A leap in function

Introduction
My review of the Garmin Zumo 550 is from the standpoint of a longtime Garmin user. My first Garmin GPS receiver was a 45XL bought in 1996, and I also own a Garmin V and a Garmin Streetpilot i2.

I bought it to use it on my motorcycle, but from my short experience with it I've decided that this is the only GPS that I need, not only on the motorcycle, but also on the car and even handheld to use it for Geocaching.

What's in the box
I bought the Zumo 550 with the full European City Navigator v9 coverage, which includes: motorcycle mount, with a RAM mounting solution; power cable with fuse to install in the motorcycle; car mount, with windscreen suction cup; cigarette lighter cable; USB cable; wall USB charger; City Navigator v9 European DVD (although the maps are already loaded in the very spacious 2GB internal memory).

Overview
When it's advertised as a "fully featured" GPS, they're not kidding. Besides being an excellent weatherproof touchscreen GPS, it features Bluetooth with a very interesting implementation (more about that ahead), mp3 player (either stored on the main memory or on a SD card), JPEG viewer with slide show, plus extras that can be installed (such as travel guides to enhance the already excellent City Navigator POI database).

Ergonomy
The unit is slightly bigger than what I expected, but in a good way. The screen is really big, taking about 80% of the front of the unit. They really got the right balance between resolution, font size, clarity, and touchscreen sensitivity. It feels nice on your hands, and the car and motorcycle mounts give very steady attachment points. The hardware buttons (except the power button) are on the left side of the unit, so it can be used on a moving motorcycle.

User interface
Besides being very responsive, the layout of the menus is very logical. I showed it to someone who had no experience with GPS receivers in general, and within 30 seconds she managed to find her home address and save it within the favorite locations. You can get to most functions within 3 or 4 screen taps, and there are some helpful shortcuts (like tapping and holding the back screen button to get to the highest menu level).

Bluetooth
The Bluetooth implementation is very interesting. You can pair both your headset/carkit and your phone with it, and the Zumo basically acts like an intermediary between the two. Depending on your phone model, you can see the caller id of incoming calls on the Zumo's screen, voice dial, etc., which is pretty useful on a motorcycle, as with just the headset you're limited to voice dialing and not knowing who is calling you. The navigation voice prompts are also routed to your headset/carkit, as is the mp3 output. It's a very complete solution, that works pretty well.

Media
Although not exactly an iPod, the mp3 player is more advanced than a lot of DAPs out there, and it's one of the pages accessed through the "page" hardware button, so it's always very accessible. The jpeg viewer also works well, supporting simple slideshows, zooming into pictures. I don't know why it doesn't have a headphones jack on the unit itself, I know a lot of people could use it as a music player even when not moving.

Conclusion
This is the closest to perfection I've come across in GPS receivers, moving with success into the territory of music players, in the escalating war of convergence, with the plus for me of being usable in Geocaching, something that is missing from a lot of "road" GPS receivers. Although I think the price is just for what's included in the package (the mounts, the full coverage maps, the chargers, etc.) I think if they managed to sell it in the $450 range with less bundled accessories, it would be a tough GPS to beat feature wise.