Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS Review
A leader in the navigation industry, Magellan continues to outperform the competition with its wide range of GPS units. With solutions available for every budget and feature-set, the Maestro line truly stands out with its unique combination of features (including Bluetooth, text-to-speech, and traffic alerts) and reliability. For the budget-conscious consumer, the Magellan Maestro 3100 is a compact, no-frills device sure to get the job done.
A Window into the Heart of the 3100
The Magellan Maestro 3100 differentiates itself from the competition with a 3.5” QVGA color touch screen. Unlike bulky alternatives, the Maestro won’t invade windshield space and is easily viewed thanks to its anti-glare coating. Even though the screen may be small, the crisp 320 x 240 LCD easily displays minute map details.
Built Strong to Last Long
The Maestro 3100 is a very reliable device. While most GPS units suffer from crashes or the occasional freeze-up, the 3100 is seldom, if at all, impacted by these glitches. Accuracy is not an issue with this device, as it shares the same chipset (SiRF Star III) with the high-end Maestro 4050. The SiRF Star III is a 20-channel receiver that does not require line-of-sight to the sky, and is able to maintain a strong signal in the most difficult of environments.
When driving, the routing engine is very efficient and offers four routing options to adapt to varying road conditions. However, the 3100 fails to calculate the drive time for each routing option. When I tested the rerouting, the 3100 left a lot to be desired. Instead of calculating a new route, the device requests the driver to turn around and resume the original path.
The Energizer Bunny’s Weaker Sibling
The 3100 has a shorter battery life then many competitors’, only lasting 3 hours at minimum brightness and 1.5 to 2 under average use. However, as the 3100 lacks media-playback capability, use of the battery is unnecessary given the included 12v car adaptor.
Easy as Pie
While many other units boast large screens and complex interfaces, the 3100 keeps things simple with a row of three large icons (Show Map, Enter Address, and Points of Interest) above, and two smaller icons (Home and Tow Truck) below. To enter addresses, the 3100 uses a bold virtual keyboard with QuickSpell technology. QuickSpell eliminates letters as one types, enabling the user to spell better and avoid accidental adjacent tapping.
Everything but the Kitchen Sink
The Magellan Maestro 3100 may not have flashy add-ons such as Bluetooth and text-to-speech, but the device has several unique features that make it a must-have. One of the features is known as Route Exclusion. With this, users can delete certain portions of a route, such as a specific road or highway. Another feature that enables drivers to avoid slowdowns or heavy traffic is the “detour” functionality. With “detour,” one selects the number of miles they would like to avoid the current route for. The basic presets on the 3100 are 3 mi, 5 mi, 10mi, and 12mi, but custom distances can be set if needed.
In emergencies, the “AAA Roadside Assistance” screen displays the driver’s current location information. In addition, users can set their AAA membership number (if applicable) and the 3100 will automatically display the respective AAA toll-free numbers.
Tired, hungry, running out of gas? The Maestro 3100 ships with a POI (point of interest) database of 750,000 locations. This is a relatively small database, compared to 6 million in the Garmin nuvi, and over 10 million in other high-end systems.
Outstanding Advantages
- Clean, easy-to-use interface
- Top-quality SiRF Star III chipset
- Small, compact form factor
- QuickSpell technology
- Anti-glare coating
- “Detour” functionality
Slight Disappointments
- Sub-par battery life
- Small POI database
- Poor automatic rerouting
- No media playback
Want to compare this model to other Maestro models? Click here to download Excel spreadsheet.
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Gilsson 12V Cigarette Lighter Adapter for Magellan Maestro 3100 3140 4040 4050 Magellan Roadmate 800 2200 3000 3050 6000 List Price: $24.95 Sale Price: Too low to display Average Rating: |
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This site contains the personal opinions of various authors and contributors to this website. The opinions in these articles and reviews are offered in good faith, but also come with no guarantees or warranties.
Where did you find the firmware files that were deleted during firmware upgrade? I’m in the same boat. I cna powr on but can’t get past the “Magellan” marquee.
Some issues, but resolved well
The first 2 GPS units had small issues, but the seller was prompt in responding and we have one that works well now.
Magellan 3100, not worth buying.
I purchased a Magellan 3100 18 months ago. I have had it repaired twice and working on the third time. Customer Support very poor at best. Unit is very unreliable.
MJK
Fantastic liitle life saver!
