Whoever interested in.......... Magellan 3225 GPS

[jeff41]

I followed these instructions:

First, credits to Timekeeper and dgoeken for sharing their information and expertise. Before starting, backup your 3200.

1. Get the 6M POI file using Timekeepers instructions on the first post of this topic.
2. Create a MAP subdirectory on an SD card (I used a 2G)
3. Copy the 6M POI file (US48_POI.POI) to the MAP subdir on SD card
4. Copy the following 3 files from the 3200 to the MAP sudirectory on the SD card:
Index.mct, NRBM_NA.MGI, and US48.IMI (Do not delete them from the 3200).
5. Edit the Media.cfg file on the 3200 so that #POI Map Data points to
\SDMMC Card\Map
6. When the 3200 is disconnected, it should reset automatically. If not reset with paperclip.
7. Without the SD card inserted, 3200 should map but not POI.
8. Insert SD card and reset with paperclip - 3200 should now map and POI. Anytime you remove SD card while 3200 is on, the unit will need to be reset when the SD card is re-inserted. If SD card stays in unit, you can turn it off and on at will and it will map and POI.
I plan to keep the SD card in the 3200.

for the 3200. I have a 1gb card. Copying all 3 files and the POI file is too large for a 1gb card. I copied Index.mct, NRBM_NA.MGI, and US48_POI.POI (not copying US48.IMI) and tried it. Everything works great. The main difference I notice is the "other services" option in the POI's.

Thanks for everything.

 

[iyshsh]

Where do I find the two .rar files

 

[ecolive]

Originally posted by: iyshsh
Where do I find the two .rar files

Just look into page "1" of this forum...

 

[iyshsh]

I still don't see where to download those two files. Are they in the maps folder?

 

[Bill Kunert]

The very first post of this thread (page 1 of 13) has it.

 

[sontakke]

The route to one of my favorite destination is completely screwed up. From New England (MA01886) area to NJ07733 it is showing 305 miles. Most other maps show about 254 miles. After looking at the generated route by Magellan, it has taken me off GS Pkway South and brought me back on GS Pkway North to add extra 50 miles. I have seen similar insane behavior from Magellan units in the past.

Verification/simulation of a route before starting the journey is not easy. One has to trust the GPS to take you to your destination in a reasonably straight forward road. I can understand that it might not be the absolute best road but leaving the current road, taking a detour and re-joining the same road but from the opposite direction is beyond insane.

Anybody in North East want to see the route generated to NJ07733 ? I use the default fastest route and Avoid-Toll is NOT checked.

I am glad this is from Costco. As soon as I find a better Garmin, this is going back.

- Vikas

 

[TimeKeeper]

Originally posted by: sontakke
The route to one of my favorite destination is completely screwed up. From New England (MA01886) area to NJ07733 it is showing 305 miles. Most other maps show about 254 miles. After looking at the generated route by Magellan, it has taken me off GS Pkway South and brought me back on GS Pkway North to add extra 50 miles. I have seen similar insane behavior from Magellan units in the past.

Verification/simulation of a route before starting the journey is not easy. One has to trust the GPS to take you to your destination in a reasonably straight forward road. I can understand that it might not be the absolute best road but leaving the current road, taking a detour and re-joining the same road but from the opposite direction is beyond insane.

Anybody in North East want to see the route generated to NJ07733 ? I use the default fastest route and Avoid-Toll is NOT checked.

I am glad this is from Costco. As soon as I find a better Garmin, this is going back.

- Vikas

As much as I am such a die-hard fan for Nuvi for now. ( I have tested enough GPS )
I must warn you that no routing engine is perfect. Either, Garmin's Navteq or TomTom's TeleAltas.

It is best to see how much you willing to spend for "better" GPS and go from there.

 

[ecolive]

I just came back from Vacation in Canada...

The 3225 worked VERY WELL... in Quebec and Ontario.

Something interesting to mention... when driving in 401 West near Toronto, the unit steered me to switch from the Express lane to the collectors lane and then back to the Express lane a few times. Not sure whether this was on purpose to minimize traffic. I remember when I use to live in the area that in some spots the "collectors lanes" would move faster than the express lanes.

POIs in Canada were not bad... I found the restaurante chain I was looking for and the neareast gas station with no problems.

In Quebec it worked well even in the country side, going from Ottawa to Montebello.

By the way, the unit beats hands down the NEVERLOST available in the car I rented. The two GPSs were in agreement most of the time, but when they were not, the 3225 was the one to be followed for sure.

I still think this is a great unit for the price. Show me a better unit with TTS for 179 bucks... it does not exist yet !

 

[sontakke]

I understand bad routing engines but anything which makes you travel both south and north on the road to a destination is broken.

With other brands, you could call the customer service and someone would at least investigate this and might get eventually fixed but with Magellan that is not an option

 

[mvassal]

All, follow literally the instructions by TimeKeeper. After installing the new file on the 3225, all 6M POIs are there, working without a glitch, like a charm! I did, and it works very nicely. Guaranteed. The price to pay is that now it takes a bit longer when creating the route to one of the 6M POIs.

Don't buy any more expensive GPS gadgets. You don't need blue-tooth, M3 playing, picture viewing and the like. If you need a good GPS navigator, at reasonable price buy the 3225, download and install the above file(s), and you've a top-notch GPS navigator.

mvassal

 

[ecolive]

Originally posted by: sontakke
I understand bad routing engines but anything which makes you travel both south and north on the road to a destination is broken.

