Magellan Maestro 4050 4.3" Portable GPS w/ Voice Command, TTS, and Bluetooth - Refurbished - RF980921-01 - Refurbished!

Great value for the money. Customer service at Magellan wasn't the best since the GPS believed it was in CA when you first turn it on and the user manual didn't provide insight. Customer service never responded to emails, but I eventually figured it out.
 
Was this review helpful?    

this is my 3rd Magellon...for the money its the best. Fast satellite locking..thanks buy.com
 
Was this review helpful?    

The 4050 is a perfectly adequate GPS device but the voice recognition does not work as advertised. In a quite enviroment it does indeed function but in a moving auto it just does not work. Display is good for an enclosed auto but cannot be adequately seen in a convertible or motorcycle application which I have tried. Night time display is a little bright and not adjustable either in time or brightness. The map/GPS functions work fine and the unit is easy to use and a reasonable value, at deep discount, for the money. The 4040 appears to be the same unit without the VR and at half the price would appear to be a much better investment.
 
Was this review helpful?    

This device arrived not working. After trying to work with tech support, I missed my window for returning it to Buy.com. My bad, but everything else is Magellan's fault. I installed the software updates, (having just come from Magellan I think it should have had these) and it still didn't work. This is a Windows CE device and the update replaced the firmware. The problem was not fixed. They said it was a Software problem. If it was a software problem and the firmware was already replaced, then why not let me download the application? No, they forced me to send it in. Pay for an update. By this time I'm living in another town in another state. I wait til I have my new apartment, send them the new address, then send in the device, they return it to the old address. I have many other complaints about this transaction, but... I don't have any idea how good this device is. But the service was horrible. I paid for the device, I didn't get the rebate, I've paid for an update, I've paid to send it back, now I have to pay to retrieve it from Illinois. Go buy a Garmin!
 
Was this review helpful?    

Screen showed the correct exit but the voice prompting kept saying to get off at every exit we came upon. Ended up taking the wrong exit. Also wouldn't reroute according to "least" used roads - kept trying to turn us around to use the "most frequently" used roads. The speedometer wasn't tracking our speed on the way to our destination but did work several days later on the way back. The contents of the box contained everything we needed (mounting bracket, traffic alert hardware). Disappointed with the unit. Easier to just use a paper map.
 
Was this review helpful?    

Unit would not complete even the easiest of routes, so it was delivered broke. I needed a GPS as I was in the process of moving and doing a lot of traveling to Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. Magellan Tech support suggested that I load version 2.36 onto my unit that already had 2.36 on it. It took some digging on the web to find out that 2.36 had at least 3 versions. Magellan doesn't realize that version numbers are there for a reason. After getting to a place where I can use a computer I reloaded 2.36 several times, taking advantage of advice from the Web. All it did was make it worse. My only choice is to return it to Magellan. According to Tech Support, it is a software issue, so they must charge me $17 to fix it, plus the shipping. This is no deal at all. The kicker is that it will take a month for them to get it back to me. I will be finished with my move and travel by that time, so I have received no value for any of this. One last thing, if they are correct and this is a software issue... This is a WinCE device, the v2.36 update replaces the operating system, all other memory appears as a drive that you can write to via USB. This means that I should be able to replace anything on the device by downloading the software. So why can't I try it myself? Why must I be charged and have it sent off for a month? The answer is that their Support policies are awful. Take my advice, don't get a Magellan. And don't point and laugh at me as I drive all over the Mid-west looking at a paper map.
 
Was this review helpful?    

