special edition Magellan Maestro 3225
Nov 11, 2007 gps navigation, magellan
There are some rumors out there that Magellan has a special edition Maestro; Magellan Maestro 3225. This model name is not featured on Magellan’s website and is not yet found anywhere but at Costco. We’re not sure if we want to call this ’special edition’ or an ‘inexpensive version for the holidays’. But whatever you want to call it the few people who talk about this on forums (and here) seem to be pleased with it.
Maestro 3225 is priced at $200 and it seems to be very similar to Maestro 3220 but instead of featuring maps of Mexico, it adds text to speech functionality – which could be a lot more useful if you don’t go on daily excursions to Nogales.
Here are the features we could find:
- 3.5″ QVGA full-color, anti-glare, touch-screen display
- SayWhere to hear the street name of your next turn
- Newly designed user interface
- ultra-thin, stylish, industrial design
- SiRFstarIII: fastest GPS position acquisition in the industry
- QuickSpell: intelligently searches and checks spelling when entering addresses
- SmartDetour: prompts drivers to route around heavy or stopped freeway traffic
- 1.3 Million Searchable Points of Interest
- Pre-loaded maps of the United States, Canada, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico from Navteq
- 1200mAh Li-Ion battery which lasts upto 3 hours
- USB: 2.0
- SD Card Slot: Yes
- Memory: 1 GB
If you were one of the few people who could pick this model up please let us know what you think of it.
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November 11th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
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November 12th, 2007 at 12:21 am
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Thank You
November 12th, 2007 at 3:32 am
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November 13th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
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November 15th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Cool unit, very compact and pretty accurate, routing is pretty decent, may not be the shortest. I just compared few routes of GA for shortest routing with Microsoft MapPoint [ which also uses NavTech ] most of the time MapPoint is shortest, but narrow local roads are very slow to drive. Text to speech will tell you the road name, I found this very comfortable when you have multiple roads in an intersection, I like the chime, a sound indicator comes as you come close to turn. I have used HP GPS, Garmin C550 before, I like this unit except the fact that the speaker is not very loud on a freeway drive and when the music is turned on. I recommend this unit as value for money.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I bought the 3225 yesterday COSTCO. This is light years better than my old gps…I had the gps on the Nextel telephone. I was going to buy a TOM TOM, but was talked out of it because the TOM TOM for $249 did not have a SayWhere feature. To tell you the truth, I didn’t need, but the Magellan was $49 cheaper so I went for the Magellan. The SayWhere feature was a very pleasant surprise. Oh yeah, the 3225 is fast enough so I don’t pass up the intended turn on the other hand, I could drive faster than my old GPS on the Nextel telephone.
In concluding, for $200…how can you go wrong?
November 26th, 2007 at 10:22 am
This is my first time owning a GPS unit. I purchased this one Nov 23rd. The 3225 is a very nice unit, very compact and accurate. However it does not always take you the shortest route . This unit is very reasonable priced and I did not even have to ready the instructions (well someone walked me through them) point being it was very abvious what you had to do to set up new addresses etc…..
Purchased mine at Costco $179.00
November 28th, 2007 at 9:58 am
what costco is selling the nav at $179.00. My local costco sells it for $199 and states there is no rebate
November 29th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Purchased this unit at Costco for $179. A real bargain. Comes with both chargers. So easy to use even I had no trouble. Voice is natural and is accurate to within a few feet. Gives heads up within 1/2 mile of turn and tone at turn. Highly recommend.
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I bought this GPS from Costco and I used for one week in Seattle area on a business trip. This is my third Magellan and it is the best, much better than the more expensive 4040. It’s light, small to put in your pocket, and very accurate. I just followed this unit and it took me where I want to go. Excellent unit, and the reception is much better than 4-in 4040. I used extensively for a week and it worked every time.
The only thing it is lacking is the number of point of interests, only 1.3. So it may not have all things you are looking for.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Like the unit but the POI software and the limited POI dB is weak.
December 8th, 2007 at 12:49 am
the Maestro 3225 seems to be a good unit, but as mentioned before , the POI’s are a bit weak. The software to add to the data base requires that you know the LON & LAT of the POI. It seems kind of useless. If you know that, you allready know how to get there.
