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"Any update on the release date for the zumo 550?"

Just talk to Dan Bartel, new Garmin VP of world wide sales at Las Vegas SEMA show.

He assured me that there was 150 units being shipped from Taiwan and we are to get the first shipment as soon as they are checked in this week or next.

So I hope to see it sometime next week or the week after.

Have to see how I will be allocating these Zumo 550 units, have a waiting list for it already

Thanks

James

04fjR4ME

 
I would like to get one fairly soon, have procrastinated as it is a technology I haven't yet used. Sending PM

:dribble: TJ

 
04FJR4ME said:
"Any update on the release date for the zumo 550?"
Just talk to Dan Bartel, new Garmin VP of world wide sales at Las Vegas SEMA show.

He assured me that there was 150 units being shipped from Taiwan and we are to get the first shipment as soon as they are checked in this week or next.

So I hope to see it sometime next week or the week after.

Have to see how I will be allocating these Zumo 550 units, have a waiting list for it already

Thanks

James

04fjR4ME
Click to expand...
If you could send us PM's or emails when your ready for payment, That would be great!

Thanks for the good deal.

Adam

 
Has the design of the touch screen to the display screen changed?

If not -- I would bet the Zumo will fog up (between the display and the touch screen membrane) just like all of the other IPX rated "non-Marine" garmin products.

Even when getting an RMA# for a recent problem with the 2730, the Garmin person said that only the Marine units (no touch-screen) are really waterproof, and they've had multiple problems on touch-screens that get wet/damp/moist.

My experience having multiple Garmin GPSunits for many years

176, 276, & 276C :Marine units, all three are several years old, never a problem, works like a champ -- user interface is not near as cool as the newer interface, and rocker spelling stinks! -- but they work and last.

Quest: Non-Marine -- after a year or so, the display hazed up (note -- this is a non-touch screen unit)

2730: Non-Marine -- after a few months -- the display fogged up

Note: the Quest and 2730 see very light environment -- not left in the rain, but have gotten 'damp' but never wet -- both are IPX-7 waterproof rated.

The x76 series has been very wet, in salt-water environment for a long time, and never an issue.

---------------------------------

So -- if history repeats itself, and it sometimes does -- the Zumo (although IPX-7 'waterproof' is not listed as a garmin marine product) WILL fog up, Garmin will replace it for the first year, then you're on your own.

 
Any updates on the Zumo? Last we heard they were due in last week maybe? Inquiring minds want to know!

 
Zumo was ship last week to us by Garmin, we should have it today.

That's the good news.

The Bad news is that there is a lot more customers that wants these units then there are units.

So we have allocated a small percentage and Rick will be contacting those who are on the list from top down to see if they still want one.

We probably will not be able to fulfill everyone's order, but we will do our best to take care of 1/2 of the sign ups. The rest of the units I will have to make a profit on selling to my retail customers.

Sorry

Thanks

James

04FJR4ME

 
Rickster said:
Has the design of the touch screen to the display screen changed?
If not -- I would bet the Zumo will fog up (between the display and the touch screen membrane) just like all of the other IPX rated "non-Marine" garmin products.

Even when getting an RMA# for a recent problem with the 2730, the Garmin person said that only the Marine units (no touch-screen) are really waterproof, and they've had multiple problems on touch-screens that get wet/damp/moist.

My experience having multiple Garmin GPSunits for many years

176, 276, & 276C :Marine units, all three are several years old, never a problem, works like a champ -- user interface is not near as cool as the newer interface, and rocker spelling stinks! -- but they work and last.

Quest: Non-Marine -- after a year or so, the display hazed up (note -- this is a non-touch screen unit)

2730: Non-Marine -- after a few months -- the display fogged up

Note: the Quest and 2730 see very light environment -- not left in the rain, but have gotten 'damp' but never wet -- both are IPX-7 waterproof rated.

The x76 series has been very wet, in salt-water environment for a long time, and never an issue.

---------------------------------

So -- if history repeats itself, and it sometimes does -- the Zumo (although IPX-7 'waterproof' is not listed as a garmin marine product) WILL fog up, Garmin will replace it for the first year, then you're on your own.
Click to expand...

My understanding with the Garmin 26xx, 27xx, 28xx is that there is a heater build in for just this purpose, and it is supposed to resolve the moisture issue cause by hot and cold conditions. I think the Zumo should be much better but no way to tell without putting it through a test.

