GARMIN 010-00567-00 Zumo 550 GPS Receiver

We were looking for a GPS that provides the usual point to point driving directions, but since we do a lot of trail biking wanted topo capability as well. Zumo hits the mark on both counts. The large format screen is very readable. Mapping and directions have been spot on.

This item fit the bill for me..great for the motorcycle..good features..I also suscribed to XM radio for the tunes while on the Motorcycle...I highly recommend this product..I also use it in my truck..

I cannot say enough good about this unit I have had it in 4 diffferent units. 'pickup,car,motorcycle,quad. On each unit it worked with not one problm. I would put an address in and it would put me with in 10 feet of my dest. If you went off corse it would reroute you right now. The only thing that I could see wrong with it is the speed did not match what I was in, but that could be the vehicle I was in. Over all I am very pleased with the 550. papajoe

Great product-
Pros: easy to understand interface. Intuitive menus. Easy to use even wearing gloves. Screen visibility is awesome even in direct sunlight. Bluetooth capabilities are flawless. Internal power (battery) is a nice feature.

Cons: Routing options are very basic-ie no trackback or route reversal on the unit. Lost the "security screw" (vibrated out) in the first few days. No "satelite status" page, just signal strength bars.

Overall a good value.

Easy to use! We love it! I would have liked to have known about the extra parts required (for motorcycle use) to be able to use it to it's full capability. Such as wiring harness and special antenna for XM radio. But otherwise it has been one of the best extras we have purchased for the bike. We have already used it on several long trips and are planning a 9 day trip this summer. It transfers easily to the car or truck with little effort. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a GPS for a bike.

Just returned from a 2 week stint in NM with the Zumo 550 mounted on my GoldWing. This thing works great. Piped the audio thru the Aux input.
The system acquires satellite signals very quickly, the menu structure is intuitive, the touch screen works very easily and is easy to read even in bright sun and from behind a dark visor, the audio volume was excellent even at 80MPH on interstate and the turn by turn instructions are well timed to give riders plenty of time to adjust lane positions and riding speed. You can give it your estimated gas mileage and at end of a tank it will present you with a gas pump icon which, when touched, lists the nearest gas stations to your position. Touch the gas station you want and it will route you to it. The Zumo was great support and a joy to use during my ride. I found only two very minor "quirks". If you add the optional SD card as I did, you will need to format it as a FAT32. I formatted as NTFS and the MP3 files were not recognized although my personal POI file was recognized. Also, when you load additional maps, I loaded some US TOPO maps, the Zumo defaults to its internal City Navigator and it "flashes the Topo to let you know that it's there. To get the Topo map you have to deselect the City Navigator. Neither of these "quirks" was covered by reading the owner's manual. All in all this is an awesome system that does not disappoint. Garmin got the Zumo design right!

I had read the reviews posted on this web site and others. So after purchasing this product I also ordered the FM accessory as well.
Once I received it I updated all the firmware. Made my own mount for my vehicle so I could use the automotive mount provided. I made a trip to downtown L.A. and usually I have to call the account to get directions even after printing out directions from mapquest. I have to say I made the trip there and back with out a problem. Not because of my skills as a navigator. I missed an exit ramp but the Garmin got be right back on track. I missed a turn and the unit corrected my directions. Then on the way home with major traffic the GPS routed me around it and got me home faster then I ever have accomplished on my own. I would recommend this to anyone for motorcycles and cars. It is the highest rated non dashboard mount GPS around. I have to agree it truly is a great product.

does everything I expected and does it well. Screen is easily readable even in direct sunlight. Controls are simple and easy to use wearing gloves. If you're looking for a great motorcycle GPS this is it.

I stewed over this for about a year. Researched TomTom Rider and Zumo from their release forward. Read reviews, found a place to see one in person. Set web price watch flags. Then had a price flag for the Zumo on Amazon and a gift refund from Amazon and couldn't hold off any longer. I hope you don't have to put yourself through this anticipation and am writing to re-assure you that this is a cool device.

Works well on my motorcyle integrating in with the dash as I mounted it on the left handle bar of my Yamaha FJR-1300 sport touring bike. At that level the screen is a perfect size, bright enough to be seen in daylight with shades on, and doesn't block any of my instruments. The bracket is very secure and the added screw security pin is reassuring. The controls are easy enough to use through gloves. The movement is clear and smooth and all of the funtionality as described by others is perfect for a motorcycle. The Blue-tooth worked great with my Scala Rider TeamSet pair of headsets, allowing both the rider and passenger to converse and hear the Zumo (directions, MP3, phone, etc.)

Took it on my next business trip and forgot to cancel the Hertz Neverlost that I always order. Put it on the windshield clip and watched them work at the same time... Zumo is a better car GPS too. I have a GPS in my two cars built in (Jaguar & Toyota). Really other than screen size there is no real difference in response. And the Zumo has the flexibility of downloading your track (like breadcrumbs) to your PC, or letting you create a route on the PC (even see it on Google Earth) and upload it to the Zumo. I can see people posting the data files for their favorite twisty trails online soon!

Haven't found anything that isn't great. Absolutely no buyer's remorse. And as always the interaction with Amazon and the Premium shipping subcription gets things to my door before I expect them. If you have the $$ this is a great toy to add to your toy!

This thing works great. I have mapped out routes for group rides, found an unfamiliar restaurant and even used it as a speedometer when the sensor on my bike went out. It moves effortlessly from bike to car to house and interfaced beautifully with my computer.

The Zumo 550 is the 3rd GPS I've owned (60c and a Nuvi) and it certainly measures up very well. The screen and controls are super. Its start up is fast. On the bike it is easy to see and control with or without gloves. Mounting it and runing the wires on two different bikes was very straight forward. It comes with almost everything you need, but if you plan on loading a bunch of mp3s then you'll want to buy a 1 or 2 gig card cause there is little room on the unit itself. No big deal. I am not sure the routing capability is as good as the 60c but more testing will tell (absence of routing is a big flaw in my NUVI). You also can't use it as an mp3 player unless it is in the bike or car cradle because there is no headphone jack on the unit--only on the cradle. That's a flaw. Mine has XM capability and I love XM in my cars but it costs $200 for an antenna for the Zumo. XM is loosing out on that because I'd have XM in a heartbeat with the Zumo but I am not paying 200 to do it. They should be giving the antenna away just to get people to subscribe---maybe require a minimum commitment or something like DirecTV. Basically though the ZUMO is another great Garmin product.

