Right out of the box this GPS was easy to use and very helpful. I just returned from Phoenix, AZ. and this GPS was so very helpful. I originally bought it for my other half who is very low tech. She even loves this GPS. I am thinking of buying another for our oldest daughter and me to share for when we have to go out of town. I am giving it 5 stars. This is the only GPS I have ever owned so I cannot compare it to anything else but why would I need anything else when I am happy with this one.

In my home we've turned the phrase "green eggs and ham" into a verb, much like "google" has become indicative of a definitive action. To "green eggs and ham" something is to change your mind on some item or concept you had previously disdained. It started back in the early 80's when my Daddy finally permitted my Mom to purchase a microwave. For years, he'd held off, swearing that if his own saintly mother (the matriarch of seven kids) had done without one, we could too. Once she wore him down, Daddy was the first to admit, "Green eggs and ham - I love it! Why did we wait so long to purchase it? How have we done without it for so long?!"

This year, I've "green eggs and hammed" a techno gadget - the GPS unit. Who needs it when we've got something as nifty as Mapquest to get us from point A to point B? My mother-in-law foisted one upon my husband for his birthday last year and I scolded her vociferously. Her gift to Greg was the Garmin C550 Streetpilot GPS Receiver and I was upset with her for spending the money on something I was positive my husband wouldn't use. After all, he's one of those guys who absolutely refuses to ask for directions. I was sure it would sit unused in his car.

Wrong - a major "green eggs and ham" moment! We tried it out on a family trip a week later and became instant Streetpilot addicts. When my own birthday rolled around two months later, guess what my mother-in-law purchased for me? Yes, now we have "his and hers" models in our vehicles.

What's the good of this particular tech gadget? You'd be amazed! Here are some of my favorite features:

* Speed and accuracy. As soon as its been turned on, the Streetpilot determines your location and queries you about your desired purpose. Within minutes of entering your destination address, you receive a map and detailed instructions which are verbally given to you turn by turn. The GPS also computes your estimated arrival time - I've found it's accuracy on that item almost uncanny. The unit has options to update your route and travel time, accounting for delays in traffic hotspots.

* Ease of use. The Streetpilot has an easy touchscreen interface and gives verbal directions to walk you through the directions. It even anticipates which lane you need to be in for upcoming directions. Unlike mapquest pages which may require a solo driver to look at a paper copy of the directions, a voice (or rather, your choice of many voice styles) tells you exactly where you need to go without you taking your eyes off the road. Our voice of choice, Lee the Australian, has never led me astray and is even smart enough to recalculate when I make a wrong turn or miss an exit.

* Bluetooth. In many states, hands-free cell phone usage is now the law. The Streetpilot immediately converts my cell phone to hands free and has a clear signal for a speaker phone conversation that can be heard throughout the whole car.

* Doubles as an MP3 player. My Streetpilot holds some of my favorite tunes and podcasts, making my road trip even more enjoyable.

* Goes with the flow. Now, when we leave on a family road trip, we rarely scout out the directions beforehand. With the address, it's easy to drive straight to our desired destination. But we can also stop and smell the roses along the way, using the Streetpilot to direct us to upcoming points of interest, services, lodging, or even an emergency Starbucks stop.

I will never again go back to driving without my Garmin C550 Streetpilot GPS Receiver - getting to our family fun has now become easy and reliable.

Practically all of the Garmins in the Street Pilot and Nuvi series will perform equally well, so it may make sense to assess your needs if money should happen to be of any consequence. My wife loved my Street Pilot 340, so I got her the top-of-the-line Nuvi with the wide screen. She didn't like the price tag (even though it was my expenditure) or the small size of the unit, so I returned it for the c550. There's little likelihood she'll use the blue tooth feature for phone connectivity and less probability she'll find any use for the MP3 player or subscribe to the live traffic reports. We've noticed no greater speed in the unit's locking into a signal. The naming of streets is nice but not at all essential. Moreover, she's noticed that it seems harder to unclip this model from its bracket than my 340, and her tastes are "offended" by having a little car driving around on her screen instead of a simple arrow marker.