 
I've been answering a couple of PM'd Zumo vs. 276 questions just now and figured that a quick mention might be in order.

Having spent a couple of hours playing with the Zumo, my first impressions are as follows (from a couple of the PMs I sent:

I went through lots of GPS units, which is why I put the comparison together that you may (or may not) have seen.

I have yet to hold a Zumo in my hand, though my friend who imports them to Canada received 15 yesterday and I'm supposed to get one to review.

Pricing:

The 276c can be purchased for about $550 (according to Froogle) and the car kit adds about $195 (also according to Froogle) so you'd be in for about $750 for the 276 and the Zumo for about the same. Since the Zumo doesn't come with the XM pod, it's a wash. BUT the 276c has a $100 rebate 'till the end of the year, so it's $100 cheaper!! See the Garmin web site for details.

Yes, the 276 auto kit only has a 128 meg chip - but you can (barely) navigate from New York to LA in 128 megs, so that really isn't much of a hardship. But if you pick up mapping separately, they do offer a 512 meg chip.

The 276c has a couple of advantages over the Zumo. You nailed one of them - the screen resolution. The Zumo isn't bad, but the 276/376/378/478 have the best resolution of them all.

Would you miss it if you bought a Zumo? Not if you never saw a 276c.

The chipset in the 276c isn't as 'sensitive' as that of the Zumo, which uses a SirfStar-II. But there are precious few places that the 276c has lot signal (tunnels, where anything you receiv is suspect anyway), downtown 'GPS Canyons' (again suspect reception) and so on. The SirfStar set DOES lock in when I have the unit in my den where the 276c does not. But then I KNOW where my den is.

You can certainly do handheld route planning on the 276 - because it has a marine heritage it can probably do it better than Zumo.

The Zumo has a neat docking arrangement where the unit knows when it is docked to a bike and when it is in the car dock or being used handheld. All the connections are in the dock, so you don't need to pull the interface cable when you take it off the bike - that might prove to be a liability in the long run - cables are cheap. Docks are pricey.

So essentially, if you are not using the XM, the decision comes down to esthetics. The Zumo is pretty funky - and the text entry isn't like anything else Garmin uses. I'm not a fan of touchscreen on a bike and the battery life is pretty short, even though Zumo has aggressive power management. The 276c will run 15-20 hours on a charge. The Zumo is rated for 3 or 4.

I won;' say more until I get one in my hands. I will be writing a review (I post them on epinions). It may be a few weeks.

It sounds like the Zumo is the better deal (sort of). But with the rebate, you might want to consider the 478c at $961 (less $100) or a 376c at $675 (less $100).

The 376c includes the $200 XM adapter, but you'd need a memory chip and mapping (making your outlay $775 INCLUDING the car kit and XM). The 378/478 include the mapping (full continental US), but do not include the XM antenna.

======================

As it happens I went for lunch and shopping with my friend and managed to spend some time playing with the Zumo.

A couple of observations I was able to make -

1. The screen is not as sharp as the 276. Also there are some quirks. The arrow used in most of Garmin's navigators to show 'you' is a motorcycle on the Zumo. While it does know that it is in a car or on a bike (as evidenced by the fact that the 'gas tank indicator' doesn't go down) the icon remains a bike. Minor, but a nit, nonetheless.

2. The touchscreen works great if you have long nails. It does not like the tip of a finger - which leads me to suspect that it won't be all that glove friendly.

3. Entering multi-stop routes is very intuitive.

4. The Bluetooth phone connection is quirky (then again there is NO Bluetooth on the 276 series).

5. Lots of little wires go to the base. IMO they ought to have run a thicker cable and put the connections a short distance from the base.

6. The Zumo takes longer to calculate a route than the 276

7. The TTS (where it speaks street names) works OK, not great and I don't think 'turn left in 300 meters' is a bad way to give directions.

8. The case shape is weirdly unstable when sitting on a table. They could have protected the front and put a flat spot on the rear.

There's more, but that is the first hands-on impression.

I'm not rushing to change my 276cs (I have 2) for Zumos just yet. But I will get more hands-on time before writing a formal review.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
bramfrank said:
I've been answering a couple of PM'd Zumo vs. 276 questions just now and figured that a quick mention might be in order.
Having spent a couple of hours playing with the Zumo, my first impressions are as follows (from a couple of the PMs I sent:

I went through lots of GPS units, which is why I put the comparison together that you may (or may not) have seen.