I bought the maestro 4050 refurbished for my husband. And so far so good. He had been using "verizon navigator" on his phone for the last year except for the many rental cars that came with the built in navigator. Out of the box magellan was up and running in less than 10 minutes. We took it for a drive and it responded well. SOme people have complained that its a little slow to reroute, but we didn't think it was any different than the verizon navigator would have been. We only subscribed to the traffic kit this past weekend, so that has not been put to the test yet, however, we DID have to call magellan customer service, as the 3 month free subscription code was missing, and i have to say, though other reviewers are correct, they don't speak "native" english, they were very helpful and professional and within 10-15 minutes the traffic kit was up and running. I'll have to update this post after we use that for a while. The bluetooth was a little difficult initially to pair up, but now its practically automatic. We have talked to eachother, my husband through the magellan blue tooth and me on my cell phone, and the sound is not horrible. Just some "airiness" to the background which i would think is to be expected. He is considering adding a headset to get better sound for those he is calling. As far as the voice command of magellan, its also pretty good. We have found that there are certain times magellan will not respond to your commmand as most likely the magellan company doesn't want you talking to the device while you are driving. So the simple "magellan" (to wake it up) and "nearest gas" and SIMPLE stuff like that is all you are permitted to do, but that would seem to be almost enough. We've also had a couple of times in the car we were just talking and Magellan must have thought one of us siad "magellan" and she starts talking to you. SO you just say "cancel" and she shuts up again. We thought it was funny, not a big deal and she never does that with just the radio playing or if DH is alone in the car (thats good it means he has stopped talking to himself ; ) hee hee) DH also figured out this past weekend how to add address/contacts so they show in your bluetooth phone area of the device. That will make it easy for him to hit a couple of the icons on the device and be dialing someone. ALso, one of the other reasons i bought this is because of the AAA, cuz my DH is already a memeber. I think that will be helpful over time, and also i think the device has a ton of POIs, though it didn't seem to be able to find my local Wal-Mart that has existed for about 5 years. But i have found that you sometimes need to search differntly to get what you are looking for. ALso, some people say the maps are old and the ONLY thing I have found is that it couldn't find my local Wal-mart that has been here 5 years, but EVERYTHING else we've asked for it has found. All in all, we think its a pretty decent device. I did get a good price on a reburbed ($199.) so i think its definalty worth that money. I'd say buy one and try it, i think a lot of the options on these things are just personal preference, so you just have to try it and see if it works for you.
 
Was this review helpful?    

This unit has some nice features. The anouncement of the street names is a good feature. However, not all of the names are clear. You can still figure things out. It probably has to do with the current state of voice recognition technology. The voice commands is another nice feature, but it does take practice to use the feature. The traffic alert feature so far has been of little use. So, I can't really comment on its value. What I can comment on is Magellan customer support. I needed an activation code for the traffic alert feature. I was directed to Magellan's technical support phone number for assistance. The person who answered the phone was very difficult to understand. It took over 30 minutes to convey what I needed. Then to my consternation I was told they would call me back. When I asked how long I was told sometime in the next 24 hours. I asked that the code be e-mailed to me. I was told e-mail not available for this service. I received a call about 2 hours later. Again the person who called was very difficult to understand. Finally I had an activation code. I loaded it into the unit and it took. I was expecting an expiration date of a year, but got only 3 months. So now am I faced with going through this whole ordeal again to try to obtain the promised year free service. This is my first Magellan product. Based on the diffuclty with cusotmer support, I would not buy this product again, but rather another without the traffic alert feature. Why do companies outsource customer support to people that English is may be a second language? They think they are saving money, but in reality they are causing themselves a real problem in reputation.
 
Was this review helpful?    

terrible piece of crap. maps were outdated in 2002, thats six years ago! buy.com did nothing for me, only after I screamed at magellan for two hours did I finally get the update, which is current as of august 2006. still terrible. none of naples florida is on the map! DO NOT PURCHASE
 
Was this review helpful?    

This unit replaced my older Mgellan 2200T (which was stolen). The wide screen and fine resolution make the 3D view amazingly good. This unit has all REALLY useful features one would need in a GPS navigation. I believe you would get much more performance and convenience compared to similarly priced Garmin.
 
Was this review helpful?    

First off, I don't believe in perfection and didn't expect this or any other GPS unit to change that mindset. However, this unit has been a series of pleasant surprises. Shockingly, the unit arrived 2 days after it was ordered. It was partially charged which allowed me to test it right out of the box. And unlike my Tom Tom 510 (admittedly an older unit that I still like), it was able to acquire satellite reception indoors. Unit setup was incredibly intuitive and so far has been completed using the included Setup Guide and by playing around. I like the voice command feature, route recalculations are quick and routes are reasonable. There are still a few things I'm trying to figure out (I've had the unit less than 5 days and haven't read the manual). For example, I haven't figured out if multiple voices are available for the navigation voice (a minor issue). So far I don't have any major complaints about this unit. After I've lived with it a while longer, may I'll write a follow up review.
 
Was this review helpful?