So why spend almost $200 more for the 550 than the currently deeply discounted 330? It comes down to one feature: a polarized screen that doesn't wash out during daytime use. Is it worth the premium price? Depends on where you place the unit in your car and also how important watching the screen is to you. Some users are perfectly content to respond to the voice directions alone.

As for the cost of these devices, you're paying for the technology, not the cheap (admittedly highly functional) plastic materials. The audio quality is sufficiently loud and clear for speaking purposes, but the plastic enclosure gives the sound a synthetic, dry, "plastic-like" quality that is ill-suited for long-term listening of any sort let alone full-frequencied, resonant music.

Look for the next improvements to be in sound quality (if Tivoli can get all that hi-fi sound from an iPal speaker, it can't be too long before miniature GPS units begin to come close). In the meantime, don't feel like all is lost if you have to settle for a Street Pilot 330, which is definitely the best "deal" at current prices. It's not clear that the 550 is worth the week or two of groceries it requires you to give up in exchange for a less reflective screen.

My husband bought Garmin as a Christmas present for me after we moved to the East Coast. The product worked 6 times total. When I contacted Garmin for technical support, the technician admitted that specific product we had was defective. They acknowledged that the part number was part of a "bad run" and then gave me the run around about warranty services. They really do not want to replace it or give us our money back. After this deplorable customer service, I would recommend that Amazon customers consider alternative GPS systems. TomTom or Magellan specifically. I am not sure how this battle with Garmin will end... either we will have to sue them or raise a stink to get them to abide by their warranty obligation. My advice is GO ELSEWHERE for GPS systems.

PRO: SIMPLE, INTUITIVE

CON: occasional bad directions

PRO: ease of use and works as advertised

CON: It doesn't make me breakfast

I had a Magellen for about 2.5 years, but when it stopped navigating properly, the folks at Magellan said I'd have to drop $275 to fix the processor. Considering I paid $1100 for it, I thought that was a lousy option. So I bought the c550 and am very happy with it. It is very accurate-even more so than my father's in-car unit he has in his Nissan Morano. My father and I recently went on a 180 mile trip (twice in a week) into rural Maryland, once while using my c550 and once in his vehicle. The c550 was able to get us to our destination as well as to some destinatins during side-trips without a hitch. The Nissan's unit, however, had difficulty not only getting us to our destination, but also in re-calculating routes when we changed course.

Another nice feature is the points-of-interests that are preloaded. My Magellan had this, but the interface on the Garmin is much nicer and informative. And, with the built-in Bluetooth, you can make a call right from the Garmin. For instance, on a recent trip to Pittsburgh, my wife and I were looking for an Indian restaurant. I checked in the Garmin under cuisines and located several, all with distance displayed. I chose one then had the Garmin call to see if they were open as we were arriving into town late. They were and it worked out perfectly. We were also able to locate hotel accomodations as we were there unprepared. It saved for a lot of 411 info calls and anxiety for trying to find a place to stay in while in an unfamiliar area.

The traffic feature is nice, but limited to big highways. While driving to Pittsburgh, it was fairly accurate in locating slow traffic. It was correct in one accident that we came upon as well as slow traffic due to construction. The unit comes with a free 6 month trial for the traffic feature, but will cost $60 a year thereafter. I'm not convinced this is a need as of yet.

The bluetooth feature is very nice. It displays the caller's info. It will also link to your phone's address book allowing you to search from the Garmin for a contact. The calls come through clear on both ends. This feature is worth the difference in price IMHO.

As you can see, I am very pleased with my Garmin to say the least. At the time, I thought the Magellan was the bomb, but I now know that I was definitely missing out.

This is a great product! The first one I got just went dead, I thought it was because I put a password in. I took it back to Best Buy. Got another. know I know you should update the software as soon as you get it so it won't lock up.

Excellent product. Highly recommend.

This Garmin is great out of the box, it does everything that they say it can. Went on a trip a day after recieving it, I had some minor problems but it was not the Garmins fault. I down loaded some POI off of the internet ( which I do not recomend paying for) and the address was wrong. You can look up anything you want from the Garmin and you dont have topay for it. The only thing I wished it would do is be able to update on new roads and business.

