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| GARMIN 010-00522-00 Streetpilot C550 GPS Receiver | 
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| Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $399.99
Buy New: $149.00
You Save: $250.99 (63%)
New (32) Used (1) Refurbished (5)
Avg. Customer Rating:  333 reviews
Sales Rank: 165
Format: Cd
Platform: Windows
Color: Li-Io
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Size: Garmin Part #010-00522-00
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 6.5 x 6.5
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Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 010-00522-00
Model: 010-00522-00
UPC: 753759054489
EAN: 0753759054489
ASIN: B000EXU4YK
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Awesome Driving helper October 8, 2006
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've had the c550 for 2 months and SEVERAL road trips. In addition to just telling you how to get to your address (or city, or intersection), it also tells you hotels (with phone numbers), restaurants, entertainment, auto services, etc. along your route OR at your destination.
I can save your favorite spots, and it serves as a speaker phone for my Treo650, and an MP3 player.
This is simply an awesome device- I'm no longer geographically handicapped!!
 5 stars for GPS, but 1 point off for support September 13, 2006
91 out of 97 found this review helpful
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.
Integrated Traffic Great; Rest is Pretty Good August 30, 2006
37 out of 40 found this review helpful
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.
Great Product/Very poor mount August 23, 2006
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
I use this unit because I am in sales in an unfamiliar territory. It is "spot-on" in it's ability to find any location. The traffic monitor is a "nice to have" feature; however, it notifies you when it is nearly too late to do a detour. The estimated time of arrival feature is invaluable. Unlike some other reviewers, I have had no problem with satellite access. I've gone through tunnels and it rapidly re-accesses satellites within seconds after emerging.
My only beef is that Garmin provided a windshield mount that is an absolute piece of junk. I have been driving along and the unit has fallen off. I was concerned that it was going to be broken. This problem, in my opinion, is serious of enough to consider a different unit that has a better mount. Garmin should "step-up" and design a new mount and ship it to those of us who "took the leap of faith" to buy this product.
 Better than not having a GPS but lousy software design August 13, 2006
15 out of 24 found this review helpful
Good touchscreen and simple menu's do not make up for serious flaws in design -- all directions disappear when connection to satellite is lost (this happens often in metropolitan areas). What would be better is when the conection is lost only your location should should stay the same but the directions prior to the lost connections should continue to be displayed; directions are listed using north/south etc instead of right and left turns; directions only show next turn even when there is an immediate turn after the next turn; zoom out is very limited.
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