Zumo new release?

[DodgyGeeSer]

Hi There, just wondering if anyone has heard of any upcoming Zumo product updates / new releases? Have a Quest at the moment and am due an upgrade. Would like the 550, but if there's a new release shortly, would prefer to wait for that.

Haven't seen anything on the GPS sites I usually frequent. Anyone heard any rumours?

 

[NI Phil]

I haven't heard any rumours or read anything about a new release.
My Zumo 550 was stolen and after borrowing a TomTom for a day I think I would still buy another Zumo 550. I paid £500 at the time but I see they are in around the £344 mark at the minute - I'm tempted to wait until January to see if they get much cheaper or maybe a new model will be released then

 

[Jaws100]

No sign of a new product yet, but there is a lot of buzz going around about a possibility mainly because the price's of the Zumo's are coming down. I'd wait awhile yet to change. If something does happen I'm sure there will be a lot of posts on this site.

 

[ECM]

.... And this is how rumours get started...


(based on nothing realy....)

 

[Tim Cullis]

I believe there's a new release (v10?) of maps coming out which is why you can't get v9 map unlock codes any more.

Tim

 

[DodgyGeeSer]

I mailed Garmin support, and they told me that there are currently no plans to release a new model in the Zumo series. Not too sure how eager they would be to let me know of their productline plans anyway, but was worth a try!

I noticed that the euro price on Pixmania and Komplett has gone up slighty, but this may be a reaction to the weak US dollar. I think I'll hold off until after XMas to see if there are further price drops, but I dont see too much point in waiting for a new release, as the 550 does everything I need.

The new functionality of the Nuvi 7xx series, is generally already availble in the Zumo 550, expect that they have a larger screen and FM transmitter (to transmit directly to your car's stereo).

 

[ECM]

The buzz in Belgium is that the 500 could be out of production and the 550 remains..

But still: It's a buzz based on nothing...

 

[DodgyGeeSer]

To be honest, you'd imagine that anyone who can afford to fork out 450 euro for a GPS receiver (Zumo 500), isn't going to be too bothered about forking out an extra 60 euro for the better model (Zumo 550).

They might as well focus their production on a single line of products. Reduce production costs, and increase product identity.

 

[Rabbitson]

Like you say . .

Like you say, I don't think Garmin would necessarily tell us mortals about what might be coming up but I did speak to their European Marketing Manager quite recently and he didn't let anything slip either (he seemed more concerned abut software updates) so maybe improving their existing products is more of a priority for them in the short term.

 

[DodgyGeeSer]

I'd also imagine that the motorcycle market isn't huge for them (in comparison to the car-navigation market), so the funding wouldn't really be justified to release new products too often. Garmin have had a very loyal customer base, for the Quest, 2610, and now the Zumo range, so why bother upsetting the apple cart..

Their primary concern at the moment will be where they will get their future mapping from, now that they have abandoned their attempt to take over TeleAtlas. After all, it doesn't matter how well designed the product is, without up to date (and complete) maps available, the device is redundant.

*Edit*: I see that Garmin have signed a 6 year deal with NavTeq, with an optional further 10 year extension, so it seems Garmin are NavTeq-based until at least 2013 (which is good news for us Irish punters).