I have found a few problems with it. Today I backed out of my driveway and turned in the opposite direction from the instructions and it got confused. I went around the block and onto the indicated route, but it kept saying to turn around. I pulled over and waited a couple of minutes and it figured out where it was and was fine after that.
I live in San Jose,CA and I was going south on highway 17 towards Camden Ave. It kept telling me that it was a left exit from the freeway. It is a right exit. If I didn’t know it, I would have been 4 lanes over on the wrong side.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Awesome GPS. This is my first, and I am more than pleased with the purchase. It calculates routes super fast, and the accuracy is amazing. The size it what sold me, slips right in my shirt pocket for bike riding and city walks. The directions are very clear and the route selection is good. It’s already shown me a few shortcuts I never knew existed. The only downside I can find is the volume level. If I have my music on even moderately loud, it gets drowned out, you just have to keep an eye on the screen. I’m thinking about mounting it on the ceiling instead of the dash to correct this.
December 16th, 2007 at 9:56 am
This is my first GPS and I was trying to do a search for the 3225 and this is the first thing I have found. It was given to me as a gift, so I’m assuming it was bought at Costco. Not sure why it’s not on Magellan’s website though. I love it! I get lost EVERYWHERE!!! So this really gives me a piece of mind. I’ve been using the Fastest Time routes and I did find that yesterday it took me WAY out of my way, however, there were no traffic lights the way it took me. It would have taken me half the time to get home, even if I caught a red light at every traffic light, so I’m going to try the Shortest Distance next time and see if it take me a more direct way.
The POI’s I’m a little disappointed in, only because I have two school age children, so I always need to get to high schools in other towns and the POI’s only have colleges. That is a little inconvenient since I have to look up the addresses before I leave the house. Other than that, I think it is absolutely great!!!! I put it on my dash because on the windshield, I found it was just too far away from me and I couldn’t reach the touchscreen.
December 16th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Nice unit. But the graphics (colors) are not so good.
TomTom – which has other shortcomings gives you 4 color schemes for day, and 4 for night.
Garmin nuvi 200 still best. Better graphics. Better POIs. And the mounting unit far simpler. Interface is simpler.
The magellan mounting system is a two-jointed mess.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I got mine at Costco last weekend. I have been wanting one that would be easy to fit in pocket or purse and this is a good one for me.
I didnt mount it and it works fine laying in the recess on my dash. this way no one knows I have it either-the mount would give it away.
December 18th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Mine came from Costco today…….. really great that as a Mac user I don’t have ANY DIRECTIONS………. may have to take it back with ripped packaging an all – usually there is a pdf file for those of us who dare to be different
December 18th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
The Magellan Maestro 3225 is being carried by Radio Shack, so it’s not an exclusive to Costco.
Todd Anderson
December 19th, 2007 at 1:29 am
The advertisement at Radio Shack says that it has 6 million points of interest. I am not sure what that is all about. I am trying to decide between the Maestro 3200 and the 3225. Any differences or are they both the same?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I just picked up this unit today and I love how easy it was to use. Not a ton of features but i dont need mp3 and other junk that will just go unused. I also just update it to the 6 million poi.
Ps i only payed 179 at costco its on sale
December 20th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
If you are computer savy you can find the updated POI’s and simply replace the POI file thats there. Text to speech on a sub $200 model that is also pretty portable? Its a no brainer!
December 21st, 2007 at 6:11 am
We just won a Magellan Maestro 3225 at my company’s holiday dinner last night. The package says that there are 1.3 million POIs. Am I reading correctly here that we can upgrade it to have 6 million POIs? If so, can someone tell me how we’d go about doing that?
Also, there is a ziploc bag with a cable in it taped to the outside back of the package. That doesn’t seem normal. I’m guessing that the unit doesn’t really come with the cable (I think it’s a USB cable) but you really need it to use the unit so whoever provided this item to our prize stash added on the cable as a nice extra. Can anybody shed some light on what the deal might be with this cable?
