You won’t find them on the manufacturer’s website, but the TomTom ONE LE and Magellan Maestro 3225 really do exist, though they each seem to be limited to a single retail outlet. Unfortunately, this approach makes it hard to discern the feature set of said units.
The TomTom ONE LE is available through Best Buy for $249.99 though it looks like that price will plummet for Black Friday. It seems quite similar to the TomTom ONE. There is a discussion thread on it at GPSReview.net.
I saw a sign for the Magellan Maestro 3225 (but no units) at a Costco store the other day. It appears that this unit will drop the maps of Mexico but add text-to-speech. There is a review posted at GpsPasSion which reports a price of $199.99.
About Rich Owings
I bought the Tomtom ONE LE on Black Friday from Best Buy and have not gotten it to communicate with satellites for more than ten minutes at a time. Really frustrating.
Wow, that’s surprising. First lock after purchase often takes quite a while but after that it should be smooth sailing. Sounds like a defective unit. Either that or you have one of those metalicized windshields that blocks signals.
I bought and used it on a trip to my friend in another city. It works flawlesslly in any area even going to county park with a lot of trees around. There are a few things I love this magellan and I would recomend it to everybody else. Here are features I like:
- Simple Interface Icons
- Very Good backlit screen
- Good body physical looking
- Fast software/hardware response
- Very good satellite signal transmit even when cold start
- Reroute/Smart reroute works like a snap
- Start up/shut down fast
- Auto on/off when engine key on/off
- Auto trip resume
- Easy mount and strong hold on winshield
Here are a few things I like to see improvement:
- More interface icons on every page of menu
- Show battery life while navigating or standby
- Smaller cigarette adapter size and softer connection wire
- Louder speaker (currently max vol still not loud)
- More voices announcement instead of one boring female
- Bigger text on display of miles, time, or speed
- More system settings customize.
- Battery life
- No built-in battery so you can use the spare.
Other than those I lists, I found this magellan model is a winner so far when comparing to other gadgets in category. I am not an expert but just a very picky consumer and hope you guy find something I wrote in here is a help.
Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to write up your thoughts. I’m sure some people will find it very helpful.
I bought a Magellan Maestro for my son and his wife for Christmas is this a good unit?
I prefer Garmin nuvis and TomTom receivers, but many people are happy with the Magellans. In general though, they are not as highly rated.
I bought the TomTom ONE LE, and it works like a charm. Really fast response and all of the features anyone would need. You can always subscribe to the PLUS service as well. Great buy. Bought it new off of ebay, the have them there for under $200.
Micah, check the content of the window tints too, assuming you have one applied on your car. Non-ceramic or metallic tint blocks EM signals.
I also bought the tomtom one LE at besy buy.
I had the same problem untill I went to the
tomtom home website and down loaded the latest gps locations and updated maps,now it works fine.
It also has blue tooth capabilities which
I did not know about untill I got it home.
I received a Tom Tom One SE for A Christmas present. When I turn it on, it displays “No maps found” Should have pre-loaded USA and Canadian maps. Can’t seem to fix through the Tom Tom website. Any suggestions?
Steve,
You can look through the set up options for a “Maps” item, but it probably slipped out of the factory with no maps. That means a return to the retailer or a call to TomTom support. The former is probably the fastest route.
I got the Tom Tom One LE for Christmas. However, when I turn the unit on, it ALWAYS stays at the same place I started. It never moves UNLESS…I hit the reset button on the unit. Please help!
Chris,
I haven’t heard of that before. Perhaps you have a defective unit. Are you near a BestBuy where you can exchange it for another one?
I received a Magellan Maestro for Christmas. The power/charger cords plug into the USB port. When I charge the unit, whether in the car or in the house, a screen comes up saying:
“USB Connected
The USB has been connected to the unit. Please follow instructions from PC application for updating maps or software. Please make sure your battery is fully charged or power connected to prevent any power failure during file transfer.”
This screen cannot be bypassed and renders the device unusable while plugged in. On long car trips, there is no way to charge while simultaneously using the device. It cannot be plugged in and operate at the same time. How do I get the device to differentiate between power flowing through the USB port and a PC connection in the USB port? Or is this even the problem? Many thanks.
Sounds like a defective unit to me. Have you called Magellan support? You could check their website and see if new firmware is available.
I’ve got a Magellan 3000T and it’s been fabulous up to about 3 days ago… Now it turns on ok but almost immediatly starts fading out into a blue screen. Poof! Any suggestions?? Thanks.
Two things you could do before turning to tech support: (1) Look in the manual and see if there is a hard reset option (2) See if there is a firmware upgrade available.
3225 magellan vs garmin 360
out of 10
3225 gets a 8.5 and the garmin 360 gets a 5
DONT get the garmin.
i used both side by side for several days and the garmin screen is harder to see during the day. garmin my favorites cannot be alphabeticalized. it is done by closest place to the furthest and makes it hard to find something especially now my list is at 75. The flip up antenna is a pain in the …
to use and i tend to forget to bring it up sometimes. battery life is short on full charge in comparison with the 3225. garmin has no place to make a note with the addresses saved when i need to enter a suite number.
Here is the big one! 3225= $199 360= $499
I have the TomTom LE and I have been using it occasionally for 2 months or so and this is my 2nd one that after a few times using it won’t turn on. It is fully charged and even plugged into the pc right now. Of course when I need it that is when it doesn’t work. The green light is on when it is plugged in but I push the power button and hold it and nothing happens. Is anyone else having this problem. Like I said this is my 2nd one already and the store won’t take it back this time since it is over the 30 day return policy.
Chermo,
TomTom has a good reputation for support these days. Call them up and see what they say. I’d love to hear back from you about their response.
How do I avoid dirt roads when using GPS?
I recently bought a Magellan Maestro 3225 from Costco. Every time I use it to calculate a route it suggests dirt roads which are not fast at all? Is there any way to avoid dirt roads or should I return this and buy another brand?
My Magellan Maestro 3225 came with a cable to attach to the unit and at the other end is a USB connector. Am I supposed to somewho hook up to the web somewhere to re-set satellite positions?
Thanks, Dale
No, but the cable will allow you to update your firmware, add custom points of interest, etc.
Does the Magellan 3225 have information on restuarant, hotels etc as received? Or does it have to be down loaded from the website at a cost?
It does, but it only has 1.3 million points of interest. A very low number. I recommend getting a unit with at least 4.5 million.