BMW Zumo 550 or Garmin Zumo 550?

[Pukmeister]

BMW aren't stupid. They have paid Garmin to 'doctor' the hardware so that you can't fit the cheaper Garmin unit in a BMW cradle and use the extra buttons, they won't work unless you fit the BMW unit into the BMW cradle. It's only worth paying more for the BMW Navigator units over the equivalent Garmin units if you really need the extra buttons on the BMW cradle. (These buttons are replicated on the touchscreen of the Garmins anyway).

Not sure about the ZUMO units but this applies to the Nav2/2610 and Nav 3/2820.

 

[gsbiker]

Just seen this one on ebay, what do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Garmin-Street...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

 

[Pukmeister]

Just seen this one on ebay, what do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Garmin-Street...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

I thought it seemed too good to be true. On closer inspection, they state that it has a hard drive. I would be very wary of using any device with a hard disk on my motorbike, I've already killed one iPod in my tankbag through vibration.

 

[ianboydsnr]

If it were my money, I'd shop around for a decent deal on the 'Garmin' Zumo 550 online, then spend the considerable savings on buying a good solid shock-isolating cradle for the GS (eg Touratech). A 1200 boxer twin at idle/low RPM can really shake a GPS unit about.

Uploading the BMW dealer list to the unit is easy (and free).

I'd even have a go at putting my own custom wallpaper on the GPS unit, like an attractive young lady wearing very little, perhaps.

The standard zumo cradle works well, its been on my 1150 for must be 18 months now, seems to survive the 1150 idle/low rpm fine, it all still works, the zumo has the zoom buttons on the touchscreen but also on the side of the unit, it also works fine in the car, I never really use the zoom, it does it automaticaly when needed, when i do, its easy to use the touch screen, not tried the bmw nav3, but cant see how spending more for less is worth doing

 

[ianboydsnr]

I thought it seemed too good to be true. On closer inspection, they state that it has a hard drive. I would be very wary of using any device with a hard disk on my motorbike, I've already killed one iPod in my tankbag through vibration.

I had a company supplied 2620, which I thought I would mount on my bike, but it crashed to many times to be of any use, so I would'nt reccomend a unit with a hard drive.

 

[NorthernBoy]

There's only the TomTom R2 and the Zumo 550 for bikes right? I'm a TomTom man myself but I get the impression by what I've read that the Zumo is better for bikers than the TomTom. The BMW Navman (although it suites the bike better) is too expensive and for what? O and your price is wrong the 2610 are around £260 not £160.

Well, these are maybe the only ones that are actually designed for bikes, but there are plenty of other units that will do the job just fine.

I bought a Mio C510 a few years ago, stuck it in a ram mount, and it has served me fine since. I think that I paid £110 for it, and it came with all of Europe street-level mapping, bluetooth calling, MP3 player, and so on. The battery life was quite poor, so I recently paid £8 for a new battery and fitted it myself. It does not claim to be even vaguely waterproof, so I stick it in a ziploc bag, which has worked, even when I have used it through whole days of riding through torrential thunderstorms that have soaked through every other piece of supposed "waterproof" equipment.

It is definitely not for everyone, but it does a great job of getting me to whatever address in Europe I want, and of guiding me by the quickest or by a more interesting route.

If someone is looking for a GPS for the bike, I'd always suggest that they take a look at the most entry-level ones as well as the purpose built units. For many of us, this might be the best solution. Additional benefits to these are that they are easily transferable to cars when you decide to drive somewhere, and that they will easily fit into a jeans pocket when you are parked.

 

[Monsieur]

I 'downgraded' from a zumo 550 to a nuvi 250.

I'd never use the bluetooth and wasn't too concerened about the ability to plot routes (michelin maps?) so just wanted a satnav that could tell where I'm going, tell me where I am and tell me how to get home again.

The nuvi does all this for less than £80 - full europe mapping, speed camera alerts, good POI's, very quick to get a fix, quick at recalculation and with the added expenditure of a £4.99 bike mount now works well on the bike

Small enough to slip into a shirt pocket and also takes an SD card when needed.
Only complaint I have is that it hasn't got an earphone jack socket - but then I normally have my ipod on so wouldn't have room for another earpiece

All in all well worth the money

 

[NorthernBoy]

Yes, the lack of an earphone socket is a bit strange. I don't have a mount on my scoter, so sometimes use my Mio C510 in a top pocket, with the headphones. My new Nuvi, when it arrives, will not allow this. I suppose that I should just get my arse in gear and fit a proper bracket to the scooter for it.

If the rumours of the design for the Zumo 660 are true, then it looks like Garmin, too, have realised that some of us want our bike units to be as small as car units, and to be able to easily use them in both.