Anyone have a Garmin 450?

I have one of these older units that I've used on my Vulcan 900 for a couple of years. I'm trying to decide if I should buy the wiring to use it on the Viffer or just upgrade to a newer, fancier 550 or 600. Just wondering if anyone has compared the 450 with the newer ones...Thanks

Sorry, that's a Garmin zumo 450...

 

Here is the link for Zumo

http://vfrworld.com/forums/gear-accessories/27154-garmin-zumo-gps-thread.html

 

Reg, Is the house ready for SLO 2010? I cannot wait................Are you coming down south soon?

 

Thanks guys...yeah I checked out that thread and another one. I talked to some guys on vfrd that said not much upgrade as far as gps navigation betw my old unit and the new ones. I'm sticking with what I've got for now.

 

I have a Zumo 550, the only difference with the 450 is that the 550 has bluetooth. I have two motorcycle mounts for mine, one for the VFR and one for my FJR. I checked the Garmin website yesterday to compare the 550 to the newer units and I find that mine is still 90% as good. The only feature the new ones have that I wish I had is the speed limit indication. Otherwise, I am sticking with my 550.

An additional m/c mount will save you $700+ compared to buying a new one. These m/c specific units are not dropping much in price.

Ron

 

Zumo 450 here. Staying put, as the only reason to go 550 (or some other BT model) would be phone, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna worry about talking on the phone while riding. It's bad enough being distracted by GPS, MP3, navigation, XM radio, and 2-way (bike to bike) radios. Why add more?

 

You really do not even need the extra mount...............you can get by with just another power cord or use a powerlet power cord and move the mount between bikes.

 

IMHO, it's much easier and cleaner to hard wire the power, and other than leaving the small screws out of the mount (that hold the power cord in place) to accomodate an entire MOUNT swap each time, it's much nicer to install a cradel on the other bike and just move the GPS, not the entire cradle.

 

I switch between three bikes and have stayed with just the wires to save $$$. Only use the screws when I go on long tours/off road excursions. I hard wire on all bikes to an aux fuse box. When riding locally I often do want/need a GPS and do not like the clutter on the bike with just the mount.