Magellan Maestro 4250 (Traffic Performance)

Toward the higher end of Magellan’s Maestro line, the 4250 offers a simple voice-command system that lets you find nearby destinations without taking your hands off the wheel, and includes a 4.3-inch screen. You’ll also get Bluetooth, AAA TourBook travel information, and 6 million points of interest.

 

The 4250 offers three months of free traffic data, then yearly service for $39. Like the other GPS navigators, it uses the Traffic Message Channel (TMC), which works over FM stations. The manual (on CD) implies that the device gets traffic data from other sources as well, but it doesn’t. As with the Garmin StreetPilot c550, the power cord doubles as an FM antenna, so users don’t need to attach wire antennas to their windshields.

 

When you have a map on the screen but haven’t entered a route, in the lower-right corner you’ll see a traffic icon that calls up a list of nearby traffic incidents. Unfortunately, this list view doesn’t show locations, so you need to tap each incident to find out where it is. When you have a route programmed, the traffic icon shows only those incidents directly on that route. During our testing the 4250 worked well, automatically rerouting whenever there was a problem.

 

You can open the traffic settings to change how the 4250 handles routing. You can have the device reroute you automatically, no matter how far you are from a traffic incident, or reroute only when you’re at a certain distance. It worked well, but more attention to the traffic features would have made it a top performer.

 

The Magellan Maestro 4250 is a decent option for those looking for a lower monthly cost. Its combination of 6 million POIs and only $39 per year for traffic is nothing to sneeze at, but the Mio DigiWalker C720T does more with the traffic information it has.