Screen cap from Magellan.com

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portugese explorer born c. 1480, and along with his crew were the first Europeans to enter the Pacific Ocean. They were also the first to successfuly circumnavigate the globe. It is because of his reputation in history, that his name is put on the modern day verson of compasses and astrolabes that he might have used.

The Magellan Maestro 4700 recently came out with a MSRP of $299, and not withstanding the typical GPS features, boasts some incredible elements that are found in other competing units for over $100 more.

Some of the great features include, but are not limited to:

• Exclusive OneTouch(TM) Favorites Menu: Access favorite destinations and searches with personalized bookmarks. Reach your favorite cafe or restaurant in any city with a single touch. To meet consumer requests, the Magellan Maestro 4700 now offers an additional twelve bookmarks to save favorites.
• Bluetooth Compatible Hands-Free Calling: Make or receive calls using a compatible cell phone. Access your phone's address book to access up to 1000 numbers directly from your Magellan Maestro 4700. The noise-cancelling microphone keeps road noise down so you are heard clearly.
• Predictive Traffic: Analyzes past traffic patterns when creating a route to help you avoid known delays. Choose to stay on your current route or go with suggested less congested routes.
  Instant Access to All Points Of Interest (POI): Perform one search and get results from both the standard POI database and the Magellan-exclusive AAA TourBook(R) guide. Results are organized in a tabbed format.
• "Find Your Car" with Pedestrian Mode: Remembers the location of your car in parking lots, airports, malls, universities, amusement parks or stadiums. When your day is done the Magellan Maestro 4700 will automatically guide you to your car.
• 3D Landmarks: Displays visual cues to help drivers perform maneuvers and find destinations.
• Larger Fonts: Makes viewing easier and safer while driving.
• Intuitive, Context-Driven Touch Zones: Provides drivers with a completely interactive map screen.
• New Address Book: Makes adding an address a snap with smart address summary that lets users save complete itineraries.
• QuickSpell(R) with Smart City Search: Allows quick, single-address entry or convenient multi-destination trip planning, including route optimization.
• Safely navigate hands-free by speaking a variety of commands to control the Maestro 4700. You can "Go Home" or find the "Nearest Gas" just by using your voice.
   

Setup ? If it can be called setup, was a breeze. It really is not difficult to open it, charge it and power it on. It even walks you through the rest of the setup, including language, time zone, etc. From the opening of the box to mounting it on the windshield took less than 5 minutes.

You would never be expected to buy a product however on setup and promised features alone, so you need to know the power of the NAVTEQ maps within and how it was tested. First of all, the Maestro 4700 came preloaded with maps of the USA including AK and HI, as well as Canada, PR and Mexico. It has detailed maps of the most conjested neighborhoods of Boston, Manhattan and LA, as well as the same detail of the most rural of areas in every state. The navigation tests went where others have failed before; others except Magellan that is. The starting point was the Lowell (MASS) area and extended into the northern reaches of NH, as well as the SW and SE corners of the state. At one point, it took the driver/writer from Manchester NH to a part of Hampstead NH which is served by routes 111 and 121, and plagued by construction projects. Well no GPS can say that it will get you there within inches, but the Maestro 4700 was close; within 15 feet of an actual addresses door.

Lets talk traffic. Who loves it ? It is doubtful that anyone would be screaming "pick me". Well with the predictive traffic feature above, it will actually give you choices and show time savings of each. It actually alerted me 4 times during the day which saved me about 25 minutes drivng time. With the optional traffic link you can also get live traffic information displayed in banner format as well. It will show you the time savings as well as the route changes that you can sellect to save time on your trips. The optional traffic link is a $79.99 one time cost and offers detailed live traffic info for the life of the product. There is no monthly fee as with competitive products.

Safety and convience also come standard with this device. It is Bluetooth ready, which means you can pair most Bluetooth enabled phones to it, so you can call the point of interest you have just found, or even dial your frequent numbers, as it will offer to pull your contacts when paired for the first time. The AAA tour book is also included with this. You can search any destination that AAA has in the area; resteraunts, hotels, mechanics, etc. Their AAA rating will be displayed. As for safety, well instead of pushing several buttons to go to a location, or find a POI (point of interest), simply press the "Voice" button and tell it what to do. "Go Home" and  "Nearest Gas" are two of the many commands you can give it to keep your hands on the wheel.Litterally, you can call and navigate with both hands on the wheel except to push one button. Another safety enhancement is the largest screen available on their models. At 4.7" and with brilliant graphics and color, you can not miss the data on screen.

This is the newest addition to the Magellan family of navigation devices that boast the best in maps, satillite reception, convenience and safety. For what you will receive and what it will do for you as a traveller, the $299 MSRP is more than reasonable, especially when you find out that competitive devices are $50 and even $100 more.

It is available in most major retailers as well as on Magellans site.