Garmin nüvi 550 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
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The Garmin nuvi 550 will guide you while you drive, hike, bike or boat. Go sightseeing with geotagged images from Garmin Connect Photos or see your terrain with the digital elevation model basemap. The nuvi 550 comes preloaded with highly detailed City Navigator maps. The preloaded map data features millions of points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs and attractions. The map data is provided by NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping. Geocaching, including Wherigo Platform player Built-in DEM Basemap (Digital Elevation Model) 3.5 QVGA color antiglare TFT with white Backlight Touchscreen Display – 320 x 240 Pixels User replaceable lithium-ion battery – up to 8 hours depending on use Dimensions – Width 4.21 x Height 3.35 x Depth 0.9 (10.7×8.5×2.3cm) Weight – 7.6 ounces (215 grams)
Features
- High-Sensitivity GPS Receiver For Improved Performance And Reception
- Built-In 3D Basemap
- Built-In US Maps
- 3.5-Inch Display, 320 X 240 Pixels
- Easy Touch-Screen Interface
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 3 x 4 x 1 inches
- Weight: 1 pounds
Be AWARE Topo maps NOT! included
The picture shows, topo maps. They are not included though! You must PAY more for them.
I went round and round with garmin about it.
The demo video on the garmin site shows them havening topo maps, (which is why i bought the 550) but in fact you have to buy them separately.
Just buy the 500 as i found out the hard way. The 500 comes with topo maps loaded so you don’t have to buy them separately.
At this point i hate to give garmin any good press, but i do like the unit. Easy to use, accurate, good satellite reception as far as in car use.
I don’t know how the topo maps work so i cant comment on that.
Which brings me to a question i have. Why would someone buy the 550, a waterproof GPS that you can only use in your car!. Nobody at garmin has been able to answer that.
Sorry for the rant.
Anyways
A quick summery: If you are looking at this unit. Just buy the 500.
Not WAAS Enabled
This GPS works as well as any other Nuvi product for auto navigation. As a matter of fact, it works great for auto navigation in my experience. However, this unit is billed as a crossover GPS that is also suitable for marine, geocaching, hiking, and other outdoor use, and it falls well short in all these categories.
Pros:
- Works great for auto navigation.
Cons:
- The compass does not work (completely stops responding to any changes in direction) for hiking navigation under or near any cover (small trees, buildings, etc).
- The trackback feature doesn’t work for anything in my estimation. It tells you to follow the track log on the screen (which you could do without an extra feature), but gives you no indication when you stray off the track.
- The accuracy of your moving direction on the map screen is HIGHLY suspect. I’ve changed direction by 90 degrees, and the GPS doesn’t recognize the change in direction until I’ve walked 100-500 ft. It keeps happily tracking along in a straight line until it catches up, and then re-draws the last 100-500 ft. You would spend a lot of time lost if you were depending on this thing for outdoor navigation.
- This unit is NOT WAAS-enabled despite documentation on Garmin’s website and retailer product descriptions.
- The accuracy for outdoor use is highly suspect. Sometimes it brings you right to your waypoint, sometimes it brings you 100 ft away.
- The speed does not work (completely stops responding) for hiking navigation under or near any cover (small trees, buildings, etc).
- No screen lock or lanyard attachment points. I knew about this before purchasing, but they are significant shortcomings for a crossover GPS.
This unit works great for auto navigation, but you can get a much cheaper unit for auto navigation. I would assume that many people are interested in this unit for outdoor use in addition to auto navigation, and it doesn’t perform well in the outdoors. Garmin packed it with outdoor features, but they either don’t work or were falsely advertised from the beginning (WAAS).
great
I have only 1 problem with this unit it did not come with any USB cable or wall plug in so if you are thinking of buying this garmin make sure you also order a USB cable
Garmin nuvi 550
Was very pleased with the Garmin nuvi 550, I am using it for travel and Geocaching.
NO TOPO MAPS AS ADVERTISED!