So far I am mostly pleased with this GPS. There are a couple of things that I think could be done better:
1. A motorcycle GPS should have an option to pick the route with the most turns or some similar criteria. Grouping cars and motorcycles together and then allowing choices such as taxis, buses, and trucks to determine the type of route doesn't make much sense to me.
2. I have a bluetooth headset that allows me to switch back and forth between a wireless intercom and the GPS, but when I switch from GPS to wireless intercom the GPS is dropped and I have to go through the menus to reconnect it. An automatic reconnect would be nice.

I just wanted to comment on the Zumo 550 with current software. I purchased this unit about 3 weeks ago and before I got it I was a little disheartened by some people's reviews on some lacking features. However when i got the unit and upgraded to the latest software (that was available as of 4/15/2007) many negative comments seem to have been addressed (if I'm understanding the commented issues correctly). First the views of the unit seem very flexable and I don't see the limitations. You can select between 2-D top down views for the people who are used to that view or 3-D. The unit has multiple levels of zoom/un-zoom from the big buttons on the outside as well as on the touch screen... I'm just not seeing any limitations. You can also taylor how much detail you want to see on the screen ( more or less). The only thing I do agree with is the Icon's used to show your position (you can choose between about 6 or so) are kind of large. Would have been nice to have the choice to alter that but I chose the 'wedge' and it works nicely with the screen size. Second, definitely a software upgrade was the addition of two different compus views.. .one small indication on the main map screen and a full 360 degree compus graphic with ELEVATION on a separate screen (selectable from the big rubber buttons or through the menu). The unit is unbelievable compared to earlier units I've had .. I can litterally stand in my family room under cover and turnaround and move 1 step (sometimes 2 is needed) and the unit will reflect the change in direction! I use this with a common motorola razr phone and a Scala Rider helmet bluetooth unit (on a shoei rf-1000 helmet) and everything works perfectly. Also, as far as weatherproofing the manual indicates it can be kept under 1 meter of water for 30 minutes! Great mounting hardware and super easy to use.. definitely a fantastic unit with the latest software upgrades. Thanks.

What a great product !!! Well designed , fast response times, all the items you need are included( bike & car mounts etc) A wider screen ,and hard buttons on the right side for direct mp3 control would make it perfect( you have to go through a few screens to get to the mp3 controls) , but this is their first generation motorcycle GPS(I guess a Zumo 650 will be next) . Over all, a fantastic and usefull addition to my bike & car . It's kind of like a IPOD, very easy to use but very sophisticated.

All the write-ups suggested this Zumo 550 was going to be impressive. They weren't wrong. The BIG positives, from my perspective:

1. Satellite acquisition must be seen to be believed. In my basement it took less than 15 seconds, out of the box, first power-up. That performance has been repeated every time since, with the exception of first-power-up after upgrading the firmware to 3.2. Thereafter it went back to sub-20 second acquisition.

2. Its built like it should be, like you wanted it to be. Solid. Its going to spend time on my Harley ElectraGlide and in my Corvette and I wanted someting that matched their image. I got it.

3. Firmware upgrade was a 5 minute affair, no hassles, no fuss, no tears. Several nice new features were added, for my 5-minute investment.

4. Interchangeable top and bottom plates, in contrasting black, are a nice little extra. They even included the Allen wrench for the 3-minute task.

5. There's no need to buy extra (read, "expensive") accessories. This was the biggie, for me. This unit ships with a bike mount, complete with hard-wire power connector, AND it ships with a car-mount, with its own power connector. The fact that Garmin includes BOTH mounts with this unit was the deciding factor for me. The fact that both docking cradles with each mount are thoughtfully designed to allow super-quick, super-solid on and off mounting of the GPS unit itself, is a nice added plus. Also, the voice quality and volume of the built-in speaker in the car mount is impressive.

6. Bluetooth pairing of both my Blackberry 8700 and my Jabra BT800 was simple and flawless. Thereafter, when the BB and the Jabra were on and the Zumo was insereted into either the bike mount or the car mount, the Zumo automatically paired back with each unit, within 30 seconds of being mounted. I love technology that works. The real zinger was that the Zumo synched the 400-odd contacts in my BB8700, inside of 45 seconds.

7. For me, simply put, Garmin hit a BIG homerun with the design, execution and packaging of their new Zumo 550. Is it expensive? Not really, considering I didn't need to go out and scrounge up the expensive extras Garmin included for free. And the little things, like designing a magnetically-positioned weather cover for the bike's connector pins, is just icing on a big, well-decorated cake.

Bravo, Garmin.

I own two vehicles with factory installed GPS systems. Both are over $[...] options but work great. The Zumo 550 holds it own in a car. with the factory models plus it works great on my motorcycle. Blue Tooth connection to my phone and headset were as simple as paring the devices. Neither were listed on the web site as tested models but both are full featured. It's everything I was looking for and it's portable/transferable.

Excellent GPS goes from car to bike to handheld easily. Easy to use I wish I had this on my last crosscountry trip.

Product just quit working 3 weeks after I got it. Sent it back to manufacturer (Garmin) who said they would have it fixed on a priority and over-nighted back to me. That was almost two weeks ago and have not gotten it back yet. Still waiting.

The Garmin 550 is a excellent GPS unit and I am very satisfied with it.
This is my first but after doing some home work on gps units, this was my only choice. If you are a biker like me, this is the unit that is the most versital. Being water proof and vibration proof and having the ability to put mp3 songs and poi's on the external memory card is a great plus. Garmin makes a excellent product and would not hestitate to purchase another one.

