Customize your ride with zūmo™ 550 — the rugged motorcycle navigator that's born to ride. Designed by bikers, zūmo’s motorcycle-friendly features make it easy to operate while in the saddle. From back roads to rallies, its preloaded maps and high-end navigation features give you the freedom to go where you want.
An interesting concept that can use some improvement
Rating
Written By bramfrank
Date Written Oct 20 2007
Summary
May 31, 2008 A note on the various versions of the Zumo series; The Zumo 400 series is similar to the 500 with the exception of satellite music/traffic support, the supply of the car mount bracket and the exclusion of Bluetooth. I firmly...
Strength
Small, Powerful, Bright display, 4+ hour battery operation. Very sensitive. Car & Bike mounts included.
Weakness
Fuzzy display graphics. Poor TTS quality. Not configurable.
Bottom Line
I still recommend the 276c over this model for the knowledgeable motorcyclist. The 550 will be better when they resolve some of the flaws. Maybe the 450?
Introduction My review of the Garmin Zumo 550 is from the standpoint of a longtime Garmin user. My first Garmin GPS receiver was a 45XL bought in 1996, and I also own a Garmin V and a Garmin Streetpilot i2. I bought it to use it on my...
Strength
For motorcycles, but also great for car and handheld usage;
Works for geocaching
Weakness
No Mac OS X support yet;
Routing sometimes takes you onto very secondary roads
Bottom Line
The best GPS I ever had, don't be fooled into thinking it's just for motorcycles, or just for navigation.
I recently purchased a zumo after seeing it at the Garmin Store in Chicago. It will replace my Garmin 2610 which replaced my Garmin V. By far this is the best Garmin GPS unit I've owned. It has a large easy to read screen. It has all the necessary...
I have been using this unit for several months on my motorcycle. This unit is great for a motorcycle if you want MP3 player, XM Radio, and/or Bluetooth integration with your phone. It is water resistant, vibration/shock resistant, dust resistant, you...
Strength
water resistant, shock/vibration resistant
XM Radio ready, Bluetooth, MP3 player
Weakness
SLOW at bootup, slow at USB transfer on PC, expensive
I've owned a number of Garmin units in the past and still have and use a GPSV. The Zumo hits most of the targets and functions one could want in a land vehicle GPS but does have a quite few weak quirks. The audio (spoken directions) routing does not...
Strength
Excellent display, good mounting hardware provided, nice array of capabilities.
Weakness
Auto-routing software chooses non-intuitive routes. No audio functions on external power. Weak speaker audio.