It was nice to win it but I already bought a Tom Tom One LE. Now I need to decide which to keep. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Happy Holidays!!
December 24th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Bought it mid November in Costco, Montreal, Canada for $180 – awesome performance – fast sat-lock, impressed by accurate road display for Montreal & Ottawa area. Good POIs too! Very fast routing calculations compared to tomtom 1-3 and the Can/US-border garmin.
December 25th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Mine wouldn’t boot past the Magellen startup screen. Going to exchange it at Costco for one that works. It uses Windows CE 5.0 as an operating system.
December 25th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Great unit. Great Costco pricing. Has many great features that are not advertised (SD slot, auto night mode, etc.). Magellen has come a long way and really demonstrates this with this unit. Having used many GPS units to compare against, you can’t beat the price performance of this Magellen. Highly recommended!
December 26th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Just got one for Xmas, and absolutly love it. Its size, accuracy, great interface, makes this unit a great choice. I recommend it, but the POi’s are definetly lacking, and difficult to upgrade etc…
Cheers.
December 26th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
You can get the 6 million PI update here
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=66&threadid=2120938&messid=27630739&parentid=0&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Branch
December 26th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
I just Got Mine for christmas, It also was purchased at Costco (canada) fro 199.99, the canadian POI’s are great. I can find all the tim hortons where ever I am now :). The warning bells and speach before you get to a corner are very handy. I would reccomend it to any person looking for the best bang for there buck
December 27th, 2007 at 6:04 am
I got one at Radio Shack to give as a Xmas present. Not as good of a price as Costco. I’ll have to watch for a sale to get the price protection on it.
I also just downloaded and installed the 6 million PI shown above. Not an easy process but doable. It contains public schools, shopping subcatagories. It looks pretty good. It’s a nice upgrade. I’m happy with the 3225 it has an easy user interface.
December 27th, 2007 at 8:14 am
With the download, will it have any POI’s for Canada as well?
December 27th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
I just uploaded Pat H 6 million PI and it worked like a charm, thanks homie!
December 27th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I bought this GPS for Christmas I need to know if I can you down load marine maps?
Please advise asap.
December 28th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Purchased at Costco. The back of the package says that a USB cable is included, but after opening it, there was no cable. I called the Magellan 800 number (800-707-9971) and the tech (”Tom” # SS10159) advised that the 5225 has not been “officially” released yet, and he did not know if the USB cable was supposed to be included–even though I told him it was listed on the package. He suggested that I call back “in a couple of weeks” and I might be able to PURCHASE the cable from them! I also asked if I could pick up a compatible cable at, say, Radio Shack since it is supposed to be for a universal port. He said “no.” Apparently the USB cable connection is proprietary and I could only buy it from them. Finally, I asked what I should do in the meantime about utilizing the software to get the manual and updates, and he said I would just have to wait–but that I could use the unit without the software, anyway. I guess customer service is not one of the company’s strong suits.
December 28th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
I got a 3225 for Christmas. It freezes up when calculating a route. The startup screen also occasionally freezes up. Have to hit the reset button often to get to the main screen. What a piece of junk. It’s going back to the store.
December 29th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Actually NOT just for the price, but i think this GPS is one of the best GPS out their, Its not complicated at all, everything is simple, the sound is loud and clear, and its exceptionaly accurate. The POI’s are a little weak, but for what your paying its not bad, and theirs a great update for it so you have more then what your bargining for. I think its a greay buy and I highly recommened this system!
December 30th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
I received the Megellan 3225 recently. I have a question on adding POI’s.
Do you REALLY need to know the lat and long to add a POI into the system?
I travel extensively and often eat at chain restaurants such as a steak house etc. If I knew the location to put it into the POI file, I wouldn’t need the information in the GPS in the first place.
Can someone explain if there is a way to simply add the name of a business and it can find the nearest one from my current location at that time?
