Garmin Streetpilot C550 2.1-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Streetpilot C550 2.1-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: should have bought this a long time ago
Summary: 5 Stars
seeing as i do a lot of driving for my job going to multiple places, i finally decided to purchase the Garmin Street pilot c550 after reading a whole bunch of reviews on different GPS products. I wanted a GPS that had the basic's because i did not need a picture viewer or other extra options.
so here is what i think after using it for a few weeks.
first of all the street pilot is very easy to use. once you set it up, which takes just a minute, it is ready to go. I find it acquires satellites very quickly and produces your route of travel usually in about 10 seconds. there is no GPS that has 100% perfect maps or routes and this is the same with the street pilot. i have driven a couple of routes i know very well and it made very minor mistakes but nothing that was out of the way or a big hassle. the sound is loud and clear but may be hard to hear if your windows are down and your at highway speeds, but so far i have had no problems understanding the audio. i read on some reviews that the GPS does not give you enough time to make a turn. I do not understand that because it give you a warning .2 miles before your turn as well as right before your turn again. if you were driving at 140 MPH you might miss a turn but otherwise you should be well prepared. also you have a visual to see the turn as well in plenty of time. also i noticed it will automatically zoom in or out of your route as you get closer to a direction change. the screen is very clear even in direct sunlight and a 3" screen is not hard to see when thew unit is on your windshield or dashboard. the battery life may not be the full 8 hours but i have gotten 6-7 without a problem.
the only negative is the bluetooth audio is a little hard to hear sometimes but i had no problem syncing up to it with my Verizon Motorola phone. oh and let me comment on Garmin customer service as well. i read a lot of negative reviews as well but i had one opportunity to use them and i had good results. when i first got the GPS i could not register it online because my computer could not find the device plugged in to the USB port. i called customer service and the tech had my problem fixed in two minutes.
Customer Review: Great Unit!
Summary: 5 Stars
"UPDATE" As of 08-15-08 unit is still working great! I did purchase a new phone from Verizon, the Adventure V750. Trying to pair the bluetooth was a nightmare. After several attempts (about 20 minutes) the phone and C550 finally connected. After the setup the bluetooth works great, I guess this new phone has issues. Old phone connected fine, as stated in my original post. There are a few places that the c550 could not find. I was searching for a local store and it was not listed, even though I was in the parking lot of the store I was hunting. I'm sure this is human error while programing the Garmin maps. No matter what unit you have, none are perfect. Still a great unit and I purchased 3 more for Christmas.
I purchased two of these and they are wonderful. They will work straight out the box with little set up time. I registered the units with no problems on 7-30-08. Garmin still has support for these units. When I registered, it updated the firmware then said I need to update my map. They will give you a free update to download or you can order the map on a cd for shipping charges. I chose to download using a broadband connection, it took over an hour. I did have one problem after the download when trying to install the map. I called support (took about 30 minutes to reach a live tech). They were very helpful and talked me through my problem. I was told if I had any other issues to email him and he would call me back, so I would not need to hold like before. Be prepared to wait for the download and installation, as for it will take over 2 hours to complete. I had no trouble when setting up my cell. It detected the phone in a matter of seconds. I have Verizon service. I road tested this unit on 7-31-08 from work to home. The results were great! Only thing I noticed was when entering a sharp curve it said to make a turn. This could come in handy if traveling an unknown road, for warning of a sharp turn. I do recommend this unit and will purchase some as Christmas gifts. I do recommend ordering a screen protector or a stylus so no damage or scratching will occur.
