The objective of this posting is to try to tie together quite a number of threads on GPS (now that many of us are entering this year’s riding season) and to share some of my mount pictures and to welcome other opinionated perspectives (mine and others that want to chime in). That said, I hope this isn’t too long of a post.

First the commentary; MY OPIONS ARE:

After some research, I believe I wanted a ‘glove friendly’ GPS that was intended for use on a motorcycle. [Side note here: I had mounted a satellite radio mount on the handlebars and it vibrated the electronic internal connections to the point of disfunctionality, so I didn’t want a recurrence of that experience/investment.]

So given my experience, I believed that I wanted some shock ‘proof’ (or at least shock-resistant) device, one that could get wet (‘cus weather happens), and one that I could use with my gloves on for at least the ‘high level’ stuff.

Some riders like their tunes with them – I’m in that camp. I purchased the satellite radio for that purpose when I’m riding in the hinterlands, so when I found out that the 550 had MP3 capabilities, I studied it. I learned that you can add a memory card (I added a 4 Gig card that is about half full with more than 500 songs). BTW, I expect/believe you can do more than 4 Gig.

Now Objectively:

The 550 (inclusive of the device and functionality in and of itself) comes with route planning software, mounting options for your bike (bar or lever hardware), and a mount for your car (for transportability).

As an MP3 player, it can interface with the AUX port on an HD audio system. FWIW, there are audio options that permit the audio of the “NAG” (my def: Navigational Aid Gal) to either be louder or softer than your tunes. I believe that there is traffic stuff available as well (sorry, I personally don’t use that) – so I encourage others to chime in on other objective things I’ve missed.

IMO, Key Pros and Cons:

Pros:
· Has all the functionality and it achieves my key beliefs/desires (irrespective of the below considerations) that I was seeking
· It comes with both the bike and car/truck mounts
· I would NOT put this one in the bucket of “I wish I hadn’t done that” investments

Cons:
· Does not have the ability for a “QWRTY” keyboard – all options are variations of “ABC”
· Is only MP3 compatible (not MP4) – this was a learning curve for me to burn my CDs this way (my tech resource, my son, is an iKid) [BTW, I just made that up and my spell-check doesn’t recognize it, but I’ll take any royalties due me if it’s ‘cloned’ or re-used] ;-)
· After you get a memory on the device (which you will ‘cuz it remembers where you’ve been and where you want to go, etc.), it takes a while to get functional out of the driveway or the parking place where you've stopped…Mine probably takes about 2-4 minutes to ‘boot up’ after power on (now I haven’t really measured, so this a relative observation). IMO, kinda disappointing.
· Also IMO the software does not have the functional capabilities of g**gle maps, but I comfort myself with the fact that Zumo is a hardware vendor, and not a software provider (primarily). That said, a software interface would be useful.

About the pics:

Disclaimer: When the flash turns on, EVERY spec of dust makes its appearance known. So in the following pictures, the grays are black in reality and the dust that you may perceive to be there (on my inner fairing, etc.) don’t actually exist J

1. Overview pic of my GPS as mounted
2. Left side of mount (w/o GPS); this is the audio cable. If you are more patient than I, you may want to get an “L” shaped audio connector for this end for ascetic purposes alone (I think a slimer/lower profile would be more "attractive"). BTW, I routed this cable into and behind the batwing fairing.
3. Right side of mount; this is the power cable. I ran it into the fairing and picked up power off the cigarette lighter. In my config, the fused connection is behind the fairing, so it's not subsequently accessible w/o removing a hand full of screws… As you can see from this pic, I decided to go with the clutch mount (rather than bar mount). I'm happy with that but wished I had black cap screws rather than the SS provided.
4. This is the mount that comes with the kit, shown in my car. It has an adhesive disk (that I needed on my leather/leather-like surface) and a suction mount to this disk for the device. NOTE: the cable you see only is for power (it runs to the cig. Lighter), it does NOT provide an AUX audio connection (that I could identify).

I hope this may be of use to some; opinions to the contrary are welcome and encouraged.

Finally, for the most astute ones of you…In the 3rd picture you may note a “Purple Haze” (limited edition color) 2008 Heritage Softail in the background rather than the 2000 “Concord Purple” Road King that exists in my signature/profile…Well, I’m happy to report that the pictures are more current than my profile J (so the action is to me [when I get around to it] for updating my profile).

Please be safe,

 

I have the same unit and I have experienced around with it a little bit and under keyboard options you can select “QWRTY” (normal) keyboard option or automatic which switches it from the “QWRTY” to the ABC keyboard if mounted in the bike bracket.

I have owned the 550 for about 5 months now and I love it, I had many units on diff bikes and this one so far is the best.

 

Thanks sbarber for the clarification of my post and understanding. The bolded bit may be what I was missing since I mostly use it on the bike!

 

You can speed up the boot time of your Zumo by dividing up your music into separate folders. If your music is stored in a single folder on the storage card it can take quite a while for the Zumo to begin navigation. If you divide the music up into smaller folders it will boot up much more quickly.

 

You should check and see if you have the updated software. I upgraded my maps and that added some features. Once you get the hang of the Routing tools it is quick. I especialy like the way you can view the routes in Google Earth.
I used the bar mount for mine to give more protection against rain and wind. As it is mounted closer to the head there is less vibration.

 

Gents,

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. I think I've learned as much as I've shared.

 

I concur on the splitting up the music into folders. I went from like 4 mins to boot up with a bit over 1000 songs to roughly 1.5 mins

 

I was wondering about that response initially ('cuz I thought the boot time was due to routes and stuff and I didn't draw a correlation to the music), so now that its being reinforced, I've got a question about this: If they're in separate folders, can you still "shuffle" the whole collection, or can you just shuffle a particular folder?

Thanks,

 

BurgundyUltra...Thanks for the info and well written post!! I have a 550 and love it...Amazing what it will do and i have yet to put it to its full potential....

 

mounting suggestion, add a 1 inch ball to the inner fairng just above the gas gauge cost under a dollar and less vibration than on bars, if u cand make yourself drill a hole in the inner.