Garmin Zumo 550 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
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3.5″ screen High-sensitivity GPS receiver 10,000 point tracking Bluetooth(R)-enabled for hands-free calling & sending audio to compatible helmets High bright display for sunlight readability & UV resistant IPX7 waterproof & fuel-resistant plastics Glove-friendly touchscreen & left-hand buttons Motorcycle console for trip information including fuel gauge Removable rechargeable Li-Ion battery with 10-hour life 4 amps mounting pattern fits third party mounts Secure Digital Card (TM) expansion for storing maps, routes, tracks & waypoints Full featured routes & track logs may be shared with other zA1/4mo(R) receivers Fly tracks using Google Earth (TM) Audio output for MP3, Audible & XM Satellite Radio(R) Traffic compatible with GXM 30 or GTM 20/21 JPEG picture viewer Dim: 3.9″H x 4.8″W x 1.6″D Weight: 10.6 ounces Includes auto & motorcycle mount
Features
- 3.5-Inch Screen
- High-Sensitivity GPS Receiver
- 10,000 Point Tracking
- Bluetooth-Enabled For Hands Free Calling & For Sending Audio To Compatible Helmets
- High Bright Display For Sunlight Readability & Uv Resistant
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 2 x 5 x 3 inches
- Weight: 1 pounds
Zumo 550 GPSR
I got what I ordered quickly & everything needed to install it in a car or a motorcycle was supplied. I just wish that Ram Mounts made a conversion for the suction cup to a old style Garmin 2610 Street pilot dashboard mount. I hate the suction cup to the windshield idea, & there are two States that forbid that mounting. In my full sized truck it isn’t too bad, but in my Wife’s VW Jetta it really blocks the view!
So here is what I have gathered in the month that I have owned this:
My 2610 had more features than the Zumo 550 like in tell you what the address # is while you are just driving in map mode.
I could also change the information bars to just about anything I wanted, like see at what altitude I was at in real time.
This unit came with 2009 maps installed internally, & the only way you could get the newest maps upgrade for free on the Garmin site, was to install a 2Gb SD card & install that map there & then do the install from the SD flash card. Instructions were vague, & it took me some time to figure it out. It all got done in a few days of grief including new “MapSource” software. So, why couldn’t Garmin install these for Amazon to sell? I guess this is the reason why the price is reduced…
For the people that are looking for a Motorcycle GPSR, yup, this one is OK, I wish they didn’t split the MP3 & microphone outputs/inputs on the mount for the motorcycle, it really makes it tough to be able to tie in a way to hear the navigation voice prompts plus be able to tie in a way to speak for the phone. I have a Blue-tooth headset, so I could get both Nav & phone, but you can’t hear anything over 35 MPH & I have a quiet stock Muffler on my motorcycle.
I have a Motorola flexible boom mike/ear phone with a 2.5 mm connector,it won’t tie into the motorcycle mounting outputs/inputs & no adapter are available.
The good points of the Zumo 550 are that you really don’t need the amplified remote antenna for it, it does just fine without one.
Display is great ( but doesn’t compensate for the ambient light) like the 2610 did.
So far the mount has held the Zumo 550 in place on the motorcycle, not like the 2610 mount from Garmin that snapped out the holding piece on the case.
I have to rate this as a 4 star due to missing features I had really expected in a product that was $300.00 more than my 2610 plus a lack of mounting it on the dashboard with a 2610 adapter. The sticky that came with it will cost you over $10.00 plus shipping for each car you want to install it to, get my drift?
Great GPS, Poor Quality
The Zumo 550 is the bit of motorcycling kit that I have both come to love and hate at the same time. I admit that Garmin has done a terrific job of making such a feature rich piece of technology. The Zumo has never failed to disappoint me with it’s array of bells and whistles, and the usability of the device is great while riding, and while planning rides.
However, I have two gripes:
First, the routing isn’t all that great. The Zumo can be set to route for shortest distance or shortest time, but no matter how it’s set, it will often attempt to guide me in round-about courses in lieu of direct lines. This is particularly problematic when low on gas. I’ve learned that the Zumo should only be used to find where you’re going, and then navigate yourself by following street signs instead. In short, if the Zumo tells you you are heading for Interstate 1, use your eyes to follow the signs to Interstate 1 – the Zumo will not get you there. Furthermore, the Zumo has attempted to route me on more than one dirt hiking trail. Not a good idea on a street motorcycle.