I have yet to hold a Zumo in my hand, though my friend who imports them to Canada received 15 yesterday and I'm supposed to get one to review.

Pricing:

The 276c can be purchased for about $550 (according to Froogle) and the car kit adds about $195 (also according to Froogle) so you'd be in for about $750 for the 276 and the Zumo for about the same. Since the Zumo doesn't come with the XM pod, it's a wash. BUT the 276c has a $100 rebate 'till the end of the year, so it's $100 cheaper!! See the Garmin web site for details.

Yes, the 276 auto kit only has a 128 meg chip - but you can (barely) navigate from New York to LA in 128 megs, so that really isn't much of a hardship. But if you pick up mapping separately, they do offer a 512 meg chip.

The 276c has a couple of advantages over the Zumo. You nailed one of them - the screen resolution. The Zumo isn't bad, but the 276/376/378/478 have the best resolution of them all.

Would you miss it if you bought a Zumo? Not if you never saw a 276c.

The chipset in the 276c isn't as 'sensitive' as that of the Zumo, which uses a SirfStar-II. But there are precious few places that the 276c has lot signal (tunnels, where anything you receiv is suspect anyway), downtown 'GPS Canyons' (again suspect reception) and so on. The SirfStar set DOES lock in when I have the unit in my den where the 276c does not. But then I KNOW where my den is.

You can certainly do handheld route planning on the 276 - because it has a marine heritage it can probably do it better than Zumo.

The Zumo has a neat docking arrangement where the unit knows when it is docked to a bike and when it is in the car dock or being used handheld. All the connections are in the dock, so you don't need to pull the interface cable when you take it off the bike - that might prove to be a liability in the long run - cables are cheap. Docks are pricey.

So essentially, if you are not using the XM, the decision comes down to esthetics. The Zumo is pretty funky - and the text entry isn't like anything else Garmin uses. I'm not a fan of touchscreen on a bike and the battery life is pretty short, even though Zumo has aggressive power management. The 276c will run 15-20 hours on a charge. The Zumo is rated for 3 or 4.

I won;' say more until I get one in my hands. I will be writing a review (I post them on epinions). It may be a few weeks.

It sounds like the Zumo is the better deal (sort of). But with the rebate, you might want to consider the 478c at $961 (less $100) or a 376c at $675 (less $100).

The 376c includes the $200 XM adapter, but you'd need a memory chip and mapping (making your outlay $775 INCLUDING the car kit and XM). The 378/478 include the mapping (full continental US), but do not include the XM antenna.

======================

As it happens I went for lunch and shopping with my friend and managed to spend some time playing with the Zumo.

A couple of observations I was able to make -

1. The screen is not as sharp as the 276. Also there are some quirks. The arrow used in most of Garmin's navigators to show 'you' is a motorcycle on the Zumo. While it does know that it is in a car or on a bike (as evidenced by the fact that the 'gas tank indicator' doesn't go down) the icon remains a bike. Minor, but a nit, nonetheless.

2. The touchscreen works great if you have long nails. It does not like the tip of a finger - which leads me to suspect that it won't be all that glove friendly.

3. Entering multi-stop routes is very intuitive.

4. The Bluetooth phone connection is quirky (then again there is NO Bluetooth on the 276 series).

5. Lots of little wires go to the base. IMO they ought to have run a thicker cable and put the connections a short distance from the base.

6. The Zumo takes longer to calculate a route than the 276

7. The TTS (where it speaks street names) works OK, not great and I don't think 'turn left in 300 meters' is a bad way to give directions.

8. The case shape is weirdly unstable when sitting on a table. They could have protected the front and put a flat spot on the rear.

There's more, but that is the first hands-on impression.

I'm not rushing to change my 276cs (I have 2) for Zumos just yet. But I will get more hands-on time before writing a formal review.
Click to expand...

Please log on to Garmin compare page and find out more

https://www.garmin.com/automotive/compare.jsp

 
James - is it true the Zumo does not have a 3.5mm audio line out jack? From the comparison chart..

[SIZE=10pt]3.5mm Headphone/Line-Out Audio Plug [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]N/A[/SIZE]

If so, then no Zumo for me.. No way to interface the audio to StarCom or AutoComm..

