Is my Zumo 550 now a paperweight

[twowheelstom]

After installing 2024.20 maps of eastern USA and Canada from my computer to the Zumo 550 SD card using MapInstall, I then went around my neighbourhood as a test, and yes the street names on the map screen display some dots, but street names are spoken in full from Zumo audio when following a route, so my 550 is still very usable. I might be able to live with the dots on the screen because I prefer the new updated POIs (gas stations and motels), so the only minor issue I can see with the 550 is d..o..t..s. The audio is fine and the POIs are up to date.

[MSTOCK27370]

After installing 2024.20 maps of eastern USA and Canada from my computer to the Zumo 550 SD card using MapInstall, I then went around my neighbourhood as a test, and yes the street names on the map screen display some dots, but street names are spoken in full from Zumo audio when following a route, so my 550 is still very usable. I might be able to live with the dots on the screen .......

Yes. And when a street name is displayed on the top banner of the screen, it is displayed completely - upper and lower case letters.

So I agree, it is still very usable.

[twowheelstom]

Canadian online store GPSCENTRAL.CA has the Zumo 396 for $339.99 and I'm tempted on that one, but I think the XT for $539.99 would be the better unit to get, but I want to wait and see if the XT goes on sale.

[twowheelstom]

I did a test to see if my 550 would play MP3 music via bluetooth to a paired bluetooth FLIP4 speaker, and no success. I am thinking that the 550 cannot play music through bluetooth, but only through wired speakers.

[twowheelstom]

Success, I tried it again, the 550 does indeed play MP3 music via bluetooth on the 550 to an external bluetooth speaker.
I unpaired the FLIP4 from my Samsung phone this time and then did a fresh pair again of the FLIP4 to the 550 and success.
Also in the 550 Bluetooth screen press 'Audio' and then select 'Navigation, MP3, Phone' option and bingo, music.

[rbentnail]

Success, I tried it again, the 550 does indeed play MP3 music via bluetooth on the 550 to an external bluetooth speaker.
I unpaired the FLIP4 from my Samsung phone this time and then did a fresh pair again of the FLIP4 to the 550 and success.
Also in the 550 Bluetooth screen press 'Audio' and then select 'Navigation, MP3, Phone' option and bingo, music.

I love it when a plan comes together! I recently got the Sirius/XM app on my phone so I'm gonna try streaming via XT Bluetooth to my Bluetooth receiver & earbuds. Wish me luck!!

[twowheelstom]

So apparently, maps only become unlocked during the download process from Garmin. In other words, if I loaded my pc with maps that were downloaded while the Zumo XT was attached, those maps cannot be unlocked on the Zumo 550. I had to load maps to the pc while the Zumo 550 was attached to the pc in order for them to be unlocked on the Zumo 550.

I hope I explained this well enough that it may help someone in the future.

So when you used Express with the 550 attached and downloaded maps again to your computer, did your computer end up with 2 identical sets of map files from both those downloaded with XT and those downloaded with 550? Would BaseCamp end up showing 2 sets of identical CN NA maps on the computer? In other words, what if a person has multiple zumo models, the computer will have separate map files for each and every model?

[MSTOCK27370]

................ did your computer end up with 2 identical sets of map files from both those downloaded with XT and those downloaded with 550? Would BaseCamp end up showing 2 sets of identical CN NA maps on the computer? In other words, what if a person has multiple zumo models, the computer will have separate map files for each and every model?

No. Only one set of maps on the computer. I have a Nuvi in my car and 3 Zumos. After the maps are loaded to the PC, I do another download to the PC with the GPS attached. The software (Express) is written so that it realizes that the maps are already there and all it does is write some kind of unlock file onto the GPS. Once that is done, the maps installed on the GPS are recognized as unlocked. After the "long" download to the computer, the subsequent downloads with GPS attached only take a few minutes.

[twowheelstom]

great, thanks,