Should i buy a Garmin Nuvi 550?

[+sabana]

Hi

 

With the recent of the Nuvi 550 to hit the Uk I am very tempted to buy one. It combines 4 activities including road/marine/off road(geocaching and Wherigo) and one more i can't think of. Basically its the whole caboodle in one dinky unit. It has topo maps for use off road when you get out of your car to get to the geocache. It is WATERPROOF. It is waas enabled /high sensitivity to 3 metres. OKAY OKAY i can go on but i'm beginning to sound like i work for Garmin.It is very big in the US but not heard much over here. But it is here and retails around £250. This product sounds perfect. But I would love to hear from from someone who has one first on this forum. I have read reviews on other and it is given very high ratings. But it is new and I would like the dust to settle. It even has a built in compass. But why are Garmin releasing this perfect crossover? Aren't thy shooting themselves in the foot? I don't know but if you can enlighten me let me know either way for or against.

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

I wasn't impressed. A better dual-use unit is the Oregon loaded with highway and topo maps.

[Bob Morphew]

I bought one a few of months ago and returned it after 3 frustrating weeks of use (Costco has a great try-before-you buy policy )

 

Things I liked:

* Multi-function - Auto, hiking, cycling, boating, scootering (yes, that what it's called so it's obviously a European development, not a USA product. Further confirmed by routing options referring to Motorways)

* Waterproof

* Did NOT speak street names (but an Update added that)

* Could load routes from a PC

* Claimed to handle tracklogs.

 

Things I didn't like:

* Multi-function - settings changed automatically and I didn't like some of them

* Almost impossible to see the screen in bright daylight and totally impossible in direct sunlight

* Almost a total lack of user options

* Price - it was $499 MSRP when introduced and then Garmin mysteriously dropped it to $299 a few months later

* Topo shading caused some minor roads to be almost invisible

* Did not work correctly with my custom-made maps.

* Unable to upload tracklogs back to the GPS and no Saved tracks - Active log only.

 

I have a 60CX and a 60CSx so I'm used to many user settings and compatibility with custom maps. For me, the Nuvi was a dissapointing dud.

 

Bob

[+Pegasi]

I just picked up a Nuvi 500 at Best Buy for $157.99. Seems that they had no idea where to place the unit on the display so they were clearing them out.

 

The Driving functions are just fine, I loaded a GPX file with 100 caches and they pop up on screen where they should be.

 

I loaded in a few Blue chart maps (extra cost , boating option will not appear unless the maps are loaded) and the detail on the rivers in my area is very impressive, more so than on an older GPS40 marine.

 

I have yet to actually go out and run around the woods with the unit but did take it on an off road trip over the weekend. The jeep trails in Southern new jersey show up as trails and the compass seems to work.

 

At $299.99 i would have never considered the unit but I needed an Auto GPS for work (my eyes are old and tired and there is no way I could see the screen on a handheld while driving). At $158 it was a major bargain that I could not pass up.

 

One of the "cons" in many reviews was the lack of Text to Speach for detailed named turn by turn directions, when I unpacked the unit and hooked it up I loaded the latest firmware from Garmin - TTS is now enabled on the unit and some other minor bugs were worked out.

 

I cannot give a definitigve thumbs up or down yet, but as soon as I can get out in the field I will let you know.

[+solo63137]

I own both a Garmin Nuvi 760 (I think, or 780) and a Coloroado 400t...

 

I use the Nuvi for mapping on streets, Hiways and whatnot and the Colorado for Topos when Hiking, hunting, caching , etc... I have used it for streets too...

 

I've tried them both in the field and while you can Cache with a Nuvi, I think it sucks... I have much better luck with the Colorado...

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking my Nuvi, its never led me wrong on the roads and has saved my butt several times from getting lost and routing around major Highway Pileups....

[robertlipe]

I was caching this weekend with a Nuvi 500 in the car. About one cache in three would reset the unit when we'd enter it as a destination. The unit would reboot, recalculate the route to the cache, then crash again. If we were able to catch the boot process before the signal was obtained and the route was recalced and goto another POI, we could regain control of the unit. All the caches with a PQ (not identical, but of a similar vintage) routed/displayed fine on a CO 400T. Whereigos that run fine on CO and OR often crash Nuvi 500, also.

 

I don't know the precise firmware version involved, but Monkeybrad said he'd updated recently. The fact that Garmin is shipping *any* model/firmware version with such severe problems makes me think they're spreading their engineering talents too thinly these days.

[+fantasticwizard]

Hi

 

I have the North American version of this and I just bought it and tried it out caching. I like it so far. I would suggest that you still have a handheld unit for geocaching in the woods because the satelites in the woods was not good but for average caching that is not deep in the woods it is nice.

It works great for the car and walking mode as well.

I like this unit alot. It is totally your decision but out of ten I rate the unit a 9.

:0)

Edited June 23, 2009 by fantasticwizard

[+snowball 58]

Hi

 

With the recent of the Nuvi 550 to hit the Uk I am very tempted to buy one. It combines 4 activities including road/marine/off road(geocaching and Wherigo) and one more i can't think of. Basically its the whole caboodle in one dinky unit. It has topo maps for use off road when you get out of your car to get to the geocache. It is WATERPROOF. It is waas enabled /high sensitivity to 3 metres. OKAY OKAY i can go on but i'm beginning to sound like i work for Garmin.It is very big in the US but not heard much over here. But it is here and retails around £250. This product sounds perfect. But I would love to hear from from someone who has one first on this forum. I have read reviews on other and it is given very high ratings. But it is new and I would like the dust to settle. It even has a built in compass. But why are Garmin releasing this perfect crossover? Aren't thy shooting themselves in the foot? I don't know but if you can enlighten me let me know either way for or against.

 

 

If you do buy one, You need to look at pilotsnips and jjreds macros for paperless caching with a nuvi. You can load Thousands of caches using one or the other of them.