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63 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't bother buying anything else!, 9 May 2007
This review is from: Garmin Zumo 550 Satellite Navigation System for Motorbikes (Electronics)
I first bought a 2620 on ebay and once I received it I realised that I then still had to buy the cradle, the mount and the cable as well as a relay and the list goes on.... by the time you add it all up you have spent 300 quid.
I sold it and bit the bullet... bought the Zumo 550.
It comes with everything you need to mount it to your motorcycle. It took me about an hour to wire it to the battery and install the mount. Download the Garmin Software updater and update the firmware... then put it into the mount and off you go on an adventure.
It is very easy to use, has a very good screen and a battery that lasts longer than the 4 hours it states in the manual.
It includes base maps and major roads of all of Europe, Africa and some of the Arabian countries. The screen can be read even when direct sunlight is hitting it.
The unit takes SD memory cards, which are cheap and will hold a lot of music for your roadtrip. The Zumo will pair with bluetooth phones and helmets.
It is very easy to plan routes on the device and I never bother using Mapsource... so much quicker to just do it on the Zumo.
It will save the routes you have ridden and you can save them into Google Earth format and share your journey with others...
It will also save stats, like highest speed, average speed etc.
So, all in all a great solid and reliable device. We went to France with 8 riders and 5 GPS and my Zumo was the only one that worked properly.
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42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spot on for bike and car, 5 Mar 2008
This review is from: Garmin Zumo 550 Satellite Navigation System for Motorbikes (Electronics)
I had a Garmin Street Pilot III for the bike and a TomTom3 for the car - both getting a bit long in the tooth, so needed a replacement that would do both jobs.
In the Zumo 550 I have found just the thing. Ease of use is excellent (I never really got on with the TomTom user interface). The MapSource software that comes with it is a little clunky to use at first, but you get used to its quirks. It allows one to manage POIs, routes and favoutites on a PC, and transfer them to the Zumo. There isn't anything comparable for the TomTom GPSs AFAIK.
I now have an all in one solution for the bike - the Zumo replaces the seperate MP3 player and wired phone connection that I used to have, with one device that is wired to my intercom. Now all sources are through one device, the phone connecting automatically through Bluetooth, and it's seamless. The big advantage over the TomTom Rider 2 is that, although it can connect to a Bluetooth headest as well, there are also audio in and out jacks, for better quality (and stereo) music output. You don't have this option with the TT Rider.
In the car, the unit is just as easy to use, and the phone connection can be used for handsfree phone use if you don't already have it. Again you have the wired audio output which you could plag into your car stereo. I wouldn't recommend using the MP3 player through the Zumo's speaker system, as the sound quality is not good enough.
All in all a good bit of kit, and for my own personal requirements, beats the TomTom Rider2 hands down.
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94 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Go your own way with a Zumo, 9 May 2007
This review is from: Garmin Zumo 550 Satellite Navigation System for Motorbikes (Electronics)
I've been using a TomTom in my car for more than two years and like the fact that with Sat-Nav, you can go "off-piste" with confidence. I decided that I needed a bit of that for the bike too! First impressions inevitably were comparing it with the familiar and beautifully simple TomTom, and I have to say that the Zumo interface is a little 'clunky' in comparison. Also, managing your own Points of Interest files is not so straight forward either (The key is to download the POI Loader from Garmin's website and keep all your POI files in one dedicated folder on your PC; adding & deleting to that folder as required). However, now I've had it for a few weeks it isn't so hard to use and the Zumo does do more than the TomTom which makes it very suitable for motorcycles I think. For example: it records a 'track' (like an electronic bread-crumb trail) of your ride which can be shown on the PC using the detailed mapping software which comes with the Zumo on a DVD. The track can then be interrogated to see date, time, distance, speed (ahem!), altitude and GPS co-ordinates for all the stages of the journey (which could be thousands of individual stages). You can do things like deleting the bits where you took a wrong turning etc. and save all or part of the trip for future use as a 'Route'. You can also plan your trips in detail on the PC first. Excellent!
I think the Zumo is a great piece of kit, and robust with good fixings for the bike too. The Zumo 550 is easily the best value (rather than the Zumo 500) as it comes with European mapping and a car-kit for about £120 more. These bits would be about £220 to buy seperately.
I did note that TomTom is bringing out 'Rider 2' in May 07. You may wish to check that out too.
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