Secondly, the quality control on the 550 is horrible. I know many riders that have brought their Zumos through years of constant use, but in my case, I have had three replacement units through Garmin in five years. They have a tendency to just stop powering up one day. In each case, I was billed $150 for a refurbished replacement, so my current, refurbished Zumo 550 has cost me roughly $1200 to date.
With the arrival of the 600 series Zumos, the 550 should have descended notably in price, but it has not gone down much. For such a poorly constructed unit, I would have hoped to see them phased out entirely.
Garmin has HORRIBLE Customer “Service”
For Christmas, my Mother purchased two Garmin auto GPS devices for both myself and my cousin … in fact, she’s done this twice, for a total of FOUR Garmin GPS purchases! The older version my cousin had just totally stopped working after about a year, then the newer versions we received last year for Christmas, also have issues.
She has been like a bloodhound trying to track down Garmin customer service – sending emails, faxes, phone calls where the automated voice tells you it will be a 40-minute wait! Undaunted, she keeps trying, where most customers would have given up and just thrown the $300+ out the window.
I want the Amazon community to know how lacking in post-sale service this company is.
I can’t give a review of TomTom, but I can definitely say, do not purchase a Garmin, unless you enjoy wasting hundreds of dollars on a faulty device.
works even after the accident
An idiot cager came across the center line and I had to take my bike off of the road at a pretty good clip to avoid him. Unfortunately the shoulder was soft and as soon as the front wheel went into it, the bike went down. It was a total loss. the Zumo550 however, came through…even after the bike tumbling more than a few times. still in its OEM RAM mount and still working when I picked up the bike. BTW, I only had a cracked rib and a few scratches…. The cager never stopped.
Phil
Impressive
It is my first GPS navigator, but I am very happy with it. I have used it on my motorcycle with gloves on, as well as in my car. It works quite well.
Zumo, not worth the money
Map quality pales in compairison to Google maps. My iPhone with Google maps gives far better, more readable maps. I’d use my iPhone over the Zumo except I often ride in areas that don’t have cell coverage, therefore I have to use the Zumo.
Zumo 550
Haven’t used yet due to my location on Guam. If features work half as well as advertised I will be happy.
Typical Technology
I had been wanting a GPS for my motorcycle for a couple years and had heard the Zumo was very good. Pretty expensive so I had to save up to get one. The features on the Zumo are great and it will do exactly what I need and then some however it amazes me that for all this money they supply you with very limited instructions. I am not computer illiterate but the Zumo is definately challenging me at times. Thanks to the online “Zumo Forums” I should be able to get the answers I need.
Pros are that it definately looks & feels rugged. The large button touch screen works great with gloves.
Cons are that there is no audio unless connected to an external power source and the MP3 player will not accept itunes files without converting them to MP3 format.
All in all I am happy and look forward to using it.
Tough, reliable, user-friendly design; really outdated maps; but proved invaluable on a 9000 mile, solo ride.
I love this product. I honestly, don’t know what I would have done without it on a 9000 mile loop of the US that I made on my 2003 Harley in August of 2008. In addition to guiding my way through unknown wilderness without ever losing a signal even among the tall forests of Northern California and keeping me company one night when even truckers had the good sense to pull over rather than dare the desolate mountains (that were on fire!) at night, it was a great sense of comfort and help when trying to find lodging, and especially GAS!
That said, Garmin’s not going to win any kudos for using maps that are at least 50 years out of date. I expected the maps that came with the unit to be a little more current for a new device, not to mention rather new technology. Maybe that’s how they get their residuals on a product that is astonishingly free to use the GPS service. As, while firmware updates are free to download, map updates are rather pricy. Considering the accuracy of the included maps, I’m very reluctant to gamble that their latest (yearly?) update will be much better, even though they clearly have much room for improvement. I’ve found a number of major roads I frequently travel in NC and TN that were shifted or even layed over 20 years ago that aren’t accurately recorded, some aren’t even included. While it’s kind of funny when the GPS shows you riding through pasteurs or even a lake alongside the road you’re on, it’s less cute when it detours you off a major highway, just to essentially cut the corner with a pair of exit ramps and re-emerge on the same road you just left.
