Motorcycle Navigation Made Easy – By Garmin

The Zumo 550 is of course not the first GPS system that Garmin have made for motorcycles. In fact they offer a range of GPS systems for motorbikes, including the Zumo 400 and the the Zumo 500 as well as the 550, and more. They claim though that the 550 is the first GPS satellite navigation unit made specifically for bikes with easy to use controls so that they can be operated with gloves on and with the left hand.

Probably the most important feature of the Zumo 550, or any Garmin motorcycle GPS unit for that matter, is it’s durability. It’s not easy being a motorcycle GPS system, and any good one has to be tough, tougher than a car GPS.

When used on a bike the GPS unit suffers all of the extremes of weather that the rider suffers, incuding heat, rain and heavy vibrations.

So it has to keep running through all of this. The 550 is totally waterproof, has been rigorously tested for vibration resistance and is built with fuel and UV resistant plastics to ensure that it continues working in the toughest of environments.

And most importantly it comes with a dedicated motorcycle mount. One of the great difficulties for bikers in the past who wanted a GPS device on their bike was to mount it successfully so that it was mounted in an easy to read place but didn’t get in the way when riding. Oh, and the mount had to offer some vibration resistance too.

Finding a good GPS was often only a part of the equation in the past, mounting it was also quite a problem. And if you’ve got a car as well then it comes with a mount can be used in a vehicle as well, (windshield or dash), so you can transfer it from bike to car with ease.

Of course the primary requirement of a navigation system is that it provides easy to follow directions to get you to where you want to go. The 550 has all city navigator NT maps preloaded and a large point of interest database, just so that you can find exactly what it is that you want to see.

It includes such things as hotels and restaurants and handy locations like fuel stops and ATMs. Anywhere you want to go to in North America is covered, just plan your route, there’s a map to cover it.

The Zumo offers both voice and visual directions so that you can ride without looking down at the screen if you wish, which is of course preferable, especially in heavy traffic. It has text to speech functionality so it can give you verbal street directions including street names. It makes difficult navigating a snap. Voice is transmitted wirelessly to your headset.

And you can choose a 2D or 3D display, whichever you prefer.

The screen is a little small for some at 3 1/2 inches, and those with poorer eyesight may struggle if they felt the need to navigate by the screen, but why not use the voice function, and size of the icons can be increased. It has an internal battery so the unit can become portable if needed just by taking it off the mount, and the battery life is around 3 to 4 hours of continuous use.

All you need to do to get to where you want to go is to tell it where you want to go. Of course it’s best to do this before you leave, and then you can leave all the hard work navigating to the Zumo and those busy little satellites above.

Trips can be downloaded later for storage or to share with friends, so you can reproduce your best trips at any time just by preloading them. You can even review your trip in Google Earth. You can save your trip on the SD card and give it to a friend so he can load it on his zumo. If you’re planning on riding in a group but the group may like to split up at some time, everyone can follow the same route to the same destination.

Now of course all the above is about navigation. But a modern world class GPS does much more than just navigate, and Garmin Motorcycle GPS systems do not disappoint when it comes to extra features. The 550 is Bluetooth compatible so you can make hands free phone calls, or perhaps you’d like to listen to a little mp3 music. The Zumo 550 does it all. And with a jpeg picture viewer you can all share your photos later.

It can be programmed to warn you when you need to fill up with fuel, and has special anti theft features.

Now of course all of this comes at a price, and the Zumo 550 isn’t cheap. Of course if you don’t need all these features, for example you can get by without the bluetooth feature, then check out the other models in the Garmin Zumo range like the 450, they come at a lower price.

There is no doubt that GPS is one of the best navigation aids that has ever been available to the biker, and it’s refreshing to see companies like Garmin directing their attention of offering high quality motorcycle GPS systems that are specifically designed with the motorcyclist in mind. For somewhere around $1000, depending on where you buy, it’s hard to go past a GPS unit like the Zumo 550 for value for money. It turns navigation into a simple affair, and takes the stress out of getting there so you can enjoy the ride.

A good motorcycle GPS, like the Zumo, can be worth it’s weight in gold on a bad day.

Like everything on the internet the price is flexible, you just need to know where to look. So check out our price comparisons below. We use the latest in web technology and dynamic price search to bring you the very lowest price available for the Garmin Zumo 550 GPS.

Here’s a great video preview of the Garmin Zumo 450 GPS.

The Garmin Zumo 450 GPS is a fine GPS unit. It doesn’t pack quite all the features of the Zumo 550, but then it doesn’t come with quite the same price tag.

Of course it all depends on what you want your GPS unit to do. Modern technology can design just about anything into a GPS, it’s all done by computer chips. But you’ve always got to ask yourself if there are some features of the top of the range model, in this case the Zumo 550, that you just don’t need?

Because of course less features means less cost, and if there’s something you don’t need why pay for it right?

So lets check out a direct comparison between the Garmin Zumo 450 GPS and the Zumo 550 GPS, and see what comes out.

