By HRM “Traveller”
I am not one with a lot of patience for going through users’ manuals. This GPS does not need one. I found this very easy to operate and quite accurate. As with all GPS, it does not always take you exactly the way you want to go (I test my “shortcuts” at home), but it seems to work just fine adjusting quickly.
When you are on dirt roads it considers you “off road” at times and does not show the road, only the location in white space. But you can broaden the view and find paved roads.
The restaurant seeker is pretty good. We even found a “long lost” restaurant, the name and location of which we had forgotten.
It would be nice, if the added software for other regions were not as expensive. Check exactly what you need and want. There are so many different models, each of which does something slightly different.
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By N. Joyce
I live in Manhattan and don’t own a car, but I rent cars often and use Zip Car. I wanted a GPS for those trips, but I also wanted one that I could mount on my road bike for our weekend excursions. After some research, I figured this was the best for combined purposes. There are better purely-driving GPS and purely-cycling ones, but if you want one device for both, this seems to be the best it gets.
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By Henry Butz
It took me a while to understand the different between the Nuvi 500 and the 550. Look no further. Only the base map is different. The 500 comes with the lower 48 states with topographical information while the 550 includes all of North America (Canada and Mexico) and no topographical information. The units are identical otherwise.
First, the good stuff. This GPS is quickly becoming an invaluable tool for long drives. I have been able to enter a street address as well as many restaurants, hospitals, and businesses then just click on “go.” On one trip, it correctly navigated reversing direction on a double-cloverleaf turn. A pleasant voice guides you and alerts you of upcoming turns. Miss the turn and the unit will patiently wait for you to realize your error. Then, after a while it will just recalculate your route automatically. It is also possible to tweak the routes by manually entering points to divert the automatic routing or pressing “detour” on the fly if you find yourself stuck at a railroad crossing. Custom routes can be saved. Waypoints can be sorted by category and new categories can be added. Photographs can be added, although I haven’t done much with this feature. Clicking on the top bar will display the route turn by turn. I found the routing quite intelligent and much prefer this unit over my last human co-pilot (but I hope that she never reads this review). This particular unit has a rechargeable battery and the unit can be mounted on an optional bean bag mount to just throw it on the dash instead of messing with cables. This makes it perfect for rental cars as well. It has four modes for driving, walking, boating, or bicycling.
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