Zumo 550, worth it, or white elephant?

[drifter]

Hi all, as I'm attempting to spread my wings and travel further afield, I've just spent some time browsing and looking around for M/cycle GPS as my in car Garmin Nuvi won't do. Prices for second hand stuff from e-bay, by the time various accessories and mapping upgrades are bought are ever increasing and to be honest am very seriously considering the new Zumo 550, seems to come with all the bits. The problem is getting your hands on a model here in Northern Ireland and more importantly some serious advice is difficult.

To the meat of it, anyone got this system, whats the craic with it? It's intended use will be initially Ireland and UK, but hoping to be tempted to the continent at some stage. Sorry but Tom Tom not really an option for me, I like the Garmin stuff, tried and tested on my in car unit.

I know someone must have one, despite the odd critic of GPS, thanks in advance.

 

[Thunder]

Welcome to the collective.

You will find lots of information on the Zumo in the GPS section of the forum, but while I'm here I'll leave my thoughts.

Tom Tom is an non starter for Ireland as far as I'm concerned as it lacks detailed mapping compared to the Garmin.

As you already have a Nuvi you will find using the Zumo a simple transition as they are very similar.

I'd sell the Nuvi and go for the Zumo 550 which comes with a powered car mount, additional memory and the full European maps unlike the 500. While it's easy to add memory to the 500 and load European maps when needed, the 550 is easy to move between bike and car and saves you needing 2 units.

If you want to see a Zumo on a 1200 give me a shout.

 

[Slowdown]

If you've not already discovered them, look on the Zumo forums
Like here, you get a 'warts and all' set of opinions.

I love mine. It's quirky, but I find it much better than TomTom5 on my PDA. The last few firmware upgrades have solved nearly all of the 'issues' the users had. Garmin actually listen to the requests made on the forum!

Go buy one - you know it makes sense.

 

[JDH]

Heartily recommend the Zumo 550 And Garmin can show TomTom a thing or two about customer service.

JDH

 

[ianboydsnr]

zumo

I have a 550, everything in the box to fit bike and car, i have a comms system and play mp3's on the zumo, through a cf card, easy to use once youve had a play about, top kit

 

[Slowdown]

I have a 550, everything in the box to fit bike and car, i have a comms system and play mp3's on the zumo, through a cf card, easy to use once youve had a play about, top kit

Compact Flash card? My Zumo's SD....

 

[ianboydsnr]

Compact Flash card? My Zumo's SD....

ok, you win 4gb SD memory card

 

[Firebird]

If you're going to add an SD card spend extra and get the fastest card available. I've put 620 mp3s onto my 4GB regular ScanDisk SD card and the unit now takes 2m20s to draw the roads after power up.

Looking at Zumo forums this seems to be because the unit indexes the SD card every time it boots. The slower the SD card, the slower the initial road drawing.

Other than that the 550 seems excellent. MapSource and the Garmin way of working take a bit of getting used to if you're coming from TomTom but you'll soon figure it out.

Bought mine from www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk.

 

[beermonster]

Drifter

Only had mine a couple of weeks and agree with previous comments, should have bought one sooner.

Firebird cheers for the tip, was contemplating getting an SD card, which one would you recommend.

Simon

 

[beermonster]

Cheapo SD card

Talking of which just seen this on the Zumo site, what do you reckon?

Hi this weeks ALDI have 1GB SD cards for £5.99

sorry uk only
http://uk.aldi.com/sunday_special_buys/productnl_224.html

Simon

 

[JayGee]

If you're going to add an SD card spend extra and get the fastest card available. I've put 620 mp3s onto my 4GB regular ScanDisk SD card and the unit now takes 2m20s to draw the roads after power up.

Looking at Zumo forums this seems to be because the unit indexes the SD card every time it boots. The slower the SD card, the slower the initial road drawing.

Other than that the 550 seems excellent. MapSource and the Garmin way of working take a bit of getting used to if you're coming from TomTom but you'll soon figure it out.

Bought mine from www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk.

I've not noticed this, I have a 2Gb Sandisk SD card (just the bog standard one) with about 300 mp3s on and the initial draw is no slower than it used to be. Have you formatted the card to FAT32 before you used it? I put my files on in a folder structure- they were in Itunes- can't see how this will make any difference but mine certainly doesn't take a minute or two to first draw roads etc. The album artwork is held in the album folder, it can be held in every MP3 file and this might slow things down as well.

I'm new to GPS and always said that maps were cheaper however I am a convert now. I don't use the phone connection and wire mine through an autocom. Volume is an issue for some but the MP3s don't need full volume although the navigation prompts do, there is a frig to increase the voice volume, however I do wear earplugs and the volume is fine up to about 90mph.

BTW autocom sell special leads but I found the standard leads work fine and I'm told they give better volume.

 

[luke scott]

Hi all, as I'm attempting to spread my wings and travel further afield, I've just spent some time browsing and looking around for M/cycle GPS as my in car Garmin Nuvi won't do.

Buy a tank bag with a plastic window on top.

Put the Nuvi in the top window.

Power off the bike.

Headphones / earpiece from Nuvi to helmet.

Lots of money saved.

 

[drifter]

Thanks guys for all your prompt replies, looking like the Zumo is the biz then. Thunder might just take you up on your offer, would like to see one fitted and would be interested in finding out about the wiring etc, maybe drop you a line next week and take a run up your way, I'd be coming from Ards, cheers for that, speak soon.

 

[Nick Marshall]

thats a good idea luke

Buy a tank bag with a plastic window on top.

Put the Nuvi in the top window.

Power off the bike.

Headphones / earpiece from Nuvi to helmet.

Lots of money saved.

and we both know the nuvi 660 screen (although not waterproof) is far better than the zumo 550 screen.

 

[PanEuropean]

Buy a tank bag with a plastic window on top. Put the Nuvi in the top window...

No, honestly, I would not recommend you go down that path. I've just finished a week of riding during which I had to use a non-waterproof GPSR (a C550) on my moto in order to test some traffic software. It is a real PITA to use a non-waterproof unit on a moto. First the obvious - every time it rains, you have to remove and stash the thing - and also the less than obvious: If you put a unit underneath a plastic tank bag map cover, it is very difficult (and very distracting) to try and operate the device by pressing the touch-screen buttons.

From a safety point of view, I can't recommend using a non-waterproof GPSR on a moto. If purchase price is a concern, then perhaps consider buying an older or end of line waterproof GPSR, rather than the latest greatest goodie. But don't go down the "GPSR in a Baggie" route - it's no fun at all.

Michael