Because I have buddies with the expensive models and they have more problems with them than anything else. Rode with a buddy a month ago who has a $900 Zumo. If we went off route, it would take his literally THREE times longer to recalculate than mine did.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 255WT - costs around $150. Mounted on a constantly vibrating Street Glide and it hasn't done me wrong in 2 years. Works with gloved fingers and the best part is that if it breaks, it's only $150 to replace it. Hell, I can buy FIVE new Nuvis for the price on 1 Zumo.

 

yep u get what you pay for,but more options available today.

takin it off do to rain sucks,and seen a cheap mount break which sucks.

Im still happy with my zumo 550 but if i did it again id probly get the 450(dont use/like the extra's).

 

Zumo 660 on the faring mount, Not the Harley Road Tech as I bought it way before I bought the Harley. I loaded the dealer list from Garmin for free.

 

I have the 665 and love it. But if ya don't wanna drop that much money and just want the basic features get the zumo 220. Its around $425 with lifetime maps at gpscity.com. its a little more than the 550 I believe but you also get everything u need with it. Mount. Ect. And yes its waterproof. I was going to get the 220 till I found a guy on eBay selling a 665 with handlebar mount for $500....hard to pass that up.

 

The Zumo 450 was discontinued late 2008 early 2009. Mine just went south a few months ago and Garmin won't even touch it for a repair or do an upgrade refurb to a 550.

 

Zumo 665, love it.you really do get what you pay for. Mine has been through heavy rain, dropped several times and works flawlessly. Weather and traffic are nice. You can get it for 20 percent off at Tri city HD. ask for Rebecca in parts. She keeps em in stock.

 

I bought a Nuvi 550 based on recommendations found here. I sent it back in less than a week after discovering that 2 out of the 3 screen selections available were impossible to see while riding and the one that was viewable was not the screen I preferred to use. Saving for the Zumo 660.

Here is a thread I posted a while back with regards to the Nuvi 550 and the Zumo 220. I am not trying to hijack this thread, just wanted to supply additional info.

 

Garmin also has a Zumo 350 now. Don't know anything about it, it just came out. To anyone that has a zumo 450, garmin will replace it with a 550 for buck seventy five. Better than 6 to 900 hundred. Just saying

 

Check out post #15.

 

Features I wanted.

Bright easy to see in sunlight daylight screen
Choice of "Least use of freeways/shortest route" options. Least use of freeways was a really nice option on the Magellan Roadmate. It was not available when I got my new GPS on a motorcycle specific GPS.
Secure bracket and motorcycle mount (ie Ram).
Good POI (restaurants, motels, etc) and map updates although even after 5 years my Magellan without updates got me everywhere I needed to go, sometimes on roads that to it looked like I was riding in the middle of the woods.
Large print so you can see the speed easily without glasses (for far sighted riders who have to wear reading glasses normally). One really nice feature about most new GPS is that the speed and the posted speed limit are shown on the map page. Very nice to know how many MPH over the limit you are doing.

Things that are nice but may not be needed by you.

Waterproof is nice even if you don't ride in the rain. That said my old unit was a standard car Magellan Roadmate. Not waterproof. I used it for 5 years and during that time it was used many times in the rain. It got wet, but it was tucked up behind the windshield so it did not get soaked. However I do now appreciate the waterproof model I currently use. It has been soaked and I don't even think about it getting wet.

A reasonable touch screen. Almost all have good enough touch screens nowadays. Unless you play with yours alot while riding, most models have a touch screen that is sensitive enough. My motorcycle friendly one does allow me the option of changing it if I were so inclined. Sometimes I am so inclined.

There are better way to bluetooth than with your GPS. So ask yourself how connected you want to me. I can usually hear my phone ringing if I have not shut it off. That way I can choose to look at the message when I stop or not.

I do not use the voice turn announcements so blue tooth to my GPS is not a big deal for me. For others it is important. Decide how connected you want to be before you purchase.

Size matters, but the largest may not be the best. I thought the huge screen was too large, especially for night riding. I can see all I want on the regular size screen.

I have a phone for photos so I do not need to store photos on my GPS. I go against the grain here that I want a fast/good GPS that does not need to do much else.

So for me the features were waterproof, motorcycle mount, daylight bright, average size screen with decent size print, good and free updatable maps and poi, and fast route updating. What fit the bill for me was the Zumo 220. I shopped and got a decent price around Xmas time.

My advice, list the feature you want and will actually use and then find the unit that will give you those features.

Things I do not like about my new GPS. It does not recognize some addresses. I sometimes have to trick it into going where I want to go. This is especially true in that it does not recognize some small towns. I thought Garmin would be better, but it has its programing shortfalls although so far they are acceptable.

Added: Example of Garmin's inability to find some towns. I just tried to program in Charlestown, Oregon. It does not recognize nor list Charleston. I think it would surprise the residents and the USPS that all addresses in Charleston are under Coos Bay. This happens alot with my current Garmin. Odd glitch. Oh, and it does not recognize some roads even though they have been there for years. They may have a name for it, but it does not match any map or local knowledge. I am always surprised by these Garmin glitches. I did not experience this with my Magellans.