Does everything I expected it would. People at Garmin were very helpful. Stored 997 songs on 4GB Sd card and it works fine.

The zumo is awesome. I knew I would like having gps with me while I ride, but I never knew how much it would change the way I ride. I use it to find small twisty back roads, make a route on the fly, and spend more time on my idea of nice roads than ever in the past.

The controls are easy to use and intuitive. I have only had to look a couple of processes up in the owner's manual.

The mounting systems are spectacular. It is so nice to be able to swap the unit between my car and bike effortlessly.

I purchased a 1G card to put music on while I ride. It works very well when it pauses the music to give verbal directions.

Compared to the prices of other systems, if you ride a bike, this is the best.

In the case of this superb Garmin product, that's what GPS should stand for. I've owned multiple GPS systems in the past. This one is the best. Out of the box, I put it on my dashboard and conducted a nighttime tour of WASH, DC for my wife's family. With precision the ZUMO 550 took me from one monument to the next. If I missed a term, before it could say recalculating, it cut itselft off at "Recalc.." Turn Right... it would give new directions. That's FAST. Sure it has options I will never use, like XM radio and FM traffic but the Bluetooth comes in very handy with my cell phone and bluetooth enable headset. Price was great, delivery was quick. Highly recommend both Amazon and GARMIN GPS 550.


People complain about the Zumo not having a built in speaker. Well, you wouldn't be able to hear it while riding your bike it if it had one, so it's a bit of a moot point.

On a side note, I think there are some features the unit lacks that can be somewhat annoying. First, and definitely the most annoying for me, the elevation by which you view your position on a GPS determines the amount of detail you see, i.e. POI's, street names, distance of road to travel, etc. The units I have used previously (factory nav in a Honda, other Garmins and the Mio 310 to name a few) had the ability to select zoom/elevation from the main nav screen allowing you to choose your "view" of the road so to speak, at anytime. With the Zumo, you cannot change elevation/zoom from the main nav screen, you can only adjust it while in map mode searching for a destination. The second you go back to the main navigation screen you loose the elevation you chose and go back to a default level of zoom, which for me is real irritating.

Another annoying feature is the keyboard for text input does not offer a QWERTY layout. I have not had to type on an ABCDEF style keyboard since the invention on the PC. In fact, I have a Garmin IQue 3600 that's 4 years old and it has a QWERTY keyboard?

Also, the search function on the Zumo is relatively slow at times. I once waited 4+ minutes while searching for a popular restaurant. It found it eventually, but for a while I thought the unit just froze up. I happen to be sitting in my driveway so it was only a minor annoyance, but if you were parked on the roadside with cars buzzing by it would seem more like an eternity.

One other issue, the built in hard drive is pretty much full with maps right out of the box, which isn't that big of a deal with the open SD slot. The SD slot lets you slip in a SD card for expanded memory capability (MP3 storage etc.), but when loading routes from your PC (which is a great feature I'll touch on below) you must save the data directly to the units hard drive in order for the Zumo to be able to read it. Well, that's going to be an issue when the hard drive fills up from firmware updates, etc.

While I'm at it, I think the icon that marks your position on the map is annoyingly large. It makes your car or bike look the size of a lake, or some other large map detail.

On the plus side, I believe that all of the issues I mentioned are correctable via a firmware update and a few bugs are to be expected to some extent given this is the 1st generation of a new model. Although, you can also argue that with the price this thing sells for combined with the experience Garmin has building GPS devices there is really no excuse for the Zumo lacking anything.

A nice feature, which is common on Garmins top units, is that you can map out routes on your PC, load it to the Zumo (again, on the built in hard drive though not the SD card) and away you go. This comes in handy if you're in sales for example and need to hit a few clients on a particular day or if you're going to be cruising on your bike and have a bunch of places you want to stop at during the trip. Rather than having to wait and program destinations one at a time as you make your stops, you can knock them all out the night before on your PC so you're entire trip is planned before it's even begun.

Also, the Bluetooth feature is sweet and works flawlessly. Pairing the Zumo with my Blackberry was a breeze. The Zumo was able to read my address book and displayed the contacts on the phone screen so there was never a need to touch the Blackberry once paired. When in the car, the speaker worked well and people on the other end seemed to have no trouble hearing me. I disagree with the one reviewer that said the mount looked weak. I think the mount would successfully support a cinderblock on rough road.

Installing the Zumo on my ZZR1200 took me about 30 min. It takes some time to run the wires and connect to the battery. You will need to crimp connectors (that are not supplied) on the end of the wires that go to the battery. The Ram mount is real solid. The Zumo does not move once you're locked in and on the road.

Now for the justification of the 4 star rating given I beat the Zumo up quite a bit. The build quality of this thing it second to none. It is literally built like a tank. I'd bet it would outlast anyone who buys it. Again, firmware updates will likely take care of all its shortcomings over time. And last but not least, Garmin tech support is second to none. No matter who you speak to they are knowledgeable, professional and will provide answers to anything you can throw at them (and I come up with some good ones) all without making you feel like you're annoying or a technological moron.

Therefore, I don't think you can go wrong with any Garmin, if you can swallow the price of the unit.


The 550 works very well. Specs say it works between 32 & 140 degrees. I ride all winter - so far it works at 15 degrees F. Surprisingly easy to use with heavy winter riding gloves. The motorcycle mount is much cleaner than I expected. Very flexible, allowing the unit to tuck in close and not look dorky. The car mount is clean with an acceptable albeit not great speaker. It's VERY easy to move between vehicles. I was somewhat disappointed at first about the lack of a built in speaker, but if I need to walk around with it, it's no big deal to use your cell phone Bluetooth with it. Maybe that's the price you pay for a truely waterproof unit. While riding, you can hear the alert tone using a cell phone Bluetooth, but cannot understand the audio. I plugged in iPod ear buds into the bike mount and it sounds great without being obvious about being "plugged in" (I ride a half helmet). If you use a full face with built in speakers you will be very happy with the audio.
Others complained about the lack of things like a real compass and satellite acquisition display and built in speaker. I have addressed the speaker issue. The compass displays eight points (like the one in the rear view mirror of your GM car). That's all I really need. Showing the satellites it has acquired is neat - but what do I really care - the thing is very sensitive. I get 5 of 5 bars IN my house. The MP3 player does work well although it does not have play lists. You can at least sort by album, artist and genre. To listen to decent quality audio, you will need ear buds. Displaying pictures looks good but the response is a little sluggish.
Storing up to 50 routes is great - and being able to download them to Google Earth and visualize them is very slick (it does take Google Earth Plus - a $20 annual fee to support this feature).
Overall I am VERY pleased with this unit - it does exactly what I need (and then some) - looks great - very sturdy.