Customer Review: All the features of the new GPS for less money
Summary: 5 Stars
The Garmin 550 has it all. It may not be the newest product that Garmin sells but it is the most full featured for the price that I found. I was always going with Garmin, I had a friend that owned a 320 and he loved the simple touch screen interface and ease of use. The 550 has voice prompts (with street names) that was a must for my wife, the newer technology to acquire satellites that the more recent Garmins have and it comes with a 3 month trial of the traffic alert service. All this and it was easily $100 less than a similarly equipped model from Garmin. It also has hands free bluetooth so you can use it as a speaker phone with your bluetooth enabled cell phone. I thought this option would have limited features but when I started reading the clear, easy to understand manual (yes, I read manuals...) I realized how extensive the bluetooth options were. I would normally just use a GPS unit to navigate to locations that are unfamiliar or far away but the bluetooth options make it a must have in the car each day. You can even use the phone numbers that are included in the ~6 million POI database to call restaurants or hotels via the touch screen while your traveling. Very cool. One other note on the traffic alert feature, I was worried that the coverage would be underwhelming but once I researched the links provided on the Garmin site I saw that it is actually very good in an around the major metropolitan areas in the country. I live outside Boston and we pickup service nearly 30 miles west of the city. We actually used the alerts the first time we used the 550 to avoid an accident on Rt2. For just a yearly $60 dollar subscription I was sold. So, to sum up, I am more than impressed that a sub $300 GPS has all these features and the already well known Garmin ease of use. Garmin was also the only GPS manufacturer that got any good reviews for customer service I found. I have not needed it yet but hope that remains true if I ever do.Customer Review: Great GPS!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this product for almost a month now and it is flawless. I've not experienced the lock up or crash problem some have had when using the SD card slot while playing mp3's. Maybe they upgraded the flash and/or software since then. However, I also don't intend to use it long term to listen to my music in the car. The sound is still tinny and thin because of the small speakers.
Right out of the box it is ready, willing, and able to go. I needed it a day after I got it. I plugged in the address, portions of the address really, it filled in the rest, gave me a choice for multiple addresses, and, BAM, got me going in under a min. As a consultant, I'm always going to new locations around the Puget Sound and even Portland areas. This device makes it SO easy to get where I need to go without the worry of printing out online maps.
However, that does not mean it doesn't have some flakiness to it. The Bluetooth seems to have some weirdness about connecting and being connected to. It has disabled itself several times. On one occasion, it disconnected itself right after I hung up a call. Another thing that Amazon STILL has not updated is their web site in recommending the car adaptor when you buy the c550. First off, you don't need one for car because it comes with one. Second, is the fact it is the WRONG adaptor. As stated in another reviewers review. What makes it even worse; I had to pay to send the adaptor back.
However, overall, this is a great product and I couldn't really be any happier. No longer do I need to GoogleEarth or Mapquest a location, print it out, and then read it while I'm driving the road.
Customer Review: Great product - but I'd buy it again for the traffic avoidance alone!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll echo any positives that I read before deciding to buy - the c550 (my first gps) worked easily and immediately right out of the box, etc. - without ever having seen a gps, you use this intuitively. Mine was purchased in August, came with maps and software up-to-date; but going to the Garmin website was easy as well, downloaded some extras (nothing important).
But here's my story from our first real use of it this past Labor Day weekend. Returning to Connecticut from New Jersey on Friday, we were on a course to hit the usual parking lot on the G.Washington Bridge - turned on the radio advisory way ahead to hear that it's a 2-hr delay going over the bridge. Heard from someone at a rest-stop that the Tappanzee was just as bad so don't bother, sister-in-law at the same rest-stop making basically the same trip said she was just going to get in line and deal with it. To make a long story short, we decided to just let the Garmin take over and avoid traffic. It took us off the turnpike (saying that it was recalculating the route to avoid traffic tie-up), worked us through a couple little N.J. towns (during which we kept passing on-ramps full of parked cars), and got us over the bridge in maybe 20-30 minutes. As we approached the Connecticut border, called sis-in-law to see where she was - she was still in traffic not even yet in sight of the bridge.
Aside from my traffic story, I love this little machine anyway. Oh, and don't be an idiot like I was on the first try - use the locking lever on the suction cup mount (duh) to lock that baby down (could that mistake be why people are complaining about the mount?). It's not going anywhere...