Garmin Streetpilot C550 2.1-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator by Garmin
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin Streetpilot C550 2.1-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: Bought this for my bro-in-law, should have bought it for myself.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the third Garmin GPS I've purchased, the first being a C320 for my mother and the second being a 2820 for myself. I've reviewed both of them here and I suggest you check those two reviews out first so that this one falls into better context.
Having purchased three Garmins I can say with no small amount of certainty that the c550 is the one I should have purchased for everyone. (As I write this I'm seriously considering selling my 2820 and buying the c550 for myself.) It is as close to a perfect GPS as Garmin makes. It really seems as if someone at Garmin took the best features of both the low-end and high-end units and put them together into this one unit.
As with other Garmin GPS's that I've used, the interface is very intuitive and easy to navigate. The LCD screen is touch-sensitive and all of the controls are laid out in a logical pattern with simple icons and bright (but not overwhelming) colors. It does everything you'd expect a GPS to do; it will create a route by speed ("fastest route") or distance ("shortest route"), allow you to save your favorite locations, etc. One of my favorite GPS features is the ability to make detours on-the-fly, and the Garmin makes this easy. Stuck in highway traffic? Touch DETOUR and it will plot a new course off the highway. I can't tell you how many times this has saved hours of potential sitting-in-traffic time. (The c550 is even better as it has the FM traffic receiver. If you drive through a supported area, the GPS will *AUTOMATICALLY* reroute you around traffic, construction detours, etc.)
The unit is slightly larger and bulkier than the smaller 300 series units owing largely to its additional features. Improving on the low-end Garmin units, the c550's screen doesn't suffer the wash-out problem that exists in the 300 series. The screen remains bright and clear even in direct sunlight. The screen itself is the same size and resolution as the 300 series but a subtle change in the bezel makes it look a bit larger. Like the 300 series, the c550 has a built-in battery that's good for about 6-8 hours under normal use (letting you use it outside of the car, particularly useful in case you ever get stranded in the middle of nowhere), simple external controls (power button, volume wheel, USB port), and an SD memory card slot. Like the 2820, the c550 has hands-free Bluetooth, will speak street names and exit numbers, and has the same anti-glare monitor.
There's only one feature that the 2820 has which neither the 300 nor 500 series have which I've found particularly useful. On the 2820's display, there is an arrow in the upper-right corner that shows you what your next turn will be and, below that, how far ahead the turn is. The angle of the arrow tells you how sharp the turn will be; an exit off a highway will be at a slight angle while a turn onto a suburban side street will be at a more severe angle. While this may seem trivial it becomes EXTREMELY handy on the highway, as the arrow shows you which side of the road the exit will be on. (So if the exit's on the left, the arrow leans to the left. If to the right, then then arrow is to the right.) Both the 300 and 500 series will show you how far it is until the turn, neither of them tell you if it's on the left or right until you're about a half mile away. Personally I like having this information well in advance and the c550 doesn't provide this.
The c550 also has features that exceed both units. For example, the c320 offers a mono speaker, no mic, no Bluetooth, and no traffic receiver, while the 2820 requires an external speaker and mic, and the built-in traffic receiver requires an external antenna at extra cost. The c550 has built-in stereo speakers, a built-in microphone, and a built-in FM traffic receiver with a built-in antenna. And while both the c550 and 2820 offer MP3 playback, the 2820 lacks an SD memory card slot so you have to connect the unit to your computer if you ever want to upload new MP3 files.
The c550 uses the same WebUpdater application that Garmin supplies (free), to keep your GPS up-to-date with software updates and such. This is a no-brainer application; plug the GPS into your internet-connected Windows PC and run the app. It will poll your GPS to determine its model and software status, then compare that to Garmin's latest and greatest. It'll then download and install whatever updates it finds.
I'm giving the c550 four stars instead of five, but I would really like to give it three and a half -- but Amazon doesn't let me do halves so I'm rounding up to four. Things I DON'T like about the c550: First and foremost, Garmin's support flat-out sucks. They NEVER reply to emails, pre- or post-sale, and their telephone representatives are significantly less than helpful. For this alone I take off a full star.
If I could remove another half star from my rating, it would be for three minor shortcomings. The first is the "arrow display" as I explained above. With the addition of that one 'minor' feature I would drop my 2820 in a heartbeat and buy the c550 right now. Second, Garmin doesn't include the map CD with the unit. Although the c550 is preloaded, so is the 2820 -- but the map CD came with the 2820, so why not include it with the c550 too? And third, updating the Garmin takes a REALLY long time. The unit itself seems to operate on a USB 1 interface so you don't get USB 2 speeds, and the Garmin update site (which the WebUpdate application accesses) is often very busy. It took over two hours to update my brother-in-law's c550. Fortunately this isn't something you have to do very often but even so, a simple USB 2 interface would have sped things up immensely.
