5. Finding An Address

Figure 54: Main Menu

Maestro 4350 allows you to enter a destination address a number of different ways, but probably the most common method is to use a street address. To test Magellan's address entry system, we'll enter a destination address in New York City: 135 Central Park West.

The first step in entering a street address is to tap Go To from the Main Menu.

Figure 55: Go To Menu

I'll be entering a street address, so I'll tap Address (we'll look at Points of Interest later in this review).

Figure 56: Enter City or Zip Code

First we'll need to enter the city name, or zip code of the destination address.

Entering an address on the 4350 is a breeze, thanks to Magellan's refined interface and sensitive touchscreen. Unlike most other GPS units, Maestro 4350 doesn't need to know the State your destination address is located in; just enter the city name, or zip code, if known. Let's take a closer look.

Figure 57: QuickSpell

Magellan's excellent text entry system, known as QuickSpell, uses information in its database to only permit letters that would spell a valid city name to be pressed. As you type, Maestro dims out letters that don't spell valid city names.

This feature is not only a huge time-saver when entering city or street names, it also greatly reduces the likelihood of typos caused by accidentally tapping an adjacent letter.

While spelling out a city/street name, you can press the green checkmark icon at any time to view all the cities that match the letters you have entered so far, or you can wait until enough letters have been entered that the Maestro 4350 will automatically produce a list of matching city names to choose from.

Note: the Keyboards button lets you toggle between a QWERTY oriented keyboard (shown above) or an ABCD layout.

Figure 58: Select City

Once enough letters have been entered that only a few possible matching city names exist, Maestro automatically displays a list of matching cities. I'll select "New York, NY" and continue.

Figure 59: Enter Street Name

Spelling the street name is identical to the the city name: as you type, Magellan's QuickSpell feature only allows you to select letters that will spell a valid street name within the selected city.

This feature may not sound like that big a deal, but it greatly speeds up the text entry process and makes the GPS easier to use. Once you get accustomed to the speed and convenience of Magellan's address entry, you'll miss it when using other GPS devices.

Figure 60: Choosing the Street From the Results List

Once enough letters of the street name have been entered, Maestro displays a list of matching street names within the selected city. If you're unsure of the full street name, you can tap the green checkmark from the text entry screen at any time to see a list of all street names that match the letters that have been input so far.

In this test, after entering "Central Park", Maestro displays the list of street names shown above. If you don't know the exact street name of your destination, you can also tap "Search in All" to search all streets in the selected city (choosing this option still required you to enter a house number, but then the 4350 displays every street within the chosen city that has a house number matching what you entered).

I'll tap "Central Park W" and continue.

Figure 61: Entering the House Number

Next we'll need to enter the house/building number of our destination address.

Notice that the Maestro displays several pieces of useful information on this page: the street and city names are displayed in the blue box on the right side of the screen, and the valid range of house numbers for the chosen street are displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen. In this example, the valid range of house numbers along Central Park West in New York is 1-499. This can be handy for situations when you're unsure of the house number.

Once the house number has been entered, tap the green checkmark to continue on to the Route Calculation page, shown below.

Figure 62: Address Confirmation Screen

Once the address has been fully entered, Maestro displays the address confirmation screen, shown above. This screen lets you immediately begin navigating to the destination by tapping the large, orange, "play" button, and also provides the following options:

• Plus icon - Add another stop to the trip (you can add multiple stops to any trip)
• Save - Saves the address to the address book
• Options - Lets you choose one of four available routing preferences (shown below)
• Simulate - Simulates the route
• Map Icon - Displays the entire trip on a 2D map, with the planned route highlighted

Setting a Route Method on this screen only changes the Route Method for the current trip. If you want to permanently change the default Route Method, you'll need to do that via the settings menu.

Tap Options to change the Route Method (shown below), or the Go button to begin navigating to the destination.

Figure 63: Route Method

This is where the Maestro 4350 really shines. There are four different "Routing Methods" to choose from. The estimated drive time and mileage is listed next to each method, and the turn-by-turn directions for each can be viewed by tapping each method.

Magellan provides four different Route Methods:

• Fastest Time - the fastest possible route provided the vehicle is able to travel at or near the speed limit.
• Shortest Distance - the shortest possible route.
• Economical - a generally fast route with possible shortcuts to save fuel.
• Simple - a route with as few turns as possible.

Tapping the Map Icon in the lower-right corner displays a visual representation of each Route Method on the map, shown below.

Figure 64: Route Methods Displayed on Map Screen

The map view lets you visualize each available route method on the map before choosing a Route Method.

I generally tended to prefer the Shortest Distance or Simple Route Methods, though some drivers might find the Economical or Fastest Time Methods best.

Figure 65: Route Options

Tapping the Options button from the Address Confirmation screen (shown in figure 53) lets you configure what road types you want the Maestro to consider when calculating a route. By default, all road types are enabled except for Carpool.

Figure 66: Vehicle Types

Tapping Mode from the Route Method Screen (shown in figure 54) lets you change the vehicle type.

Figure 67: Address Confirmation Screen

Tap the large, orange Go button to start navigating to the destination address.

Notice that the horizontal bar across the top of this screen displays some useful information: this trip will take an estimated 1 hour and 42 minutes, "Fastest Time" is the chosen Routing Method, and the total distance is 79 miles.