Decent - Good Bet for the Money - Kinda Slow - Not Always Right

I had been looking for a GPS for when I was traveling without my Trailblazer, which had factory-installed GPS. I've used other models before, including the NerverLost with a Hertz rental car (which is a Magellan product) so decided this would be a good brand based on that experience. This GPS (the 4000) features a newer technology which is supposed to have a faster acquisition time and be more accurate.

My experience thus far with the Maestro is that it could use some improvements, but it does get the job done. This model doesn't have some of the fancy features that higher-priced ones do, such as built-in MP3 player, photo slide shows, and bluetooth wireless for hands free calling, but that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted the most reliable, useful, and intuitive GPS I could mount in my car or take with me on vacation for use in a rental. I also wanted the biggest display I could get with an internal power source that would last at least a couple of hours. I got what I wanted, but was still a little disappointed by some of the finer points of the Maestro.

When I got it delivered, the Maestro had ZERO battery power. Not a big deal, but don't order this and expect to be able to power it up without the supplied adapters. Speaking of which it comes with an AC (household) adapter as well as a 12 VDC (car) adapter. The AC adapter uses some special attachment for plugging in the wall that I can't quickly explain, but it does work with little effort.

The Maestro was able to acquire the satellite signal and get an accurate fix on its location while in my living room. I would say this is a plus and shows an ability to pick up signals when there is more than average shielding (and it has done so in road tests as well). This took about a minute to do, and in the car takes about the same amount of time. This is a little frustrating to me, because I thought the newer SiRFStar 3 module was supposed to improve acquisition time, but the factory installed GPS in my Trailblazer determines its location much faster (possibly due to the installed roof antenna).

I put it to work around town first. When just mapping the area (following where the driver is going as opposed to prompting a route) the unit does well, showing the exact street location with accuracy, and displaying the current time and speed. The unit can be set to display with North as up or the heading as up. This is only true to the 2 mile point (maybe 1.5 mile) where the GPS automatically decides regardless of user input that North will always be up. I'll explain why this is really frustrating later. I did notice that some of the POI (points of interest) icons were a little bit off from actual locations - gas stations showed up on the wrong side of an intersection, hotels and banks easily 200 yards off from where the map said they were, things like that. I did like that as it was getting dark, the display switched to night mode automatically, limiting the ambient light projected into the car and making viewing easier by changing background colors.

Then I had it guide me home from work. This is where I got irritated. My drive home is about 1 hour and covers 50 miles with some bridges, an interstate, county roads, and crossing the NJ/DE state line. As the Maestro was guiding me home (along what I already knew was the fastest route) the zoom factor kept changing. I guess if the unit is trying to show you that a turn is coming, it zooms out so you can see the turn. The biggest problem I found initially was that it never zoomed back in unless prompted (this was corrected by downloading/installing the latest firmware). In fact for a time it had zoomed out so far that I couldn't tell what road I was on, and thought for sure that the entire county was displayed on this 4.5 inch monitor.

The Maestro was next taken with me to California for a job interview. I powered it up while at the airport in Las Vegas just to plug some points into it like the hotel and workplace I was going to. It still managed to find out where I was while inside the airport. The trouble was, after I got to California (over 400 miles from where I previously was in Las Vegas) it never could figure out where I was, and insisted that I was in the high desert just outside of Vegas. I tried powering it down and back up several times with no success. Eventually, I hit the reset button (which is harder to do than it should be and the button requires a very long, narrow object to reset - a pen won't work). The reset button brought it back to reality and I was able to use it faithfully again. But I still kept seeing POI icons a little bit off from there actual locations. I used it for finding a couple of restaurants and gas stations and it worked well except for one restaurant that I couldn't find when it told me I had arrived at my destination (may have closed down).

Even after the firmware upgrade, the unit still likes to adjust the zoom automatically when following a route, which I do not like. At least now it will go back to a tighter view. The street views shown for making upcoming turns are lackluster by comparison of what I've seen before in other units. Also when I have the unit direct me home, I can be sitting in my driveway and it will tell me my destination is still not yet reached (it's about 2 houses off).

For all its little faults, it gets the job done, costs much less than many other feature-packed units, has the biggest display out of almost any of them, and will get you where you need to go every time (so far in my experience). At worst you'll have to look around when you get there and make a minor adjustment. But the firmware should be immediately upgraded upon purchase. The firmware update requires a simple software installation and is not nearly as hard as the instructions make it out to be.

***UPDATE***
I recently used this GPS while heading down to Wilmington, NC and it gave me some trouble. I took an exit off of I-40 about 100 miles from my destination to get gas and a soda. I thought something was up when I got to the end of the ramp and rather than trying to tell me to continue straight (and thus get me back on the highway and to my destination) it wanted me to turn left - and completely away from my destination. After I got back in the car, the Maestro still didn't want me to continue as expected, which would have been to take a right and get back on the interstate. It wanted me to drive completely past my highway and in the opposite direction of my destination on another highway. Even once I got back on I-40 and was proceeding on the path it had directed prior to my unscheduled stop, the Maestro kept trying to get me to turn around and go back to where I previously exited (maybe it thought I dropped my wallet). Attempts to use the "re-route" function to correct the malfunction did not help. Not until I was with about 20 miles of my destination did the unit correct, and that was with my telling it to re-route. This will prevent me from ever recommending this unit to anyone and I'll likely replace it soon.
***END OF UPDATE***

The window mount leaves a little to be desired. I've found that the horizontal plane can't be locked down, so if you're heavy fingered and typing in and address, the GPS will swivel on the mount while you're doing this and then you have to readjust it when you're done. This is likely common to all the Maestro's as they have the same body styles and therefore probably the same mounting hardware.