| | |  | GPS | Home » » » Garmin Streetpilot C550 2.1-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator | | | | | | | Description: | | StreetPilot c550 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply touch the super-bright sunlight-readable color screen to enter a destination, and the c550 takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. It even announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road. In addition, the c550 accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. The European version even includes a preloaded safety camera database containing the location of safety cameras for parts of Europe. Talk about worry-free driving. The c550 integrates Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker, so you can pair it with your compatible Bluetooth phone and talk hands-free through the c550 while staying focused on the road. Now there's no more fumbling with your phone's handset to answer a call or dial a number -- just tap the c550's screen and you're connected. With 1-touch dialing for POIs, you can conveniently call ahead for reservations or information. | | | Features: | |
• 2.1-InchH X 2.8-InchW Automotive-Grade, Sunlight-Readable, Anti-Glare Tft Lcd Display
• Select Destinations From The User-Friendly Touch-Screen Interface
• Automatically Calculate Routes To Any Destination
• Provides Turn-By-Turn Voice-Prompted Directions
• Preprogrammed With Highly Detailed City Navigator North America Street Data
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 6.5 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.5 inches | | Product Height:
| 6.5 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.59 pounds | | Package Length:
| 6.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 6.3 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.0 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 362 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 362 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
302 of 307 found the following review helpful:
 Bought this for my bro-in-law, should have bought it for myself.Dec 19, 2006
By Steven A. Godun
"sgodun"
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.
89 of 94 found the following review helpful:
 Great, when it doesn't die on youAug 09, 2006
By Phillip Lyle
I've gone through two of these. The first i exchanged at the store, the second was past the 14 day return policy, so I had to mail it in at my expense.
They work great for the first few weeks. The first one died around when the temp was getting into the 100s, so I thought "Ok, maybe the heat did it". The second died overnight when the temp was around 60. Just won't turn on anymore.
I've read other reviews indicating a similar problem. Hopefully Garmin can send me a non-defective unit. In the meantime, be careful and make sure you can return it.
** UPDATE **
The returned unit from Garmin has been working flawlessly. I believe they have worked out the defect in the original batch.
91 of 97 found the following review helpful:
5 stars for GPS, but 1 point off for supportSep 13, 2006
By David McCune
"self-deprecating and proud of it"
We really needed a GPS in our family. My lovely wife, whom I cherish and who gets far too little thanks for driving our children to their many activities (and who might read this), would often call me at work to use Mapquest to help figure out where she was and where she was going. Much as I enjoyed these calls, I thought it would be best if she had an onboard co-pilot. After reading the reviews on Amazon, I thought the Garmin sounded like the best choice.
First, the unit certainly does what my wife asks it to do: chart paths between points A and B. At that, it has been essentially flawless over the several weeks since we purchased it. In addition, it is tremendously easy to install (taking just a couple of minutes) and use. In the first two weeks, my wife went from a techno-phobe doubter to a true believer. Asked about the purchase in that first 2 weeks, I'd have given it 5 stars.
Then it died, for no good reason. The company (Garmin) was a bit hard to reach, with limited tech support hours (including no weekends). We had to send the unit back, and we did promptly receive a second unit. That unit has worked great for going on a month now. Given that there are a couple of other users with similar complaints, I'd have to say that these units may not be quite as reliable as a typical electrical device. Also, we have not had any trouble with the mount, unlike several of the reviewers.
In summary, for its core function, I think the unit is awesome. There are some issues with customer support that Garmin should work on, but these are not enough to seriously tarnish our experience.
ADDENDUM (10/16/06) - after some use, I have concluded that the function which estimates arrival time does so by using a best-case assumption about your speed. It seems to predict that you will always be traveling at the speed limit on a given stretch of road. This means is does not anticipate the inevitable red lights. It consistently underestimates travel time for in-city driving. If I could deduct a 1/2 star from my original review, I would.
34 of 34 found the following review helpful:
easy to use and reliable.Jun 19, 2006
By Seung Paik
"Seung PAIK"
i bought this unit 6/14/'06-
so it's been 5 days since i started using it.
i was thinking about c330 for nearly 3 months but
decided to go for c550 as garmin claimed it had many improvements.
i've heard some bad things about c330's screen "washing away" under
bright sun lights, but so far c550 never gave me any problem.
(garmin claims c550's screen is superior to previous "c" series units...)
it's very easy to use, and despite the small screen,
it is very easy to read.
garmin claims it has "integrated" fm traffic signal receiver,
but the signal receiver is actually a part of 12v socket charger-
in other words, traffic receiver only works when the unit's power socket is connected to the car,
and when it is running on the battery alone, you won't get the traffic signal.
it's bluetooth feature is pretty helpful, too-
when your cell phone receives a call
it displays caller id, and you can use the unit to answer the call and use it as a speaker phone.
i've try to go about 6 different places i've never been,
such as restaurants, car dealers, stores... etc. and
it was very, very accurate.
it tends to get a bit "confused" if you are on a place that
does not exist on its map.
but once you manage to find the nearest road that is highlighted
on the screen you are good to go.
this is my first navigation unit and
overall i'm very satisfied,
and recommended to everyone...
pros-
1. bright, clear screen that is very easy to read.
2. accurate and reliable navigation.
3. bluetooth hands- free feature.
4. relatively small.
5. long battery life.
cons-
1. so- called "integrated" traffic receiver not truly "integrated."
2. almost useless mp3 play back feature.
3. text- to- speech (reads street names and exit # and such...) not so good.
4. still bigger than "nüvi" series.
5. wish the sound was a bit louder and clearer.
6. a bit overpriced.
37 of 40 found the following review helpful:
Integrated Traffic Great; Rest is Pretty GoodAug 30, 2006
By John Stafford
"johnstafford"
I had been waiting for this spring's new generation of car GPS. I'm glad I waited.
The integrated traffic feature is incredible. Yes, its not perfect and often not quick enough. And common sense needs to be used on whether to accept the rerouting. But I commute several times a week outside of Boston for 90-120 minutes. There are multiple routes (495, 95, 93, 24) I can take. Within 5 minutes of leaving my house I can carefully monitor conditions and adjust my route at any time. I save 30-60 minutes/week since it lets me take more "aggressive" routes that are shorter but are often clogged with traffic. It also works well on bridge and tunnel traffic in NYC. Not so useful in areas which rarely have traffic (thus not updated as frequently) or where there aren't good alternate routes.
Bad points: Makes weird routing suggestions on many long distance trips. Sometimes, if you keep driving your way, it will suddenly agree and note that your way is ten minutes shorter than the way it suggested five minutes ago. I'm not sure why it didn't calculate that up front. Mount got sloppy after a month and falls off the windshield in high heat conditions. Also, the battery stopped working (only works when plugged in) which I haven't addressed with Garmin. It is hard to examine an entire route instead of just the current portion.
Good points: Traffic (see above). There are better deals if you don't need traffic. Spoken street names are great. In-city navigation is great. Bluetooth works well. MP3 is slightly useful. Having the entire database loaded is great (Canada works very well). The database of stores and landmarks is far more comprehensive than any I have used. Many golf courses. I will put in Walmart and it will show all Walmarts until you find one just off the interstate for a minimal detour.
The traffic feature is incredibly easy to use without the aesthetic and installation hassles of similar solutions.
See all 362 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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