Garmin zumo 450 review

The Garmin zumo 450 GPS for motorcycles follows the successful introduction of the zumo 550 last year. The 450 has all of its features except Bluetooth, the ability to speak street names and XM Satellite compatibility.

Like the 550, it includes an MP3 player, a live traffic option, and pre-loaded maps of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Its motorcycle friendly design includes a glove-friendly touch screen and motorcycle mount,  while the unit is vibration-tested, waterproof and built with fuel-resistant plastics to withstand the elements.

More Garmin zumo 450 reviews

• The first consumer-written Garmin zumo 450 review has been posted at CNet.
• Garmin zumo 450 reviews, written by owners, are starting to be posted at Amazon too.
• A consumer-authored Garmin zumo 450 review has also been posted at GPSNow.

Compare prices on the Garmin zumo 450

I'll be posting more hands on GPS reviews as they appear, but in the meantime, here are some other helpful resources:

• Want to see how the zumo 450 stacks up against other GPS navigators? Use this handy Garmin GPS comparison tool.
• Here's a dedicated Garmin zumo message forum.
• This Garmin message forum also has a significant number of zumo-centric postings.
• A Garmin zumo wiki, complete with a Garmin zumo FAQ.
• Share rides with zumo Connect.

Compare prices on the Garmin zumo 450 at these merchants:

• Find the low price on a Garmin zumo 450 at GPS Now, where shipping is free on orders over $99 (and the upgrade to overnight shipping is dirt cheap!). Order by 5 p.m. Central Time for same day shipment.
• Get the Garmin zumo 450 GPS Receiver at REI, where satisfaction is guaranteed and members get 10% back on eligible purchases.
• Check the current Garmin zumo 450 price at Amazon.
• Buy the Garmin zumo 450 Motorcycle GPS Navigation System at TigerGPS.
• Get the Garmin zumo 450 for an amazing price on eBay.

From the official Garmin zumo 450 web page:

Rugged and ready to ride, zūmo™ 450 is your faithful guide to the open road. With glove-friendly, left-handed controls, preloaded street maps and a sunlight-readable screen, this waterproof navigator is made for motorcycles. zūmo 450 includes many of the 550's motorcycle-friendly features, minus bluetooth wireless technology, text-to-speech and XM Satellite, at a price that won't break your budget.

Enjoy Bike-Friendly Design

Tough and  dependable, zūmo is built for motorcycles:

• Glove-friendly touch screen with left-handed controls makes it easy to operate
• High brightness, sunlight-readable, UV-resistant display makes it easy to view your screen
• Motorcycle console for trip information, including resettable fuel gauge to warn you when it's time to fill up
• Motorcycle mount with universal mounting hardware so you can mount it anywhere
• Vibration-tested, waterproof and built with fuel-resistant plastics to withstand the elements

Navigate the Open Road

zūmo 450 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator® NT street maps and a hefty points of interest (POIs) database, including motels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply enter a destination, and zūmo takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions. In addition, zūmo accepts custom points of interest such as school zones and safety cameras, and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. The 450 also comes with a rechargeable, removable lithium-ion battery a for trip planning or use on foot, and even accepts additional maps.

Avoid Traffic Tie-ups

Monitor traffic tie-ups with the addition of an optional FM TMC traffic receiver. By adding traffic services and a receiver, your 450 notifies you of upcoming accidents or road construction ahead on your route. Simply touch the screen to view traffic details or recalculate your route to avoid traffic.

Plan Your Trips and Share Your Rides

zūmo 450 makes it easy to plan your next trip and share routes with your riding buddies. Plan trips on your computer before you start. Search for food and fuel stops and local attractions. Then, transfer your route to zūmo and go.

At the end of the day, share your favorite places and rides with other zūmo riders and review your travels in Google™ Earth.  SD card expansion makes it easy to store data and share routes. Download routes to share with your riding buddies — even load Mp3 files to your unit to enjoy tunes on the road. In addition, JPEG Picture Viewer lets you share photos of your adventures with friends and family. 

zūmo 450:  The navigator that's born to ride

Garmin part number: 010-00567-05

    Suggested Retail Price:
    $857.13 U.S.D. (for domestic US market only)    

Expected Availability:
1st Quarter, 2007

zūmo 450 features:

• High-sensitivity GPS receiver
• Display: 2.8” W x 2.1” H (3.5” diag.), 320 x 240 pixels; high bright sunlight-readable, UV-resistant, touch screen display
• Unit dimensions: 4.8" W x 3.9" H x 1.6" D
• Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Removable lithium-ion battery
• Supports optional FM TMC traffic alerts
• Preloaded maps for all of North America
• Look up addresses and points of interest
• Choose 2D or 3D maps
• Upload custom POIs, including alerts for speed zones and safety cameras
• Built-in MP3 player and JPEG Picture Viewer
• SD card slot makes it easy to store data and share routes
• Export and review your travels in Google™ Earth with a free account from MotionBased.com
• Glove-friendly touch screen with left-handed controls makes it easy to operate
• Motorcycle console for trip information, including fuel gauge to warn you when it's time to fill up
• Motorcycle mount with standard 4-hole AMPS pattern so you can mount it anywhere
• Includes Garmin Lock™, an anti-theft feature
• Waterproof: IEC 60529 IPX7 standards (submersible in one meter of water for up to 30 min.)

Related posts:

• More GPS reviews
• Top ten GPS receivers
• GPS receivers with MP3 players

Comments

[Pdubble]

This is a pretty good device all around. Its durable, easy to use for someone even in gloves, and it can be used in conjunction with Harley Davidson.com’s ride planner to plan your route.

2 Problems I have with it:
1) Don’t think it can be used as a GPS for both bike and car. It has a weird plug-in for the mount that gives it power (the only way to power the thing and use it at the same time is to power through the mount) and Garmin doesn’t sell a car adapter with that end. Also, they don’t sell anything that can mount it to the window of your car. It would be so easy for Garmin to make these things, but they obviously want you to own GPS’s for as many things as they can get you to buy them for, regardless of the overwhelmingly high price.

2) If you want to be able to just hear it tell you where to go and not mess with putting in the wires to power it up, also out of luck! It requires power to use the audio functions. So you better resign yourself to getting this thing installed if you don’t feel comfortable wiring your own bike.

Those two things get fixed, and I’d think it was PERFECT!