With other brands, you could call the customer service and someone would at least investigate this and might get eventually fixed but with Magellan that is not an option

I agree with you that it does not make sense... I have not seen that myself...
The only interesting thing I saw is that the TTS can change the way it says a name, depending on the routing you are coming from to a given street.

For instance, XXXXX PKY can be read and " XXX PARKWAY" in many instances, but in one specific way to reach this street the TTS says: "XXX P K Y" ... spelling P, K, and Y individually. Other than that, and using it in many areas, this unit seems very good. It beats the Tomtom hands down in re-routing to a resonable path and not telling me to do a legal U-turn for miles and then trying to steer me to turn right in every block.

The Magellan quickly realized my intention was to get to the interstate and went directly to the routing I wanted...

But I can understand your frustration with the North/South thing...

 

[sontakke]

Anybody else who is north of Homdel NJ can check routing to Homdel destination?

- Vikas

 

[Engineerguy]

Has anyone noticed that the 3225 only uses Miles and never seem to use feet when it is giving direction? Is this normal for a gps unit?

 

[TimeKeeper]

Originally posted by: Engineerguy
Has anyone noticed that the 3225 only uses Miles and never seem to use feet when it is giving direction? Is this normal for a gps unit?

Usually Garmin and Magellan using "Feet/ Miles". TomTom / Mios using "Yard/ Miles" (some can switch between feet/ yard)

When annoucing, it tends to use 0.xx miles in high speed. Unless you are in slower speed or traffic, then it will annoucing "xxx feet/ xxx yard" .

So, there is nothing wrong.

 

[arfsk]

Just so I am clear on this: the POI download for the 3225 ONLY includes US data? Does that mean that there will be NO POI's for Canada at all? Or does that mean that there will only be the 17mb of POI's as before.

I had bought the 3225 at Costco for $199 CDN but found the minimal POI list too small for me. I returned it and bought the 3210 at WalMart for $277, which includes the 6 million + the AAA data. All this is fine, but more than I wanted to spend. I just discovered this forum and excellent thread. If I can go back to the 3225 and have the 6 million POI and also the Canadian ones on the unit, then I would be very happy. Thanks.

 

[imported_Dunnomuch]

Originally posted by: arfsk
Just so I am clear on this: the POI download for the 3225 ONLY includes US data? Does that mean that there will be NO POI's for Canada at all? Or does that mean that there will only be the 17mb of POI's as before.

I had bought the 3225 at Costco for $199 CDN but found the minimal POI list too small for me. I returned it and bought the 3210 at WalMart for $277, which includes the 6 million + the AAA data. All this is fine, but more than I wanted to spend. I just discovered this forum and excellent thread. If I can go back to the 3225 and have the 6 million POI and also the Canadian ones on the unit, then I would be very happy. Thanks.

The 3225 has POI data for all regions that it has maps for (US48, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Puerto Rico). The 6M figure for POI data is actually the total for all regions. As mentioned earlier in the quite long thread, the larger US48 file has ~4.8M POI. The larger US48 POI file is the only one that is in the download but I believe it is the only one that is different for the 3225 vs 3250/4250.

Of course the AAA feature/data is not in the 3225 but it has TTS. As with all recent Magellan Maestros you can create custom POI files as well.

If WalMart has no restocking fee you have nothing to lose by trying the 3225 with enhanced POI data since Costco has no restocking fee.

 

[arfsk]

Originally posted by: Dunnomuch

Originally posted by: arfsk


Of course the AAA feature/data is not in the 3225 but it has TTS. As with all recent Magellan Maestros you can create custom POI files as well.

If WalMart has no restocking fee you have nothing to lose by trying the 3225 with enhanced POI data since Costco has no restocking fee.

I did not notice this when I was buying that the 3210 does not have TTS, which is a feature that I really want so it goes back tomorrow morning. I did like the POI database (the 3210 is listed as having 6 million) and the AAA data. I may well just buy the 3225 and try the POI download to see what happens.

 

[newmagellanuser]

I've downloaded the two rar files, now I can not find the FREE winrar software you mentioned. Where can I find it? It seems many sites are charging about $20 for it.

 

[newmagellanuser]

Found the free WinRar download. Got passed the passwords, but your directions arent clear after that. Do I highlight both files and extract? Extract to what directory? Overwrite and replace what? Where is the GPS file located at or how would I find it? I only see the Magellan POI editor folder

 

[TimeKeeper]

Originally posted by: newmagellanuser
I've downloaded the two rar files, now I can not find the FREE winrar software you mentioned. Where can I find it? It seems many sites are charging about $20 for it.

http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
Trial version will work

 

[newmagellanuser]

I was able to find the map folder and believed I extracted the two new files to it. How can I check if I have the increased POIs in the folder?

 

[newmagellanuser]

where can I go to update the latest map software for this Magellan 3225?

 

[newmagellanuser]

the us48_poi file shows 193,306 kb; does this reflect that the new increased POI took?

 

[bluefmc]

the new CANADA_POI.poi you can download from the first post is identical to the CANADA_POI.poi on my magellan 3225 with the 1.36 firmware. i did a binary comparison of the two files.

newmagellanuser, yes the new US48_POI.POI file should be 193,306 KB.

 

[gpsfreak]

Message to Timekeeper:

Is there a way to enhance the Magellan 3225 (version 1.14/29 and -1) with mp3 or photo viewer capabilities maybe thru the SD Card slot or another method?
Is there a way to allow the OS on the 3225 to recognize a bluetooth USB connection?

Thanks to TimeKeeper, now I have 6million POIs on my new Magellan 3225!