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| Garmin Zumo 450 Portable GPS Motorcycle Navigator | 
 enlarge | Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $799.99
Buy New: $499.99
You Save: $300.00 (38%)
New (64) Used (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 1785
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 320x240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5.4
Dimensions (in): 2 x 3 x 4
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 0100056705
Model: 0100056705
UPC: 753759068059
EAN: 0053759068050
ASIN: B000MF7L46
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: FREE UPGRADE to EXPEDITED SHIPPING! SEALED in Original Factory Packaging. APO/FPO/PO Boxes Do NOT Qualify For Expedited Shipping. (Seller Notes: #99534)
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| Customer Reviews:
 Convenient but question the reliability August 26, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I had a Garmin 2610 for several years and mounted it in my cars, my Goldwing, my Suzuki, etc. The 2610 is NOT an ideal motorcycle GPS but is great for a car because of its remote.
On the other hand, the Zumo is really convenient for both types of vehicles. The Zumo is my first experience with a 3-D, what-you're-pointing-at-is-up display; after a couple thousand miles I've grown to like it. I'm not sure that the Zumo has auto-zoom, but whatever it is doing is far superior to the auto-zoom on the 2610 (which frequently showed me a quarter of the continental United States...like I need that on a motorcycle!)
All of the features of the Zumo have a design center of a bike rider with 3 season gloves on. I like that!
Compared to the 2610, you lose some options, some extra data, etc., but overall I do not miss that stuff a bit.
Yes, the 450 compared to the 550 requires some extra purchases (automobile components) but it is $200 less expensive at this point.
I just got back from a 1300 mile drive (in a car) to California from Portland. On the return, I plugged my portable XM radio into my car's AUX input instead of the Zumo (which I had done on the outbound) with the 2GB SD car I had loaded up with tunes. Well, at 5:15 am, I just about drove up the sidewalk when the Zumo spoke to me without the benefit of an audio input to the car's system. Garmin does not do a very good job of marketing the fact that the car mount INCLUDES a speaker on it, so no audio connection is needed to the car (although the output is provided!).
NOW, my complaint...on this return car trip from the north Bay area, the Zumo went belly up somewhere just south of Shasta City. Why??? Dunno. Fortunately, it had already directed me through a fairly tortuous route through Napa & Sonoma counties (in the dark, with fog, yuck). On the road, I tried every CPR technique (even reading the manual on my laptop during the lunch break) but to no avail. Once home, where the tools are, I got out my metric allen wrenches, removed the battery, counted to 30, put the battery back in, and all was swell. Guess what little tool is going into the Zumo's carrying case???
Except for this lapse in firmware which seems unrecoverable without a hard repowering/rebooting, I like the Zumo 450 a lot. Would I go for the 550? Well maybe...maybe not. The Bluetooth thingy is OK, but using it means you spend mega bucks rather than $4 for an audio cord. Fit a BT earpiece into my helmet?? RUNUTS?
Indeed, the internal memory holds the entire USA and every 2-bit Denny's along the way!!! You put in an optional SD car for the ability to play music.
OH YEAH - ONLY .MP3 files area supported. Bummer for other formats.
 Great product; some things to consider August 2, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
First of all installation really was quick and easy with the included hardware. I just needed a small screwdriver and a hex wrench from my toolbox to complete installation.
Something I didn't pay attention to when deciding which model to get: apparently the Zumo 550 also comes with everything you need to mount the unit in a vehicle if you want; for the 450 you have to buy the suction mount and cigarrete lighter cord separately. Adding to the confusion, as stated by several other reviewers, Amazon's descriptions for the accessories are all wrong. However the part numbers given by Tom S below are indeed the correct parts you need to order to install in a vehicle, and the box you get in the mail says they are for the Zumo, even though Amazon says they're for anything but Zumos.
