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.

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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?

Written by - Motorcycle GPS Deals