GARMIN Zumo 450 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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List Price: Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of GARMIN Zumo 450 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Way cool!
Summary: 4 Stars
I just purchased my Zumo and it works great. I recently took it on a trip in which I was in Orlando, Boston and Denver on successive days. Mr. Garmin got me where I needed to go. The thing I like the best is if you take a "wrong" turn, the GPS just says "recalculating" and then comes up with a new route.
So, why only 4 stars? A few minor points:
1) GPS resolution isn't perfect so it is sometimes easy to take a wrong turn if you are dealing with a tangle of roads, overpasses and things all very close together. I ran into one of those in Boston. The GPS re-routed me after I missed the turn, so it only cost me a minute or so.
2) Garmin has one kind of power cord plug for recharging the unit from an outlet, another for running from the motorcycle mount and yet another kind of plug for the automobile mount. Why not have just one kind of plug? Is Garmin trying to please their shareholders by being able to sell 4 kinds of rechargers for the same unit? Same with the car mount. If they took the same kind of power cord, then I could just use the motorcycle mount in the car by purchasing a suction cup from RAM mount. Different plugs require different mounts, so they got me for another $100 bucks for a car mount and adaptors.
3) Unit itself doesn't have audio output. Must put into either the motorcycle or car mount for audio output.
4) Pictures on company website are too small to be able to tell what you need to buy in the way of plugs and cords. Descriptions are terse and vague. On the plus side, they responded within a day to my email asking for clarification.
5) Two ways of purchasing additional maps. On DVD or on SD cards. Not clear from website what this means or why you would choose one over the other. Had to ask via email. Explanation is that DVD requires you to delete the US map to make room for the Europe map while SD card just plugs in. Bottom line is that you need to be aggressive and ask via email what all the vague stuff on the Garmin website means. Otherwise prepare for disappointment.
These things are just minor quirks. Overall, awesome way to travel. My anxiety level over travel in unfamiliar cities just went waaaaaaay down.
Customer Review: 7,000 miles and all smiles!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Zumo 450 a month ago and promptly mounted it to my 2003 Goldwing. The supplied RAM mount is excellent and provides for a variety of mounting positions. Wiring was made simple by Honda, as there is a fused auxiliary power supply under the left cubby.
The Zumo is exceptionally intuitive and easy to use. I played around with the unit for about a week while commuting to and from work. Then the fun began. I took a trip on the motorcycle from Seattle, WA to Blandon, PA and back. All told the trip was 7,000 miles. We did a ton of sight seeing during the trip, and thanks to the Zumo we had no stress about going anywhere we wanted to go.
With confidence, we rode into and around Chicago and Philadelphia. We took back roads out of Glacier National Park that we would never have seen had it not been for the Zumo directing us there.
Only had two issues with the Zumo while on the trip. The first one was that the unit froze up and would not turn on once. I followed the manual's instructions for resetting the unit (press the + and Power buttons at the same time) and I was off and running again. The second issue was that while in Philadelphia the Zumo told us to make a left turn when the street was a one-way street for traffic in the other direction. No big deal, just went an extra block and the Zumo immediately recalculated the route.
The Zumo has a ton of great features. The ones that I used the most on the trip were;
Knowing my actual speed vs. what my speedo was reading.
Altitude readings were fun!
Knowing how many miles were had left for the route in a given day.
Finding the nearest Hotels.
Finding the nearest Starbucks!
Finding the nearest gas station.
This thing has a bunch more features that I did not use much, but I am sure that I will get around to them soon. Going on another 1000 mile trip next weekend!
I am completely satisfied with this unit and would highly recommend it!
Customer Review: GPS for motorcycles
Summary: 5 Stars
Garmin Zumo 450 Portable GPS Motorcycle Navigator
A friend of mine has the Zumo 550, but I didn't want the XM Radio so I picked the Zumo 450. I have used it for over 7000 miles and am very glad that I have it. I take pictures on the road and being able to import them into the Zumo and then to a seperate SD card is a real plus. I don't have speakers hooked up to this Zumo yet so I don't know what the sound is like, but you can play MP3's through it. The screen is viewable in all but the most intense sunlight, the buttons on screen are large enough so that when you are riding and want to type on the screen to find something it is very simple.