Good unit but don’t be fooled by the product description indicating that topo maps are loaded on the nuvi 550; there are no topo maps on this unit. Wish I would have read more of the reviews before purchasing! Now I have to buy the topo map sd card for $100.00. Furthermore, Garmin’s website is poor at best for this unit ie many of the drop downs don’t even list it as an option. Moral of the story- the 500 and 550 are different units and don’t be fooled by the product description like I was!
Potable Garmin 550 for road and cross-country hiking and biking.
Like it. Robust and reliable. Designed for outdoor mobile use. Worth the extra price.
Excellent GPS for Motorcycles at a Good Price!
I’m very happy with this product for the price paid! I had a Zumo 450 in the past and thought it was great, but the price was too high! The lower cost allowed me to buy more farkles for my FJR!
This is THE one!
This Garmin Nuvi 550 is THE one! This one is waterproof, plus it has it all! We can use our 550 in our vehicle for turn-by-turn directions to the lake, then transfer it to our boat and use it while navigating on the water. We can also use it for hiking, or biking – this one GPS has it all, plus it was reasonably priced through Amazon so we can afford to go out and actually use it! Way to go Garmin! Garmin nüvi 550 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
nuvi 550
Excellent product, only issue I have is the off on button it is accidently shut off or on if you move it, need a lock like othr garmins.
The Ultimate Christmas Gift
I got this as a Christmas present for my son-in-law. He loves it. It was the first present he opened and the first box he tore into and assembled. He really likes the waterproof feature and the ability to get lake and river maps. He plans on using for auto, boat and motorcycling trips.
Garmin Nuvi 550
I bought this GPS to use on my motorcycle. If you don’t want to spend alot of money for a Garmin Zumo this is a excellant choice.
Very good product.
This product unit is easy to use compared to others brands that are to do the same as this unit product.
good gps for all weather situations
High points are that you can use it in the rain and if you buy a second battery, you are good to go for an all day bike ride. Initially disappointed that it lacked Text-to-speech, but later learned that garmin had a software update so solved that issue. Very easy to use. I wouldn’t recommend for mostly auto usage because the software isn’t as sophisticated as I am accustomed to with my Garmin Streetpilot 2730. Haven’t used the bicycle routing feature yet and haven’t found many online posts on the subject, which is a little disconcerting but I assume it will not route me on any interstate highways! Otherwise, a good buy and definitely recommend it if you think you need a water-resistant GPS.
Garmin nüvi 550 for the motorcycle
I got the Nuvi 550 for my motorcycle because I didn’t want to spend $700 for the Zumo 550 or 660. This is the 5th Garmin that I now own, including the Nuvi 660. The buttons are easy to find and press with gloves on and the first thing I noticed is that the Favorites button is on the SECOND page after pressing Where To? Personally, I use the Favorites almost exclusively as I enter in all waypoints through Map Source and I find this inconvenient and a wasted extra step. The Nuvi 660 Favorites are on the FIRST page and I suspect this is because of the wider screen. I have yet to figure out if I can move the button locations. Also, the Nuvi 550 and 660 provide different routing; the 660 is more direct. I wonder if it is because the maps are different versions. Regardless, they both get you there. I’d rather have the widescreen on the 550, but that would involve purchasing the bug-laden Zumo 660 for $400 more. The major differences are Bluetooth and XM; the Nuvi 550 does not have them built-in or available and weren’t worth the paying the extra $400 to get them in a Zumo. I have Bluetooth set up through my helmet headset so this is not an issue.
Overall the Nuvi 550 seems OK and is up to typical Garmin standards. As there aren’t many options in the waterproof category, I opted to save $400 and go with the Nuvi 550. I’m sure it will serve me well over the years until something better comes along for the money.
I would recommend the Nuvi 550 for outdoor use on a motorcycle or bicycle. I also bought the RAM mounts for it.
