Zumo 660 or 350?

Status
Not open for further replies.

King Rat

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Nov 18, 2006
Messages
12,067
Reaction score
1,430
Location
Uttoxeter, England
I don't want any bluetooth crap thank you - I had it and threw it away because it is far too distracting, as bad as a driver on their phone. :mad:

I have had a 550 for some time now, although I still don't know how to use it other than type in a post code... no post code, I can't do anything other than use it as a rolling map with very little coverage!

The more modern ones. Which is the better of these two? What advantage would have over the other? I just want to be able to go from one place to the next. I have no idea how to do a route in one.. so I use old fashioned route notes and just reprogram each place as I go along, one stop at a time!

Is the 660 newer and more powerful/faster to redraw? Bigger screen?

Is one easier to use than the other?

I shall plug both in, so battery life doesn't matter.
Thanks,
Simon.
 
Stick with your 550.

As you do not know how to create routes (despite there being loads of very good self-help videos on YouTube) there is no advantage, other than screen size and some processing power, between a ‘modern’ device (that really ain’t that ‘modern’) and your 550. Neither of them are any ‘easier’ (or more difficult) to use than your 550, if you only want to ask the device to “Take me from A to B”, rather than you yourself creating a bespoke route, taking roads you want to ride along, not the device choosing them for you.

In short: Learn how to create routes..... only then look at possibly buying a new device.


PS Because of its smaller size, I kept and used my 550 on my HP4 for several years. I only stopped using it when the screen delaminated.
 
neither are "more modern" really - they are both very old units - they were obsolete & out-of-support a very long time ago.

the 350 is newer than the 660, which isn't that much of a processor upgrade over the 550 from what i remember.

As Wapping has noted above if you genuinely use it "I use old fashioned route notes and just reprogram each place as I go along, one stop at a time!" then i probably wouldn't bother.

i don't know how you can tour like this i have to say - why don't you invest a little time on the route-creation thing?
 
The 550 is still great unit and in some ways superior to the more modern equivalent, simple and certainly more robust, maybe slightly slower to redraw and a slightly smaller screen but thats no biggy, many of the bells and whistles that you get with the later units are in most cases very rarely used, did from home to the Ardennes and back last year using a 550 no problems at all, trust me it will do all you need it to do Simon.
 
Thanks guys. I have tried for years to learn how to do stuff on it. Lee has very kindly been over to my house and downloaded maps for me because I couldn't even do that. He tried to teach me, but I have a complete mind block for this stuff, it is only stuff I have learned parrot fashion that I can do, and that takes a lot of repeating to get me to be able to do it. I just don't seem able to retain the learnt lessons - logging in to my bank account, the bank manager came here at least 5 times to get me on it. I could do it once, then at the end he would take me out and get me to log back in on my own... I had to ask again, literally, I couldn't remember what we had done. I know it is incomprehensible to you lot who are used to working in an office or whatever and do mobile phone stuff all day long - the only way I can try to explain it would be like music. If you have never seen a music sheet before and you are expected to read it. You can know the words by heart, but not be able to read music.

I think it is something like that anyway. Or, maybe a foreign language, with a different alphabet, with no translator available.

I think my old computer system doesn't help, new programs don't like talking to it.
 
Thanks guys. I have tried for years to learn how to do stuff on it. Lee has very kindly been over to my house and downloaded maps for me because I couldn't even do that. He tried to teach me, but I have a complete mind block for this stuff, it is only stuff I have learned parrot fashion that I can do, and that takes a lot of repeating to get me to be able to do it. I just don't seem able to retain the learnt lessons - logging in to my bank account, the bank manager came here at least 5 times to get me on it. I could do it once, then at the end he would take me out and get me to log back in on my own... I had to ask again, literally, I couldn't remember what we had done. I know it is incomprehensible to you lot who are used to working in an office or whatever and do mobile phone stuff all day long - the only way I can try to explain it would be like music. If you have never seen a music sheet before and you are expected to read it. You can know the words by heart, but not be able to read music.

I think it is something like that anyway. Or, maybe a foreign language, with a different alphabet, with no translator available.

I think my old computer system doesn't help, new programs don't like talking to it.

You can always give me a shout Simon if you need a hand.
 
My mate only upgraded his 550 after the buttons became embrittled and started to fall apart/fall off.
 
My mate only upgraded his 550 after the buttons became embrittled and started to fall apart/fall off.

My on/off button has gone and there are none at Garmin HQ. I asked if they would look to see if there was anything lying around - but without luck. I shall make an on/off button out of a bit of dowling and sikaflex, or CT1 sealer then. Just to keep the water out - I turn it on and off with the tip of the ignition key pressing on the actual switch inside the hole! The screen works fine. I don't have a locking mount for it though. Maps are up to about 2018, so good enough.
 
My on/off button has gone and there are none at Garmin HQ. I asked if they would look to see if there was anything lying around - but without luck. I shall make an on/off button out of a bit of dowling and sikaflex, or CT1 sealer then. Just to keep the water out - I turn it on and off with the tip of the ignition key pressing on the actual switch inside the hole! The screen works fine. I don't have a locking mount for it though. Maps are up to about 2018, so good enough.

Looks like you are all set for the next 20 years :beerjug:

PS You can buy replacement 550 buttons on eBay. Google: zumo 550 replace power on off button

There are self help videos on how to do it, too.
 
You might try using your mobile phone as there are plenty of apps you can try to see which suits you sir.
 
You might try using your mobile phone as there are plenty of apps you can try to see which suits you sir.

:jes

Me? App on a phone? You don't know the level of my techno inability do you? :D My phone does phone calls and texts. That's it.
 
Your newer to old (or stupid) to learn how apps work :D

Assuming your phone is even vaguely capable of running an app.

The OP has told us that his phone cannot run applications. He’s also told us that he can’t or won’t create his own routes. That leaves him with asking a gps device to take him from A to B, along roads of its choosing, which the 550 is fully capable of. The device’s only fault is the shonky on-off button, for which replacements or DIY fixes are available. Job done..... unless anyone has any other suggestions.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


Back
Top Bottom