All I can say is I love this product! I bought it for an incredibliy low price considering everything I got. They were quick getting it to me and I have been using it since. It is so easy to use and it doesnt constantly bother you with messages but gives you enough heads up which is very effective. I love it and have recommended this model and where I got it from to my family and friends. It’s Awesome.
It will break avoid!
This is a terrible product mainly due to the power connector I’ve had this unit less than a year and it already can’t be charged without constantly messing with the power connector. It died on me in the city today and I had a very hard time getting home as a result of this. When the unit worked it was great but the build quality is dismal.
Expensive paper weight
Read my lips: DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT!
I have only used the Maestro 3100 maybe 5 times. It is now broken.
Here’s the deal: It has a built-in rechargeable battery, so you can use it portably. But guess what! Once that battery fails to hold any charge whatsoever, the whole unit won’t work! It will not turn on for more than 5 seconds, then goes into standby.
You know when I decided to buy this GPS, I wasn’t going to go hiking, I just want it to sit on my dashboard of my car and use it while being plugged in. I could give a rats a_ss about using it outdoors.
My unit hasn’t been working for well over 5 months, the unit is 13 months old. Unfortunately my unit is out of warranty by 1 month and their tech support would only sell me another new or used unit at a discount.
PLEASE TAKE IT FROM MY BAD EXPERIENCE: DONT BUY ANY MAGELLAN PRODUCT EVER!!!!!
I heard Garmins are the way to go.
If this review prevents one customer from throwing their money away on buying a Magellan product, then the 5 minutes I spent writing this review was well worth it.
Beacon in the dark! (lol)
Moved to Minnesota and with all the changes of the roads up here, it is safe to say that it has saved us many gallons of gas and hours of time! easy to mount and read with a pleasant voice. an excellant buy that is easy to recommend to friends!
Decent Unit, But Flawed
I bought this unit a year ago, and it did decently. However, it tended to recommend routes that really didn’t make sense at times. After my son’s recent usage to navigate home from his honeymoon destination he complained that it needed updating. Soooooo, armed with access to the Magellan web site I set out to update my unit. There are two updates available: a free download to update the firmware, add points of interest (POIs) and add Hawaii and Puerto Rico maps. There’s also updated North American maps available for a cost of $79.99 ($67.99 for AAA members).
Here’s where the fun began. First–the free update only works with Windows XP (according to Magellan’s web site). I’m running XP, so no problem. And, it’s massive (over 900 MB) takes a long time to download even with fast DSL, dialup–FUGGEDABOUTIT!!!
I connected the unit with the USB cable and the fun began. The added hardware wizard in XP never seemed to run quite properly. Made it seem like I had two new drives hooked to the computer. Onward, I slogged.
When I started the update program (which I had previously unzipped) it then started to uzip itself even more. SHEESH
It hit the POI update file (a monstrous 898MB) and took 20+ minutes to upzip it.
I then got several error messages that stopped the whole update process.
Oh, it also erased the unit’s firmware. I now had a big fat paperweight.
A quick Google search found several sites warning folks about doing this update.
Luckily, I stumbled across a site with instructions on how to manually update the unit. Three hours from when I started I finally had an updated unit.
I can hardly wait until the map update arrives!!!! More to come—
dont try to load maps yourself
i bought this unit it was fine at first but in some areas it looked like i was in the middle of a field, so i bought the new maps try to load them and guess what, it locked up so i sent it back to megellan and i had to pay shipping one way but they gave me new one, but once again tried to load the maps and again it locked up again so i called again ,payed to have it shipped again but here i sit waiting for it to return maybe this time with the new maps put in for me, but something tells me that that may never happen so be careful when buying these units it may or may not work for you Magellan Maestro 3100 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Perfect for the locationally challenged, and affordable too!
I purchased this GPS for my fiance last Christmas. Living near Boston poses its directional challenges (Big Dig, anyone?), but to add to that, I sometimes think the boy might have trouble finding his way out of a paper bag. I tend to have a better sense of direction, but even so, a GPS is one of those things that you never really realize how much you would need it or rely on it until you have one.
It was a great price, and it was perfect – just a GPS that gets you from point A to point B, with voice commands and a touch screen. No camera or phone or any other crazy contraption imbedded in it to make it more complicated or unnecessarily expensive. It tends to have trouble with city streets because buildings block the signal, but overall we’ve both been really happy with it. I snag it when I can if I need to go somewhere new. It was the best gift he didn’t even realize he wanted!