December 31st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
i have had a lot of fun with the gps so far…but like all it has week POI
what i would like to see is an update for canadian POI as well since i do a lot of driving there
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I boughy Megellan 3225 from Costco and I used for my trip to LA I upgraded to 6M POI’s This came to very handy and I didn’t looked at maps I carried with me
January 5th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Anyone have issues with this unit? I bought on Xmas eve and drove down to Florida. It worked great while I was down there with the upgraded 6 Million POIs. Unfortunately on my way back the unit choked up. All I had was the Magellan splash screen. Reset did not work, draining the battery did not work, etc. When I took it back to Costco the rep that took my return said she had a ton of them coming back with the same issue.
January 9th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
everything is new to me. so is the 3225. is it hard to upgrade it to 6 mio POI? who can help me with the info how and where to get it….it has to be easy to do, because I’m not a great computer expert. please advise and thanks for the help
January 10th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I got it for Xmass and so far I like it except that it somtimes gives you silly directions…like turn to the left when it’s a one way street. Also tells you to make legal U-turns…ha ha.. The sound is choppy…not load enough and it cracks a bit. Would love to be able to plug it in to my car radio via the ipod plug. All in all it’s very easy to use and its great that you can ask to plan a route without taking the high way. Some have been able to add pois and I’m going to try soon. For a first time user of a gps I recommend having it…oh and the other cool feature is the exit pois real praticall when the gaz thank is low tells you how far you must go. Must figure out how to put in the right time…I guess I’m on the wrong time zone. When it calculate the driving distance and time….it does not cosider speed but that ok.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Nice GPS, cheap and cute and I just add a new POI db to 6 millions.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I have a magellan 3225 sitting next to me wondering if it was a good buy from Costco California for 199.00 after reading all the blogs it left me going crazy I also have a nuvi 280 which works great but before I break the plastic I need the truth only the truth and it seems like all thr info it seems like yes unless you go to the bay area no on the 3225 if the 3225 is used anywhere else there maybe a starbucks reward for the right and best and most accurate I am not a computer wiz.
K9jbs@surewest.net
service 1 877 606 8805 0ff good till 2/1/08
January 20th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
i was searching for a good GPS unit i cam down too Garmin Nuvi 260 $268 walmart and tomtomXL-s after but when i saw the magllean 3225 it is almost idintical to the nuvi 260 and it is cheaper anf the text to speach is very important if you drivre in a new city every day like me as far of the POI i was able to update it to 6 mil point for free from the internet and i tested and it work just like 4040 i think the mastero 3225 is no less than nuvi 260 and a lot better than tomtom one xl-s as far of routing
January 27th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Askandrany, please can you tell us from which site you downloaded the POI??? so far i tried several ways, without any results. thanks
January 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
from what i surmise the best use of the sd or usb would be for recov of the os b/c mine so far crashes at startup. ,guess thats what you come to expect when it runs a crappy os like windows
February 9th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I bought the magellan maestro 3100 and love it. I work for a local news station and use it daily to find the locations of my stories. But the POIs does not include common locations like schools….is there anything I can do about that? Or will I have to know/enter the exact address every time?
February 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Great Price, but the most important the speech in spanish. Very clear words
lots of direcctions. I was thot that i buy something chip well chip and work great!!! RadioShack store thanks !!!!
February 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Mitch Bryan:1. go to POI. 2. Search by Categories. 3. Touch EDUCATION………..here we got the schools
February 27th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Great unit, great price, compact, thin, I am going to upgrade to the higher POI, I am very happy with the unit. I paid 199.99, and I see a few others paid 179.00, but overall, I am very pleased. Highly recommend if you are in the market of a good, nicely priced GPS!
February 27th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I just picked up one at costco today for $149.99. They just started a instant $50 rebate from manufacture this week. hard to beat at that price. rebate goes till 30 Mar 08.
March 4th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
OMG – this unit is AWESOME.
Picked it up on March 1, 2008 from Costco for $149.99. I used it for 3 days and have returned the TomTom GO920 (had bought it from Costco online for $399.99). This unit is MUCH better -
1. Easier user interface. The routing is a tad bit slower (probably takes 2 more seconds) than the top of the line TomTom.
2. What my 2 year-old calls the “ding-dong feature – it plays a tune a few seconds BEFORE you are supposed to take a turn – amazing feature – specially helpful when you have several exits closely spaced or you are at a complex intersection.
