Good Zumo 550 Deal

[2006FJR]

The Best Buy sales guy showed me the screen where the ZUMO 550 is being clearanced, some stores have it in stock for 539.00, unfortunately none near me and he stated it is an in store pickup only. Oh well, I wonder what they are coming out with.

I need one for a trip to Canada but I might just wait and get it when I get back. I want the new Zumo replacement when it comes out, Zumo 650? I am hoping it will have a larger, brighter screen with some more cool new options.

 

[PhilMills]

The Best Buy sales guy showed me the screen where the ZUMO 550 is being clearanced, some stores have it in stock for 539.00, unfortunately none near me and he stated it is an in store pickup only. Oh well, I wonder what they are coming out with.

I need one for a trip to Canada but I might just wait and get it when I get back. I want the new Zumo replacement when it comes out, Zumo 650? I am hoping it will have a larger, brighter screen with some more cool new options.

Garmin just released a Nuvi 500/550 model that is waterproof and has the "motorcycle friendly" checkbox ticked off on the Garmin site. List price is about $500 and it could be what Garmin intends to use as a replacement, but with no Bluetooth, XM, or MP3 it'd be a pretty lousy one.

 

[pegdragger]

Anyone got a line one one of these at the $449 price? We have been to a ton of Best Buy's in NY and CT and cant find one anywhere for any price!!! Dozenroses really wants this for her bike, and the local Circuit City has one for $999....and says he could go down to $719. What a deal!!! LMAO!!!

Thanks for any info.....

Michael

 

[sin_loki]

Garmin just released a Nuvi 500/550 model that is waterproof and has the "motorcycle friendly" checkbox ticked off on the Garmin site. List price is about $500 and it could be what Garmin intends to use as a replacement, but with no Bluetooth, XM, or MP3 it'd be a pretty lousy one.

not really, considering that most people already have a portable MP3 player of sorts (Ipod, Zune, etc.) and most newer motorcycle comm systems offer cell phone specific bluetooth. Garmin just looks like they are going to a more "stream line" integration for new moto gear, like the issues with the Zumo and starcom muting cell calls when routing Thur the zumo. I think Garmin is going to let the com unit MFG handle the integration of cell phone and music devises, there for making their products more adaptable to others needs. XM radio would be the only Ehhh, i rather listen to my pod than some DJ play a song i hate. XM traffic would be missed by some but is almost useless if you live in a rural area (i have been to places that no navi unit can seem to get you there, roads just don't get listed). plus the removal of those items will make the new Garmin more price competitive to other units. (hey the more than likely would like to sell them to EVERY BODY, not just motorcyclist).

just my .02 cents

 

[Fred W]

The Best Buy sales guy showed me the screen where the ZUMO 550 is being clearanced, some stores have it in stock for 539.00, unfortunately none near me and he stated it is an in store pickup only. Oh well, I wonder what they are coming out with.

I need one for a trip to Canada but I might just wait and get it when I get back. I want the new Zumo replacement when it comes out, Zumo 650? I am hoping it will have a larger, brighter screen with some more cool new options.

Garmin just released a Nuvi 500/550 model that is waterproof and has the "motorcycle friendly" checkbox ticked off on the Garmin site. List price is about $500 and it could be what Garmin intends to use as a replacement, but with no Bluetooth, XM, or MP3 it'd be a pretty lousy one.

Hmmm... Just went to the Garmin web site and when you navigate to their "Motorcycle" units, no Nuvi is listed...

 

[bramfrank]

Hmm . . . . the news of the Nuvi 500/550 is probably important enough to warrant it's own thread, so I've also posted the below in a topic of it's own.

Well, Nuvi 500/550 is 'different', to be certain.

No Text-To-Speech (spoken street names) and such. And, while they have said it is 'Motorcycle Friendly', I suspect it may not be as shock/vibration resistant as Zumo or the 276 . . . at least for the mount - can't tell quite yet because there's no photo, but they DO seem to offer a 'scooter mount'.

