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brutus
0
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2006
- Messages
- 328
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- Location
- Dallas, TX
- First Name
- Mark
- Last Name
- Smertneck
As I promised in the for sale thread where I sold my Zumo 450 I will post my impressions of the 550 I replaced it with.
First of all the 550 comes with a car mount which is cool since I don't have to move my bike mount to my Jeep. The car mount installed in like 5 minutes including time to get the package open. The 550 paired with my cell phone quickly and easily. The next thing however wasn't expected. I went to Best Buy to price bluetooth headsets, I assume that I would need one since the pairing with the Zumo would take over the microphone. After perusing them I decided to check online before dropping $100 for a decent headset plus I wanted to get the loudest one possible so I figure I needed to find some reviews. When I got back in my Jeep the Zumo paired with my phone and a call came in. I immediately got flustered because I couldn't figure out how to unpair the phone to take the call. I accidentally answered the call and the callers voice came over the Jeep speakers, and like a standard crazy person I was talking to myself "dang it how do I get this thing to work!" and the person on the other end said "get what thing to work", me "you can hear me?". Yep. So the Zumo just worked as an in car hands free, the person on the other end said they couldn't tell I was on a hands free. Even more amazing I could actually have a conversation in my Jeep Wrangler with no top on it. I didn't expect any of that.
Next the integration of the phone into the GPS is really cool. When you search for something like a restaurant you can call them directly from the GPS. When calls come in the number appears on the GPS screen. This is great because I know who is calling and if I need to stop and take it. The only negative at the moment isn't Zumo related, I need to get a cable for the Autocom which will connect the microphone to the Zumo. It's a three pole connector which splits to work specifically for the 550. It's also an $85 cable
Once I get that I can finally make the fabled phone call while riding my motorcycle. Another awesome thing about the Zumo as a phone/GPS/MP3 source is that when a phone call comes in it automatically mutes the music and GPS during the phone call. No scrambling to turn down the radio while answering the phone, it's all nice an seemless.
The 550 comes with an AC adapter, 12V in car adapter, automobile cradle and the standard motorcycle mounting equipement. The auto cradle costs an additional $75 so part of the price difference is made up there.
But other than that the 550 does what the 450 did fantastically, the addition of the cell phone functionality is excellent. Another thing that the 550 also does is say the street names like "turn right in 500 feet on Plano Road" instead of "turn right in 500 feet". So far a minor difference but I could see where it would make a difference at some point.
So if you are looking for the phone functionality the 550 is excellent, but if you are not the 450 is perfect.
First of all the 550 comes with a car mount which is cool since I don't have to move my bike mount to my Jeep. The car mount installed in like 5 minutes including time to get the package open. The 550 paired with my cell phone quickly and easily. The next thing however wasn't expected. I went to Best Buy to price bluetooth headsets, I assume that I would need one since the pairing with the Zumo would take over the microphone. After perusing them I decided to check online before dropping $100 for a decent headset plus I wanted to get the loudest one possible so I figure I needed to find some reviews. When I got back in my Jeep the Zumo paired with my phone and a call came in. I immediately got flustered because I couldn't figure out how to unpair the phone to take the call. I accidentally answered the call and the callers voice came over the Jeep speakers, and like a standard crazy person I was talking to myself "dang it how do I get this thing to work!" and the person on the other end said "get what thing to work", me "you can hear me?". Yep. So the Zumo just worked as an in car hands free, the person on the other end said they couldn't tell I was on a hands free. Even more amazing I could actually have a conversation in my Jeep Wrangler with no top on it. I didn't expect any of that.
Next the integration of the phone into the GPS is really cool. When you search for something like a restaurant you can call them directly from the GPS. When calls come in the number appears on the GPS screen. This is great because I know who is calling and if I need to stop and take it. The only negative at the moment isn't Zumo related, I need to get a cable for the Autocom which will connect the microphone to the Zumo. It's a three pole connector which splits to work specifically for the 550. It's also an $85 cable
Once I get that I can finally make the fabled phone call while riding my motorcycle. Another awesome thing about the Zumo as a phone/GPS/MP3 source is that when a phone call comes in it automatically mutes the music and GPS during the phone call. No scrambling to turn down the radio while answering the phone, it's all nice an seemless. The 550 comes with an AC adapter, 12V in car adapter, automobile cradle and the standard motorcycle mounting equipement. The auto cradle costs an additional $75 so part of the price difference is made up there.
But other than that the 550 does what the 450 did fantastically, the addition of the cell phone functionality is excellent. Another thing that the 550 also does is say the street names like "turn right in 500 feet on Plano Road" instead of "turn right in 500 feet". So far a minor difference but I could see where it would make a difference at some point.
So if you are looking for the phone functionality the 550 is excellent, but if you are not the 450 is perfect.
The Bluetooth feature is nice to have when Zumo'ing down the road and the cell goes off 
Would never have found food 
