Garmin StreetPilot® c550 Car GPS Receiver

If you travel locally, or long-distance, this is a GREAT device to have. I purchased the Garmin StreetPilot c550 in July, 2006 and have been playing with it for almost 3 months now. It is GREAT! It is very easy to use and set up. It is preloaded with all of the U.S. and Canada maps. It gets an accurate satellite signal within seconds from anywhere I've traveled. The screen is bright and easy to read. It's even readable with polarized sunglasses in bright sunlight. When it starts to get dark it always switches to the night time colors just when it should and that, too, is easy to read. The windowshield mount is easy on and off, and the unit stays positioned where it should even in hot weather. Even the little carry case for the unit is well designed with a stiff front to protect the screen. (I only wish that they included a larger (unmarked) carry case so that you could store the mount, adapter and unit safely and discreetly.)

There are 6 voices you can choose from to speak the directions: Male or Female; American, British or Australian. It's nice also that they announce street names for turns with anywhere from about 8/10ths of a mile to 200 feet of the deignated turn.

The MP3 player works fine, comes with 3 or 4 pre-loaded tunes, and the volume settings are good even for a car with a fairly noisy interior. I just wish that I could download my Apple iTunes music to it.

The traffic device that is built into the cigarette lighter adapter with this model (with a free 3-month subscription) does work in my area and is generally, reliable, although last week there was a major tie-up on the NJ Turnpike that it didn't alert me to. However, I was able to plot a detour with the StreetPilot immediately. I did find that with the detours I had to make some decisions to expidite the detour, but no one should rely exclusively on a machine to make all their decisions for them any way!

There have been two upgrades to the software since I bought my unit and those were simple and painless to download into the StreetPilot. However, Mac users, should be aware that to do this you will either need to have "Virtual PC" running Windows if you have a G4 Mac (like me), or an Intel Mac with Windows on it. The folks at Garmin told me that they are planning to make the StreetPilot Mac-capable either later this year or early in 2007.

It can easily be switched from car to car, so it's great if you're in a multi-car situation.

If you're a repair person, musician getting to gigs, an actor going to auditions, an EMT/Ambulance driver, sales person, or just a person that likes to travel by car, you should DEFINITELY consider this GPS system for your car.

This navigator has met all of my expectations. It was priced right at less than $ 200.

The navigation feature is fast and efficient, and the display is clear with good map detail. Destinations are easy to load, and the route calculations are fast and accurate.

I upgraded from an older Garmin model mainly for the "traffic" feature. This works like a dream. It indicates exactly where the delays are (miles in advance) and how many minutes of delay time. It efficiently reroutes you when needed and is simple to use. That feature alone was worth the price.

The bluetooth function easily linked to my cell phone. Hands free conversations are clear. The user friendly display allows for easily dialing.

A very remarkable unit. Hasn't been wrong yet. I am done reading a map, that's for sure. My lap top and GPS, the sky is the limit. I have tried to fool this thing NO WAY !!! I don't care where your at, or where you want to go, absolutly no problem . Best unit I have boughten this year, hands down.

I've got this brand new Garmin StreetPilot® c550 for a month. It works just fine, small enough to be portable, yet large enough for viewing details. It helps me a lot and I don't have much problems or complains. Of course, there were cases when not enough info is available in rural areas. I think the more you use it the more you are familiar with its announcement of distance (200, 100 feet). Over all I think I got a great product and love it. The improvement perhaps is more memory for maps downloads. Strong BUY Recommendattion!!!

I like how the Garmin StreetPilot came with no scratches and works perfectly. Everything was included such as the window mount, dashboard mount, cables and carrying case. This was a great buy.

Excellent product - like the fact you can update the maps from the internet as well as the Bluetooth connection for the cell phone.

This is by far the best all around GPS I have used. I'll start off with the one and only complaint I have-- it is bulky. That is a moot point though because the window/dashboard mount works perfectly. There is no chance it will rattle off.

Garmin has by far the easiest to use GPS units and this one is no different. All of the menus are simple and straight forward. Options are easy to use. Finding addresses, cities, POIs or anything you want is very simple and straight forward. This is the best GPS I have used with regard to detours. Two taps and it will recalculate the directions unlike others that will try and try again to do it without you even asking. The text to speech feature is great! Knowing what street to look for is a lot easier than trying to figure how many tenths of a mile you have gone when in heavy downtown traffic. The bluetooth has also worked flawlessly with my phone (LG enV). You can scroll your contacts and recent calls. You can also set a home number so you can call home with one tap. Another great feature is if your phone supports voice commands/voice dialing you can do that right through the GPS. And worry not, you can still see the map while you are on the phone!

The best! A great buy for $200!

My girlfriend and I went to Arizona on a golf trip, and if it hadn't been for her Garmin 550 Street pilot we could not have gotten around. I just loved it and had to have one myself. Thanks so much. I am so excited. Just got it today and can't wait to go home and get it all hooked up.