3. The text to speech actually works – says way more names of streets than the TomTom did.
4. I LOVE the windshield mounting system. It is SOLID – sticks to the windshiled nce you “lock” it in. My TomTom (also heavier/bigger) fell off a few times…
March 4th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
One more thing – LOVE this feature also – as you enter names of cities, streets, etc., it starts disabling invalid keys… you can’t mis-spell stuff!!!!
March 8th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Purchased a 3225 recently at COSTCO for $149.99. First GPS, great sound, and easy to navigate menus. I like the mount, very easy to move and when entering an address the screen does not move with each tap. Only concern is a map update feature. Magellan’s Web site indicates the maps are a year old (Q1/2007) on this unit with no updates listed.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Does anyone know what the SD slot is for? I just purchase this unit today @ Costco.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I would like to get one at costco – this would be new to me. Do I need to hook it up to a computer at all? I’m a mac user and fear the worst :)
March 13th, 2008 at 6:10 am
I would like to get one at costco – this would be new to me. Do I need to hook it up to a computer at all? I’m a mac user and fear the worst :)
No, it does come with software, BUT its worthless. All it lets you do is add more POI into the GPS, but you can only input them by entering the latitude and longitude points. So I personnally wouldn’t even install the software. Btw the SD slot is for backup purposes.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Costco today in Ct this model on sale for $149.99 till 3/30… After reading the reviews I’m looking at a purchase.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:31 am
Yesterday, I went out and purchased three different GPS units. All were Magellans, and the first one puchased was the Maestro 4000. After getting it home, I found that it did not have text-to-speech, so I took it back to BJ’s without having opened it. I then purchased the 4210, which was stated to have the feature I looked for. Sadly, though, it did not. So that unit was also returned. Then, I happened across the 3225 – which very clearly claimed text-to-speech right on the front of the packaging. I immediately wished that it had the screen size of the first two, but decided to give it a shot. Though $70 less than the 4000, and $150 less than the 4210, I have to say that this little unit really surprised me. It didn’t have all that AAA data, or as many pints of interest – as the former two units – but they weren’t important to ME, anyway. I didn’t care for the bells & the whistles. All I wanted was to be afforded the opportunity of navigating from point A to point B, without having to peruse maps – and this little device will most certainly serve that purpose.
I have only had the chance to do some city driving with it, as yet, but I have found that this 3225 seems to be very accurate. I have never had a GPS device, before now, so I couldn’t really offer a comparison. But this 3225 seems to be WELL WORTH the $150 that I paid for it. There are only two issues that I have with it:
1). The volume of the unit IS a little on the low side.
2). The screen background is black, which makes it hard to read the street names. Yes, the 3225 has text-to-speech (and does a pretty good job of that, too) which is great for those streets called out on the charted course. But, there are sometimes when you may want to see what the neighboring streets are, and the black background makes that a little difficult (at least to me).
But this 3225 is most definitely worth every cent that was paid for it.
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I had a Garmin Nuvi 200. It was great except that it didnt have Canada which I knew.But while in Canada it displayed the Major Hwy but was off by .5 miles. Any way i returned it and bought the 3225 at Costco for $150. Has Text To Speech and has map of all 50 states and Canada. What a bargain. Only thing I wish it had was more POI.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I just purchased the Magellan Maestro 3225 from BJ Warehouse for 150.00. Great price however my screen keeps freezing and everytime I try to calculate a route my GPS freezes. Can anyone help?
March 24th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Well, I don’t about others, I bought my M3225 at Radio Shack for $169.99. My wife has a different modal, but I prefer this one, it’s compact color screen. My only complaints is that it has a tendency to “freeze” in the morning until it finds the satellite connection.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Bought the 3225 from Costco for $149 – and it was great for about 2 weeks. Then it wouldn’t turn on and the reset wouldn’t do anything. When I returned it to Costco, the guy in electronics said they have had numerous problems with that model. He thought perhaps the processor was too slow and was causing the lockups.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I like my 3225 for many of its features. Except- I programmed a trip to Va. from Oh, the directions going to and coming home were different. Why? Also from my home to NY ski resort the directions were different. I used the fastest route feature both directions. At times the fastest route is not actually the fastest.