I would definitely recommend this unit to anyone.
Digital camera Review: Buy a SmartPhone instead.
Summary: 4 Stars
Had this less than a year and it is very helpful when you go place's you've never been to before. You can search for places to eat and see in an area your not familiar with. It seems to always get me to where I want to go. I like the built in speaker and antenna.
Only thing I don't like is that mine already needs updating after less than a year. When on a newer road My little truck icon is out in no mans land, and the unit keeps trying to get me back on a known road. The maps are updatable (not free) and not sure what "Extras" are but they can also be downloaded.
Mine is set on "fastest route" and I know from testing on my home roads that it does not always know the fastet route. This makes me question it when I'm out of town.
I'll use my Android smart phone from now on. Smartphones have nearly made car GPS unit's obsolete. Only thing is the GPS units work when the cell phones don't have a signal.
Digital camera Review: C330 (older) now C550... much better!
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the C550 since the price has somewhat dropped to where I can afford it and bought it here at Amazon since the price is unbeatable and free shipping compare to going to my local store or other less reliable internet store. I bought it on Saturday and got it by Wednesday. I had a C330 prior to this unit and sold that for half its original price before buying this one. The C330 alone served me well as far as navigation goes, but the new design and features of the C550 is well worth the upgrade. Besides the bluetooth (works very well) and traffic capability that this unit adds compared the the C330, there are a lot of subtle changes that makes it even better. I'll start off with the suction cup design, before it was bulkier and the round base has a bigger radius, now it is smaller but can still support the unit well, great for places in tight spaces in your car. Also I did not like how the cigarette adapter was permanently attached to the suction cup holder in the C330, now the cable can be dettached from the unit making it more flexible. The unit itself sports a dark gray body color and a shinnier aluminum face, it looks much better at least in the interior of my car. It also is thinner that the C330 occupying lesser space specially if you place it close to your windshield like me. I have not really had a chance to use the traffic capability since my drive from home to work are on the streets and only takes 10 minutes, but I'm glad it is there. As far as the MP3 goes, I guess it's nice to have whenever your battery in the car dies out of nowhere and you are stranded in a deserted place, you can at least have some music until your navi dies or some psycho gets to you, whatever comes first (heheh joke). The Navigation software seems to move faster and now that it reads street name which makes you feel more assured you are going the right way. Other improvements? I would rather have an add on software in it that can read movie files than the MP3. Also I like how they included a nice case for the unit but I wish they added a hole or slit where the cigarette lighter cable can go through. Lastly, for mac users, your Mac will read the garmin when you plug it throught the USB it will come out as a hard drive then you can drop in your MP3 files and images for the splash screen. I will try to do another update in a month or so for more of my experience with this unit. There is always room for improvement... so I gave it four stars, hopefully it will be as reliable as my last one. Oh yah, Do not leave this unit on top of your dash, parked in the hot sun, it will mess up your unit, put it away. This happened to me once and Garmin was still kind enough to exchange my unit covered by warranty, (I am not saying they will do this for you also).Digital camera Review: C550 Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Pricing was great. Product functioned very well, as designed. An abundance of features for the price. Hands free speakerphone was a pleasant surprise. Incoming calls ring in the GPS, giving you the option to answer and talk back. The screens are easy to follow. The bluetooth directory is a another great feature. The unit speaks the name of the street so you don't have to take your eys of the road. Just a reminder that no MAPS are perfect and neither is routing. Sometimes seemed to route the long way around. Might require some settings tuning for best inner city routes. All and all, a great value.Digital camera Review: C550 intial review
Summary: 4 Stars
My biggest concern before buying the C550 was whether it would work with my new Motorola Verizon E815 cel phone. I searched all over and other than Garmin's site having it not listed as a comaptible device, I took a chance as the unit is so new there were no posts. The only posts I found were people who had issues with Verizon phones not working very well with the Garmin (or any Bluetooth device for that matter other than headsets) as verizon cripples their Bluetooth phones.
Bottom line, the Verizon Motorola E815 seems to work fine... Bluetooth pairing, address book import, voice dialing, calling, receiving calls all seem to work. Amazing considering it's Verizon.
The only gripes I have with the C550 (after owning an original TomTom Go) is not having a compass on the map, having to dive into the menus to scroll the map, no in unit data transfer to/from an SD card, setting a "home location" not obvious, no extra voices (yet), no full Mac implementation (yet - just can see C550 as a drive), not being able to see the whole route easily, no included AC charger, limited customized options, and cartoony car icons (I'm using the arrows).
However, it outshines the TomTom Go in every other way. Great audio volume, bright screen, terrific Bluetooth implementation, traffic (we'll see how that works in real use later), more accurate maps (Navteq vs. TeleAtlas), seemingly better POIs and many more.