3. Navigating with the Magellan Maestro 4350

Figure 29: Maestro 4350's Map Screen

Whether navigating to a destination or just driving around, you'll spend most of your time looking at the map screen.

A well designed map screen is absolutely essential. A good map is easy to understand, displays text in a font that's readable from the driver's seat, and conveys all the vital information you want without cluttering up the screen. This screen needs to be designed so that the driver can get all the needed information within a 1-2 second glance.

Every brand of GPS display information differently on the map. Getting the map right is a deal breaker for a GPS, and some companies are more successful than others.

Magellan's Maestro 4250 does a fairly good job displaying the information you'll likely care about, and keeps things easy to understand. Let's take a closer look at the information displayed on the map:

1. Turn Instructions for Next Maneuver - Tap to display maneuver list (available only when routing)
2. Current Street (in normal mode) or next street and distance to next maneuver (when routing). Tap to repeat last voice instruction
3. OneTouch Menu - OneTouch Menu gives you access to your saved search criteria and favorite destinations
4. Freeway Exit POIs - (available only when driving on a freeway) Tap to display options to start a new trip or, when routing, to make modifications to an existing trip
5. Highlighted Route - he path the GPS has calculated you should follow to reach your destination
6. Traffic Events - Tap to view any traffic events that will impact your planned route
7. Volume and Map Controls - Tap to adjust the volume, or change map zoom/orientation
8. Current time (in normal mode) or distance to destination (when routing). Tap to change content to remaining time or arrival time
9. Phone Options
10. Audio Player
11. Trip Options

Figure 30: Map Options

Just as the Maestro 4350 offers more routing options than most other GPS units, it also allows a greater level of map customization than many other devices.

In both 2D and 3D modes, the map view can be modified in several ways. You can:

• Rotate the map
• Tilt the map (in 3D view only)
• Scale the map
• Pan on the map

Figure 31: Traffic

Roads that are affected by a traffic event (such as slow moving traffic or an accident) are displayed in yellow on the map.

Note that if a traffic event is received that will impact the planned route, a warning message is displayed along with options to avoid the problem.

Figure 32: Freeway Exit Services

If you've ever been driving on a highway and wondered what restaurants, food, and gas stations were available at each exit along the way, Magellan's "Freeway Exit Services" is for you. Another excellent feature unique to Magellan GPS units is the "Freeway Exit Services" (formerly called "Exit POIs" on older Magellans).

This feature provides an easy way of finding commonly used POIs (Points of Interest) that are near an exit you are approaching while traveling on a freeway. Freeway Exit Services include restaurants, gas stations, auto repair, shops, and hotels. Note that this feature is only available while driving on a highway (either en route to a destination or just driving around).

To access the Freeway Exit POIs, from the Map screen tap Options > Points of Interest > Freeway Exit POIs.

Figure 33: Trip Options

Tapping Options from the Map screen displays the Trip Options screen, shown above.

Figure 34: Local Info

The Local Info screen provides quick access to common POIs and AAA destinations near your current position. You can also specify a specific address to search near.

Figure 35: Local Restaurants

Nearby restaurants are displayed in order of closeness. Notice that you can quickly toggle between AAA rated restaurants, and regular POI searches by tapping either the Magellan or AAA icon.

Figure 36: Local Gas Stations

From the map screen, touch Options > Local Info > Gas Stations to see a list of nearby gas stations, listed in order of closeness.

Figure 37: Alternate Route (Detour)

There may be times when you encounter heavy traffic or a closed road and want/need to detour around the problem area. Unlike the Route Exclusion feature, which allows you to exclude specific roads from the planned route, Detour is a quick way to go around a current problem area.

For example, if you find yourself stuck in traffic on a highway, you may not want to exclude the entire highway from the route, but you might want to take surface roads for the next 3 miles or so to get around the traffic, and then get back on the same highway. Magellan's "Detour" feature allows you to do just that. To use the Detour feature, tap Options > Detour.

Figure 38: Maneuver List

The Maneuver List displays a list of all upcoming turns. Each line in the Maneuver List provides details about the turn in the order they are to be made, with the next (closest) maneuver at the top of the list. The bottom bar displays the distance and time to the next maneuver, as well as the total distance to the destination.

To access the Maneuver list, tap the upcoming turn indicator on the map.

Figure 39: Route Exclusion

One of the most useful features on the Maestro 4350 is its ability to exclude, or avoid, a particular road/highway. This is one of the few GPS units that allow you to browse a list of all upcoming turns, and choose specific road(s) you want to avoid.

To exclude a specific road from the planned route, simply tap on the street you want to exclude from the Maneuver List (shown in the previous figure), and then tap "Avoid...". Maestro will then re-calculate the route to your destination, this time avoiding that particular road.

This a great feature that really comes in handy when you want to avoid a road you know will be problematic, or if you find yourself stuck in traffic and want to find an alternate route. Very few GPS devices have this capability, and no other unit makes it this easy.

Figure 40: How much would you like to avoid?

When excluding, or "avoiding" a road, Maestro allows you to choose whether you want to avoid the entire road, or just a portion of the road.

Figure 41: Trip Information

The Trip Information page, available via the Maneuver List, displays the distance, remaining drive time, and estimated arrival time. Also displayed is a visual representation of highways that will be driven.

Figure 42: Highway Distance

The Trip Information screen can also report how much of the total trip will be driven on the highway.