Thursday, July 17, 2008

Garmin Zumo 450 Portable GPS Motorcycle Navigator

Garmin Zumo 450 Portable GPS Motorcycle Navigator

Garmin Zumo 450 - shipped not as advertised

Caution..., Product price is good and advertised as new, but I received a previously used Zumo missing a part. When I contacted Customer Service however, they were very cooperative and immediately shipped what appears to be a new, not previously used Zumo. Very suprised with Amazon. Thought it would be better experience as this was my first order with them. Bottomline: I should not have had to go through that hassle.

Great performance and ease of use.

I had a Garmin Pilot 3 gps which was ok with limited capabilities. Then a Garmin 5, more features but very disappointing, lots of errors, almost turned me off Garmin. Decided to buy the Garmin Zumo 450 and coupled it with motorcycle speakers from Uniqcycle. This system is great for sound, road directions, accuracy and quick recalculations. The built in MP3 player categorizes your music for ease of use. This GPS is easy to use and very visible while riding. The gps unit is waterproof as are the speakers. Here's a plug for the speakers, no distortion at high sound levels. I'm glad I decided to stick with the Garmin unit made especially for motorcycles. Special note: if you wire the speaker amp and the garmin unit to your motorcycle, chances are you will need a "ground loop isolator" device to eliminate the hum in the speakers that connecting the two to the same power source creates. It's $20 but does the job.

Great buy

I had the misfortune to try another online store for this purchase when they called to confirm I had to ask if it was in english it was in Japaneese only! I went to amazon because of the reputation and was surprised at the price and how quickly the order arrived. The Zumo is a wonderfull product and lives up to and exceeds evey statement made about it. I am planning a trip to Alaska and this is a crutial tool to get me there. buy with confidence with Amazon.

unhappy

Be careful when you see the name Optics Planet in the description. Item listed as Trijicon TA31RCM150 Trijicon ACOG Rifle Combat Optic Rifle Scope 4X 32 Red Chevron Matte BAC-M150 List Price: $1,450.00 Price: $34.99 You Save: $1,415.01 (98%) I have seen deals on these scopes before (I also purchased them) and Optics Planet is not honoring the order, saying it is a case, not the scope and telling me that it is my problem and they will send me an "RMA" if I would like. Just be leary if you see a good deal from this company as it is probally not true. I personally don't feel that falsely advertising a sale is the customers problem. Other companies honor misadvertised prices on their products that were purchased prior to the correction. But you will not find that here.

Great product.........but

The 450 is a great product with wonderful features too many to mention here. I have used it on a 800 mile motorcycle trip and it performed admirably. It's user friendly as long as a new user is not technically challenged. The visibility in bright sun light is surprisingly good. I could go on and on about the Zumo and I recommend it highly. Is it perfect? Probably not. Nothing is. It does come close, IMHO. You noticed that I rated it 4 stars. That's where the 'but' comes in.......If I had to do it over again, I would skip the 450 and go directly to the 550 and pay the additional money. Here's why.....for the kind of money spent, I decided to also use it in the car. To be able to do that, I had to purchase a car mount and power cord. By the time I added the costs for those items, I could nearly have paid the price difference between the 450 and 550. The 550 comes with the car mount and has some additional features such as Text To Voice (it will announce a turn by saying 'turn left on Main Street' instead of just saying 'turn left') and Blue Tooth capable. Bottom line is this, if you don't care about the additional features (which I didn't think I did) and you don't think you'll be using it in your car, get the 450. If you intend to use it in a car as well as your motorcycle, pay the difference and get the 550. In any event, I don't think you'll be disappointed with either unit. I absolutely love my Zumo.



Keyword : gps

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