I received the product in Argentina on time. Excellent seller. Shipped the product as compromised and I received it in just one week.

Works great, voice load and clear at all hiway speeds, bluetooth speaker phone works better than my bluetooth headset. very happy with this item

JUST USED ON A 4500 MILE 3 WEEK VACATION. VERY PLEASED W/ THE UNIT. SCREEN IS LARGE ENOUGH. JACK'S VOICE CAN BE UNDERSTOOD EASILY. BLUETOOTH AUDIO NOT AS GOOD AS WE WOULD LIKE BUT THEN WE WERE DRIVING A DISEL P/U SO MAY BE BETTER IN AN AUTOMOBILE. TRAFFIC ALERT FUNCTION WORKED FINE.

I like this product because it works very well. This purchase was a gift for my sister. I have one and she liked it so much that got her one for her birthday.
We have used it on many trips and found it to be very accurate. We always got to our destination. I would recommend this to anyone. I like the bluetooth capabilities as well.

Highly rated by Consumers Report so I decided to purchase it. I am aking a 5000 mile Vacation driving trip and will put it to good use.

This is one of the best products on the market today.I travel a lot and all you have to do is type in a location hit find and it takes you right there, it will also redirect you if you miss a turn or run into construction. I also like the MP3 player option in case you are out walking it give you something to listen to and you also have the blue tooth option on this model which is nice to have in case of an emergency.

I bid on this prior to reading the description. Shame on me! Once I saw it
was non working, I attempted to contact the seller to cancel my bid. Seller
never answered, (claimed he didn't receive the "ask seller a question). I figured if it didn't go too high, I'd do okay and could afford to get it fixed. As it was, I ended up payng almost $100 for an item I didn't want.

I realize this was my problem, but I'm disappointed the seller and I could not
work something out.

I purchased this system two months age. Excellent price of half the cost of same systems I searched online at other locations. I travel a lot on my job in a city I am not familiar with. It is very important to attend scheduled meetings on time. I no longer have to map my route prior to the meeting dates. Also, I no longer have to call the office to inquire how to find my way back! I would recommend this product to everyone.

Easy to use. Just follow touch screen. Very intuitive. Set up your cell phone to talk through the speaker and direct dial its found locations. Can't imagine getting around a big city without it! (This is the 3rd one we've bought. The first was stolen. The second is in my car and this one is for my husband!)

this unit was pretty nice. the only reason it didnt get an excellent is for 2 reasons...it seemed to always want to take me through the middle of downtown in large cities instead of the outer belt. i guess a good fix for that is to change the type of vehicle to truck instead of car/motorcycle. the other problem i had was the screen kept blinking every couple of minutes. i dont know if it was a major problem, but i felt like it was getting ready to die. i just bought a garmin nuvi 360. it has all the features of the c550, but it is a lot smaller and has games. i got it at buydig.com for $239

Excellent product that makes life so much easier for me in my service business. Text to voice with street names is so much better than "Turn right here". Highly reccomend it.

I purchased this for my wife because she is in a business where she has to travel from store to store. Prior to this she used a couple of maps. Since the purchase of the GPS she has used it everyday. We used it for everything. Dinner, gas, atm... I told her that I wanted one for my self now. I can see that this will save me money in gas for the time I spend not being lost.

Thanks

We bought this after a friend brought one to Florida for spring training games (all riding together). Had to detour late one night and thought we were going the wrong way (forgot to hit the detour button) and turned around on a dirt road - one lane dirt road. The road with every turn was on the map. After that I was sold. Finds gas stations and places to eat. Another person on the trip bought one to. Use it when I travel for work - an end to google maps and trying to memorize the map, or read will driving, or waiting at a light!

Great right out of the box. Very easy to operate. Good clear voice and lets you know the street names to turn on to, but not as accurate as it should be as with most GPS auto devices. POI is a great feature and this model gives you lots of options. Overall.......good/very good!

I love the blue tooth thingy, where you can look for your favoret resturent anywhere you are then hit dial, and it will call the place for you. it is like having a potable yellow pages in your hand. Easy to use, fast calculation, very nice features.

I chose the garmin StreetPilot c550 after carefull research. I wanted a gps unit that I could had bluetooth capabilitiy. a long battery life, turn by turn, shows and says street names, and most important of all provided live traffic updates without a monthly subscription. This was the least expensive unit that had all the features I wanted and I must say I could not be happier. I had a tom tom unit before that had none of these features and took forever to pick up the satalites and would loose them in the middle of a trip. My streetpilot picks up the satalites about 30 seconds after I pull out of my garage and has never so far lost it. If it is not directing me somewhere and there is traffic it will say there is traffic congestion x-miles away. If it is directing you it will simply reroute you around traffic. It saved me from a Turnpike nightmare one morning and I fell even deeper in love with it. If you are not navigating a boat or a plane this is all the gps anyone needs.

I like it. The seller did a good job shipping, etc. I have used it several times and i am pleased with the performance. I have recommended it to others. Jeff