I've used Garmin GPS for a while now, starting with their StreetPilot III (which still works, after 4 years, now in my wife's car), GPS 10 (which I sometimes carry as a backup) and now the C550. The C550 is by far, the best GPS device I've used. It has many strengths:

1. Fast GPS lock on. Especially so if you're touring and stopped only for a while. If you've only powered down the device for a short while, the GPS will find the GPS satellites almost instantly, which is really amazing.

2. Bluetooth capability. Very useful, and the Bluetooth function works even while running on battery. Now I don't have to carry a separate device for making conference call while on business trip. I use the C550 when I'm in the hotel room.

3. Sun light readable screen. The screen alone makes this a better device compared to older Garmins.

4. Very fast routing capability. Being used to the slow routing capabilty in other Garmins, I was amazed how fast this thing can calculate routes.

There are some quirks you should be aware of though:

1. As my title suggests, this device does not work well in areas around Austin, Texas. The maps are pretty poor for the outlying areas around Austin and you'll have difficulty following its direction. There seems to be plenty of highway/freeway changes and additions to this area and they're not reflected in the MapSource 8.0 NT. In downtown Austin, it works alright though.

2. 3-D maps can be a little difficult to get used to. Especially when you're in parking lot or off normal road and the GPS will tell you to "Please drive to the highlighted route". With the 3-D map, you can't normally see the highlighted route unless you zoom out a lot or switch to 2-D view.

3. In a strange lack of foresight, Garmin chooses to display the main menu with its 2 basic option "Where To?" and "View Map" every time you power on the system. While understandable for its target market, it doesn't make sense when it does the same thing when you have an active route and you re-started the device (eg for fuel stops). You'll have to manually press the "View Map" button for the screen to show the route information. An option for users to select if they wish to start with the "View map" option would be nice.

4. Remaining miles info. On the older StreetPilot III, I have the option to display how many miles I've got till I reach destination. The C550 only shows you miles to next turn. Not a big deal but I miss knowing how many miles to go when on long distance driving. Useful for deciding if I want to stop for gas for simply finish the drive and return the car (I typically pay for the fuel option when renting).

5. Time zone update. For some reasons, the unit I have will not update its time zone and device time. I purchased and initialized the device in California, Pacific Time zone. When I travel in another time zone (eg. Texas), the device still shows California time. A bug perhaps or something I missed.

Overall, no major problems with the device and I'm satisfied with the purchase. If you're a new owner, here are some tips:

1. Buy the bean bag friction mount, it works much better than the wind screen mount. This is especially so if you have a sporty car (eg. BMW 3 Series, Lexus IS etc) with firmer suspension and the shock of going over a bump is better handled when the C550 is in in bean bag.

2. Buy one of those cigratte lighter socket extender so you can plug the C550's power adaptor into the socket extender and plug the extender into the car instead. This way, you save on the wear and tear on always plugging the device in and out of different cars. I wore out 2 adaptors in my StreetPilot III before I adopted this habit. Those extenders from Radio Shacks are dirt cheap compared to a new power adaptor for the C550.

3. Beware of road naming conventions. Some states, like Texas, name their roads differently. For example, if you look at Yahoo maps or the map in your C550, some highways in Texas are labeled US 2341. But if you look at tourist guides local to Texas, they labeled that road "FM 2341", which you won't be able to locate using the C550. Interestingly though, the device says "FM 2341" even though its search and display shows "US 2341". Other examples are "Mo-Pac Expressway" near Austin. Many locals spell it "MoPac Expressway" without the hyphen, you'll have a heck of a time if you spell it the way they do.

4. The Bluetooth capability works with most phones, even those not listed by Garmin. The only differences are that for some phones, you cannot use the phone directory and call history. You will still be able to make/receive calls using the C550. I get around this issue by creating a Favourite location and entering the phone number of people I call most. Its a bit of a pain but it can done. Afterall, its best not to talk too much while driving eh?

Good luck with you purchase!