Close but not quite there
The 550 is not bad but seems to be confusing to use while driving. This unit will tell you to turn when you should be going straight. On several occasions I have entered an address on to be led a block away or the wrong side of the highway. At intersections with turning lanes, dividers or anything other than a four way intersection this does not always show all the roads at the intersections only the route. This makes it difficult to navigate as you choose which way to go. The unit will only tell you that you went the wrong way after a 100-feet or so. It will get you close but not the quality I expected.
Wonderful!!!
This is a wonderful product! So easy to use and we’ve purchased our maps to use on the boat!
Lost? Not Me!
The Garmin 550 is easy to use. I like its multi-functions. I bought it for my motorcycle. No wires to mess with and the battery lasts up to 8 hours. If that’s not long enough I just plug it into my power plug on my Electra Glide. Even though I can’t hear the instructions at freeway speeds the screen is easy to read. Showing the street names makes it an easy adventure. Being waterproof has its advantages of course. You never know when your’e going to come across a storm on a road trip. Directions are easy to follow. You can read and download the manual on line.I have only had it for 3 months, but I wish I had bought one sooner. No more guess work. A big thumbs up!!!!!!!!!!
Nuvi 550 fine for autos limited for boating
The Nuvi 550 is a very fine GPS for general automotive use, but less handy for boating. I bought my Nuvi 550 because I had the BlueChart maps for boating that I used on my Garmin GPS V before it died.
First, the Nuvi 550 is limited in the ability to customize its settings, both for automotive use and particulary for boating use. Compared to the GPS V, the Nuvi 550 is very limited in the settings options. In the GPS V, I could select speeds for individual highway types and then choose between shortest route or quickest route. The Nuvi 550 does not allow you to customize those settings. You can only pick shortest route or quickest route, which often will put you on city streets when you want to be on highways, or on freeways when you want to be on two-lane highways.
On-screen button pushing sequences get laborious. If you go deep in the menu, you can’t just jump straight out to the top menu, you must laboriously work your way back out the menu the way you came it. Setting points for a route can become quite tedious.
For boating, the Nuvi 550 has limited route finding capabilities. For example, I’m on a river and want to plot a course to a distant city on the river. The Nuvi 550 will plot a straight line through the surrounding terrain instead of the shortest path on the river. You would think that if you are in boating mode, it would not allow the boat to go through land, but it does. The worst part of using it for boating is you cannot select the boat speed to get an ETA to your destination. Clearly this is a major oversight.
Good points on the Nuvi 550, it acquires satellites very quickly.
Great for the car; So-so for walking
We used this on vacation (close to 5000 miles all total). It does great. But make sure you take a map with you too.
DRIVING: At times it won’t select the best route. We used it a month ago to go about an hour and a half from here. I told it to take us the fastest route (and didnt’ have a paper map w/me). It took us on some unbelievably poor back, back roads. We’re talking ONE lane gravel. When I got my Blackberry out to double check things w/Google maps, I discovered we could have taken interstate to within 10 miles of our destination, then 9.5 miles on a two lane blacktop road, then just a half mile on the back roads to our destination. Otherwise it does great.
WALKING: I chose this model b/c it had hiking, biking, driving, etc. modes. It should do great retracing my tracks if I get lost while hiking. I was hoping I could take it walking too …. so I could track how far I went and how fast I walked. That didn’t work so well. While walking the speed would fluctuate between 0 and various other speeds (1 mph, 3 mph, 4… etc.) even though I had not changed my pace. (this is why I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars)
Overall — it’s works really well and I’m glad I got it.
Go with G.P.S.
When I was looking for a GPS for my Harley I was amazed at the price point for the Zuma by Garmin. Yes I wanted a waterproof unit, but where I live the gloves on Touch Pad was not a necessity. The Garmin 550 is all that I needed in a GPS. It was easily adapted to my ride and affords me all features except street name turning and bluetooth communication. Still, at a price less than half of the Zuma it was a great deal.