I purchased this unit after careful consideration of a lot of other models both by Garmin and other GPS manufacturers. I am somewhat disappointed about one major thing. No where in the write up about this product does it tell you that it does NOT have it's own speaker built in. Unless this unit is locked into it's AUTO (not motorcycle) windshield mount and plugged into a power source you have NO voice commands at all. That means that if you are not wearing your bluetooth headset you will not hear driving directions you can only read them on the screen. Even in the motorcycle mount you will not get voice commands through an external speaker, you must wear your bluetooth headset. This is a huge disappointment. You can't use the Zumo 550 in battery mode if you want voice commands. The speaker on the windshield mount is not as good as other Garmin units with the speaker built in. Another disappointment. The rest of the unit functions as advertised. Easy to navigate through all the options. For what this unit costs, it doesn't have all the features that other Garmin units have. You can't see the satellite reception by satellite, only the bars, like a cell phone signal, on the main screen. The unit is also quite heavy and I wonder if it will stay on the windshield in rough road conditions. I may send this back but I would like to hear the speaker a little more before I decide on returning it or not.

Easy to use right out of the box, simple motorcycle mount, bright screen, yes you can easily use it with gloves on. Only two complaints are:
1. secutiry screw can be overcome by simply untightening the wing-nut on the motorcycle mount. 2. Car mount is a little bulky when bringing it on the plane when traveling. Sandbag type mount to set on dash would be better. But all in all, very good product, works well...then thought of just about everything with this one. Being able to pull up gas stations, hotels, shops, Harley stores, etc. in new riding locations is a treat! Works great on bike, and looks good too!

What a great tool for relieving STRESS. StressBuster ...recently traveling through Washington d.C. in my car, it got me where i wanted to be, with out missing a beat....normally a trip into D.C. nightmare convoluted streets has me cussin and talking to myself, first trip into with my new ZUMO....never leave home without it. Does everything it supposed to...super clear display, exactly accurate. One of the best things I ever purchased. Get it, it's GREAT. Looks like amazon has teh best price too. I didn't pay anywhere near list from another supplier, when it wasn't on amazon when i ordered it back in Oct 06' it was BO for a long time from other supplier, now it looks like Garmin has em out there, it's a great product. If I waited till amazon got it , I wouldn't have had it when i needed it, so the extra $40 i paid, was worth the stress releif, it's incredilbe tool.

I purchased a Zumo 550 to go along with the many motorcycles I own. I thought it would be a nice tool to help navigate on my trips. It is a GPS and should be able to provide basic navigational information, right. Wrong! While Garmin added a lot of nice bells and whistles with Bluetooth and MP3 capability, it failed to include such basic functions as altitude and a compass that functions while the unit is navigating to a waypoint. It also fails to provide a heading indicator or any reference of direction on the route page. You can toggle to the trip information page and get a basic heading readout (N,S,W,E) but not a true compass heading. Give me a break.

Garmin needs to provide the following fixes to this product.

1. Provide altimeter readout. (this is a GPS isn't it?) It would be nice to know if you were operating at 500 feet or 15,000 feet.
2. Provide a compass that is accessible not only while off road but while navigating a route.
3. Provide a bearing indicator on the route page so that you can determine direction of travel while viewing this page. Again, it would be nice to look at the route page and be able to determine direction of travel. I know the Garmin 360 has a bearing pointer on the route page.

Garmin dropped the ball on this one. The information I have outlined above is critical to a motorcyclist. I paid close to $1,000.00 for this product and it has in some instances less capability than a basic model. It also requires a $250+ antenna to receive XM radio. What gives?

Garmin's marketing campaign sums it up best, "designed by bikers...motorcycle-friendly...high end navigation features ". I think not. Someone should have included a motorcyclist on their design team.

The new Zumo 550 is a big step forward in ease of use, but sacrifices some of the flexibility of previous units (Streepilot series, x76C series). The touch screen display and integrated buttons on the left side of the unit are easy to use even with riding gloves, and the new locking mount is a big improvement. GPS reception also seems to be GREATLY improved; not getting lost under dense tree coverage. The display is relatively big, bright and clear; but difficult to read in really bright sunlight. Also, much of the screen is used for large display items and touch "buttons", so the actual map display is fairly small. The built in battery is an improvement over the StreetPilot, allowing the unit to be used when the motorcycle is off. The battery also allows the unit to be connected to a PC without an AC adapter.
The new operating system is easy to learn and use, but lacks some of the flexibility of other units. Long time GPS users may feel restricted by the fixed display formats, but new users probably won't notice. The operating software still has a few bugs and route guidance prompts need some work, but Garmin does a good job of making updates available (with WebUpdater) and has already released v2.3.
The MP3 player is simple to use but does not support playlists and still seems to have software bugs.
I have linked the ZUMO to a bluetooth helmet (Dainese) and phone (LG-VX8500) and it seems to work very well. Although told that the MP3 would not work over bluetooth, it does in my set-up.
In summary: even with the display restrictions and software issues this is a great GPS for motorcycle use.

Looks Great and works great but do not purchase for the XM radio feature.
The Manual is very sketchy about the radio and you have to purchase a 300 dollar antenna to make it work and no other details about the quality of the radio. Other than the XM the Zumo's displays and ease of operating is execlent.

