New GPS...2820 or Zumo 550???

[WindyChuffer]

I need a new GPS for my bike and thinking of either the Garmin 2820 or the new Zumo 550, and am interested in thoughts from this community.

Strikes me that the Zumo 550 is a new product from ground up, and the 2820 is an extension of old technology.

What is dissappointing about both of these new products is that both use built in memory that cannot be upgraded, and are equipped with a measly 2GB, and most of that is taken up by the Europe maps. Compare this with the older 2610 and this used a replaceable compact flash card (4GB card for <£20). However, the Zumo allows you to add an SD card and the 2820 doesn't !

I like the music features of the 2820 and the Zumo, but theres no room for much music after maps which means the use of an SD card. As you cant use an SD card on the 2820, the music features are effectively irrelevant on this device.

According to Garmin tech support, the max SD card size that will work with the Zumo is 4GB which doesnt compare to say 40GB on a cheap I-Pod. Hmm.

I like the zoom buttons on the Zumo cradle, but managed with the touchscreen zoom on the 2610.

Any one got some thoughts or experiences on either to share?

Anyone used either with the BMW Bluetooth helmet and a bluetooth phone?

Cheers.

 

[Eastriding2002]

Just out of interest. Whilst being navigated around Europe with either, how much music are you planning on listening to? Even a 1gig MP3 player has about 20+ albums on it.

 

[WindyChuffer]

Just out of interest. Whilst being navigated around Europe with either, how much music are you planning on listening to? Even a 1gig MP3 player has about 20+ albums on it.

Good point, but then you have to question why anyone would buy a 40GB ipod, let alone the 80GB one. I want to use my GPS as an I-Pod (but only interested in portable music whilst riding or driving), and dont want to buy both.

My entire music collection is around 60Gb and would be really nice to get all that on a combine gps/i-pod-type device as no fannying around with mutliple updates to computer and multiple devices. Same reason why want to get whole of europe on device at once as one less thing to think about when going away...

 

[SilverFish]

You could also buy a couple of 4GB SD Cards, they're about £18 each I think.

Just in case you do get a 2820/Zumo - they both only read plain vanilla MP3s, so no WMA or AAC.

Mike

 

[Dale]

Go have a look at this thread....

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98056

My thoughts on the differences between the two are about halff way down the page. As you will see from the other responses, some folk (like me) think the zumo is lots better .... others (in particular the guys in Norway where the mapping quiality is poor) don't like it.

Bottom line ... decide what you want to do with a GPS before buying.

Dale

 

[WindyChuffer]

Hey Dale - thx for the link. Some interesting perspectives coming out here. Am really surprised that on the Zumo you can't turn the auto routing off.

FYI - am going to post some comments on that thread...