EDIT (added) read the 550 manual. It apears the automotive cradle has a 3.5mm line out jack. Not sure about the motorcycle cradle. Someone who already has the zumo... does the mc cradle have an audio line out?

EDIT (added) answered my own question. You slackers were to slow :) .. Called Garmin support, they say the motorcycle and auto mount both have 3.5mm line audio output connections. Cool!

Also... the Garmin rep said buying from outfits like Gpsnow, gpsdiscount etc was perfectly fine; they (Garmin) have good working relationships with them and there would be no problem with warranty repair, updates, etc. Brandon did say to stay away from auction sites because who knows what you're really getting.. a demo unit, a failed to be repaired unit, etc.. and Garmin would not warrant products purchased from auction sites.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
dcarver said:
James - is it true the Zumo does not have a 3.5mm audio line out jack? From the comparison chart..[SIZE=10pt]3.5mm Headphone/Line-Out Audio Plug [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]N/A[/SIZE]

If so, then no Zumo for me.. No way to interface the audio to StarCom or AutoComm..

EDIT (added) read the 550 manual. It apears the automotive cradle has a 3.5mm line out jack. Not sure about the motorcycle cradle. Someone who already has the zumo... does the mc cradle have an audio line out?

EDIT (added) answered my own question. You slackers were to slow :) .. Called Garmin support, they say the motorcycle and auto mount both have 3.5mm line audio output connections. Cool!

Also... the Garmin rep said buying from outfits like Gpsnow, gpsdiscount etc was perfectly fine; they (Garmin) have good working relationships with them and there would be no problem with warranty repair, updates, etc. Brandon did say to stay away from auction sites because who knows what you're really getting.. a demo unit, a failed to be repaired unit, etc.. and Garmin would not warrant products purchased from auction sites.
Click to expand...
Lots of questiions about why the Zumo 550 is better then a 26xx, 27xx or 28xx or even the 276c or 376c. I have one strong answer to this question! SiRF III GPS receiver, the Zumo 550 has it and the others don't! What good is a GPS system if it fails to navigate due to GPS receiption issues. And yes, if Garmin does not have an issue with GPS receivers, they sure the heck is not going to PAY SiRF for their receiver when Garmin is a GPS receiver manufacture! You can all thank Clif Pemble for this one!

Anyway, everyone have an opinion, but the fact of the matter is, Zumo 550 is a better unit over all in my opinion, but what do I know, I only beta test for most of these GPS manufactures. :)

From Zumo forum

https://razorbiker.com/zumo/viewtopic.php?t=22

Here is what I learned:

1. Connect the Zumo audio out to the aux 2 port on the Autocom.

2. I can add a cigarette lighter adapter to the power cord and plug it in to the power outlet in the LH pocket of my GL1800.

3. If I pair my phone to the Zumo, the display will show up when I receive a call and with the cell phone hardwired to the Autocom I will be able to receive calls and see the call info on the Zumo.

 
04FJR4ME said:
Lots of questiions about why the Zumo 550 is better then a 26xx, 27xx or 28xx or even the 276c or 376c. I have one strong answer to this question! SiRF III GPS receiver, the Zumo 550 has it and the others don't! What good is a GPS system if it fails to navigate due to GPS receiption issues. And yes, if Garmin does not have an issue with GPS receivers, they sure the heck is not going to PAY SiRF for their receiver when Garmin is a GPS receiver manufacture! You can all thank Clif Pemble for this one!Anyway, everyone have an opinion, but the fact of the matter is, Zumo 550 is a better unit over all in my opinion, but what do I know, I only beta test for most of these GPS manufactures. :)
Click to expand...
Chipsets cost about $20 each at wholesale. Garmin doesn't manufacture their own chips, they don't own a fabrication facility. So they have to pay someone whether it's their design or Sirf's. Sirfstar has about 7 dB of performance benefit. Which is great if I'm in a parking garage - but previous chipsets work just fine in 99.9% of the locations where you will likely be operating.

So next time I need coverage in my living room I'll feel better knowing that the Sirfstar chipset is on board.

The Zumo isn't quite as excellent as I would have liked. The touchscreen is dead to a finger (but good with a finger nail). Pricing is nothing special - a 376c with a car kit is less expensive than Zumo (and comes with the XM Pod). Styling is funky. Battery life is short.

I'm not changing my units out quite yet.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

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