March 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
[...] favorite new real estate technology tool of 2008 is my brand new portable Magellan Maestro 3225 GPS unit. I’m probably a latecomer to the GPS game, but for those of you who haven’t [...]
April 12th, 2008 at 11:15 am
HELP…… My dad gave me his Maestro 3225 and it works great I can seem to get the mount to stay on the suction pad any tips would be greatly appreciated..
April 15th, 2008 at 10:44 am
my question is parents bought me one for the birthday here in april and when u returned it were u given a brand new one? same model and everything or did u get ur money back?
also are people still having problems with it today as we speak? is there patches or software updates available online?
April 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Just grabbed one from costco for $149…how could I pass that up? Worked right out of the package (I HATE that kind of impossible packaging!) and found satellite from inside the house. It’s killer. I love it…it’s so simple and uncomplicated and easy. I’m having such fun with it, honestly, how did I live without one before? I laughed as I cleaned my car out and threw away all my mapquest printouts, lol. I’m in San Diego and can’t mount it on the windshield, but is nestles perfectly in my dash cubby (Ford Escape). I have the volume below full and can hear it, and see it just fine. I could care less (I think, at this point anyway) about more poi…just doing gas, bank, hospitals, food…plenty of info for me (so far, lol). I can’t BELIEVE how cool this toy is for $150…honestly. PLUS, I’M A MAC USER AND IT WORKS JUST FINE ON BOTH MY WORK TOWER AND MY IMAC AT HOME! An added bonus. I love it and couldn’t be more teased and happy.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
just bought it at Costco for $199 and there is a $50 discount after that too!!
April 21st, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Just used my Maestro 3225 for the first time, is there anyway to avoid gravel roads. I took a small trip yesterday to test it out and instead of sticking to main roads it takes me down back country gravel roads, no matter what setting I use? Other than that I love it, so I don’t want to have to return it because of this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I bought a Magellan Maestro 3225 from Costco 2 days ago. It works fine. I love it. It is so concise and great. I only need help with upgrading the POI. Do I need to add SD Card before I can upgrade to 6million POI? I need some help here. Also, how do I update the map because some addresses in my neighborhood are not there yet. In fact, it identified my own home street as UNNAMED.
On the whole, the unit is great for the price. I don’t need anything bigger than that unit. Thanks Magellan.
John, California
April 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I just purchased one of these 4 days ago at a Costco in the SF Bay Area….$150 ($200 with $50 instant rebate). It worked GREAT for 3 days …. but when I traveled back home to Tucson (via airplane) it stopped working. The screen, and all the menus work fine, but for some reason it can’t figure out where it is now it’s ’stuck’, permanently, in California.
I did all the stuff in the manual: told it where it is now, pressed the reset button, etc…it says it’s tracking 9 or 10 satellites with good signal strength. When I called tech support this morning, they had me do all that again, of course, but to no avail. He said he’d send me a new unit …but added that if it loses the sat signal for a few seconds, it will sometimes freeze, and apparently can’t recover! If the new unit is going to do what the old one did, why would I want that?
I’ll take this one back to my local Costco and if they have one in stock I’ll give it one more try because I really like the darn thing. All the positive comments in previous posts are pretty much right on the mark about how cool this little gizmo is….I purchased it because I travel a lot and need to be able to find my way around in unfamiliar places. Hopefully the problem with my unit is just a fluke, but I noted a comment above from Rich W (3/25/08) saying basically the same thing happened to his 3225.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Sams also has it for 199, on sale now for 149
April 28th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
correction, BJ’s has it for 199 and on sale for 149
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
i wrote wal mart but there was nothing .. there is missing info
May 9th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Bought at Costco for $149. So far, seems like an awesome deal.
Pros:
* Text to voice works great
* Very solid windshield mounting system
* Very simple to update to 6 Million POI database (at least w/Windows)
* Tracked 10 satellites from inside the house
Cons:
* Erroneously came with 2 AC adapters instead of 1 AC and 1 Car adapter
* Did lock up once yesterday right after I opened it – I’m keeping an eye on it
Answers/comments on previous posts:
* By default, the background is black at night. This can be changed.
