Customer Reviews

Garmin StreetPilot c550 Portable Navigator

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first got this GPS a little over one year ago, it worked quickly, offering visual and auditory street instructions in English, as well as French, Spanish, and a few other languages. The Garmin 550 visuals are easy to see -- in pictures as well as large font -- in addition to auditory instructions. You can program it to avoid highways or toll-roads, which is nice for anyone wanting to save money.

The GPS comes with easy stick-on or suction cup devices, but, given the news reports on the number of cars that are broken into just with a tripod in place, I would NOT recommend putting anything Garmin or GPS out in sight after parking your car.

Driving with the thing on my lap is difficult, but fortunately, the auditory part of the GPS is very helpful. When I want to see the visuals, I just pull over and look.

It's a good device overall.

My main complaints are as follows:

1. Though it announces turns within .5 miles, for example, it does not "ding" like some GPS's when I get close to turning, and since I have the thing on my lap and not on my dashboard, it's hard to estimate where the turn is.

2. It takes a long time for it to "realize" that I'm going the wrong way and report an alternate route.

3. This is my main complaint given the change in how it used to be versus now: It takes a LONG TIME to start up (after being in the car or house).

The latter complaint, that it takes a long time to start up and find a signal, is disturbing because this is a change from when I first got it.

That said, I can't imagine my life without a GPS and often wish I had one for main life decisions and not just the car! :)

Overall works great. The biggest problem is often it will avoid expressways/highways and take you a much longer route on local roads. I live right next to the expressway on-ramp and it still will map out. I tried setting it for shorter route or shorter time and both settings make no difference. Like being able to look up a my bank or chain store if I'm in an unfamiliar area. Easy to update maps from computer.

I had the Garmin C340 first, it worked great. It did not have some of the features that the C550 has, so I reordered.
The C550 works great so far.
Thanks
Tom

I really like the option of Blue Tooth. Now that we have to be hands free it is nice to have just one thing to carry around.