We were looking for a GPS that provides the usual point to point driving directions, but since we do a lot of trail biking wanted topo capability as well. Zumo hits the mark on both counts. The large format screen is very readable. Mapping and directions have been spot on.

This item fit the bill for me..great for the motorcycle..good features..I also suscribed to XM radio for the tunes while on the Motorcycle...I highly recommend this product..I also use it in my truck..

I cannot say enough good about this unit I have had it in 4 diffferent units. 'pickup,car,motorcycle,quad. On each unit it worked with not one problm. I would put an address in and it would put me with in 10 feet of my dest. If you went off corse it would reroute you right now. The only thing that I could see wrong with it is the speed did not match what I was in, but that could be the vehicle I was in. Over all I am very pleased with the 550. papajoe

Great product-
Pros: easy to understand interface. Intuitive menus. Easy to use even wearing gloves. Screen visibility is awesome even in direct sunlight. Bluetooth capabilities are flawless. Internal power (battery) is a nice feature.

Cons: Routing options are very basic-ie no trackback or route reversal on the unit. Lost the "security screw" (vibrated out) in the first few days. No "satelite status" page, just signal strength bars.

Overall a good value.

Easy to use! We love it! I would have liked to have known about the extra parts required (for motorcycle use) to be able to use it to it's full capability. Such as wiring harness and special antenna for XM radio. But otherwise it has been one of the best extras we have purchased for the bike. We have already used it on several long trips and are planning a 9 day trip this summer. It transfers easily to the car or truck with little effort. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a GPS for a bike.

Just returned from a 2 week stint in NM with the Zumo 550 mounted on my GoldWing. This thing works great. Piped the audio thru the Aux input.
The system acquires satellite signals very quickly, the menu structure is intuitive, the touch screen works very easily and is easy to read even in bright sun and from behind a dark visor, the audio volume was excellent even at 80MPH on interstate and the turn by turn instructions are well timed to give riders plenty of time to adjust lane positions and riding speed. You can give it your estimated gas mileage and at end of a tank it will present you with a gas pump icon which, when touched, lists the nearest gas stations to your position. Touch the gas station you want and it will route you to it. The Zumo was great support and a joy to use during my ride. I found only two very minor "quirks". If you add the optional SD card as I did, you will need to format it as a FAT32. I formatted as NTFS and the MP3 files were not recognized although my personal POI file was recognized. Also, when you load additional maps, I loaded some US TOPO maps, the Zumo defaults to its internal City Navigator and it "flashes the Topo to let you know that it's there. To get the Topo map you have to deselect the City Navigator. Neither of these "quirks" was covered by reading the owner's manual. All in all this is an awesome system that does not disappoint. Garmin got the Zumo design right!

I had read the reviews posted on this web site and others. So after purchasing this product I also ordered the FM accessory as well.
Once I received it I updated all the firmware. Made my own mount for my vehicle so I could use the automotive mount provided. I made a trip to downtown L.A. and usually I have to call the account to get directions even after printing out directions from mapquest. I have to say I made the trip there and back with out a problem. Not because of my skills as a navigator. I missed an exit ramp but the Garmin got be right back on track. I missed a turn and the unit corrected my directions. Then on the way home with major traffic the GPS routed me around it and got me home faster then I ever have accomplished on my own. I would recommend this to anyone for motorcycles and cars. It is the highest rated non dashboard mount GPS around. I have to agree it truly is a great product.

does everything I expected and does it well. Screen is easily readable even in direct sunlight. Controls are simple and easy to use wearing gloves. If you're looking for a great motorcycle GPS this is it.

I stewed over this for about a year. Researched TomTom Rider and Zumo from their release forward. Read reviews, found a place to see one in person. Set web price watch flags. Then had a price flag for the Zumo on Amazon and a gift refund from Amazon and couldn't hold off any longer. I hope you don't have to put yourself through this anticipation and am writing to re-assure you that this is a cool device.

Works well on my motorcyle integrating in with the dash as I mounted it on the left handle bar of my Yamaha FJR-1300 sport touring bike. At that level the screen is a perfect size, bright enough to be seen in daylight with shades on, and doesn't block any of my instruments. The bracket is very secure and the added screw security pin is reassuring. The controls are easy enough to use through gloves. The movement is clear and smooth and all of the funtionality as described by others is perfect for a motorcycle. The Blue-tooth worked great with my Scala Rider TeamSet pair of headsets, allowing both the rider and passenger to converse and hear the Zumo (directions, MP3, phone, etc.)

Took it on my next business trip and forgot to cancel the Hertz Neverlost that I always order. Put it on the windshield clip and watched them work at the same time... Zumo is a better car GPS too. I have a GPS in my two cars built in (Jaguar & Toyota). Really other than screen size there is no real difference in response. And the Zumo has the flexibility of downloading your track (like breadcrumbs) to your PC, or letting you create a route on the PC (even see it on Google Earth) and upload it to the Zumo. I can see people posting the data files for their favorite twisty trails online soon!

Haven't found anything that isn't great. Absolutely no buyer's remorse. And as always the interaction with Amazon and the Premium shipping subcription gets things to my door before I expect them. If you have the $$ this is a great toy to add to your toy!

This thing works great. I have mapped out routes for group rides, found an unfamiliar restaurant and even used it as a speedometer when the sensor on my bike went out. It moves effortlessly from bike to car to house and interfaced beautifully with my computer.

The Zumo 550 is the 3rd GPS I've owned (60c and a Nuvi) and it certainly measures up very well. The screen and controls are super. Its start up is fast. On the bike it is easy to see and control with or without gloves. Mounting it and runing the wires on two different bikes was very straight forward. It comes with almost everything you need, but if you plan on loading a bunch of mp3s then you'll want to buy a 1 or 2 gig card cause there is little room on the unit itself. No big deal. I am not sure the routing capability is as good as the 60c but more testing will tell (absence of routing is a big flaw in my NUVI). You also can't use it as an mp3 player unless it is in the bike or car cradle because there is no headphone jack on the unit--only on the cradle. That's a flaw. Mine has XM capability and I love XM in my cars but it costs $200 for an antenna for the Zumo. XM is loosing out on that because I'd have XM in a heartbeat with the Zumo but I am not paying 200 to do it. They should be giving the antenna away just to get people to subscribe---maybe require a minimum commitment or something like DirecTV. Basically though the ZUMO is another great Garmin product.

