| Author | Message | ||
     Dennis_c |
Which Zumo should I get 550 $899 660 $799 The 660 is the newness one. | ||
| Froggy |
The 660 is junk and an inferior unit. Only plus of the 660 is bigger screen | ||
| Court |
I have a 550 and it is excellent. Screen is plenty big. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The other thing about the 550 is it has XM capability; 660 does not. IIRC, the 550 can also do MP3s. Music is a concern for me on longer rides; I went MD to FL solo one day a couple years ago (pre-iPod). 13 hours flat, on the road, solo, with nothing but wind and exhaust. That was TOO long inside my own head. I don't want my iPod to be thumpin' or even all that full-range for sound...I just need that "tinka-tink-tink" in the background to distract me from time to time. Eventually I'll step up to a 550 with bluetooth for the music...but for now, I'm cheap (poor), so I'll stick with my 3rd gen Shuffle and wired headphones  | ||
| Firstbatch |
Netiher! Garmin GPS Map 478 rocks and can be had factory re-furb for less than $475 | ||
| Pullmesideways |
I just got the 550 with XM and Traffic. Those features rock, I couldn't imagine getting the 660. I will second what court said the screen is plenty big on the 550. | ||
| Dennis_c |
Thanks everybody I think I will go with the 550. | ||
| Metalstorm |
I'm thinking the smaller screen of the 550 might be a plus as well. Narrower package would probably fit a small compact bike better than the wider 660. Not including the extra bells & whistles, just in reference to how the actual navigating/mapping, speed of finding routes and accuracy works, is the 660 really worse than the 550? This inquiring mind wants to know | ||
| Missin44 |
I looked at the Zumo but will be getting the Nuvi 550 instead. The with the Zumo being 2.5 to 3 times the cost I couldn't justify the extra $'s. Anyway take a look at Costco online, they have the Zumo 550 with Midland Bluetooth Intercom System(BT2) for $750. (Message edited by missin44 on September 21, 2009) | ||
| Ratbuell |
I don't think the Nuvi is waterproof...zumo is. And if it's anything like my Quest II, it's waterPROOF. I've been in drown-a-duck rain with my Q2 and its never acted up. | ||
| Court |
I have the Zumo for the bikes and the Nuvi for the car. Nuvi will not work well on a bike. It's not made to stand up to either the dust or the moisture. I can't recall where . . . it should be easy to find with a search . . but some of us here on Badweb bought the Zumo 550 for quite a bit less . . I think it was around $600. The Nuvi's have come down on price though. Mine was around $800 (it was more than the Zumo) when I bought it. Both of them rock and Garmin's customer service is top notch. My ONLY gripe is that I have to be updates for EACH unit every year. I wish I could buy the 2009 software and install in both. It's the same software, just a "one package per unit" deal. The other thing I'd recommend is the screen protector for the Zumo. Finally put mine on after a year and it looks like it's going to work well. | ||
| Missin44 |
}I don't think the Nuvi is waterproof...zumo is. And if it's anything like my Quest II, it's waterPROOF. I've been in drown-a-duck rain with my Q2 and its never acted up. Actually it is, lots use the Nuvi. Even the Garmin website says it's waterproof and suitable for motorcycles. (Message edited by blake on September 21, 2009) | ||
| Rwven |
The Nuvi 500 & 550 are waterproof. They are the same unit with different maps loaded. No sound out though so you can't feed the directions to your helmet. The 510 has bluetooth but is a European model. | ||
| Missin44 |
The Nuvi's have no Bluetooth, MP3, XM or Headphone Jack, none is something I want or need. | ||
| Court |
Garmin does indeed say the Nuvi is waterproof, But . . . as I look at mine and see all the openings (antenna, SD card, earphone port) it sure does not LOOK waterproof. But . . .mine is 2 years old and the new ones may be constructed differently. I'd call Garmin in Olathe, KS and get the skinny. EDIT: I nlooking at the detailed photos of the 500 it is much differnet than my 800 series and does not seem to have all the openings. I see they also make a "scooter mount" so it may work on a motorcycle. (Message edited by court on September 21, 2009) | ||
| Ratbuell |
Hm, my fault. I must not have read the copy correctly on garmin.com. Either that, or the combination of coffee deficiency and dry contact lenses kept me from seeing....well, much of anything LOL. Sorry | ||
| Missin44 |
But . . . as I look at mine and see all the openings (antenna, SD card, earphone port) it sure does not LOOK waterproof. Take a look at the Youtube link I posted earlier Also the Zumo has the external controls setup for the left hand. Anyway all the things the Zumo has are nice to have, but for me the extra cost isn't worth it. For me I might pay an extra $100, but that's me. Obviously not the case for all. You should also be aware that the Nuvi 500 and 550 are the only ones in the Nuvi line that are waterproof. (Message edited by missin44 on September 21, 2009) (Message edited by missin44 on September 21, 2009) | ||
| Supertoon |
Picked up a killer deal on a new 660 while I still had my 550. Compared them both before selling the 550 for more than i paid for the 660. So far so good with the 660. Much prefer the pocket-ability of the 660 and the simplified moto mount ( no frigging security screw.) I never had XM so no big loss for me, much prefer loading mps's on a card anyway. Remember everybody thought the 550 was a piece of shite and now it is the market standard. | ||
| Blake |