But that’s the least of the adventure that might lay ahead. In Wyoming it had me turn off a major highway that was hardly new itself, to climb a narrow, winding hillside, which was mapped perfectly, turn for turn, until I came to a dead end that the Garmin showed to keep on going. Looking over the gate at the end of this road that was only still open because of a seemingly little-used campsite at the top of the mountain, I couldn’t even see any sign that a road had ever been there, just a steep dropoff and thick vegetation. If the road ever continued, it must have been closed off more than 50 years ago. Dodging deep potholes and large piles of both hard and fresh dung that had yet to be flattened, left by some animal I half-hoped not to encounter for fear that it would be a long time before the next passer-by (unless they have a Garmin GPS too), I made my way back to the road I was previously traveling where the Garmin quickly corrected itself.
That’s one of the great things about a GPS, it quickly recalculates your route, if you miss a turn, hit a detour, or even if it’s what messes you up and it warns about sharp curves in the road ahead. But, Wyoming was far from the only time I wondered if God was trying to tell me something (I’m not always the best listener) or maybe just trying to hold me up, as shortly after one such event in northern California, where the Garmin couldn’t seem to get its bearing and then just as suddenly corrected itself, I rode up on a bike accident in the middle of nowhere that took several hours before emergency services were able to land a chopper to fly one of the riders to the nearest emergency center in Nevada. I wasn’t much help; but I stuck around, just in case I was being called to lend a hand.
Of course, like anything I guess, it’s a products problems that are most remembered, even something rather insignificant like a five mile detour just to have you turn around at the next major intersection and head back the way you came, when any business or smaller road along the way would have done just fine, all because you were facing the wrong way when you programmed in a new address. And, of course, there are things that aren’t it’s fault, like two different houses within 5 miles of each other outside Atlanta, that both have the exact same address – go figure. We sometimes tend to be overly quick to forget how dependable and helpful a thing has been before it has failed us. And many times did this GPS pull me out of a jam, find alternate routes when road construction had me baking in the hot sun, and helped me find a place to eat or lay my head when delays on the road held me up. More importantly it eased my worry that gas was within reach when my needle was hovering on empty. It also kept me from paying over $1 more per gallon at a station in the Southern California desert that seemed to prey on unsuspecting travelers who haven’t seen a station in awhile and are unaware of their options just a couple miles ahead.
Being made to take the pounding and weather of riding, this GPS cost more than a standard model made solely for a car. Since I bought mine, you can now even get the same thing from Harley for nearly twice the price if you want it in black with an HD logo. But, if it’s anything like their helmets, the premium is for the HD name more than any improvements, that and the lack of retailer discounting by Harley. By comparison the price of the original seems a bargain. This Zumo 550 has been through some blistering hot rides and some fairly cold weather too. It’s been through rainstorms, windstorms, and over 10,000 miles on a Harley Fatboy that, while big and heavy, isn’t really the smoothest riding bike for long treks. I even dropped the bike once when a strong gust caught me tired and unprepared in Yellowstone. And the GPS has fallen from the windshield to the floor of my truck several times when the car windshield adapter failed to stick due to dramatic changing temperatures and/or changing humidity outside during the course of the day (not to worry, the bike mount uses a handlebar clamp that won’t budge, unless you adjust it, and licking the suction cup on the car windshield mount seems to do the trick too).
The elevation never had any effect on this GPS either. If memory serves, about 9000 feet above see level was the highest I climbed. Checking the elevation is a neat feature to have, in the Rockies especially. This thing has far too many features to mention, but ones that proved especially useful or interesting on my trip include: compass, current time, arrival time (constantly recalculated), fastest speed, average speed, current speed (accuracy varies depending on signal strength), non-blinding nighttime mode (automatically comes on at pre-set time, but can be disabled or adjusted manually), gas, restaurant, attraction, and lodging finder (includes phone numbers to check vacancy and rates beforehand). For a GPS designed for bikes, it surprisingly didn’t include HD dealerships or service centers, though it did include such for most major car dealerships and service stations. So, Harley’s tour guide with maps and dealer locations was still necessary when looking for service centers and helpful in plotting out where to go next, as I didn’t really plan much over a day ahead during the month I was traveling. Also, maybe they did this to encourage pulling over instead of doing a search while riding (it’s really easy to operate even while moving), but when looking for a hotel, the Garmin recalculates so often (searches for new options as your moving) that, after a mile or so, before you’ve had the chance to look through all of the previous search results, it searches again, which doesn’t bring up any new options as the original results list options up to 100 miles away or more, but it does mean starting over at the beginning of the list, unless you pull off the road when you do your search).
