Garmin Ltd. is the largest producer of global positioning systems (GPS) in the world, with over $350 million in sales in 2007. Garmin manufactures and distributes a wide range of aviation and consumer devices including portable and car GPS systems. Garmin is the GPS maker most used by the largest auto manufacturers in the world. The Garmin StreetPilot is an aftermarket GPS that mounts to the dashboard or windshield of your car.
Features
The c550 StreetPilot comes equipped with proprietary City Navigator street maps as well as a large database of points of interest (POI) such as motels, gas stations, movie theatres and more. You also have the option of setting alarms with custom POIs such as for traffic cameras, speed traps or construction areas. The c550 features a touch screen as well as multiple voice recordings (languages and accents) to choose from. The c550 also has an access port for a standard SD memory card for map updates. Updates require either a yearly subscription or annual update that costs approximately $60.
Updates
When you buy a Garmin product, register it immediately. Registration will get you a free update within 3 months of a new update, or a discount coupon (50 percent off) within 6 months. There is also the option of purchasing a lifetime map update for approximately $200 dollars for as long as your GPS device is supported. You can also export custom maps from Google or Yahoo into the proper text format and then use the SD card to load them. Custom maps only work with firmware updates 4.0 and higher.
Extras
The Garmin c550 GPS also comes with Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature that will track your car if stolen. You can also fully configure vehicle icons for your c550 using your SD card. This lets you select car-shaped graphics to show your location on the map. The SD card slot can also be used to load music (MP3), pictures (JPEG) and custom points of interest that you set from your home computer. There is a limited amount of available memory on the c550, so you can plug your GPS directly to your computer with a universal serial bus (USB) cable for the same effect. The c550 also integrates a frequency modulation (FM) receiver that will give live traffic updates to your Garmin screen.
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