>>>as I look at mine and see all the openings We know, there are photos. | ||
| Jim_williams |
Best gps is the chartplotter series. I switched from the276c to azumo so that i could have easier voice/music integration several years ago. It works great for that, but, in comparison it is dumbed down. I really miss everything my 276c did. I wish garmin would come out with a unit with the gpsmap platform, but include Bluetooth and mp3. I'd pay whatever it cost | ||
| Froggy |
It is, I plan on upgrading to a older Garmin over the winter. I can't stand the limitations of the Zumos. The newer the unit, the more dumbed down and lacking in features it is. If the 7500 was waterproof, it would be epic, complete with its 7" screen. | ||
| Supertoon |
Actually I like the simplicity of the 550/660. I need a gps for one reason, to simply get me from point a to point b via the route I select. The zumos do this perfectly. As a bonus it takes half a second to sync your BT phone for in car use, has an excellent interface for playing music via earbuds on the go and recalculations are quick if you feel like deviating from your planned route. Perhaps as the 550 was my first GPS,( with exception of the Tom Tom mapping on a pda) I don't know what I'm missing with the older models. I can't imagine hitting the road without it now... | ||
| Froggy |
You are missing part of your maps with the newer units. Even when set to "Most Detail", they often won't show side streets. Most newer units lack detailed satellite data, no customization of the interface, no option to navigate to a zip code, can't disable road lock, can't disable the auto shutoff on power loss, hell it can't do half the stuff my piece of crap Garmin Quest can. It is irritating, especially how most of that data is in the diagnostic screen, but you can't navigate while in diagnostics! Oh, and Mapsource sucks  | ||
| Supertoon |
So ,let me get this straight, you don't see a zumo in your future..... Thats cool, I still don't think it is a piece of junk. | ||
| Kevinaye |
I used the 550 zumo in my Euro trip for 2 months. There were definately times where I would have struggled without it. In general though I was very dissapointed. The extra features..... MP3- the sound is pathetic. It does not sync with my Blackberry storm. The voice commands are very hard to hear at any thing above 40km , on a fully faired bike. I finally turned off the bluetooth as I found the commands annoying. The unit frequently gave me incorrect directions and didn't show roads on my maps. Sometimes didn't recognise roads I would be in the process of riding. POI's- I had a mechanical in France. If you search a mechanic it will only give you car dealers. This really pissed me off for a motorcycle specific unit that is considerably more expensive than a car unit. Many of the POI's are out of date. And finally, mapsource is shite. | ||
| Dennis_c |
I,m going to go with the 550 Thanks everybody | ||
| Thegibbon |
The 450 is another consideration, and should cost considerably less than the 550 if you don't care about bluetooth - otherwise it's the same. | ||
| Wbrisett |
You have to find a 450. Ironically, a lot of places are selling it for more than the 550. Crazy. But that being said, I didn't need or want all the audio stuff from the 550, so I bought a 450 a few years back. Wayne | ||
| Galloper |
I'm so happy with my Garmin GPSMap 278 No MP3 No Bluetooth This thing navigates the route I made the way I want it. It shows the info I want during navigation: Speed, Altitude, ETA, Time. | ||
| Chadhargis |
I have an old Garmin GPS V. I keep thinking about getting rid of it, but it just works. It doesn't talk (just beeps). It isn't in color. I has a tiny screen. But it works. I can put a route in it, and get anywhere I need to go. I also have AT&T Navigator on my iPhone which is okay in a pinch, but it's not very good. | ||
| Dynasport |
I just purchased a used Garmin 2720 on ebay, shipped to my house for less than $100. I wanted the 550, but I wanted my money more. I also bought a new Garmin motorcycle mounting kit for $35. I already had a RAM mount on my bike that I mounted the bracket in the motorcycle on. So, for $135 I have a waterproof, pretty nice GPS. I can download a new map for $60 off the Garmin website if the map in the unit is not the latest. The unit arrives tomorrow. Hopefully everything will work as advertised. We'll see. The motorcycle mount kit has a plug for headphones, but that is only for directions. The 2720 doesn't play MP3s, which is a bummer as I'd love to have the tunes on a long trip. Maybe I can figure out some kind of splitter to wire an iPod and the GPS to my headphones at the same time. Surely RadioShack has something. | ||
| Froggy |
Dyna, got a link to the auction? If its a Garmin refurbished unit, you get the latest maps for free. | ||
| Dynasport |
Froggy, the unit I bought was not refurbished, nor did it come with the normal accessories, but I am OK with that for the price I paid. I bought it only for use on the bike, I have a Nuvi for the car, so all I needed was the MC mount kit. It is supposed to work, though, which was really the main thing I was concerned with. I bid on several before I ended up with this one, but with some patience and persistence it can be done. Here is a link to another one by the same seller I bought mine from. There seems to be a good supply of these on ebay, with the nicer more complete units selling for $200-400, but the occasional one does gor for $100. http://cgi.ebay.com/Garmin-StreetPilot-2720-Portab le-GPS-Navigation_W0QQitemZ140346686002QQcmdZViewI temQQptZGPS_Devices?hash=item20ad507a32&_trksid=p4 634.c0.m14.l1262 |
