kind of a big difference between a USB symbol and a headset symbol…I’ve heard various support issues before, but this one sounds like it was user error, not customer service’s fault….
O.K you need to trust me here. I know the difference between a headphone symbol and usb symbol. Please check out the picture at the following link: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3331757&CatId=3422.
You will see a mini usb port with a picture stamped above it that has, from the bottom up: a headphone, the word power, and a usb symbol.
My apologies, Ken. That certainly does look like a headset to the left. Just curious - why would you want a headset with this? Also, isn’t the usb used for power? I’ve got a 3250, and it doesn’t run long on battery power….
Regarding the hole labeled headphone jack on the tiger website, that’s the FM antenna jack for traffic reception. If you look at the labeling on the case, instead of that put on the diagram by Tiger you can see the words FM.
Joanne, after experiencing the weak speaker that sounds like an old transistor radio, I had this great idea. I was going to purchase battery operated speakers and run the voice through them. I had the 4040 and ran it through my truck speakers and it worked sweet, but I like to listen to the radio. And yes the mini usb is used for power and also gives you the ability to link to your computer.
Marc Fuller, look again. There is a FM jack input on the top. Now look down toward the SD card slot. There are three things stamped on the side of the GPS just over the mini usb port. They are a little picture of a headphone, the word “power”, and the universal symbol for a usb. I feel like I’m talking to Magellan support again.
Ken, for some reason my second comment got obliterated. The hole that Joanne was referring to is indeed the FM antenna port, but incorrectly labeled by Tiger. What got left out was that there is indeed a earphone symbol, but it is not really associated with a port on the 4250. The USB port you are referring to is associated with power. Perhaps the case is more generic and for some other models there is a hole there- or they just changed their minds.
I am beginning to think the headphone jack was a feature that got lost in the transition from the 3/4000 series to the 3/4200 series. While the 4050 manual shows a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, the 4240 manual makes no mention of it, and specifically states that the usb is a power connection.
I agree. I suspect there was a large batch that was mis-labeled because I have seen other pictures of the 4250 without anything stamped on the case except the usb symbol. Here is the crazy thing however, when I spoke with “tech” support, they insisted that a headphone should work with the 4250 and insisted that I send my unit in for repair if it wasn’t working. I think something go lost in the translation.
I purchased both the Magellan 3250 and Garmin 360 to compare accuracy. They both have their quirks on how they route. If I “go home” before I get off a particular bridge, the Magellan sends me a different route than if I wait until I get off the bridge. Please note that there are NO exits on this bridge, so not sure why the directions would vary. After comparing both devices, I’m keeping the Magellan - more features and better screen and voice.
I bought a Magellan Maestro 4250, and want to know where can I buy a Mexico maps.
Regards
Porfirio - Magellan says they don’t offer additional mapping for that Maestro at this time.
Thanks Tim, for your help, I appreciate it, so may be in the future they will have the maps for this model.
I haven’t heard anything suggesting that they will, so owners can only hope at this point.
Hi Tim. I am in the market for a GPS (first one) and have been reading a lot of posts on this site. Very informative indeed. I have narrowed it to the Maestro 4250 and the Nuvi 660. I have not seen a review on the 4250 besides the user feedfack/posts. Do you plan to release a complete review on the 4250 anytime soon. Certainly the price of the 4250 has been more appealing than the Nuvi 660 (or 760), but the Nuvi 660 has also been dropping in price as well.
I purchased this unit and in March the screen stopped functioning. Magellan expects me to pay to ship it back for 1 month to repair! I would not recommend this unit or Magellan to anyone. The customer service is horrible and for the price of the unit is unacceptable.
I bought the 3210 for my motorcycle. It works great, although it did lock up on me once when I was creating a route. I just shut it off and started it again. Hasn’t locked up since. I was hoping to get a headphone(s) so that I could listen to it while I was riding the bike but I guess it’s just a misprint on the side of the device in regards to being able to use headphones. Oh well. It works well for me.
As for the headphone symbol on the 3250, I have heard rumor that you can plug a USB headphone into that opening and hear your Bluetooth conversation, but not the GPS directions. I have NO proof as to this and if the headpones are plugged in how do you plug in the power unless there is a “Y” adapter.
I just buy the Magellan 4250 GPS an I am very disappointed of the way Magellan is using the GPS to force peoples to use the AAA roadside Assistance, I pay 400 dollars for this GPS because one of the best fixture is the ease of use on their menu for the roadside Assistance ,for my wife that is no technically incline if it have more than one button she is in trouble, but you cannot change the number on the roadside Assistance you are force if you want to use the emergency icon to use the AAA roadside Assistance, I do not have AAA roadside Assistance or want it, I have another company better than AAA roadside assistance ,but I cannot use there phone number on that page ,because You cannot Edit the AAA road Assistance number .If I pay 400 dollar for this unit, I want to be able to use all the pages especially the emergency page and no been forced to use the AAA ROAD ASSISTANCE. I am returning this GPS and looking for one that does not force me to use their services.
You can be sure I will post this complain on as much web sites as I can.
