Garmin - Nuvi 550

If you enjoy an active outdoor life then you have probably been yearning for a GPS device that can keep pace with you. Most of the top GPS devices provide wonderful features for navigating on the road but fall short when you decide to take their help off the road. Realizing that there was this need for a device that could function well whatever the terrain and whatever the mode of travel, Garmin has come up with its new multi-mode Nuvi 550, which does just that. Whether you use it to navigate roads on busy city streets or while hiking in wooded areas, the Nuvi 550 will provide excellent assistance.

Features

The Garmin Nuvi 550 not only contains navigational tools that allow it to be used to such great advantage outdoors but is also designed for that purpose. The new exterior is more rugged and is waterproof allowing you to carry it with you while biking, hiking or even boating, without having to worry about it getting damaged. It contains an extremely sensitive GPS receiver that allows it to receive signals even amidst heavy cover like when surrounded by tall buildings in cities or in deep canyons, when you are hiking. With the help of the HotFix satellite technology and GPS receiver, the Nuvi 550 can accurately and consistently locate your position, wherever you are. No more fears of getting lost in the wild or in the maze of city streets. Further, the Nuvi 550 allows you to switch modes easily depending on the activity you are involved in – walking, biking, boating or just driving.

The Nuvi 550 already comes preloaded with detailed street maps of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico along with a huge database of over six million points of interest. In addition, to enhance its outdoor navigation abilities, the Nuvi 550 allows you to go in for optional preloaded memory cards that contain additional maps for areas outside the United States as also BlueChart g2 Vision maps, which provide information like depth contours, harbors and so on. This card slot is also located inside the waterproof battery compartment.

Of course, while the Nuvi 550 comes with attractive new features to make outdoor travel a lot easier, it does come with all the other premium Nuvi navigational tools like turn-by-turn driving instructions accompanied by two or three-dimensional maps. The interface remains as user-friendly as ever and it is very easy to enter a destination and get the Nuvi 550 to chart a course for you.

Both the Nuvi 500 and the Nuvi 550 represent two of the ultimate multi-mode navigation devices. While they are very similar in design to the Nuvi 200 navigation devices, they have been given rugged exteriors and been made waterproof to make them more durable. Also, while the Nuvi 550 contains maps for the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico the Nuvi 500 does not contain Alaska or Canada. So depending on where you will be doing most of your driving or outdoor activities, you can select either one of these top-end models.