After much research and debate, I decided to purchase the Magellan Maestro 4040 GPS unit ( http://www.magellangps.com/products/....asp?segID=408 ) which retails at $449. I purchased it for $299 @ RadioShack. No Wal-Marts or anything within a 100 mile radius had it at that price. Only ONE RadioShack had it in stock and at that price, and they only had one left...haha...thank God I made it.

I nearly went with the TomTom One XLS which was cheaper, or the Navigon 2100t which has free lifetime traffic service, but I ultimately chose the Maestro 4040 for it'* features and its $150 off sale price. This thing has the new SiRFStarIII GPS chip which is the top of the line GPS receiver, as well as a huge 4.3" screen (the other units I considered were 3.5), integrated bluetooth dialing / speakerphone, and SayWhere text-to-speech, as well as alot of AAA services such as restaurant rankings and reviews and Roadside Assistance.

Overall, I LOVE it, and now hopefully I won't get lost enroute to the next BonnevilleClub meet

Be glad you didn't go with the navigon, the interface on them is really clunky and it doesn't like to register addresses correctly when you type it in. I'm personally a fan of Garmin just because of the sheer amount of points of interest that they have, but the Magellans are pretty feature packed for what you pay.

I have the magellan 4000 and we love it. It has helped us out a lot.

I just returned my 4040 and purchased a 4050. It was $100 more, but it includes the TrafficKit (a $100 value) and the Voice Command (also a $100 value). I could have bought the seperate TrafficKit and Voice Command upgrades for the 4040 but that would have cost me an extra $100. By purchasing the 4050, I get the exact same features for $100 less.

I decided to upgrade to the 4050 because of the fact that trying to key in information while driving was pretty hazardous (I was swerving alot, lol), so the Voice Command is REALLY a plus, not to mention the ability to factor in traffic accidents and slowdowns into my route automatically. Plus it came with a free 3 month subscription

Magellan 4050 FTW!

I just got a Garmin Nuvi 360 from work and a Magellan 4040 for x-mas. They are both great units overall and each have their own good/bad points, so I guess its personal pref between the two.

Does the voice command work well?

Yes, actually the Voice Command works well. It doesn't have alot of options though (i.e. you can't input addresses via voice YET),but I think that will change with a software update sometime in the future. You CAN say things like "Magellan - find a restaurant" and then it will ask you what kind, and then find and direct you to the nearest one. Theres alot you can do with Voice Command, and the SayWhere text-to-speech is very cool as well.

FYI: The Magellan 4040 has a software update (very easy to do) that takes it from Firmware version 2.04 (depending on the date of manufacture I think) to the newest version 2.36. There are A LOT of bug issues fixed, as well as route calculations, start-up time, etc. are improved. It also upgrades your 4040 to having the ability to turn on Voice Command via purchasing an Unlock Key for $99.