The low gas feature is very nice also. You set the mileage that you can go on a tank of gas and it warns you 30 miles prior to that mileage. When you do get that warning, you just touch the fuel pump icon and the GPS gives you a list of the closest gas stations. The key to this is that you must have it on all the time when you are riding. I found that the speedo on my bike was off by 3-7 MPH, so I go by the speed shown on the GPS.
Installation was a 5 minute job. The longest part of the installation was lifting the gas tank up to run the wire to the battery.
The lock device leaves a little to be desired, but it works. I won't go into detail on that here, because it is a mechanical type lock and I don't want some thief to find out how to steal them. The good part about the theft deterent is that you can set a security point that the GPS will recognize as your home location so that if you forget your lock code, you can take it to your home location and it will unlock.
If your Zumo is stolen and the theif doesn't know the code or your home location they will have to send the unit to Garmin to be unlocked and it will be sent back to you.
Customer Review: Wonderful GPS Unit; Needs More Audio
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this unit to replace an older Garmin device on my motorcycle and used it on a cross country trip. It is pretty much bullet proof, rugged, waterproof. I didn't need all the extra features of the 550 (already have an XM radio, don't use Bluetooth) so I went for the 450. The gauge screens are quite useful and my favorite feature is the fuel gauge, which is easily reset after filling the gas tank. It is also easy to change route calculations on the fly when doing mental fuel stop calculations to see if the next city beyond is attainable. The touch screen works well with motorcycle gloves as advertised. And, of course, the GPS speedometer is more accurate than vehicle speedos, so I rely on it totally, rather than having to do the mental calculation off the bike display, "let's see, it says 70 mph but I'm really going 66." The security locking screw provides low level security and some peace of mind, but I wouldn't leave the unit on the bike overnight. Someone can still cut the wire and unscrew the RAM mount, making off with the unit.
The reason I gave it less than full stars is the audio connection. Here, I have to reference my older GPS solution, a Garmin iQue 3600 PDA. The iQue has an MP3 player with more than adequate audio output to drive headsets or the 3.5 mm stereo input to the Autocom bike audio system. At full volume setting, the Zumo audio is barely detectable. I'm sure Garmin had some technical reason, but the audio output level of the Zumo just doesn't cut it. The various bike forums talk about some $85 adaptor solution, or purchasing a Radio Shack MP3 headphone amplifier. From my viewpoint as an engineer, Garmin, for whatever reason, left out a $0.25 audio integrated circuit chip that would have easily remedied this, Instead, we are left to forage the online lists for a patchwork solution to a poor design.
Customer Review: Good GPS...until it died
Summary: 2 Stars
My wife gave me the Garmin Zumo 450 as a Christmas presnt in December 2008 (I won't get into the issue with Garmin discontinuing the unit in January 2009...let's just say the wife was taken...should have been on clearance)to use on my Kawasaki Concours. For all of 2009, it was a great GPS. Entering in addresses was a bit cumbersome but I got used to it. I ended up purchasing the auto accessories so I could use the Zumo in rental cars. They worked like a charm. Fast forward to 2010...my wife takes a business trip and takes the Zumo with her. On her last day, she calls me and says it won't power on. I figure operator error. I try to troubleshoot over the phone and nothing seems to work. Thank God she printed Google directions as a backup. When she gets home with the Zumo, sure enough, it won't power on. I end up trying the reset key sequence (power + the plus keys) and it powers up. So I've been using it for a few months since and have had no problems. Today, I head out on an 8 hour ride. Powered up the Zumo when I left home. Stopped for gas about 30 minutes later and I turned it off at the gas station. Went to turn it back on when we were ready to roll and nothing. It wouldn't power on. I've tried the reset sequence...no joy. When I got home, I tried plugging in the USB cable; nothing...the computer doesn't sense anything and no life on the unit. I tried it in the car cradle...nada. Needless to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the unit. It cost too much to have already bit the Big One. Won't recommend it to anyone. Pissed that I have all these accessories and will probably end up with a Tom Tom next.