So far I am mostly pleased with this GPS. There are a couple of things that I think could be done better:
1. A motorcycle GPS should have an option to pick the route with the most turns or some similar criteria. Grouping cars and motorcycles together and then allowing choices such as taxis, buses, and trucks to determine the type of route doesn't make much sense to me.
2. I have a bluetooth headset that allows me to switch back and forth between a wireless intercom and the GPS, but when I switch from GPS to wireless intercom the GPS is dropped and I have to go through the menus to reconnect it. An automatic reconnect would be nice.

I just wanted to comment on the Zumo 550 with current software. I purchased this unit about 3 weeks ago and before I got it I was a little disheartened by some people's reviews on some lacking features. However when i got the unit and upgraded to the latest software (that was available as of 4/15/2007) many negative comments seem to have been addressed (if I'm understanding the commented issues correctly). First the views of the unit seem very flexable and I don't see the limitations. You can select between 2-D top down views for the people who are used to that view or 3-D. The unit has multiple levels of zoom/un-zoom from the big buttons on the outside as well as on the touch screen... I'm just not seeing any limitations. You can also taylor how much detail you want to see on the screen ( more or less). The only thing I do agree with is the Icon's used to show your position (you can choose between about 6 or so) are kind of large. Would have been nice to have the choice to alter that but I chose the 'wedge' and it works nicely with the screen size. Second, definitely a software upgrade was the addition of two different compus views.. .one small indication on the main map screen and a full 360 degree compus graphic with ELEVATION on a separate screen (selectable from the big rubber buttons or through the menu). The unit is unbelievable compared to earlier units I've had .. I can litterally stand in my family room under cover and turnaround and move 1 step (sometimes 2 is needed) and the unit will reflect the change in direction! I use this with a common motorola razr phone and a Scala Rider helmet bluetooth unit (on a shoei rf-1000 helmet) and everything works perfectly. Also, as far as weatherproofing the manual indicates it can be kept under 1 meter of water for 30 minutes! Great mounting hardware and super easy to use.. definitely a fantastic unit with the latest software upgrades. Thanks.

What a great product !!! Well designed , fast response times, all the items you need are included( bike & car mounts etc) A wider screen ,and hard buttons on the right side for direct mp3 control would make it perfect( you have to go through a few screens to get to the mp3 controls) , but this is their first generation motorcycle GPS(I guess a Zumo 650 will be next) . Over all, a fantastic and usefull addition to my bike & car . It's kind of like a IPOD, very easy to use but very sophisticated.

All the write-ups suggested this Zumo 550 was going to be impressive. They weren't wrong. The BIG positives, from my perspective:

1. Satellite acquisition must be seen to be believed. In my basement it took less than 15 seconds, out of the box, first power-up. That performance has been repeated every time since, with the exception of first-power-up after upgrading the firmware to 3.2. Thereafter it went back to sub-20 second acquisition.

2. Its built like it should be, like you wanted it to be. Solid. Its going to spend time on my Harley ElectraGlide and in my Corvette and I wanted someting that matched their image. I got it.

3. Firmware upgrade was a 5 minute affair, no hassles, no fuss, no tears. Several nice new features were added, for my 5-minute investment.

4. Interchangeable top and bottom plates, in contrasting black, are a nice little extra. They even included the Allen wrench for the 3-minute task.

5. There's no need to buy extra (read, "expensive") accessories. This was the biggie, for me. This unit ships with a bike mount, complete with hard-wire power connector, AND it ships with a car-mount, with its own power connector. The fact that Garmin includes BOTH mounts with this unit was the deciding factor for me. The fact that both docking cradles with each mount are thoughtfully designed to allow super-quick, super-solid on and off mounting of the GPS unit itself, is a nice added plus. Also, the voice quality and volume of the built-in speaker in the car mount is impressive.

6. Bluetooth pairing of both my Blackberry 8700 and my Jabra BT800 was simple and flawless. Thereafter, when the BB and the Jabra were on and the Zumo was insereted into either the bike mount or the car mount, the Zumo automatically paired back with each unit, within 30 seconds of being mounted. I love technology that works. The real zinger was that the Zumo synched the 400-odd contacts in my BB8700, inside of 45 seconds.

7. For me, simply put, Garmin hit a BIG homerun with the design, execution and packaging of their new Zumo 550. Is it expensive? Not really, considering I didn't need to go out and scrounge up the expensive extras Garmin included for free. And the little things, like designing a magnetically-positioned weather cover for the bike's connector pins, is just icing on a big, well-decorated cake.

Bravo, Garmin.

I own two vehicles with factory installed GPS systems. Both are over $[...] options but work great. The Zumo 550 holds it own in a car. with the factory models plus it works great on my motorcycle. Blue Tooth connection to my phone and headset were as simple as paring the devices. Neither were listed on the web site as tested models but both are full featured. It's everything I was looking for and it's portable/transferable.

Excellent GPS goes from car to bike to handheld easily. Easy to use I wish I had this on my last crosscountry trip.

Product just quit working 3 weeks after I got it. Sent it back to manufacturer (Garmin) who said they would have it fixed on a priority and over-nighted back to me. That was almost two weeks ago and have not gotten it back yet. Still waiting.

The Garmin 550 is a excellent GPS unit and I am very satisfied with it.
This is my first but after doing some home work on gps units, this was my only choice. If you are a biker like me, this is the unit that is the most versital. Being water proof and vibration proof and having the ability to put mp3 songs and poi's on the external memory card is a great plus. Garmin makes a excellent product and would not hestitate to purchase another one.