But it IS the first waterproof Nuvi out there.

Note that the 500 has no maps on board for Canada or Alaska (they have an SKU for Canada, which likely doesn't have the US roads - like they did with the 200 and 200C), but it does have Topographic maps for the lower 48, PuertoRico and Hawaii on board.

The 550 (same price) includes road maps of Canada and Alaska in exchange for deleting the 'MAD Maps' the 500 comes with. Not certain because it isn't clear from the text, but they may trade off the topo maps for raw elevation data in the 550 . . . They reference elevation data in the description, but the specs state the 550 comes only with road maps installed.

They say it also supports user supplied marine maps and can be operated 'off road', things that Zumo, i, C and the other Nuvis can't . . . . not that you can't tell where you are, but the automotive units will 'lock to road', where the 276 has specific marine support and both 276 and handhelds can be set not to make the roads correction.

You will need to purchase your bike mount and bike power cable separately.

So this is more 'Motorcycle capable', rather than 'Motorcycle ready'. And I'd have to see what the screen looks like in bright sunlight - Zumo's sucks relative to the 276 family's, which is excellent.

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

They say it also supports user supplied marine maps and can be operated 'off road', things that Zumo, i, C and the other Nuvis can't . . . .

 


Can't go Off road with a ZUMO? :blink: Then what's this do?

 

 

 

[bramfrank]

Off Road is not the same as "Lock to Road"

The 'Off Road' setting is a routing preference that doesn't calculate a route, but rather just plots a straight line from where you are t where you want to go. 'Lock to Road' corrects for GPS location errors by making a 'sticky' connection to the road on which you are travelling - 'locked' to the road so as to only look at GPS position in 1 dimension.

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

Off Road is not the same as "Lock to Road"
The 'Off Road' setting is a routing preference that doesn't calculate a route, but rather just plots a straight line from where you are t where you want to go. 'Lock to Road' corrects for GPS location errors by making a 'sticky' connection to the road on which you are travelling - 'locked' to the road so as to only look at GPS position in 1 dimension.

I'm not fully understanding what the benefit of that would be then, other than "as the crow flies" type of terminology, correct?

 

[skuehl]

Off Road is not the same as "Lock to Road"
The 'Off Road' setting is a routing preference that doesn't calculate a route, but rather just plots a straight line from where you are t where you want to go. 'Lock to Road' corrects for GPS location errors by making a 'sticky' connection to the road on which you are travelling - 'locked' to the road so as to only look at GPS position in 1 dimension.

I'm not fully understanding what the benefit of that would be then, other than "as the crow flies" type of terminology, correct?

the benefit is only if you need it. For me I use my Zumo on my boat for Weather and XM radio. This enables me to use it to provide me distances to my waypoints. For example I use it for my favorites coves and the marina I moor in. I am able to map it and it tells me how far it is and how long to get there. Assuming I follow the straight line.

If I notice a storm coming in and I am in a cove I can check it. If it says 50 miles then I know that I am pretty far out to be dealing with bad weather. So I immediately start heading back. If I check it and it says 15 well then I don't worry so much.

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

OK, Iget it. It would be best used in aviation or marine use then. Line of sight type of distance.

 

[Fred W]

I think Garmin is going to let the com unit MFG handle the integration of cell phone and music devises, there for making their products more adaptable to others needs.

I can see your point, but I, for one, would be disappointed. It is very, very convenient to have the cell phone routed thru the GPS. Yes, most comm systems can be made BT compatible, so the connection piece is equivalent, but having the call pop up on the GPS so you can decide if you want to take the call or not, then managing the call via the GPS touch screen is a big benefit you would lose. All of the direct comm systems require you to put the phone on "auto answer" which means you can't screen calls and have no idea who is bothering you before you hear them.

And yes, there are times when I have made outgoing calls from my bike while underway. It is very easy using the GPS's touch screen. Using the direct comm system you'd have to use voice dialing, which can be a PITA.