262 of 270 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars No nonsense GPS with a large screen, July 10, 2010
I got TomTom550TM about two weeks ago. It replaced my TomTom Go 730 with 4.3" screen.
This will be my 5th GPS device so far. I consider TomTom Go 730 a pretty modern GPS with a lot of good features, so I will review TomTom 550TM in comparison to that one.
Let me start with the cons:
- No Bluetooth hands-free, FM transmitter, SD reader, etc. But, I disabled the BT and FM in my Go anyway and I do not miss them at all.
- Fewer menu options; mostly due to missing extra functionality, and some regarding what is displayed on screen. I find displaying the current speed and the speed limit on the screen redundant, it would have been nice to have the choice to display perhaps the compass instead.
And the pros:
- Simple menu! Who cares about 8 things when you are trying to just enter a new address?
- Large screen is a relief to your eyes. Driving in summer is enough strain on the eyes.
- Clever interface. The lanes are clearly displayed on the screen at critical times.
- Reads names of streets just like the Go does (though this is a standard feature now).
- Last but not the least lifetime traffic and map updates. Traffic updates are a nice to have, though I never was in a situation that they were critical with my older TomTom GPS. However, map updates are a must. I found myself looking for non-existent ramps and exits more often in the last year, so 550TM with its lifetime map updates will hopefully get rid of such annoyances.
Update: I have two important bits of info. As others have already mentioned, the firmware upgrade added the option to view the turn-by-turn list of directions as text. This was probably the most significant missing feature that people felt the need for. Secondly, when I tried to update the map, I found out that I have never paired my gps with my TomTom account before. Which is bad news, because I already tossed the retail box which had the activation code. The good thing is, TomTom customer service was really helpful and within a day I got the incident solved. I had to send a copy of my purchase receipt and give them the serial of my gps, and that was it. Big relief, because I really like this GPS, and I am planning to keep it for a couple of years at least.
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