Does everything I expected it would. People at Garmin were very helpful. Stored 997 songs on 4GB Sd card and it works fine.

The zumo is awesome. I knew I would like having gps with me while I ride, but I never knew how much it would change the way I ride. I use it to find small twisty back roads, make a route on the fly, and spend more time on my idea of nice roads than ever in the past.

The controls are easy to use and intuitive. I have only had to look a couple of processes up in the owner's manual.

The mounting systems are spectacular. It is so nice to be able to swap the unit between my car and bike effortlessly.

I purchased a 1G card to put music on while I ride. It works very well when it pauses the music to give verbal directions.

Compared to the prices of other systems, if you ride a bike, this is the best.

In the case of this superb Garmin product, that's what GPS should stand for. I've owned multiple GPS systems in the past. This one is the best. Out of the box, I put it on my dashboard and conducted a nighttime tour of WASH, DC for my wife's family. With precision the ZUMO 550 took me from one monument to the next. If I missed a term, before it could say recalculating, it cut itselft off at "Recalc.." Turn Right... it would give new directions. That's FAST. Sure it has options I will never use, like XM radio and FM traffic but the Bluetooth comes in very handy with my cell phone and bluetooth enable headset. Price was great, delivery was quick. Highly recommend both Amazon and GARMIN GPS 550.


People complain about the Zumo not having a built in speaker. Well, you wouldn't be able to hear it while riding your bike it if it had one, so it's a bit of a moot point.

On a side note, I think there are some features the unit lacks that can be somewhat annoying. First, and definitely the most annoying for me, the elevation by which you view your position on a GPS determines the amount of detail you see, i.e. POI's, street names, distance of road to travel, etc. The units I have used previously (factory nav in a Honda, other Garmins and the Mio 310 to name a few) had the ability to select zoom/elevation from the main nav screen allowing you to choose your "view" of the road so to speak, at anytime. With the Zumo, you cannot change elevation/zoom from the main nav screen, you can only adjust it while in map mode searching for a destination. The second you go back to the main navigation screen you loose the elevation you chose and go back to a default level of zoom, which for me is real irritating.

Another annoying feature is the keyboard for text input does not offer a QWERTY layout. I have not had to type on an ABCDEF style keyboard since the invention on the PC. In fact, I have a Garmin IQue 3600 that's 4 years old and it has a QWERTY keyboard?

Also, the search function on the Zumo is relatively slow at times. I once waited 4+ minutes while searching for a popular restaurant. It found it eventually, but for a while I thought the unit just froze up. I happen to be sitting in my driveway so it was only a minor annoyance, but if you were parked on the roadside with cars buzzing by it would seem more like an eternity.

One other issue, the built in hard drive is pretty much full with maps right out of the box, which isn't that big of a deal with the open SD slot. The SD slot lets you slip in a SD card for expanded memory capability (MP3 storage etc.), but when loading routes from your PC (which is a great feature I'll touch on below) you must save the data directly to the units hard drive in order for the Zumo to be able to read it. Well, that's going to be an issue when the hard drive fills up from firmware updates, etc.

While I'm at it, I think the icon that marks your position on the map is annoyingly large. It makes your car or bike look the size of a lake, or some other large map detail.

On the plus side, I believe that all of the issues I mentioned are correctable via a firmware update and a few bugs are to be expected to some extent given this is the 1st generation of a new model. Although, you can also argue that with the price this thing sells for combined with the experience Garmin has building GPS devices there is really no excuse for the Zumo lacking anything.

A nice feature, which is common on Garmins top units, is that you can map out routes on your PC, load it to the Zumo (again, on the built in hard drive though not the SD card) and away you go. This comes in handy if you're in sales for example and need to hit a few clients on a particular day or if you're going to be cruising on your bike and have a bunch of places you want to stop at during the trip. Rather than having to wait and program destinations one at a time as you make your stops, you can knock them all out the night before on your PC so you're entire trip is planned before it's even begun.

Also, the Bluetooth feature is sweet and works flawlessly. Pairing the Zumo with my Blackberry was a breeze. The Zumo was able to read my address book and displayed the contacts on the phone screen so there was never a need to touch the Blackberry once paired. When in the car, the speaker worked well and people on the other end seemed to have no trouble hearing me. I disagree with the one reviewer that said the mount looked weak. I think the mount would successfully support a cinderblock on rough road.

Installing the Zumo on my ZZR1200 took me about 30 min. It takes some time to run the wires and connect to the battery. You will need to crimp connectors (that are not supplied) on the end of the wires that go to the battery. The Ram mount is real solid. The Zumo does not move once you're locked in and on the road.

Now for the justification of the 4 star rating given I beat the Zumo up quite a bit. The build quality of this thing it second to none. It is literally built like a tank. I'd bet it would outlast anyone who buys it. Again, firmware updates will likely take care of all its shortcomings over time. And last but not least, Garmin tech support is second to none. No matter who you speak to they are knowledgeable, professional and will provide answers to anything you can throw at them (and I come up with some good ones) all without making you feel like you're annoying or a technological moron.

Therefore, I don't think you can go wrong with any Garmin, if you can swallow the price of the unit.


The 550 works very well. Specs say it works between 32 & 140 degrees. I ride all winter - so far it works at 15 degrees F. Surprisingly easy to use with heavy winter riding gloves. The motorcycle mount is much cleaner than I expected. Very flexible, allowing the unit to tuck in close and not look dorky. The car mount is clean with an acceptable albeit not great speaker. It's VERY easy to move between vehicles. I was somewhat disappointed at first about the lack of a built in speaker, but if I need to walk around with it, it's no big deal to use your cell phone Bluetooth with it. Maybe that's the price you pay for a truely waterproof unit. While riding, you can hear the alert tone using a cell phone Bluetooth, but cannot understand the audio. I plugged in iPod ear buds into the bike mount and it sounds great without being obvious about being "plugged in" (I ride a half helmet). If you use a full face with built in speakers you will be very happy with the audio.
Others complained about the lack of things like a real compass and satellite acquisition display and built in speaker. I have addressed the speaker issue. The compass displays eight points (like the one in the rear view mirror of your GM car). That's all I really need. Showing the satellites it has acquired is neat - but what do I really care - the thing is very sensitive. I get 5 of 5 bars IN my house. The MP3 player does work well although it does not have play lists. You can at least sort by album, artist and genre. To listen to decent quality audio, you will need ear buds. Displaying pictures looks good but the response is a little sluggish.
Storing up to 50 routes is great - and being able to download them to Google Earth and visualize them is very slick (it does take Google Earth Plus - a $20 annual fee to support this feature).
Overall I am VERY pleased with this unit - it does exactly what I need (and then some) - looks great - very sturdy.