Thank you
Why so upset over the fact that a widely promoted feature works as advertised? You sound like you think they bamboozled you. Magellan makes its relationship with AAA clear, and the software comes from AAA, so of course the roadside assistance is AAA. You can set up your wife’s cellphone to work through the unit with whatever service you want as an emergency number - just not as the tow icon. Perhaps you underestimate your wife and you can teach her to use the phone icon instead. Or ask on the tech forums if anyone has a workaround. Or return it. But complaining that a product feature works as advertised seems a little silly.
Bought 4250 at costco had to return it stoped working, replacement screen was faulty returned it, 3rd replacement worked for a week then on off switch stopped working..returned it. Product not recommended.
I bought the Magellan Maestro 3140 last April 8 this year. About only 17 days I noticed that there’s something wrong with the unit, it will just “do it by itself” even if you don’t touch anything on the screen (example when I touched the menu and then the right arrow, it will said ” exit points of interests”) So yesterday April 27 (Sunday) I brought the unit back to where I purchased it, in Canadian Tire, Welland Avenue branch(St. Catharines, Ont. Canada). They wont replace it because they said it’s already more than 7 days after I bought the unit. Instead they gave the toll free number of the vendor… I was so disappointed and just went home. I tried using the unit again thinking it will just be fine because sometimes it “doesn’t do its own”. Although when I typed an address, some letters will just entered even if I didn’t touched it. But I still hope it will be okay. This afternoon when I tried to enter an address, the same thing happen and it’s not following anymore… and the unit takes longer to turn on.
So what I did I called the Vendor, and there’s really something wrong with the unit, so they’ll have replace it.
My complain is about the store who’s selling this unit, why they won’t replace it when in fact they knew it was really defective. And now I have to pay the shipping and handling to send the unit back!!! What a store>>>
The 32xx series has a very tinny audio (like voice coming from a tin can)coming from the speaker. Magellan made it slimmer but sacrificed the audio quality compared to the 31xx series. There is a speaker jack symbol but where is the hole?
I just purchased a Megellan 1400 [snip, see comment policy] and today on Tv I saw the 3250 for [snip]! Now I am wondering if I should take back the 1400 to Target to get the one with more features for cheaper. The only thing is the 1400 has a 4.3 screen and the 3250 has a 3.5 screen. Can someone with a 3.5 screen let me know if it is hard to read the maps on the smaller screen? I am trying to decide whether I should get the 3250 instead.
So far, I really like my Magellan 3250. I have noticed, however, that a couple of times it has seemed stuck on my home location when I have turned it on elsewhere. I thought it might be satellite reception or my location, but I was actually outdoors one of those times, several miles away from home, and it seemed determined that I was still there. It finally woke up and changed locations when I had it plan a route the second time… Any thoughts?
Sounds to me like it just didn’t get a signal yet. Check out our Acquiring Satellites Tips for more info.
I have the 4250. 1. Is there a way to download alternative voices as you can with the TomTom (or so I’ve been told)? 2. How can I access my address book directly?
No alternate voices that I’m aware of.
I purchased the Magellan 3140 last year and was very pleased with the routing, the quick recalculations and the exit POI’s. They were invaluable during our trip to D.C. I recently sold it to upgrade to the top rated Garmin 660. I read many reviews about this GPS unit and decided that I wanted to have the ‘best’ . After using this unit for 4 days, I put it up for sale. It had incredible features such as a bluetooth that would transfer all my cell numbers to the GPS, a bilingual dictionary, currency converter, just a slew of great options. However, when using the GPS for what I bought it for (road guidance), it was terrible. It connected fine, but took up to 15 minutes sometimes to recalculate a new route when I purposely missed a road while testing it. Then sometimes it would map out an alternate road that I was presently passing or had just passed. I never once had that problem with the Magellan. In conclusion, I’ve ordered the Magellan 4250 as I still want an upgrade from the 3140 ( which I still highly recommend!).
Sounds like your 660 is defective. I’ve never had a reroute take more than about 5-10 seconds.
Purchased the 3250 from [snip] after seeing it at [snip]. Device worked for 1 day and died. I tried plugging into USB and the Car adapter and neither would charge the unit. After googling for more customer reviews, it appears I have a defective device and do not look forward to dealing with their customer service so I am returning it to [snip]. What a shame.
Bought Magellan Maestro 4250 after thorough research, picked this unit after very closely compared it with Germin units, found this unit very useful,accurate,easy to use and almost 8 hours of battery power on one full charge.It linked with my Nokia phone via bluetooth like a charm so did it hookup to my laptop to update the firmware. I can easily backup all my trips onto sd card. While in my car I can take my phone calls via Maestro 4250 (on speaker hands-free) at a touch of a button and calling out by Maestro 4250 was equally a delight. Even though it’s loaded with lots of features but it’s very user friendly and it’s voice features are very handy.
I recommend it to all who need quality versatile products with great features and value for money. Last but not the least buy any GPS but first compare thoroughly. For any more help on this product contact me, mickeymair at live dot com for my views, for Magellan’s views contact magellan’s site, as I’m just a user not related to Magellan in any way. Love…Mickey Mair