The first thing you notice doing a direct comparison is that almost everything on the Zumo 550 GPS is available on the 450. Note I said “almost”. There are still some big differences, so lets see what they are.

Firstly the Zumo 450 doesn’t recognise and speak street names, whereas the 550 does. So the 450 will tell you to turn left in 500 feet, but the 550 will tell you to turn left in 500 feet to 1st Street. You get extra information from the 550 that may just make all the difference in particular situations. But how often will this matter? How often when you’re navigating will the street name matter? That’s up to you to decide.

Difference number 2. Do you require Bluetooth capability for hands free phone calls? If so the Zumo 550 motorcycle GPS gives it to you and the 450 doesn’t.

And the 550 has XM Navtraffic, the 450 doesn’t. This is a weather and radio service that is a subscription service that gives you details about accidents, road construction and weather-related traffic delays, and offers alternative routes. All useful, but at a cost.

But with the Garmin Zumo 450 you still get features like preloaded maps, ability to add maps as you wish, mp3 player, audio book player, picture viewer and much more.

And the Zumo 450 is somewhere around $200 cheaper than the Sumo 550, depending where you buy it.

So before you grab a Garmin Zumo 550 GPS navigator consider the alternatives, like the 450, and compare the features. You may well find that the differences between the 2 are not great, that you don’t need those extra features of the 550, and that you can save yourself $200 or so. It’s all up to you and your needs and wants. But do your homework on exactly what you want from your GPS navigator.

Then, once you’ve made some decisions on exactly which motorcycle GPS unit is best for you jump onto our website and buy one at the best prices around.

And while you’re here check out this video about the Garmin 450 Zumo GPS, it’s worth watching.

So you’ve got a Garmin Zumo GPS navigator. What about accessories?

We’ve talked a little about the Garmin Zumo 550 Motorcycle GPS system, an excellent world class GPS navigation unit for motorcyclists. Well there are also some hot accessories for the entire Garmin Zumo GPS range, because there are more Zumo’s than just the 550. You can get the 400 and 450 series, and the 500 as well, it’s just that the Zumo 550 is the latest and has the most options.

So lets have a look at some accessories that are available for the Zumo range of GPS units that you may find useful. Some of these may already come with some of the units as standard, but not others. Note that some of these Zumo accessories may not be available in all areas, sometimes being area specific to North America, Europe and so on.

Number 1 is the auto mount with speakers. This is the mount that you use to mount your GPS in your car. Because of course most motorcycle riders drive as well, and you don’t want to buy 2 GPS systems, one for your bike and one for your car. So you can mount the Zumo on your bike or in your car. Essential for anyone who rides and drives, and it comes with it’s own speaker, because of course unlike on a bike, you can hear your GPS voice commands just fine when you’re in your car, you don’t need any delivery system to deliver voice to your ear so you can hear.

Note that the 450 does not come with this mount, if you buy the Zumo 550 you won’t need to buy it, it’s included. And it has suction mounting so you can mount it onto the inside of your windshield. If you have the Sumo 450 you’ll also need to buy the cigarette lighter adapter as well, for power.

Next, consider a second SD card for extra storage. It won’t be long before you’ve navigated all over the place, filled your card up and need more storage. Always worth having one extra.

A carry case. As it’s a portable unit you’re going to be taking it off and putting it on. So you’ll need to carry it around, and there will be plenty of times when you’ll find a carry case for your Zumo very handy, both to carry it and protect it. You can get a good carry case for $15 or so. Strong and sturdy and will protect your GPS navigator well. Fits your cigarette lighter adaptor as well.

The Garmin Zumo AC/DC power adaptor, taking any Garmin 12V adaptor to power so you can charge your Garmin navigator anywhere.

Custom caps to match the color scheme of your Garmin Zumo to your bike. Make it all look the part.

The Garmin RAM motorcycle GPS mounting kit. Now you normally get one with your Garmin GPS navigator, but who has just one bike? If you’ve got 2 (or more) bikes then you need 2 (or more) mounting kits.

An FM traffic receiver. One of the most useful things about a Garmin Zumo is the ability to get real time traffic information so you can avoid all those annoying traffic jams. Get yourself an FM traffic receiver so you can get real time updates and reroute yourself around them, and save fuel sitting stationary.

A vehicle power adaptor so you can charge your GPS navigator in your car, because you’ll probably use it there a lot too.

Replacement battery pack. The Zumo battery lasts around 3 or 4 hours, 5 tops. Carry a second one all charged up to slip in a make your total navigating time between charges 6 to10 hours, so you can ride all day.

A USB cable to connect your Zumo direct to your computer. You’ll need to do that.

So there’s a few ideas for you if you’ve got a Garmin Zumo mounted on your bike. Buy yourself a few extras for it. Or if someone close to you has a Zumo an accessory or 3 makes a good gift idea.

You might have a Zumo 550 on your motorbike, and it’s one of the best motorcycle GPS navigators on the planet. But there’s always something more to get to make it even better isn’t there?