* I think Mac users (like Windows users) should just have to insert the CD for instructions, as they are all in HTML
* Installing 6 Million POIs is done by downloading a new POI file (in 2 parts) and overwriting the existing one. See http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=66&threadid=2120938&messid=27630739&parentid=0&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Branch
June 5th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I’ve been using the one I bought from Costco almost daily. It freezes or lock on me 4 times and twice it would be stuck at my home address, when I was 50 miles away. If not for those little glitches, I love it. I don’t know how to update to the 6 million POI, per CarlSpackler and I have no clue how to change out of the black at night.
June 13th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Just bought the 3225 at Costco Canada for $139 ($189 less $50 at register manufacturer’s discount). Too good a deal to pass up. Packaging is a pain. The set up seems dead simple and so far it has worked well. POI seems to be a concern, and when I first turned the unit on it wouldn’t identify any POI within 50 miles. But for $139 compared to a Nuvi that I bought previously at twice the price and subsequently returned because the directions were useless, this seems to be a decent deal.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
OK, what’s the deal with that “default background is black at night”, and how can this be changed? I thought my unit was busted right out of the box… If anyone can email me the fix, please send at “petpad2 at yahoo dot com”.
July 12th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I purchased mine from Costco. It worked purfect for several months. The one day it wouldn’t keep a charge. It finally wouldn’t even work when plugged in. I concluded the battery was no good. I called Magellan only to e told to send it in for repair. Replacing the battery isn’t hard if you are a little technically inclined. I removed the battery and started looking for one. Guess what? Yup, no one sells it. I sent Magellan support an email asking if I could purchase a battery. Four days later, no reply.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
If you purchased it from Costco take it back, they have a no haggle return policy.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:53 am
I just relocated from Seattle, WA to Hartford, CT and purchased the 3225 to help me get around.
Pros: Text to voice is great. Very user friendly. Solid window mount. Multiple options for alternative routes.
Cons: Sometimes gets disoriented and takes several minutes to reposition. Inconsistent directions. On my last three trips to NYC 3 times, it’s directed me on three different routes. (I wish it had an option for “Avoid or Min. Tolls”)
I’ve had this device for about 2 months now and use it almost on a daily basis. Overall, i’m happy with it and would continue to recommend it to others.
September 7th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I purchased the unit and yes I would agree that it is simple to use and does all that you need it to do.
What ticked me off was that it was sold with very outdated firmware and the maps are from 2007. I went to the site to get the latest virsion and couldn’t find it.
Upon emailing tech support I was told that for an additional $80 I could get the latest maps.
I just bought it… shouldn’t there be some sort of “one free upgrade” or “a year of tech support and firmware updates” or SOMETHING!!??!!??
Very, very disappointed. It’s going back to Costco tomorrow. :-( I’ll find something with a newer version that I won’t have to upgrade until the end of 2009 at least.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:20 am
having maps that are one year old is really not that bad, considering the unit is only selling at $99 and considering a free update has been released giving 3x more POI’s seems pretty fair. People seem pretty happy with the overall quality of these and the fact that they at least offer an update, puts them above some of the sketchy companies like nextar, etc.
I use usually use the GPS on my laptop but I think I’m going to buy one of these to have as it’d be way more convenient to use.
November 28th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I just bought a refurb unit from tiger direct fo $79.99. I took it on a trip from Atlanta to several places in Florida. I have updated the POI file to tthe 6 million version found on several sites. It performed flawlessly. I went to a business address in Jacksonville and it took me straight to the door. Had the same result with a friend’s house on Amelia Island, an out of the way restaurant in St Augustine, the cruise port in Port Canaveral and my hotel in Jacksonville and a restaurant in Darien. If it dies, I’ll get another!!!
June 21st, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Great Unit but it now needs to be updated…but why do we have to pay to be updated…any ideas for free updated
October 20th, 2009 at 9:16 am
please i want yemen map