I don’t know how Garmin compares to other GPS units. At the time, TomTom was the only viable alternative I found for bikes; and it was getting a lot of negative reviews. This Garmin met my needs and aside from some quirky maps, far exceeded my expectations of how useful a GPS might be. I’m now sold on the technology and would recommend this particular unit to any rider venturing into unfamiliar territory.
Excelente Producto
Lo compre porque me lo recomendaron, pero es mucho mas que un solo GPS , es todo un sistema de navegacion multimedia, diseñado y pesando para motociclistas.
Amigos, si pueden haganse de uno, no se van a arrepentir
this device rocks..
Easy to use. feature rich out of the box. Ready for mounting. Open to on the bike to on the road in no time.
Some people say GPS minimizes the adventure spirit of motorcycling. I disagree completely. This device allows you to wander and find your way back very easily.
Buy it
Great Product
This is a great product. It works great, is easy to use. There was some difficulty in downloading the maps but part of that is our internet connections. We would like to find a head set that works well with the motorcycle. We are not in a helmet law state and often do not use the helmet so would like something that would work with or without a helmet. any ideas?
So Easy
Easy to use, even with thick winter motorcycle gloves. Not a distraction, especially if mounted on left side of handlebars. Only problem is I can’t crank up the volume loud enough to hear when I’m doing over 45-60 MPH.
Overall – Great!
A great GPS. We needed one that we could use on the bike and in the car. The only complaint is that the user manual is on a disk, not paper. It would be much more convenient to look up something while you are on the road. Now we have to remember what feature we couldn’t figure out; then when we get home put the disk in the computer to find it. Very inconvenient!
Excellent Motorcycle GPS
Having been a long time user of Garmin’s 2610, I was leery of another offering from Garmin, mainly because of the shortcomings with the software. Not to worry. The Zumo has cured the many problems inherent in the older models. Also it is so much easier to use while on the motorcycle, even while wearing gloves.
Even though the CD is rudimentary, and there is no paper manual, the software is intuitive and easy to use. The only problem I could see is if a new purchaser is unfamiliar with use of the Mapsource product to plan a route on the PC and download to the GPS, which is the way I plan all group rides that I lead. I could find no user guide to Mapsource. Fortunately I already knew how to map a route on the PC. Unfortunately the current Mapsource maps are not any easier to use in planning a ride on the PC than the prior offerings.
Many of the back roads I use are not visible on Mapsource until the scale is down to .3 of a mile. Then it is a slow process to map the route the entire trip. I note that other map providers, such as Google Maps, don’t have this problem. Maybe Garmin will eventually solve this shortcoming, and I will have no complaints about the product.
All things considered, I give the Zumo high marks, and am glad I made the jump from the 2610.
Great for Motorcycle
If you ride a bike you need one of these. The only complaint I have is with the bluetooth. It has two channels of bluthooth but has a very limited amount of phones that it will work with. Most of them are very old model. If you hook up a phone not on the list it will pair up but if you also pair up a headset then it goes crazy. Once I found an old phone (Motorla RAZR) it works great.
The Best
after researching for a few years i decided to go with the garmin zumo 550. I couldn’t be happier, it is very easy to use. Naturally I had to upgrade the software and maps when i got it but it was worth the time. It came with everything necessary for motorcycle OR car mounting. I love the fact that i can just swap it back and forth. Even though my car has a built in GPS, I much prefer the garmin in my car. I love using it on my motorcyle. I did read one review that claimed the garmin did not have an internal speaker and i have no idea where they got that from because mine does have one for use in the car. My personals feelings are that this is the best one out there and i would suggest that others look into it
Zumo and Go
This is the best GPS unit for motorcycles you can buy. I now own two, if its good enough for my motorcycle its good enough for my car…..
Harleychick
This GPS is very easy to use, even on the go. Loading songs to the GPS took a little work, but only because we had previously saved them to our laptop incorrectly. It’s easy to see even for the passenger, and we love the capablity to link the GPS with our cell phone. Definitely a good buy!
expensive to buy and update
I bought my Zumo 550 in 2007 and was quite happy with the unit untill I needed to update maps. Very expensive and a tedious process at that. After a little over a year of use the voice stopped (car mount) and the units battery would no longer hold a charge. For no other reason than the update expense I would not recomend the Garmin. There are other brands that charge a lot less for the unit and the updates.