Nuvi 500 vs 550

[+appalachiancachin]

I'm torn between buying a Nuvi 500 and Nuvi 550. How much of a difference do the maps make? I regularly travel to the Lake Erie area and we go into Canada some, so I would use the Canadian maps, but only a couple times a year. The topos I would use for geocaching and trail walking, but I've read that there are better topos available than Garmin offers for free from this site... http://gpstracklog.com/2009/09/free-gps-topo-maps.html

 

Can anyone confirm that these work well? If these maps are better than Garmin topos I might as well go with the 550 for the Canada maps and just load topos after the fact. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[+W7WT]

I have the Nuvi 550 as we travel to Alaska and Canada. It is the most friendly use of any GPS I have ever had. Love it. Sorry I have no info on topos.

[+gnjeepn]

I went with the 550 because I knew there was free software available for the topo maps for the areas I usualy go. I can't remember the web site I got the free software from. I have it saved on my home pc. I have compared the free software I have with the garmin topo software and I believe the free software has more detail and is extreamly accurate. I'm not sure if they offer software for the area you are wanting it for. I do know they have most of the US. When I get home I will look up the web site and post it here.

[+gnjeepn]

Just checked and the link you have listed is the same one I use. Their maps are great.

[+appalachiancachin]

Thanks for the replies. I think I might be leaning more towards the 550 then.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

I have a 500 and the topo's not that great.

Worse still, the topo overlay makes the street map have a green background which is not as nice for driving visibility as a reg Nuvi ( I actually use a 780 for driving)

I'd get a 550 if I was doing it over and I have no plans to go to Canada.

Don't forget, these units are totally paperless and you can use the " field notes" feature in your " profile " for uploading and logging caches.