New member from old forum

[Drjfjr]

Wow- didn’t know this site existed. Missed the old zumo forum. I have a 550 I bought when they first came out. Buttons started falling off of it on my last trip. Just ordered a new 595 but still plan to get the 550 repaired. It’s still a great unit.

[carolinarider09]

Welcome to the forum. I still have my second 550. Had the buttons repair by Palm DR. Excellent work. Its still a good unit and I can get maps loaded still.

[kernowing]

Welcome to the forum Drjfjr. The 550 was a good unit which the majority of Zumo users seem to have had at some time.

[Wingstyle]

Welcome to the forum Drjfjr.

I never owned a 550. Had several friends that had them and loved them. I had, and still have, a SP2610. It is stuck in the dark reaches of my cabinet:-) It still works and in some ways worked better than my 660, but with no features. It took a while for Garmin to iron out the kinks on the 660, but once they did it works well and I like it. Each new model seems to have great features delivered along with quirks and things we wish were still there. I often wonder if/when the smartphone will fully take over our GPS needs.

[jfheath]

I very much doubt it for me (re mobile phones as sat navs) I like the ability to plan stuff on the computer and transfer it to the satnav - and to transfer the logs back again.

Last time we bought a car, we got one with a satnav built in - and for the price of the additional extra, my humble opinion is that it was a waste of good money. It has voice recognition, but it doesn't recognise much of what I say. It made me realise what a superb bit of kit the Garmins are.

As for the 550. Yes it was good. Mine was terrible at calculating the ETA - half an hour from the estimated time to the destination the ETA would start stretching away, sometimes taking an hour to get there. But you get used to things like that. The 660 had many improvements, including the ability to automatically skip route points as long as you were on the plotted route. The ETA was almost spot on, and it was so much faster in operation and had a bigger, brighter screen.

You will like the 595. That makes similar leaps forward.

Correction. You will hate the 595. It will attempt to drive you nuts. But don't let it. It's a different beast, does things in a different way, and as soon as you realise that and start learning how it actually works, it is a real beauty. There are plenty of us on here who have done all of the tearing out of hair that is necessary. No need for you to go through the same steep learning curve. Just yell out.

[Moose]

Welcome it's about time you got here

[Drjfjr]

Welcome to the forum Drjfjr.

I never owned a 550. Had several friends that had them and loved them. I had, and still have, a SP2610. It is stuck in the dark reaches of my cabinet:-) It still works and in some ways worked better than my 660, but with no features. It took a while for Garmin to iron out the kinks on the 660, but once they did it works well and I like it. Each new model seems to have great features delivered along with quirks and things we wish were still there. I often wonder if/when the smartphone will fully take over our GPS needs.

I used my 550 in Europe and New Zealand and all over the US. I once decided to use my cell phone instead when on a business trip to Fresno California. I drove up to Yosemite Kings canyon and no service. Rendered my cell phone useless as a GPS as I did not have maps downloaded. This and cost of replacement (new decent cell phones are close to twice the price of a dedicated Motorcycle GPS) and the ability to plan routes and download routes influenced my decision to upgrade. I’m worried that even after getting the 550 buttons repaired it will let me down. It is a 13 year old unit but it goes well with my 17 year FJR1300. It even looks ok on my 3 year old Ducati.

[Stu]

Hi and welcome to the forum