Garmin Streetpilot C550 2.1-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $299.00 You Save: $100.99 (25%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $59.99 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Streetpilot C550 2.1-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Not necessarily the best value.
Summary: 4 Stars
Practically all of the Garmins in the Street Pilot and Nuvi series will perform equally well, so it may make sense to assess your needs if money should happen to be of any consequence. My wife loved my Street Pilot 340, so I got her the top-of-the-line Nuvi with the wide screen. She didn't like the price tag (even though it was my expenditure) or the small size of the unit, so I returned it for the c550. There's little likelihood she'll use the blue tooth feature for phone connectivity and less probability she'll find any use for the MP3 player or subscribe to the live traffic reports. We've noticed no greater speed in the unit's locking into a signal. The naming of streets is nice but not at all essential. Moreover, she's noticed that it seems harder to unclip this model from its bracket than my 340, and her tastes are "offended" by having a little car driving around on her screen instead of a simple arrow marker.
So why spend almost $200 more for the 550 than the currently deeply discounted 330? It comes down to one feature: a polarized screen that doesn't wash out during daytime use. Is it worth the premium price? Depends on where you place the unit in your car and also how important watching the screen is to you. Some users are perfectly content to respond to the voice directions alone.
As for the cost of these devices, you're paying for the technology, not the cheap (admittedly highly functional) plastic materials. The audio quality is sufficiently loud and clear for speaking purposes, but the plastic enclosure gives the sound a synthetic, dry, "plastic-like" quality that is ill-suited for long-term listening of any sort let alone full-frequencied, resonant music.
Look for the next improvements to be in sound quality (if Tivoli can get all that hi-fi sound from an iPal speaker, it can't be too long before miniature GPS units begin to come close). In the meantime, don't feel like all is lost if you have to settle for a Street Pilot 330, which is definitely the best "deal" at current prices. It's not clear that the 550 is worth the week or two of groceries it requires you to give up in exchange for a less reflective screen.
Customer Review: should have bought this a long time ago
Summary: 5 Stars
seeing as i do a lot of driving for my job going to multiple places, i finally decided to purchase the Garmin Street pilot c550 after reading a whole bunch of reviews on different GPS products. I wanted a GPS that had the basic's because i did not need a picture viewer or other extra options.
so here is what i think after using it for a few weeks.
first of all the street pilot is very easy to use. once you set it up, which takes just a minute, it is ready to go. I find it acquires satellites very quickly and produces your route of travel usually in about 10 seconds. there is no GPS that has 100% perfect maps or routes and this is the same with the street pilot. i have driven a couple of routes i know very well and it made very minor mistakes but nothing that was out of the way or a big hassle. the sound is loud and clear but may be hard to hear if your windows are down and your at highway speeds, but so far i have had no problems understanding the audio. i read on some reviews that the GPS does not give you enough time to make a turn. I do not understand that because it give you a warning .2 miles before your turn as well as right before your turn again. if you were driving at 140 MPH you might miss a turn but otherwise you should be well prepared. also you have a visual to see the turn as well in plenty of time. also i noticed it will automatically zoom in or out of your route as you get closer to a direction change. the screen is very clear even in direct sunlight and a 3" screen is not hard to see when thew unit is on your windshield or dashboard. the battery life may not be the full 8 hours but i have gotten 6-7 without a problem.
the only negative is the bluetooth audio is a little hard to hear sometimes but i had no problem syncing up to it with my Verizon Motorola phone. oh and let me comment on Garmin customer service as well. i read a lot of negative reviews as well but i had one opportunity to use them and i had good results. when i first got the GPS i could not register it online because my computer could not find the device plugged in to the USB port. i called customer service and the tech had my problem fixed in two minutes.
Customer Review: Stay away from this unit
Summary: 2 Stars
I did quite a bit of research and after reading a lot of positive reviews, I decided to go with the c550. First, i'll start with the positives. Nice looking unit. Small enough to put in your pocket yet large enough to be seen on the dash board. The suction cup mount was easy to install and since I only had the unit a week, I didnt have the problem of it falling off like others said in their reviews. The unit was very intuitive to use, the touch screen was nice and no problems with it. I never used the mp3 player or the blue tooth options. However, the sample songs in it sounded horrible, like it was playing on an old transitor radio.
The negatives. The unit did not offer alot of features. I took a road trip from Florida to New York. All throughout the trip, hundreds of miles from home yet, the unit would tell me to get off the highway and take other streets. One address I put in, the unit took me to an old grassy field about 3 miles from my destination. Another time it had me drive past my destination about 1 mile, go about another mile in a circle and took me back to the destination. Another time, i knew I was only about 2 miles away from my destination and the unit kept telling me to make a u-turn. The traffic feature was a joke. it would say there was heavy traffic up ahead and suggest an alternate route. I would keep on my normal path with no heavy traffic and no problems. Although the unit would show businesses along the way it did not show rest areas along the highway or exit numbers on the exits.
I returned the unit to Circuit City and they charged a 15% restocking fee which was 120 dollars. I wrote to Garmin and reported everything and they responded with a form letter stating they were not responsible for the information the unit uses. Don't they test their products before subjecting the public to their crap? Very disappointed at the quality of the product and the poor customer service. I thought Garmin was suposed to be the best.
Bottom line: nice looking unit but has very few options inside it and the actual navigation stinks. I had better results from paper maps and Mapquest.
Stay away from this unit.
Customer Review: easy to use and reliable.
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Great Unit!
Summary: 5 Stars
"UPDATE" As of 08-15-08 unit is still working great! I did purchase a new phone from Verizon, the Adventure V750. Trying to pair the bluetooth was a nightmare. After several attempts (about 20 minutes) the phone and C550 finally connected. After the setup the bluetooth works great, I guess this new phone has issues. Old phone connected fine, as stated in my original post. There are a few places that the c550 could not find. I was searching for a local store and it was not listed, even though I was in the parking lot of the store I was hunting. I'm sure this is human error while programing the Garmin maps. No matter what unit you have, none are perfect. Still a great unit and I purchased 3 more for Christmas.
I purchased two of these and they are wonderful. They will work straight out the box with little set up time. I registered the units with no problems on 7-30-08. Garmin still has support for these units. When I registered, it updated the firmware then said I need to update my map. They will give you a free update to download or you can order the map on a cd for shipping charges. I chose to download using a broadband connection, it took over an hour. I did have one problem after the download when trying to install the map. I called support (took about 30 minutes to reach a live tech). They were very helpful and talked me through my problem. I was told if I had any other issues to email him and he would call me back, so I would not need to hold like before. Be prepared to wait for the download and installation, as for it will take over 2 hours to complete. I had no trouble when setting up my cell. It detected the phone in a matter of seconds. I have Verizon service. I road tested this unit on 7-31-08 from work to home. The results were great! Only thing I noticed was when entering a sharp curve it said to make a turn. This could come in handy if traveling an unknown road, for warning of a sharp turn. I do recommend this unit and will purchase some as Christmas gifts. I do recommend ordering a screen protector or a stylus so no damage or scratching will occur.