Very nice unit for bike or car, in the US or abroad August 1, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I bought the Garmin Zumo 450 as my first GPS. I had contemplated getting a GPS for years. I've always been a `map guy' and was reluctant to make the leap to GPS. I had plans for a few motorcycle trips this year and saw the Zumo line. I also had a car trip through France planned and when I realized I could buy a France map card for the Zumo, that sealed the deal. I've used the 450 on three motorcycle trips already and just got back from France. The Zumo was a real nice addition. Apart from the navigation, it is handy for looking up places. When in Indy for the F1 race, I wanted to find a bookstore...looked it up in the Zumo. Wanted to see a movie...looked it up in the Zumo and it gave the telephone number so I could call for movie times. The France map card worked great...helping me navigate the maze of Paris and the countryside. I still recommend using a map to cross check. On the downside, I wish the Zumo had elevation. Also, since the added features of the 550 (Bluetooth, etc.) didn't appeal to me, I got the 450. Well, the 550 comes with a car mount which I would have appreciated. Probably would get the 550 the second time around. Bottom line, it is a nice tool. Easy to use, in the car or on the bike.
7,000 miles and all smiles! July 27, 2007
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
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!
Zumo 450 in Europe July 17, 2007
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
I bought the Zumo 450 for use on a recent motorcycle trip through Europe (Italy, Switzerland and France) I bought the Euro data base, which seemed quite pricey at $240, but I it turned out to be the best investment of the entire trip. The Zumo worked perfectly, although some of the route building methods seemed a little qwirky (it may also be that I spent no time learning it before the trip and everything was done virtually on the bike). Without the Zumo on this trip, I would likely still be wondering around Europe lost in the crazy traffic. The data base gave use the tinniest of roads and a great view of the Alps. We learned to trust it completely - just follow the purple line and all will be well. You have to be careful though if you ask it to give you the shortest route, it will indeed be the shortest regardless of the type or size of road. We saw some pretty interesting sights in Switzerland this way. But shortest doesn't mean fastest. We learned to use the 'via' function to drag and select our map points to control the route - then just press go and enjoy. Reception was instant and alway solid even in torrential rain and thick clouds, it even worked all the way through most of the tunnels except the Mont Blanc tunnel (7 miles !) I did get a look at the screen of a TomTom in a taxi at one point during the trip and think I like how TomTom depicts things like round-abouts better. The only criticism was the at very congested intersections or freeway ramps, the Zumo shows the turn at the geographic intersection which might still say 200meters ahead, but in fact you need to be in the right lane and already exiting right now, the lane lines require a bit of study and learning. Garmin might want to re-examine how they depict tightly spaced ramps and converging roads. But if you miss a turn, no worries, the Zumo was quick to recalculate and tell you what to do (U turn or turn later, etc.) Overall it worked excellent and you can trust Garmin. We did 2000Km overall and we all agreed that it saved us an entire day of reading maps and trying to figure out which way to go (we never read a street sign the entire trip). One of the coolest things was that we used a travel guide to select some hotels, the guide had a small map of the town showing the hotel locations, so we were able to zoom the Zumo into the destination point to show street detail, we could identify the street corner we wanted from the map and then tap the screen and select it as a destination point - hit GO and have fun. The same worked for making short runs to points off the original route. The screen allows you to drag around with your finger to find the place you want to go, tap to select it as a destination or 'via' point and press GO. Pretty cool. It even has boat and train ferry routes. We once ended up at lakeside dock with 20Km to go on the trip and the purple line just went out into the water. We thought Zumo had hosed us, but a ferry boat came around the corner and voila! You mount the holder semi-permanently to the bike - it would be difficult to move it bike to bike without multiple holders (the holder is u-bolted to the handlebar and hardwired to the bike's battery). But the Zumo itself snaps securely on and off in 1 second so you can take it inside and do programming or route planning running on its internal battery. It works well inside off-line without signal working just from the data base. We referenced maps at night because they are easy to lay out and plan, then selected points in the Zumo - but you could do an entire trip without any paper map whatsoever. Overall 4 stars - one deduct just because how the congested roadway software depiction is done - we sometimes stopped at the apex of a multiple ramp convergence to be sure we were about to get the right one. A lot of this will be mitigated with practice and use, but it could have been a bit more clear I think. Nothing is perfect. Go for it. JS
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