I purchased this unit after careful consideration of a lot of other models both by Garmin and other GPS manufacturers. I am somewhat disappointed about one major thing. No where in the write up about this product does it tell you that it does NOT have it's own speaker built in. Unless this unit is locked into it's AUTO (not motorcycle) windshield mount and plugged into a power source you have NO voice commands at all. That means that if you are not wearing your bluetooth headset you will not hear driving directions you can only read them on the screen. Even in the motorcycle mount you will not get voice commands through an external speaker, you must wear your bluetooth headset. This is a huge disappointment. You can't use the Zumo 550 in battery mode if you want voice commands. The speaker on the windshield mount is not as good as other Garmin units with the speaker built in. Another disappointment. The rest of the unit functions as advertised. Easy to navigate through all the options. For what this unit costs, it doesn't have all the features that other Garmin units have. You can't see the satellite reception by satellite, only the bars, like a cell phone signal, on the main screen. The unit is also quite heavy and I wonder if it will stay on the windshield in rough road conditions. I may send this back but I would like to hear the speaker a little more before I decide on returning it or not.

Easy to use right out of the box, simple motorcycle mount, bright screen, yes you can easily use it with gloves on. Only two complaints are:
1. secutiry screw can be overcome by simply untightening the wing-nut on the motorcycle mount. 2. Car mount is a little bulky when bringing it on the plane when traveling. Sandbag type mount to set on dash would be better. But all in all, very good product, works well...then thought of just about everything with this one. Being able to pull up gas stations, hotels, shops, Harley stores, etc. in new riding locations is a treat! Works great on bike, and looks good too!

What a great tool for relieving STRESS. StressBuster ...recently traveling through Washington d.C. in my car, it got me where i wanted to be, with out missing a beat....normally a trip into D.C. nightmare convoluted streets has me cussin and talking to myself, first trip into with my new ZUMO....never leave home without it. Does everything it supposed to...super clear display, exactly accurate. One of the best things I ever purchased. Get it, it's GREAT. Looks like amazon has teh best price too. I didn't pay anywhere near list from another supplier, when it wasn't on amazon when i ordered it back in Oct 06' it was BO for a long time from other supplier, now it looks like Garmin has em out there, it's a great product. If I waited till amazon got it , I wouldn't have had it when i needed it, so the extra $40 i paid, was worth the stress releif, it's incredilbe tool.

I purchased a Zumo 550 to go along with the many motorcycles I own. I thought it would be a nice tool to help navigate on my trips. It is a GPS and should be able to provide basic navigational information, right. Wrong! While Garmin added a lot of nice bells and whistles with Bluetooth and MP3 capability, it failed to include such basic functions as altitude and a compass that functions while the unit is navigating to a waypoint. It also fails to provide a heading indicator or any reference of direction on the route page. You can toggle to the trip information page and get a basic heading readout (N,S,W,E) but not a true compass heading. Give me a break.

Garmin needs to provide the following fixes to this product.

1. Provide altimeter readout. (this is a GPS isn't it?) It would be nice to know if you were operating at 500 feet or 15,000 feet.
2. Provide a compass that is accessible not only while off road but while navigating a route.
3. Provide a bearing indicator on the route page so that you can determine direction of travel while viewing this page. Again, it would be nice to look at the route page and be able to determine direction of travel. I know the Garmin 360 has a bearing pointer on the route page.

Garmin dropped the ball on this one. The information I have outlined above is critical to a motorcyclist. I paid close to $1,000.00 for this product and it has in some instances less capability than a basic model. It also requires a $250+ antenna to receive XM radio. What gives?

Garmin's marketing campaign sums it up best, "designed by bikers...motorcycle-friendly...high end navigation features ". I think not. Someone should have included a motorcyclist on their design team.

The new Zumo 550 is a big step forward in ease of use, but sacrifices some of the flexibility of previous units (Streepilot series, x76C series). The touch screen display and integrated buttons on the left side of the unit are easy to use even with riding gloves, and the new locking mount is a big improvement. GPS reception also seems to be GREATLY improved; not getting lost under dense tree coverage. The display is relatively big, bright and clear; but difficult to read in really bright sunlight. Also, much of the screen is used for large display items and touch "buttons", so the actual map display is fairly small. The built in battery is an improvement over the StreetPilot, allowing the unit to be used when the motorcycle is off. The battery also allows the unit to be connected to a PC without an AC adapter.
The new operating system is easy to learn and use, but lacks some of the flexibility of other units. Long time GPS users may feel restricted by the fixed display formats, but new users probably won't notice. The operating software still has a few bugs and route guidance prompts need some work, but Garmin does a good job of making updates available (with WebUpdater) and has already released v2.3.
The MP3 player is simple to use but does not support playlists and still seems to have software bugs.
I have linked the ZUMO to a bluetooth helmet (Dainese) and phone (LG-VX8500) and it seems to work very well. Although told that the MP3 would not work over bluetooth, it does in my set-up.
In summary: even with the display restrictions and software issues this is a great GPS for motorcycle use.

Looks Great and works great but do not purchase for the XM radio feature.
The Manual is very sketchy about the radio and you have to purchase a 300 dollar antenna to make it work and no other details about the quality of the radio. Other than the XM the Zumo's displays and ease of operating is execlent.