Amazing from the Start
This product has been helpful on several occasions already. I tried it around town first to make sure it knew the best/quickest ways to get around and it passed with flying colors. It’s built in avoid system is very nice for when you’re low on cash and can’t afford tolls. Very easy to use right out of the box. Screen is large enough to view from the farthest point on your windshield. The change from light to dark streets at night is an amazing feature, it tones down the brightness so your not binded everytime you look at it while driving down those dark streets. The sound quality is good, however if your like me and like listening to fairly loud music, you might need to check the screen more often to make sure you dont miss a turn. If you do miss a turn the GPS quickly gets you back on track the easiest way it can. I have taken it on long and short trips and hasn’t let me down yet. This is a Great buy!! I’m now getting two more for my parents.
the unit stinks
DO NOT PURCHASE THIS UNIT !!!!! I WAS TOLD I WOULD RECEIVE 1 FREE UPDATE WHEN I PURCHASED IT !! WHEN THE UPDATE CAME OUT THEY TOLD ME IT WOULD COST ME $80. I E-MAILED THEM AND TRIED TO EXPLAIN WHAT I WAS TOLD AND THEY REFUSED TO HONOR THE UPGRADE. THE POINTS OF INTEREST ARE VERY LIMITED. MY WIFE HAS A GARMIN AND IT IS GREAT!!! 6MILLION POINTS OF INTERESTS AND 1 FREE UPDATE. I TELL EVERYBODY TO STAY AWAY FROM THEM AND BUY A GARMIN. THE ONLY REASON I PURCHASED IT WAS THE FREE UPDATE. THE MAPS ARE 2006 AND IT WAS A GOOD PRICE. i WILL NEVER BUY A MAGELLAN AGAIN!!!!
MIDWEST GRANDMA
GREAT INEXPENSIVE GPS FOR GRANDSON THAT COULDN’T FIND HIS WAY TO COLLEGE AND BACK EVERY DAY IF THERE WAS A DETOUR, WRONG PARKING GARAGE, ETC.!WELL WORTH THE MONEY, SIMPLE TO USE,SEEMS VERY DEPENDABLE AFTER FIRST 2 MONTHS! EVEN WORKED FOR THE OLD FOLKS THAT BORROWED IT ONCE.
Good value But… Poor volume level
Received this in a timely manner from Tiger Direct thru Amazon.com… I liked the unit, it had all of the basic features that I needed but… after a 2 week trial I found that the volume just wasn’t loud enough. With the windows open or the radio on at a comfortable volume, I just couldn’t make out the audio instructions that the unit spouted, even at it’s highest volume setting… Nice unit, but I returned it…
Nice unit
Works fine, reliable just would like to see an enhanced database but works great as a basic unit.
Can’t tell right from left!
In general the product has excellent features considering its price making it in my opinion an excellent value. There is one anomaly which is bothersome however. At the final destination the unit frequently will inform you the destination is to the right when in reality the destination is to the left, the same being true for the other opposite final destination.
Not complicated
I recently purchased mine. So far, very simple to use. I look forward to sitting down and going thru all the options.
Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS navigator
I purchased this item for my daughter for her birthday because I already had one. It’s convenient and for the price, it has great features. I love it!!
Magellen 3100 GPS
The best “Bang for the Buck” No Bluetooth, No MP3 Player, No loading pictures….Just a great basic GPS for your travels. The 3100 comes with a fewer number of Points of Interest than other comparable GPS units. But, you can go to the Magellan website and download or they will send you a disk for $4.95. This upgrade will give you nearly 3 times the POI.
The only “Issue” I have is that my large finger don’t always “fit” some of the selection boxes on the screen. I have found it much easier to use a PDA stylus or ball point pen with the tip retracted for making selections on the touch screen.
This unit has met all of my expections for a auto navigation system.
Very nice….and reasonable
I Purchased the Maestro 3100 in July 2008, and put it to use right away. It was great, right out of the box…simple to use, and responsive.
Two things could be improved…the volume (maxed out) is very difficult to hear over the radio (turned low), and also, someone having a phone conversation in your vehicle.
The display colors could be more vibrant…they get washed out in sunlight…but, for the price ($129.00), it is a very good buy, and gets the job done.
Gerald J. Cifaldi
Best entry level GPS out there
WOW. You can get this GPS for a song and it has everything you need to get going right out of the box. It might not have some of the features that some of the other higher priced units have but I like to use my other devices for phone and mp3 playing anyway. Text to speech is also not on this device but not needed at all. A chime rings when you need to turn, plus it gives you plenty of warning.
Only thing I would change is the low number of POI’s. Other than that. This is a great little unit.