jkamen's Full Review: Magellan Maestro 3100 Car GPS Receiver
I have had this GPS for a month and just took it on a long trip. Save your money because you get what you paid for. This is an inexpensive unit and leaves a lot to be desired.
I named it Barbara after my mother in law (she is always giving directions) First, the maps are not up to date and do not have many current roads, at least where I live. Magellan said current maps will be available soon at a cost of $70 bucks. I paid $99 for the whole thing.
On this long highway trip Barbara was mostly quiet except when you come to a major crossroad, then she tells you to stay on the current road at least three times, and sometimes more. Now you know why I named her.
In my case I had driven most of this route many times and know the best way around some major cities. Barbara always wanted to direct me through the town and not give me the best route. In one case she had me going north when I needed to go west. Looking at my atlas I could plainly see that there was no way to get where I needed to be if I followed her directions. This happened many times on roads that have been around for decades. I felt that I could not trust the unit!
If you are in a strange area in the dark and there are not any alternate routes, Barbara would get me there every time. And I can say that that was a big help. But this was at the end of the route is a very rural area.
Next the display, if you can afford a larger display, buy it. This one is small and even with my small fingers I had trouble with some on the buttons. This in a heads up display with two nav bars at the top and bottom on the screen. They display the current road you are on and the one where your next turn is. My logic says the top bar should be the turn you are going to (heads up). But no, that is the road you are on and where you are going is on the bottom. Yea it's a minor thing but annoying.
OK, now try to find a point of interest while you are on a route. Food, Rest Area, etc. Your only option is to exit a point of interest. Now why would I want to exit if I was looking for one? I pushed the button and got a screen that would give me small icons with a distance from my current location. This was not any help at all, especially if I wanted to know where the next rest area was. To find that you must canx. your route and then pick the point of interest button. Barbara will then give you a list of categories to choose from. Alphabetical order, NO WAY!! Try pushing the little down button to find what you want, while driving. This makes you an accident waiting to happen. This unit should be classified in the same hazard category as cell phones!
I could go on and on but I think you get my drift. When you buy a cheap product, you get what you paid for!
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